Student Teacher
A/N – The first Chapter of my story, It's a bit long but it gets good, enjoy
Chapter 1
I carried the last packed box into the boot of my mum's car and headed to the front seat, while she was checking our now empty house for the last time. I looked out of the car window to take a final glance at it and sighed. I'd lived here all my life in The land of Departure, I guess now was the time to depart, I thought to myself. Don't get me wrong I'm somewhat excited to join a new school, meet new people and make new friends, (as making friends hasn't been my strongest skill) generally because I get too shy or people just think I'm way to nerdy, a workaholic or what not. Sometimes I do get a bit lonely, but at least I have my mother. I heard a faint slam as my mum shut the door to our house and headed to our car, with her face beaming as she sat in the front seat. She started the car and turned towards me excitedly.
"A new chapter in our lives Aqua. Isn't that great" she said
"Yeah. It should be good, spend the last few weeks of summer together and then school together, I'm looking forward to it" I replied
My mum blew a kiss to our house as a final farewell and began to drive. The main reason we were moving was because, she had gotten a new teaching job at a school in Radiant Garden and was going to start in September, while I started at the same school. Most people probably find the idea of your mum working at your school mortifying, but my mum's just not my parent, she's my best friend, If I have a problem or I'm sad, she's the one I turn to, and since my dad died we've both had to be there for each other. I looked at the sat nav to see the time left. 2 hours. I sighed and rested my head back blinking and reopening my eyes very slowly, as the sun shone though the car windows heating me the way a slow cooker would, which was very draining. My mum glanced and saw me dozing off and grinned.
"Excited?"
"Huh!...oh yeah, very much mum"
"Great to hear hun, hey maybe once you start you could meet some nice bo…"
"No mum" I interjected quickly "I want to focus on my work, not boys" I paused and then giggled slightly at the idea of having a boyfriend; at my school here no one even bothered to take a second glance, and even though my mum said I was pretty I just think she was being nice. I'd never even had a crush… well apart from Justin Bieber, but that's
illegal as everyone hates him
just wrong
embarrassing however I was 15 at the time
all of the above
It also doesn't help that I am 16 and that crush was only less than a year ago. But I rather not talk about it.
My mum chuckled at the sight of me having this mental battle of my "Bieber crush" and patted my shoulder.
"the right man will come your way" she said in a sober tone. I paused, she was probably thinking about dad again. I gave her a reassuring smile to try to help her feel better, I'm not sure it worked though, well maybe a little.
"Hey! You may meet a really hot teacher there mum, You still the looks, and you're not even 40" I said reassuringly
"I'm 38 Aqua. 39 by December" my mum mumbled, "Besides I doubt I want to date anyone, your father was the only one for me"
The conversation kind of died after that and we drove in silence. It's not like my mum was mad at me, she just still found the topic of my dad very touchy, and I mean very touchy. He died due to gas poisoning in his lab from an experiment to try and uncover a message from a so-called "Atlantian rock". Totally avoidable but he loved what he did and that's what was I guess the bright side, well as bright as it gets, from a death. My dad had this total obsession over Atlantis and used to even believe my mum was a descendant from that ancient civilisation. Myth or not it's an interesting story but he never found if it was real or not, one of life's hidden mysteries.
We drove on for about another 30 minutes just listening to the radio, when after I began to doze off and sleep. When I woke up I expected to be in radiant garden but, the sat nav said 20 minutes till our destination. It also didn't help my mum and I had never been particularly good with directions, and we've never driven this far before. I was either my dad or after his death we relied on cab drivers to get to far places. This newly occurring idea worried me slightly and I began to wonder if we were going in the right direction as all I could see were thinner roads, more trees. I understood there was a possibility that it was the right direction as long journeys generally have weird routes, and somewhere like Radiant Garden would have lots of trees, but I just felt something was wrong. I looked to my mother who was concentrating solely on the road. I knew I might just be paranoid but I really wanted to get this thought off my chest.
"Mum" I mumbled
"Hmmmm"
"Are we heading in the right direction?" I asked cautiously
"Of course Aqua we only have 20 minutes of the journey left and the moving truck is already by our new house. You have no reason to be worried darling." My mum answered patting my shoulder gently.
"Okay" I replied giving her a smile, to let my mum continue driving. Things were pretty alright until the sat nav said to turn right.
Now that was a mistake.
Now let's just fast forward this to where I an right now. Its two weeks gone, meaning two less weeks of summer and I'm in a hospital bed waiting to be checked out by my doctor.
Yeah Its that bad.
What had happened was my mum drove right into a ditch and we crashed into a tree, both of us were knocked out and a passer by with the name Zack Fair found us and called emergency services to take us to hospital. My mum unfortunately is still unconscious though.
I sat up in the hospital bed and stared at the clock intensely, wondering when I was going to leave, when Zack popped in to say hello holding a bunch of flowers. Over my stay at the hospital I had become really good friends with him as he came to visit me almost every day to see my progress, not to mention the fact that I found him incredibly attractive, despite him being 24.
"Hey Aqua, How's it going" He greeted with open arms and a large hug
"It's going well, Hopefully I'll be able to go home today"
"That's great. Hey I can wait for you in the lobby and take you home if you want"
I chucked "You don't have to do that Zack you've already helped me so much already"
"Its not a problem Aqua." He paused "One second My phone's ringing" and he quickly hurried outside. "See you soon Aqua" he called
I held the flowers and sighed. Although things looked like they were turning around it wasn't fast enough. My mum isn't awake I don't know what will happen with our house and once I leave the hospital I probably won't hear of Zack again. Soon enough though my doctor came in with a clipboard and smiled at me.
"Well Aqua you've seemed to have passed all the tests so you're ready to leave the hospital" He said
"Thank you doctor" I said kind of in a rushed way, too excited to leave as I basically jumped out of my bed when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
Oh dear I thought. Bad news.
"Your mother is still unconscious, and we don't know when she will wake up"
I nodded quickly just wanting to see her, say goodbye and leave
"And if you want the hospital to carry on supporting her in this condition… It requires a bill, as you are 16 and therefore you are legally responsible"
"I don't understand?" I muttered only thinking that the worst was only yet to come
My doctor sighed and then looked at me quite coldly. It was almost scary.
"You need to find the money to pay for your mothers healthcare or we don't help you". He said holding out a pink slip
Sweat beads were forming on my forehead, and I felt like I wanted to pass out there and then. I had no money, no family. What the hell can I do? take out a loan? My ideas were slowly diminishing through my brain as each one became more unreasonable and impractical than the last, and I hadn't even seen the bill. My hands were shaking as I looked at the slip.
10,000 munny ! I exclaimed but that's like a months salary.
That's your care plus your mothers, you have time to pay it off due to your condition, but only a few months, approximately it costs about 1000 to 3000 munny a week to keep your mother in a good condition. I expect to be hearing from you soon Aqua"
Yeah I mumbled disappointedly. I felt the weight on my shoulders increase after he left.
This is probably how extreme debt feels like. I thought
I had no energy or will to go see my mum after that horrific news so I just allowed Zack to take me home in his car. I didn't even excite me that I found out he was living next door to me and that we'd be neighbours. 10,000 munny. That's crazy I thought squeezing the slip in my hand.
"I see you got your bill" Zack muttered
"Ummmm"
" I know its quite daunting isn't it but, that's why we work isn't it"
"Yeah"
"Hey don't feel so down about it, I can help you out if needs be"
"No Zack, its fine but thanks" I muttered trying to smile "I just have a lot on my plate at the moment"
"No worries Aqua, hey Lets get some junk food while were at it to make you feel better, how does that sound"
"Good"
"Alright"
I just couldn't understand how someone like Zack could be so positive and nice about something like this, but I was happy to have one friend in this place.
After eating we went to the home depo to collect all my belongings and then Zack drove me to my house. He helped me unload everything into my house and make sure I was properly settled before he left.
Then the house became unnaturally quiet…and lonely. I was surrounded be tens of boxes that were supposed to be unpacked by my mother and I, laughing together as we discovered what treasure lied within each box. It was at that point I began to quietly sob laying on top of a box. How can I pay these bills? What about electric bills? Food bills? I can't ask Zack, he has his own life too and were not that close as friends; now I was on my knees at this point sobbing heavily, desperately wanting my mum to show up somewhere, when the phone rang, I stopped crying because I didn't want whoever was calling to hear me.
I waited for them to leave a message
"Hello" Said a male voice "This is principal DIZ from Radiant High asking for Ms Mage, I understand you are starting in September to teach at our school, and I just called to make sure that was still going on, There will be a teacher inset day on the 5th of September before school starts and you are required to be there at 9:00am sharp. Please call back and I am looking forward to seeing you there"
He then hung up
I peered over a box looking at the phone as if another message would pop at me, when it hit me.
My mum can't teach, but I can, if I pose as my mother I get paid, my mum is okay, therefore I'm okay. She was going to teach English, and I'm pretty good at that, sure I'll be behind one year of school but I could try and do both, school work and teach and do my exams externally. I know my mums bank account so if the money gets transferred there I can collect it.
I paused and sat on the floor breathing heavily with excitement. This was the answer I needed. I then waited half an hour after thinking of some sort of strategy of what I was going to say, and picked up the phone to call back, my hands shaking with anticipation and excitement.
"Hello" the same male voice said
I took a deep breath, grabbing all my courage. This was the point in my life I had to be responsible, not just for me, for my mum.
"Hello this is Aqua Mage" I said clearly "And I will be gladly coming to teach at you school and come for the inset day on the fifth"
"Alright, and your daughter"
My face paled. I forgot about myself. I panicked quickly searching for an excuse
"She is actually my niece and she's staying over at her parents so she will not be enrolling in the school this year"
"That's fine. I just need you to fill out your details again as we've misplaced you old ones"
"That will not be a problem just email it to me and I'll email you back pronto"
"Gladly, Have a nice day Aqua"
"You too"
As he hung up once again I raised a fist in the air and began to dance foolishly in my living room, but I didn't care, as things were finally looking up. I checked my calendar to see when the 5th of September was.
Two weeks
Two weeks to go from age 16 to 22.
It's a tough challenge, but I'm up for it
Miss Mage. Here I come!
A/N – I hope you enjoyed that first chapter, and if you are wondering who Aqua's parents are they are Milo and Kida from the Disney Atlantis film, if you haven't seen it you should, its pretty good. Also Aqua is using her mum's maiden name just to let people know and this is not a Zack/Aqua fic just to warn people and sorry for the Bieber thing (couldn't resist XD). Sorry I tried to fit so much into one chapter, I needed to otherwise it would get way too boring and waffly. Next chapter should come up soon
Rate and review and Thanks for reading!