Chapter One: The New One

She rolls over in her bed that is far too large for one person, far too lonely. She spends a couple of moments rubbing the tired from her eyes and lets loose a sigh.

A sleepy hand searches her bedside table for her glasses, while the other pulls back the blankets. With her second pair of eyes now on, she sits at the edge of the bed, letting a large yawn escape and stretching her back as far as her body would allow. After leisurely maneuvering around the house getting ready, Cosima Niehaus shuffles all five feet and four inches of herself out the door, with a blueberry muffin and a travel mug in hand.

With the door shutting behind her, the apartment loses its glow. The way the light is flooding in, you can see the dust floating in the air. With no one there to tap the faucet, the inconsistent sound of dripping water fills the room. The only artificial light in the residence is coming from the tv that she fell asleep to and her clock that read 7:34.To say the least, it was boring.

That didn't last long because not even two minutes later the door opens again. Jogging over to her cluttered desk, she grabs her car keys and leaves. If there's anything you should know about this naive and intelligent woman, it's that you can never count on her to be prepared. And under no circumstance should you ever count on her to be on time.

Her driving skills could be described in many different ways but 'safe' is not one of them. There's not a single living soul on this planet, that could tell you how Cosima got her license. As she makes a right onto the main street, she's already broken three laws. With only her knee to keep her inside of the lines, Cosima takes out her makeup and starts applying the cosmetics. Since she's nearly a professional at doing both, she finishes just in time to put everything away and to "tap" on the breaks once she enters the parking lot. Slinging her bag over her shoulder and throwing away the rest of her muffin, she walks through the doors of Sourdin High School at 8:03 a.m. , which happens to be the closest she's ever been to being on time.

As she quickly makes her way down the hallway, she wonders if her sophomore class is sleeping or doing their homework. Lost in thought, Ms. Niehaus almost doesn't hear the sound of loose papers flying from her bag. As she stops to pick up her papers, she happens to glance in one of the classrooms and finds an unfamiliar face struggling to put up posters.

A new teacher in the middle of the year? Weird.

She gathers what escaped from her bag and pokes her head in room 7a.

She notices that the new history teacher has some pretty impressive hair and is just a few inches taller than herself.

"Excuse me? Hey um awkward, I'm Cosima;Cosima Niehaus. I teach sophomore biology just a few doors down in 11b? Uh, do you need any help with that? I'd be more than happy to, you know, help."

She was expecting a lot of things when this new teacher turned around but she has to admit that 'cute' wasn't on her list. The fact that she also cursed in French as she dropped her posters could've surprised her too.

"Merdé"

Amused by the sudden French escaping from the blonde's lips, Cosima laughed and poked her tongue through her teeth. The new teacher immediately turned a lovely shade of red and Cosima went over to help pick up the posters.

"Oh wow, I'm so sorry! I totally didn't mean to scare you, my bad."

"No, no it's ok, it's my fault. I didn't see you come in to begin with."

There's something about her voice that makes Cosima smile to herself. It may be the fact that it sounds so small and shy or it could've been the French accent itself, but whatever it is, Cosima definitely wouldn't mind hearing more of it.

As they're both kneeling down and gathering what'd been dropped, Cosima notices that this woman has the biggest brown eyes she's ever seen. After giving herself a few seconds to marvel, she stands up and hands over the laminated motivators.

"Sorry…again but uh, do you want me to-"

"Oh, no I'm all good, there's not many left and I can manage by myself but thank you for offering."

There's barely a second of silence before the sound of loafers start coming closer and closer to the room.

"Niehaus! Don't you have first period right now?"

"Wha-Oh uh yes sir I do, . I'll be seeing myself to class."

"If you're late one more time ,Cosima, we'll have to schedule an appointment." His stern green eyes, curly brown hair, and his defined jawline was nothing compared to the new teacher's, whose name still evades her.

"Well? Get a move on!"

And with that he sharply turned on his heels and continued on his journey tormenting the rest of the staff.

"I gotta head to class but I'll definitely see you around!" Cosima dashed from the room and ran as fast as her heels could carry her down the hall, with her bag hitting against the small of her back with every step.

As she slows down a few feet from her door, she glances at her watch.

8:07…Well there goes my personal record

She flings open the door to her room and finds that half of her class is ,indeed, asleep while the other half is on their phones.

"Hey guys, everyone up and phones away. I have some good news for you. Since I didn't grade your tests from yesterday, I'll do that today during class and ,uh, meanwhile you guys are gonna watch "The Andromeda Strain"…sound good? Not really a school advised movie so if someone comes in everyone raise your hands."

Receiving cheers and other positive feedback as a response, she popped in the movie and started grading.

The thing with Cosima is that this sort of thing happens all the time…meaning almost every class. See, that's one reason why she's the favorite teacher of nearly all the kids at Sourdin High. She teaches in a way where it doesn't feel like learning to the kids; it feels like games. She can't remember the last time one of her students finished the year with a 79% or lower. Cosima's mindset is that if you make learning the material fun and easy, everyone's sure to pass the class with ease.

The bell rings and releases the students for a fifteen minute break, which she so happens to be on duty for.

Cosima makes her way over to where the freshman's p.e. coach, Mr. Hendrix, is leaning against the wall. Just her luck that she's put with Hendrix all week. It's not she doesn't like him,well as a matter of fact she doesn't, but he's always complaining about how his wife doesn't do what he tells her to do and how she expects him to help out once in a while but he just responds by saying it's her job to do the chores. He's in the wrong ,all the time, and that's one of many things he can't understand. To be frank, he's a sexist monkey who wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for his wife.

"Cosima! How's it goin'? I heard you were late again this morning. Were you busy making my lunch?"

He chuckles to himself (yes, people really do chuckle) and Cosima feels the blood rise to her face. This is a daily thing, whether she's on duty with him or not. However, she lets the remark slide but not without retorting.

"Sorry Donnie, but after seeing you eat yesterday I thought you were done for the winter."

A smile creeps across her face as his falls.

"No need to get so defensive, Niehaus. Learn how to take a joke."

She remains next to him and stands in silence for a few moments before hearing his disturbing voice break their silence.

"Well I'll be damned. If I'd known that our new teacher ,Delphine, was this hot I would've made my way over to her room this morning."

"Shut up, Don…leave her alone."

"Don't get so jealous, my god. You may be the student favorite but she's my staff favorite for sure."

After making his hideous remark, he leaves to follow Delphine to wherever she's headed. Cosima scoffs in disbelief and sits on the bench ,that's to her left, with nothing better to do than supervise 1000+ students for 8 more minutes.