Clara shut her car door firmly, slinging her bag full of lesson plans and books over her shoulder and surveying the playground. It looked pretty quiet today, thankfully. Some of the week had been murder. The Year Nine girls had decided to have a falling out and Clara had kept finding crying girls in the loos and the staircases and the empty classrooms. It wasn't an aspect of her work that she disliked by a long way, but it had been tiring to hear the same story that many times – especially since it changed a little bit every time she heard it. Bloody hell, it was hard to keep up with.

She spotted a few of the girls who had been involved as she walked through the playground into the main building. They seemed fine now. Thankfully, whatever the problem had actually been seemed to have been forgotten. Clara only hoped that the peace would last.

A Year Eight held the main door open for her before he came through, earning a grateful smile from Clara. "Thank you, Thomas," she said brightly and continued to make her way through. She should be just about on time for the staff morning meeting. Maybe she should get a move on. She checked her watch. Yes, she should definitely get a move on.

She half-jogged the rest of the way down the corridor to the staff meeting, thankfully meeting no pupils as she did so. And as she came through the staff room door - thank God! Adrian was indeed stalling for her. Today was going well.

"I quite like the old biscuits, myself," he was saying to Mrs Allen as Clara slipped into the vacant seat beside him that had obviously been set by for her. She wasn't actually that late. And Mrs Allen did seem to be enjoying her and Adrian's biscuit conversation. So, every cloud.

Adrian gave Clara a half-serious disapproving look. Clara rather thought he should have given up with the looks by this point. He had been giving them to her almost every day since Clara had started. Well, time keeping had never been her strong point. Especially in the mornings, when she had to navigate straightening hair and choosing clothes and eating breakfast and finding homework. So little had changed from her own school days, she thought wryly.

Still, the meeting was uneventful in any case. It always was. She didn't really need to hurry to try and be on time for it. Maybe she should remember that tomorrow morning.

Lost in her thoughts, she approached her classroom to teach the first lesson of the day. Students were in the corridors now, chatting and laughing on their way on their way to lessons. School corridors were nicer with that level of teenage noise buzzing around. As long as it didn't get to deafening levels, anyway.

"Hi Miss!"

She looked around. Sophie White had bobbed into step with her, beaming up at Clara, who smiled back. She liked Sophie; she was by far one of the more amicable ones, and a solid English student to boot. Besides, she wasn't hysterical like some others tended to be.

"Good morning," Clara replied cheerfully. "You're in a good mood today."

Sophie laughed. "I'm looking forward to English, Miss, that's why," she joked, with a grin up at Clara. "Highlight of my day. Highlight of my year."

She looked up at Clara for approval, as so many students did after making a joke. It was quite touching. The level of responsibility that she had over these teenagers… it scared her a little bit sometimes. But Sophie seemed fine, casual and relaxed. Clara didn't think there was much to worry about there. She gave a genuine laugh, rolling her eyes. She actually rather liked Sophie's funny little sense of humour. It made a change from some of the boys' senses of humour anyway. "Thank you deeply, Sophie," she replied, with a little smile of her own. "What a lovely sentiment to start the morning with!"

Sophie grinned, but they had reached the door of the classroom now, and other pupils were approaching the door as well. Well, there was nothing to be done about that. Sophie looked ever so slightly put out, though. A bit puzzled, Clara gave her another smile as they entered the classroom. She probably just liked attention from an adult, that was all. Maybe she had a new sibling or something.

Clara was just turning to write something on the board when she felt a small body almost collide with hers and cling tight. Hang on, what was happening? That was odd. Taken aback and slightly off balance, Clara gave the girl a very quick squeeze and a pat on the back. She was also very aware that other students were starting to come into the classroom – she wasn't really allowed to hug students and the last thing she wanted was a lecture on boundaries when Sophie hadn't given her much of a choice.

Thankfully, Sophie seemed aware of the other students too and she let go quite quickly, blushing for some reason. Her small, flushed face gave Clara a quick smile before she joined the crowd of her class and prepared for the lesson (well, prepared as much as any student ever did really).

Clara shook her head slightly. The sudden hug had thrown her a bit. She wasn't uncomfortable with it or anything, just a bit mystified as to why Sophie had suddenly done it. Still, Sophie tended to be quite an affectionate person from what Clara had picked up. She felt pretty sure as well that Sophie liked her and her subject, especially recently.

Putting it out of her mind, she turned back around to the whiteboard again and started writing. But just as she finished writing, a noise from the store cupboard caught her attention, and she couldn't help but smile at the metallic thrumming. Not brilliant timing, but when was it ever? "I'll be back in a minute, everyone," she said loudly, over the noise of a classroom full of conversations. "Open your books and read quietly to yourselves, please!"