When Teachers Collide

[TheUnspokenGodess]

Most people joined the teaching profession because of the money and not because they actually enjoyed the job that they were doing. To be a teacher you had to have time, patience, and a drive to get students from point a to point b no matter how challenging that was and if you couldn't do that then teaching wasn't the job for you. Sebastian was that teacher that when you first looked at him you weren't quite sure if he was a substitute because he was so young, twenty three to be exact but he in fact was there to stay. Taking up a teaching profession at Deaton High school he quickly earned the respect of not only the staff but the students as well.


Sebastian knew from the very beginning that he'd have to prove himself, he was young and most of the older staff questioned his abilities to teach and attempted to make challenging for him to secure a spot on their team but he proved them wrong and their expressions of pure awe and shock were embedded in his mind. Most if not all the students thought his class was going to be easy, the girls batted their eyes and had a had time paying attention and the boys felt the need to act out because of the fact that the female students were eager for his attention. At first they'd ask him all kinds of questions from where he was born to the most most common one was how old he was, but after sometime they knew his class wasn't easy in the slightest.


He loved to challenge his students not because he felt like punishing them or seeing them struggle but because he believed in each and everyone of his students and what they were capable of when they actually put in the time and effort. His teaching methods were good, he wasn't laid back like some of the teachers but he wasn't overly strict like some would say and if you'd ask him he'd say he had just the right amount of everything. Rules were put in place because people had made mistakes in to where they needed to be make and Sebastian made sure those simple rules were followed. It was high school not elementary and he didn't plan on treating any of his students like children, they so claimed to be adults so that's what he treated them like.


Sebastian groaned into his pillow as his alarm clock rang throughout the house and he swiftly reached over to turn it off. Taking some time to let his eyes get acquainted to the light he rubbed his hands over his sleepy eyes and then edged himself to the edge of the bed before blanking out into a semi sleep daze. It was like this every morning, wake up and try and remember your name before getting ready for work. He moved though the silent out humming to the sound of the radio he had turned on earlier as he poured his coffee in his mug and then grabbed his bagel off the table and then swiping his keys off the table to head to work.


It was early October and then cool morning air greeted Sebastian as he shivered slightly into his jacket and climbed into his car. The drive to the school only took about twelve minutes and when he arrived Sebastian moved through the semi empty halls and towards his classroom to finish his breakfast and his much needed coffee. For the past few days the facility thought that it would be a wonderful job to become closer by spending quality time with each other and pair certain teachers off so that they could learn a thing or two from each other and Sebastian was the lucky one to get paired with someone he wasn't all too fond of. Yaaay him.

 

[KebabQueen]

Martha woke up from another long and deep sleep. She had always been a deep sleeper. Many would think that such a hard working teacher wouldn't find the time to sleep like she did, but they were wrong. She found sleep to be the most important part for her day, it charged her up for the perilous day ahead. And she needed that charge. Sure, she was a good teacher, scrap that, she was a brilliant teacher. She had respect all round, from students, to parents and fellow teachers. Everybody liked Miss Busby. Earning respect and loyalty was easy for an easy going character like Martha, and she worked hard to make sure everyone was her friend.


Stretching her limbs, she clambered down from her bed, walking towards the mirror to gaze upon her reflection. She looked the same as always. The same long, blonde hair, that sat nice and straight down her lower back. She wasn't a natural blonde, which was obvious by her roots. Those damn roots. Big, bright hazel eyes stared back at her. She loved her eyes, they lit up her somewhat average face. At the moment, light bags hung under her eyes, but she knew they'd face soon enough. Her skin was pale and greasy, like it always was in the morning. A shower should fix that up. She had a very friendly face shape, the corners of her mouth pointing upwards slightly so she always seems like she was smiling. She was quite tall, around 5'9", meaning most of the women couldn't see her roots anyway.


She'd applied for the job around a year ago, when she was only 22. She was by far the youngest teacher at the school, making people more than sceptical of her ability. That didn't surprise her, but it did put her off a little. People were so judgemental. The students gave her a hard time at first, but she coped with it like any good teacher could, taking no time about it either. With her outgoing and down to earth personality, she was a big hit with the pupils and the staff. Friendly, coordinated, supportive. She made learning a fun environment for everyone involved. Knowing how kids acted and behaved, it wasn't hard to pander towards them. Frequently messing about with some of the students, offering them sweets if they said something really amazing, even swearing a few times. No F bombs though. Doing all that while providing the kids with an outstanding education, not everything had to be done by the books. She earned herself the title teacher of the year last year, as her classes were the best performing ones. She'd proven herself.


She ate breakfast, showered, got dressed, brushed her teeth, did her hair and makeup, collected her stuff and headed towards her car. Another day, another dawn, it wouldn't be any different from usual. Apart from the little 'pairing up' activity that she'd discussed with the committee. She'd suggested it, thinking it was a brilliant idea. They were always thinking of ways to get teachers to work together, what could be more efficient? The pairs were to share a class for today. Usually, Martha taught Biology, but she'd have to help teach the subject her partner taught for a day. She was fine with that. At least she would be fine, if she wasn't paired with someone she despised. If she knew she'd be paired off with Sebastian, she wouldn't have even said anything. She trudged into his classroom, masking her true feelings with a fake smile. As much as she hated being deceitful, she didn't want to look annoyed, even if he knew she would be. "Good morning" she greeted, setting down her things and taking a seat

 

[TheUnspokenGodess]

In all honesty it was way to early in the morning to be in a bad mood but because of the stupid parring his normal morning mood had severely dropped. When he had asked on of the staff who had even come up with the whole " Buddy" idea he found himself not even surprised to learn that Martha herself had decided it would be wonderful to do such a thing. It was typical of her though, that wide smile that drew students and staff into her like prey but Sebastian wasn't buying it, not one bit. The two had realized their displeasure of each others company upon arriving at the school, Martha's happy laid back methods was something Sebastian couldn't quite get on board with and he made his opinion quite clear to her as did she about him being an uptight ass as Martha would like to say. His eyes were trained on his warm morning coffee before glancing out the window as he watched cars pull up into parking spaces and school buses as students poured out and made their way into the buildings and some lounged around no doubt waiting for friends and the warning bell to ring.


The whole buddy thing would be going on for a week. A whole dreadfully long weak and Sebastian pinched the bridge of hos nose and released a sigh before placing down his semi empty mug and then writing the assignments on the board. As usual the students who really enjoyed his class and got the highest grades filled in first, asking him about his morning and then automatically starting on the assignment. They were the students that never gave him any problem at all and he was glad for that on most days, the rest of the students filled in chatting with their friends before plopping down in the seat and making a small face of annoyance when they saw the assignments that was on the board. He started off like he did every morning by greeting them and asking them how was their morning and of course of they had did the homework. The students pulled out their materials before the oh so great Martha walked in with a all too friendly smile that Sebastian knew wasn't as welcoming in the slightest.


" Well good morning to you, nice of you to join us. Class Ms. Busby she'll be staying with us for a bit". The students bid their greetings with a cheesy smile s before some small chatter and then Sebatian made his class get back to work before turning his attention to Martha. " English is a different path from Biology but I'm sure we'll have some fun" his fake smile matched Martha before he offered her a chair and then took a seat in his own. " So why did you think it was a good idea to do this anyway?".

 

[KebabQueen]

Martha flashed a smile when her eyes locked with her students for the day. Unsurprisingly, they all smiled back. She could tell the students were happy to have her there. It wa,red her hear to think about, she'd made such a big impact on these kids, it was quite unbelievable. She felt so big headed thinking about it, but she didn't want to deny it was true. She brushed some of the hair out of her face, giving the kids her signature grin. She was faking the smiled beiges, but now they were more than genuine. How she loved to teach. "Good morning class!" She greeted before turning back to Sebastian.


She flinched at the fake smile he offered her. It seemed spiteful, she didn't appreciate that. She'd only pretended to smile to be nice, not to be rude. Nevertheless, she didn't comment on it, she didn't think it was worth it. No point digging up dirt and starting drama over virtually nothing. She sat down, stretching into the seat and flicking over the register. Usually she just asked the class if everyone was present, and then marked the people off who weren't, before she started checking attendance, she acknowledged the man's question, his tone of voice seeming to change once out of the pupils' earshot.


"Because it is a great idea. What better way to get to know the staff? It would make both teaching and socialising easier if we all got to know each other. We encourage teamwork to the students, we might as well be good examples of that" she answered simply, shrugging her shoulders and smiling at the end. She diverted her attention for a moment, focussing on the students. "Okay, is there anybody who isn't in today?" She asked the class, not wanting to go thought he tedious process of calling out each pupil's name and shouting at them to get their attention. It took the best part of ten minutes, and she didn't have ten minutes to waste in her lessons.


Once the students responded, she checked off all absent pupils and sent someone to deliver the register. "So" she said, turning back to Sebastian as the students chatted among themselves. "How does an English lesson go down in your classroom?" She asked, smiling, swivelling her chair over to face him

 

[TheUnspokenGodess]

It was actually kind of nice to see how the students reacted to Martha and then himself. With him the students were more focused, only teasing and joking around every so often but with Martha they seemed to be more laid back and carefree. It matched Martha's personality to he wasn't too surprised to see his class act in that manner. When Martha spoke to him about her idea he realized that he might have jumped the gun to think that she was just doing something spontaneous like her personality but in fact her reason was a good one. Sebastian talked to the staff but it wasn't really anything beyond a mere acquaintance, he had know knowledge on their personal life like who they were dating or married too unless he happened to glance down and catch sight of a ring, he didn't really know if any of the staff liked each other or didn't since the only time he saw them was on their lunch break when everyone was stressed and relived that they could finally sit down and enjoy a nice meal.


One of the students in the front row sent up the list of the two students who were absent and Sebastian marked them down on the attendance sheet before lifting his head back up from the desk to look at Martha. " Well on Monday's like today we start out with light work like going over the homework if there was any or continuing to read on the current book that the class is reading which is The Scarlet Letter. He reached into his bottom drawer and then pulled out a spare before sliding it in her direction and then focusing back on his students who were half done with the work and the other half were too busy looking at Martha to even bother with their assignment. It was mostly the students he was sure didn't have her class because they seemed just as shocked that there was another young teacher in this school. Sebastian called out to the two boys, " You know starring at the pretty lady won't get the work done". Some of the class snickered while to the two boys faces turned beat red as they trained their heads down towards their paper.


Sebastian smirked before shaking his head and then watched one by one as the students placed their assignments on the desk and when everyone was done he had them take out their books. " Does anyone remember what page were on?" Sebastian asked and when they told him he nodded and then turned towards Martha. " You can start the reading if you want, then call on a student to finish off where you left off and so on". Since the whole idea of the teachers working together was about socializing he let Martha take control of the class and help out with the reading instead of having her just sit around. Right before the bell Sebastian wrote five questions on the board about what the class had ready and told them that it was due as homework tomorrow. When the bell rang all the students poured out of the class and Sebastian looked over at Martha with a smirk. " So what did you think of English?".

 

[KebabQueen]

Martha listened to him, nodding her head along to his words fairly idly, not paying too much attention. How hard could it really be? She was more of a supply teacher in this case anyway, so she only had to really make note of the important details. Wait - what was she saying? She had taken in this commitment not only as a partner but as a teacher. She had to get over her naturally lazy attitude and start working hard again. She'd learnt those skills before, she felt herself losing them, and that- wait. The Scarlet Letter?


"I loved that book! I had to read it when I was in school. God, I loved it, everyone else seemed to have found it boring. I hardly understood that" she informed, reaching over, eyes skimming over the spare copy. She missed this, it had been a long time since she read a good book properly. Usually she'd just give up halfway through or get through a piece of literature that hardly struck her as entertaining. This had been one of the first adult novels she'd read. The memories were still a little fuzzy in her mind, but she could remember the basics, the plot and characters who would never leave her. She chuckled, the fact that a book could make her feel that way was strange to her.


Martha hadn't noticed the stares she was recieving from the boys, she'd never seen those two before. She only rolled her eyes, winked and waved over at them, evermore smiling. The two blushed and looked away, continuing with their work. It was pretty silent in the room, so Martha only watched the kids worked. They were clearly a very hardworking bunch. The loudest kids in her classes were completely silent here. She was almost hypnotised, watching them work, she hadn't even noticed she'd been told to read. "Oh, alright" she said, taking the book and reading a few pages loudly and clearly, before calling on a student she knew the name of to continue for her. They were clearly a very bright class, which was more than evident by their reading skills, it warmed her hear really.


The lesson went pretty smoothly. She smiled as the kids left, answering a ew questions about homework and joking with them as they did so. She slouched down in her chair, swivelling to face Sebastian again. "Very easy, I'd say. All I had to do was read" she said, shrugging. Hands flicking through the pages of the book out of habit.

 

[TheUnspokenGodess]

The Scarlet Letter was indeed a good book, one that he had enjoyed reading when he was in high school and he was even more pleased that the majority of his class saw the book in the same way as well. He leaned back in his seat as he listened to Martha pick on some students while he followed along with the reading. At her comment about the class being fairly easy Sebastian smirked and then placed all the papers that the students had passed up in his folder and then he turned his attention back to Martha. " I'm sure your biology class is much more interesting, you caught my class at a more...passive time". The second bell filled through the halls and the next wave of students poured into the class room, taking notice to Martha's presence as he explained to them that she would be helping him.


Strangely the day went by fairly quick being that the students were extra excited seeing their biology teacher in the class, asking her questions and there was lots of laughter. Sebastian was used to a quiet room with the occasional chatter but seeing Martha in his class and how hyper and rowdy his students were he could only imagine how they acted in her classroom. The last bell of the day rang with his last class eager to squeeze through the door to head home or hang out with their friends and Sebastian asked Martha if she could help collect the papers that were felt on some of the students desk. He rotated his stiff shoulder before placing that papers that needed to be graded in his bag and then he turned towards Martha, " Well I must say working with you wasn't that bad. Enjoy the rest of your day" Sebastian gave a tight nod before turning and walking out of the class and then out of the building.


Usually when Sebastian first arrived home he'd turn on the TV to watch some basketball while he sorted out the papers but once he got to the fridge Sebastian mentally cursed at himself for forgetting that he needed to head to the store and the game was coming on on an hour. He quickly grabbed his car keys and then climbed inside heading to the super market. He was pretty sure people were looking at him like he was crazy as he swiftly moved down the isles grabbing what he needed as he kept glancing down at his watch to make sure he made i home just in time to catch the game. Turning the corner he started mumbling the rest of the items that he needed as he bit down on his bottom and glanced down at his list with his brows frowned in concentration.