Disclaimer: Unfortunately don't own Home and Away or is characters. Summer Bay would be a bit different it I did!
However - all O.C.s are mine.
Have fun reading! please review... Will give non-existant chocolate!
Chapter one
Dan Baker and Barry Hyde had been sitting in the small neatly arranged office for fifteen minutes. They had chatted; first about who they were there to interview, and who they'd interviewed the day earlier, second about the wild weather Summer Bay had been experiencing of late, and thirdly they discussed how quickly the summer holidays had seemed to have flown by. However, for the last three minutes, the room had been filled with silence; - the awkward kind.
You see, Mr. Baker and Mr. Hyde were expecting company ten minutes ago.
Breaking the silence, a twenty-something year old woman with long brown hair and a large red handbag burst through the door, wearing an exhausted, but somewhat relieved smile.
The relatively short woman shook hands with Dan and Barry, telling them how sorry she was that she was late, and introducing herself as Lana Sadler. She pulled out a seat, sat herself down and dropped her oversized handbag beside her chair.
"Ms. Sadler," Principal Hyde Began, "Your resume is quite impressive…"Dan Baker had discovered something interesting while assisting Barry in interviewing those who applied for the position of drama teacher at Summer Bay High; drama teachers, as a general rule, are some of the most colorful people on earth. All of the applicants were filled to the brim with personality; none could possibly be classified as boring, not from where he sat, anyway. He pictured again the woman they'd interviewed the day before who had a cloud of lilac hair which rested atop her head and wore shockingly bright yellow ensemble. Barry had crossed her name off the list as soon as she'd introduced herself. His rejoinder was that her hair would encourage the students to dye their hair similar colors, however, Dan suspected that my Hyde may have been slightly intimidated.
"…Wouldn't you agree Dan?"
"Huh?... Pardon Barry?"
"I was just telling Ms. Sadler how Summer Bay High is a close knit family community-"
"Oh, yes. That's something we strive to maintain here, a comfortable, safe environment for the students," Dan replied, hoping it looked like he'd been listening all along.
Another example of crazy-drama-teacher-syndrome was that of another applicant; who would take the job on one condition - she must be allowed to take her pet chiwawa into each of her classes. Or the one who wore platform shoes, (making her tower over Dan) and who corrected Barry's inflection, which aggravated him slightly.
Lana Sadler chatted casually about her prior experience teaching in the city, She wore a grey jacket and skirt, with a blue blouse; her hair was neat, her face friendly. She looked very presentable, which was more than Dan could say for many of the flamboyantly attired applicants. She spoke with confidence, but didn't shove her personality down their throats like some had. First impressions were always important; - and Lana Sadler had made a good impression.
When Dan awoke on the morning of the first day of term, the first thing he was his wife of almost six months, Leah, wrapped up in a pink satin dressing gown and slippers that had cartoon dog faces on the front. This moment assured him, once again, that he was the luckiest man on the planet.
"Good morning, sunshine."
"Good morning," she replied. The morning sunlight caught her hair and it glistened gold. Her beauty often took his breath away. Unlike any other woman Dan had met, Leah had the amazing ability to wake up with every hair perfectly in place.
"There's fruit salad in the fridge, if you want it." She told him, cheerfully. He rolled out bed and followed her into the kitchen.
"How does a guy like me wind-up married to an angel like you?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"S'pose I can't help bad luck," she replied and he muttered that some questions are better left unanswered.
After a bowl of fruit salad, a whole heap of toast and the usual morning routine, Dan kissed his wife goodbye and drove to Summer Bay High for the first school-day this year, where he ran into newly appointed drama teacher, Lana Sadler, in the parking lot.
"Hello!" he called. "Fancy seeing you here!"
"Hey! Dan isn't it?"
"Sure is. Barry's asked me to show you around the place." He grinned as they entered. "G-block".
"Do you have any spares today?" Lana pulled the timetable Mr. Hyde had posted her, out of her brown jacket pocket. "Yeah, lessons 2,3,4, and 5."
"Well isn't that lucky I have a spare second. I'll give you" he paused for dramatic emphasis;" the grand tour,-the tour to end all tours- then, and just show you the basics now, okay?"
"Sounds good," she replied.
Storm clouds were building over Summer Bay as Lana sat staring out the staffroom window. It was hard to move away from the city, and her family had strongly opposed it first, but eventually they grew to accept it. It was especially hard for her to leave her mother, after all she'd done for her.
"Hey" Dan said, walking into the gloomy room. "Are you okay?"
Thinking about her mother had watered the tears growing in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away.
"Yeah. Yeah, Im fine."
Dan shot her an unbelieving look.
She surrendered. "Oh, okay. I probably sound like a preschooler, saying this, but… I miss my mum- all my family in the city, im starting to doubt whether taking this job was the best thing to do; leaving mum after she gave so much for me. All my friends are in the city. The last week I have been so lonely in our flat." Tears were now streaming down her face, and her phrases her punctuated by sniffles "Im used to people everywhere, you know, but this last week it was just me and the TV."
"Oh, I see." Dan paused. "Listen, when you get home, call you mum, or a friend from the city, do you think that might make you feel a little better?"
"Yeah," she snuffled, and blew her nose on a pink tissue from a box on the desk on the desk she was perched upon.
"What are you doing on Saturday night?"
Lana looked slightly confused by this question before replying. "Nothing, I think""Well, Leah and I are celebrating our 6 month wedding anniversary, and we're having a small group of friends around for dinner and drinks. You're very, very welcome to join us."
"Oh, I don't want to interfere on anything." She muttered and then blew her nose.
"No! You won't be interfering at all. Please come. We'd be honored to have your company- and you can meet some of the locals."
"I don't want to make any trouble-"
"No trouble at all, I assure you."
"You'll look after them won't you Alf?" Beth asked, standing on the dock. The last rays of the sun were bouncing off the calm water below.
"Of course, nothing I can't handle."
Cassie, Ric, Henry and Matilda stood on the small boat, all full of anticipation for the adventure they were soon to depart on.
"They've got to be back by eleven-thirty at the latest" Beth said "And if those two give you any trouble, I give my permission to ground them."
"Hopefully I won't need to make use of my power." Alf flinched.
"Are you feeling okay, Alf?"
"Yes. Im fine, so I'll bring these kids home by eleven-thirty."
"That'll be great. Thanks for this Alf." She said "See you all tonight."
"I brought a salad." Sally exclaimed as she entered the baker residence. Leah greeted her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Where's Flynn?"
"He should be here in a bout twenty minutes."
At that moment a blonde haired man wearing a navy shirt and dark blue jeans walked through the door, holding a mobile phone to his ear.
"Yes," he said "I need that on my desk Monday morning…Of course. Okay. Bye"
Leah greeted him with a kiss on the cheek "Dan needs some help with the barbeque."
"Sure," he said. "by the way, happy anniversary."
"Thanks Peter" she replied and he left to help Dan. Just moments after, Lana arrived. Peeking her head through the door, she called, "knock-knock."
Sally waltzed over to answer. "Hello!"
"Hey Sally!" Lana grinned. She had met Sally at school- she was terribly friendly, and had made Lana feel very welcome.
Leah had followed her friend to the door.
"You must be Lana" she smiled. "Im Leah, Dan's wife. He's told me so much about you."
"Well, happy 6 month anniversary" she said, and pulled a large basket from behind her and handed it to Leah. Inside the basket were jars of exotic dips and jams, bottles of sauces, cheeses, crackers and herbs and spices. "Dan said you were a bit of a cook, I thought you both might enjoy these."
"It's...beautiful! Oh, wow!" Leah hugged Lana around the neck. "Thank you so much! You really shouldn't have…wow."
"Lana!"
"Hey Dan" she replied with a smile. Dan and Peter had entered from outside.
"I got the barbie fixed" he told Leah.
Peter cleared his throat. "Sorry, who fixed the barbeque?"
"Yeah, Peter helped a little."
"A little! Ha! Leah, Dan's village called, they want their village idiot back." He laughed.
"Well too bad," she said, and kissing him gently on the cheek. "He's my idiot now. Look at this!"
Leah showed Dan their anniversary present from Lana, describing the foodstuffs in ornate language. She hugged Lana again.
"Lets all go to the barbeque area then, eh?" Dan said, and led the pack to their back yard. He opened the orange esky sitting beside the BBQ and handed around a few cold bottles of beer. "You want one?" he asked Lana.
"I'll pass, I've gotta drive tonight."
"Peter can give you a lift home if you want one," Dan suggested, as Flynn arrived, and walked over to his wife's side.
"Oh no, I'm driving to the city tomorrow to pick up my-"
"Would you like an orange juice instead?" Peter asked, heading towards the door.
"That'd be great," she called, and he slipped inside.
After a moment, Peter reappeared with two glasses of orange juice.
"Thanks," she said as he passed her the glass.
"You made a great impression with that basket." He told her "I think Leah will make it a shrine and worship it before she opens or eats any of it." Leah and Sally had gone to bring the food outside, but soon brought it all back in again as the dark sky began to pour.
Before long the party had eaten and Sally was retelling incriminating stories from Leah's past. Just as Sally began the story about Dan and Leah's mothers at Leah's hen's night, the phone rang, and Leah left to answer it.
Dan cleared his throat and called for silence.
"Now I know most couples don't celebrate their 6 month anniversary this way, but we've had a pretty rough time the last six months, and this party is more to celebrate our great friends than anything we've achieved. You're all real champions."
Leah burst into the room, breathless. "There's been an accident… The Blaxland is missing."
Thankies to my sis for typin' it up for me. If you find any mistakes, they're her fault. lols.
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