Paul heard the chanting rise in volume outside his classroom. Silently cursing he tore open his door and pushed into the crowd of students chanting for a fight to break. Putting himself between the two students in the middle he saw his colleague, Hugh, fighting through from the other side of the corridor and other teachers trying to disperse the group. "Jeremy, what is going on?" Paul demanded, pulling a student from his own form group away from his adversary.
"Don't look at me, that dickwad started it," Jeremy argued.
"Hey, language," Paul warned him. "Jeremy, you've been warned about this before, no fighting, do you want to get suspended right before your finals?"
Jeremy looked darkly at the floor, he really didn't want to get suspended, his dad would kill him if he didn't pass his Physics exam to get into his first choice University. "No Dr Stamets," Jeremy mumbled.
"I have to give you detention, don't worry, the other guy will have one as well. What've you got next?"
Jeremy thought, "French," he pulled a face. Mr Saru, the Head of Languages did not take kindly to students arriving late. Paul took pity on him and wrote a note.
"Detention, after school, you can spend your time scrubbing the equipment from the Biology lab this morning." Paul told him, handing over a note that would take off some heat from Saru. Paul saw him out, noticing the other kid coming out of Hugh's classroom, looking equally unhappy. They watched as the boys turned out of the hallway before sharing a look and returning to their respective classrooms.
The rumour mill at Discovery High tended to revolve around the Science Department the last few years. Ever since Dr Culber, a former Doctor of Medicine had joined the team. He taught biology, for obvious reasons. Even though he hadn't actually practised medicine for years he kept his training up to date should he ever have a change of heart, plus it was fun to have the kids call him Doc in class. The rumours were all about him and a long-time teacher at the school, Dr Stamets, a man with a PHD in Physics and a degree in Biology.
The main rumour that every new teacher and student alike was assured of, was that the two men hated each other. No, that was too soft, they despised each other. They never appeared to have a nice word to say about the other, preferring to make their exchanges of words with snark and sarcasm. They remained professional of course, which was why no student had actual evidence of their hatred of the other.
The truth, however, was a far cry from the rumour mill circulating the school. Drs Stamets and Culber were actually engaged and planning to be married. They had met when Hugh Culber had first started at the school. Paul was working on his reports in the Science Staff Hub where he was normally the only person with a free period. Unfortunately for him, so did the new guy, who while he worked, liked to hum opera. Seriously, who hums opera? Paul told him in no uncertain terms to shut it or go somewhere else. Paul thought he had won when the man stood and began collecting his things, only to find them dumped on the table across from him and the man sitting in the chair opposite. Intrigued by his very nerve, Paul paused his work and spoke to this brave stranger until the bell sounded and he had a set of first years to teach.
Over Hugh's first year at the school he and Paul grew very close, close enough to meet families. Hugh had often doubted whether Paul actually had feelings for him, that was until he found out about Tilly. Tilly was the ball of nervous energy that Paul called a daughter. And Hugh adored her. When they had met Tilly had been in her second year at the school [catering year groups 7-13] and now was working at the school with them. After getting her own joint degree in Physics and Biology, she decided she wanted to follow in her dad's footsteps to become a great teacher, she had the grades and the subject knowledge to boot. At school she had done nothing than get top marks all around, barring French, but who needed French? She just didn't feel confident enough yet. So, Paul, being Paul, pulled some strings and got her a job in the Science department teaching the first years. Something he knew she could do in her sleep. On occasion he had let her take his second years too but only the classes he knew wouldn't tell on him.
Tilly, thankfully, had been able to keep their secret. Hugh and Paul – mainly Paul – insisted that their private life was none of the kids at schools' business. There was no PDA, and unless they had to, they rarely spoke at all. It worked for them, that was what mattered. What didn't work out so well, was how their relationship was received by the pupils. Due to the lack of interest and positive seeming interactions the students came to the conclusion that their two teachers hated each other and year after year the first years got brought into the War of the Sciences. Physics and Biology specialist students were rarely seen talking to each other outside of classes. Their form groups were the worst. They seemed to take anything the other did personally, no matter what Hugh or Paul did to dissuade them of this notion.
Paul and Hugh were sitting with the rest of the science department in the staff room with their lunches. Most staff ignored the rumours, whether teachers got on or not didn't matter so long as it didn't affect their work. Few of them were privy to their engagement though. Tilly came in from running lunch detentions and plonked herself between them. "Urgh, those boys," she grumbled.
"They give you a hard time?"
"Not really, but they spent the whole time attempting to flirt, took everything in me not to throw up in the sinks," she told them, biting into an apple. The fourth-year boys were raging with hormones and decided the trainee was apparently in their league. They wished.
"Just ignore them, they're delusional if they think you'd even look their direction," Hugh told her, tucking into his leftover pasta bake.
"Or if they think you're stupid enough to jeopardize your future," Paul added, eating his identical leftovers.
"Speaking of my future, the head called me to her office, she says the progress the kids are making is so good the board of the academy want to offer to sponsor my training here next year. Salaried too. I'd only have to spend half a semester at another school to get alternate experience, but they think I could do it!" She told them excitedly.
"Tilly that's amazing," Hugh told her.
"We'll have to celebrate at home," Paul said as the bell for his next class rang. Rolling his eyes, he packed away his uneaten lunch, he had a free period this afternoon where he could eat. Hugh and Tilly's lunches were on a different track, so they remained, chatting. Some students thought she was crazy, betraying her father by talking to Hugh, but she just rolled her eyes and reminded them there was no evidence of hate.
The exams came and passed and with them neared the end of Hugh and Paul's time with their form groups. After a slightly too competitive sports day the Head of Science decided she had had enough. She couldn't let this year group go out hating each other and she couldn't bare the process beginning all over again in September. Jett Reno desperately pull some strings within the school and called Hugh and Paul into her office.
"I've had it, with both of you and this feud or whatever is going on," she said, and then closed the door. "Look," she began, her voice calmer. "I know you want to keep your private lives private, I get it. But your forms cannot go on like this. This isn't just rivalry, this is like a war."
"Ms Reno," Hugh stepped in, "with all do respect, we have told them, on numerous occasions that there is no fighting or hate. I don't see what more we can do," he told her. He turned and gestured at Paul, who was stood at the back of the office, his arms folded.
"Maybe, maybe not. I've pulled a few strings and I've managed to get you two a send-off residential trip, to the same place."
"What?" Both men chorused.
"You don't have much of a choice, and here's why. If you don't and the fighting continues, none of your kids can graduate."
Paul stepped forward, "you can't do that, those kids have worked too long and hard for years. You can't take that away from them," he told her.
"I can, and I will unless they come back from that residential, behaving like the young adults about to head to university that they are, no diplomas and no universities." They could tell she wasn't budging on the matter.
Paul and Hugh exchanged a look and Paul nodded, "for those kids I will go along with this," he said, "but only for their sakes."
"Good, here's your info, I expect all permission slips returned in 2 weeks. No exceptions."
Hugh and Paul left the office to a silent corridor, with all eyes on them. "Don't you all have somewhere to be?" Paul said firmly. The silence dissolved into mumbles and murmurs, mostly debating whether Reno had called them into her office to chew them both out for fighting again. "Speaking of, I'm now late, some people forget that some of us have teaching to do," Paul muttered.
"In a school? Never would have guessed." Hugh mumbled, his response was heard by a few students who gaped, assuming he was sassing the other teacher, when in reality he was snarking along side him.
Both Hugh and Paul spent the day waiting for school to end, they needed to review the details of this trip before they told the kids. The kids were not going to be happy, didn't take a genius to know that. "OK," Paul asked, later that evening, he'd just finished marking some course work while Hugh reviewed the trip. Tilly was with him, sipping hot chocolate. "That bad?" He asked, going by the looks on their faces.
"It's a team building retreat, it's bad," Hugh replied, pushing the itinerary over to him. Paul looked it over, scrunching up his nose.
"Oh, wow that's bad. They better want their diplomas pretty bad or they will never go along with this. Wait, isn't this the name of the dance studio we were taking lessons at for our wedding dance?" He asked. They'd finished their lessons and practised at home, but they only completed their course a few weeks before.
"Mmm, same franchise I think."
Paul looked over at Tilly, who seemed to be enjoying their pain too much. "Don't know what you're smirking at, you're down for this trip too."
"What? Why?"
"We're men, there're girls on the trip, we need at least one female member of staff."
"But why me?"
"Because Reno likes to make everyone suffer," Paul teased, he and Reno had a mutual understanding that she left him to his teaching and he would get the results the school needed. Even if some of the Physics he taught wasn't on the curriculum, students from Discovery were accepted into top universities around the country into science programs. "Think of it this way, it'll be good experience for you," he told her.
"Fine, what other activities are there?"
"Den building, team sports, all the usual suspects."
"The kids are not going to be happy about this," Hugh said.
"I know, mine have been wanting to go to the coast."
"This place is near the coast, maybe we can arrange a day out or something with the mentors."
"Hopefully."
Monday morning Hugh put a note in the window of his classroom, sending his form to Paul's. He and Paul stood a distance apart as they entered the room confused and found a seat. Form groups were comprised of 15 students, so a classroom could easily house two groups. On the board was a slideshow provided by the people running the residential. "We need to talk about our end of term trip," Paul began, "and when I say our, I mean 'our'. Because of your constant fighting," he looked directly at some of the culprits, "Ms Reno has decided that our classes have to go on a team building residential, rather than the ones we had wanted and asked for," there were groans and complaints around the room. "Hey, look, I know it isn't what you wanted but it's not all bad. Some of the activities will be fun."
"If we're not going to the Coast like we planned then I'm not going."
"Yeah, I wanted to go snorkelling!" These and other protests rose from the grumbles.
Hugh stepped in, "well here's the problem, Chief says that if you don't go, you don't graduate. That means no diploma and no University." The protests quietened as they contemplated. "You need to bring these back, within two weeks or you don't go and you don't graduate. Don't worry about the cost, the school is covering it." He added, knowing there were a few students who would normally struggle to afford such trips.
"You have your options," Paul said, "everyone signed in?" He asked, changing the topic. "Then you're free to go, you can go to the study lab, but no fighting. Any fighting you don't go, you don't go then you don't graduate. Consider yourselves warned." The kids all took a form on the way out, some students lingered outside the room as Hugh remained to speak to Paul.
"They took that well." He said dryly.
"Hmm, why is there a group of girls watching through the window giving me funny looks?"
"That would be my protection squad. They think I need to be protected from you," Hugh teased. "You know, because you're so big and terrifying." Rolling his eyes Paul waved to the girls with an over sincere smile. "You're the worst, you're just encouraging them now."
Paul smirked, "I know," he said smiling.
"What's that look for?" Hugh questioned as Paul swooped forwards and pecked his cheek. "Paul!" He whisper-shouted as the girls made noises of shock and surprise. "What happened to keeping our private life private?"
"Relax, none of them had their phones out, besides, who's going to believe them?"
"You're evil."
"I know," he repeated.
Paul watched as Hugh left his classroom to be greeted by the frantic girls. He chuckled to himself before setting up his first-year biology lab for next period.
"Oh my God. Mr Stamets isn't gay, is he? Is that homophobia?"
"Dr Culber are you OK?"
"That's assault, you could get him fired!" The three girls all said at once.
Hugh held up a solitary hand to silence them. "First off, it's Dr Stamets, second, I'm fine and I have no idea what any of you are talking about, now if you'll excuse me," he extracted himself from their group, "I have a class waiting for me. An' I suggest you all get to yours." The girls left, whispering between them, Paul was right, nobody would believe them, but still, it wasn't the nicest thing to do to the kids.
That evening Hugh arrived home late to find Paul adding the finishing touches to dinner while Tilly worked at the bar. Hugh had had a parent-teacher conference with a parent concerned by the threat of their child not graduating for not going on a 'silly trip.' Thankfully Reno had stepped him once she'd got wind of what was happening and told the parent in no uncertain terms that it was her decision and it was final. Hugh shared a sympathetic look with the kid, whose parent just wasn't backing down. "How did it go?"
"Excruciating. I'd be amazed if more parents didn't come in."
"You shouldn't have taken the conference. I had three parents email me, I forwarded them all to Reno. Her rule, she can deal with the backlash."
"I'm aware, she told me what you did," Hugh told him, getting out glasses and drinks for them all.
"Oh, none for me thanks," Tilly put in, "I'm going out with Airiam and some friends who're back for their break. I'm meeting them for food then we're going out into town." She told them, "it was all very last minute," she added, "save me leftovers?" She asked, knowing that knowing what was waiting at home for her would put her off a Kebab or other junk on her way home.
"I'll leave it under the grill," Paul told her, serving himself and Hugh.
"Thank you," she kissed both their cheeks and went to get ready.
Hugh stepped up behind Paul, pressing his front to Paul's back, putting one hand on either side of Paul on the counter, "house to ourselves on a Friday night," he murmured, "that never happens anymore."
"Tell me about it, I'm glad they invited her out, her social life isn't nearly as good as it used to be," he recalled thinking back to when she had been a student, but still living at home. All her friends had moved on from their local university to do post-graduate studies in places that specialised in their fields.
"I was more thinking our alone time isn't what it used to be, but yes, definitely good for Tilly." Hugh said backtracking. Paul put down the dish and turned in Hugh's arms, dipping to meet his lips. Which was how Tilly found them, with slightly looser clothing around 20 minutes later when she came down.
"OK, I'm going, love you both bye-Jesus! Seriously? In the kitchen?" She asked as they separated, laughing and rebuttoning their shirts. "This is where I eat. You could have at least put a tie on the door," she told them. "I was going to hug you but now I'm thinking better of it. See you tomorrow." Tilly darted out the door and Paul chuckled, hugging Hugh around the middle.
"What's funny?"
"Nothing, I just think it's wonderful that even at this age we can provide her with lasting scarring memories," he explained, making Hugh laugh.
"You're right, that is wonderful," he agreed.
Paul arrived at school alone Monday morning, Tilly had ridden with Hugh to help set up some labs for the Biology finals that morning. He was greeted by several parents claiming how unfair the end of term residential was being handled. He pointed them to Reno, apologizing, "this isn't my first choice either, but the kids in these two classes need to learn to work together and stop fighting. Myself and Dr Culber have made it clear, on several occasions, that we are not in a fight, they need to get used to that and stop getting into fights over something non-existent." He explained before ducking into his classroom. There he found Tilly had already sent his end of topic tests to the printer. Having her around really was a Godsend some mornings. He found her in her classroom a few doors down, setting up for her first years which she had taken over officially since being offered a training position, relieving the more senior teachers more time with the classes taking finals and supposedly graduating. "Isn't this great? I get my own classroom," she told him excited. "Sure, it needs a bit of colour on the wall, a bit of TLC, but I am so excited right now."
"I think it's brilliant and I am so proud of you," he told her. "We can come in and spruce it up at the weekend."
"Thank you," she hugged him. The bell rang, signalling Form time and she released him. She wouldn't get her own Form until after her training, but Paul still had his to get through to. Paul was amazed to receive – almost surely – a record amount of permission slips returned for their trip, with just a handful left to collect from people whose parents had been out of town or were dragging their feet. He was sure that over the corridor Hugh was having the same response.
By Thursday Paul and Hugh had all of their permission slips returned and handed them in to the office who made copies. The only thing left to do was to wait and see if Reno's bright idea actually worked.
The morning of the trip Paul, Hugh, and Tilly were stood outside the gates by the bus waiting for the students. Reno was also there, but only to make sure all the kids turned up and weren't trying to pull a fast one on her. All the kids turned up with good time and she watched them off, just to be sure nobody was sneaking away with any of the lingering parents.
Paul and Tilly sat together, Tilly napping by the window because staying awake on long bus journies made her travel sick, somehow sleeping was fine. Hugh was sat further down the bus, where some of his students had insisted he join them for the journey, so he didn't have to sit near his 'mortal enemy.' As they approached their destination Paul gently shook Tilly awake with a bottle of water for her to sip.
Tilly and Hugh got off the bus first, Tilly for air and Hugh to meet their reps for the week. Paul took a moment to remind the kids if they got in trouble they could be sent home and if they were sent home they wouldn't graduate. Begrudgingly the classes mumbled their agreement to the rules and Paul allowed them off the bus. They gathered around the first rep, in two distinct groups. Paul and Hugh stood with their respective classes and Tilly bridged the gap in the middle.
A young woman with electric blue hair in a French braid stepped forward to address the group. "OK, my name is Lori, I'll be one of your guides this week, don't worry we have lots of fun activities planned for you guys. So, you'll be staying in cabins, boys and girls will be separate but your teams, which have been pre-set, will be combined. There are two teams and you aren't all with people from your classes." The kids let out a collective groan. "Cabins sleep six and we're letting you decide on your sleeping arrangements. Your teachers will share the blue cabin in the middle of the row to separate the boys from the girls. You have an hour to unpack and get settled in before our first activity, so I suggest you get your butts moving and meet back here in an hour."
The kids grouped themselves for sleeping and took their stuff to the cabins to unpack. Paul, Hugh and Tilly waited until the kids were inside before taking their own bags. Their cabin, like the kids had two small bedrooms and a small common room with a seating area. Unlike the other cabins the teachers had two twin beds rather than a camp bed and narrow bunk-beds. Paul and Hugh took one room while Tilly took the other, unpacking they returned to the meet point for their first activity, Tilly still sipping her water.
Lori split them into their teams, which as Paul and Hugh predicted did not go over well within the group. Lori explained to the teams that they could earn points from showing good team building skills. The team with the most points would get a treat while the others would get a forfeit at the end of the week. Paul and Hugh were assigned a team by Lori, Tilly as the odd adult, was branded as neutral. She would still get to take part in any activity she wanted to, but her scores wouldn't count towards any of the teams. Another woman called Yasmin and a guy who introduced himself as Rhys joined them. "Rhys, no way!" Tilly said, as he went over and hugged her. Rhys had gone to Discovery High in the same class as Tilly and knew of the truth behind the Stamets-Culber rumours. Yasmin took Paul's group off to their first activity, Rhys asked Tilly to go with him and Hugh's group stuck with Lori.
Paul's group found themselves lead to the start of an obstacle course and at the other end Hugh's found the same thing. Tilly was taken on a raft to an island in the middle of the lake. "They have an obstacle course to get through as a team. We are what they have to find, well, you are, I have to tie your hands behind your back and they have to rescue you. You OK with that?"
"That is fine with me, how long is it meant to take them?"
"Top time this past year has been a little over 20 minutes, but the whole team has to be present for them to win."
"Just sayin' we are gonna be here a while then."
"Is it really that bad?"
"Worse."
Rhys and Tilly spent time catching up as the teams were told the rules of their course. They had to be the first team to find and rescue Tilly in their entirety. There were only two rafts to get out to the island at the lake per team, so they had to work together. The team included the teacher. Not that much of this went in. As Rhys explained to Tilly, this was a benchmark test, to see what specific things they needed to work on. The instructors knew it wouldn't go well from the start. They would re-run the course at the end of the week to see if they could improve their times.
From both ends the course consisted of crawling under wire through the mud, climbing challenges, brain teasers, running a course then finally getting over to the island. Paul was glad Hugh had reminded him to change into things he didn't mind getting destroyed because after the first part of the course he was not in his happy place. He still managed to keep up with the students though, even though some kids from Hugh's class were ignoring the instructions and racing ahead. He was frustrated as they reached the lake after about 35 minutes, the front runners in their group had taken both rafts.
"Those idiots," a girl, Tami, in his own form cursed. "We're going to lose now," she continued, pointing out the other teams' rafts nearing the island. Hugh was in with his kids and the other class had taken the second raft, probably to avoid bickering.
"I'm not giving up yet," one of the boys, Logan said, "I'm swimming," he said before taking a running leap into the deep water off the end of the pier. The rest of the form shared looks before nodding and getting into the water. Paul cursed the other kids in his mind before joining them. Paul was an OK swimmer, but it was very much not his favourite activity. By the time Paul and his group dragged themselves ashore, Paul holding up one of the weaker swimmers of the group, Hugh's team were already celebrating their victory.
"What happened?" Rhys, Tilly and Hugh ran over.
"The kids from your class took both rafts. We decided to swim over," he said, sitting the boy down on a rock while Hugh's medical training took over and he checked the kid out. He would be fine with rest. Hugh went over to the kids from his class and had a very stern word with them. Followed by a stern word from Rhys about how they failed the challenge.
With everyone returning in the rafts Rhys showed them the score board and put Hugh's team in the lead to the disappointment of the others. Everyone went for showers before dinner and Hugh checked on the kid from Paul's class once more before bed.
Paul, Tilly and Hugh did rounds checking the cabins until mid-night before settling in for the night themselves. "Oh, Hugh, here," Paul said as Hugh was getting ready for bed. "Take my hoodie, Lori said it can get really cold." As he spoke he pulled his hoodie from his body.
"Thank you," Hugh said, kissing his fiancé. Hugh always got cold while he slept, but both he and Paul were too realistic about trying to share one of these beds to keep him warm.
Tilly rose bright and early, getting ready for her morning run. Whilst a student she had founded a cross-country running club which she knew some of the kids here were a part of, so she had agreed to go running as their supervision in the mornings. While running she noticed no animosity between the kids from different classes. As they walked the last part of the track she asked them about the war. "So what're your guys thoughts on this trip?"
"Honestly? I think it's stupid. This whole thing is way out of proportion and it's not even completely about Drs Stamets and Culber." One of the girls, Lydia, told her.
"It's not?"
"No. Most of it is the inter-house rivalry at school, amplified by the fact our teachers don't get on," Avery put in.
"How do you know they don't get on?"
"Well, they just never seem to get on. They're always so snarky and sarcastic with each other," Justin told her. "You're Dr Stamets' daughter, surely you know they don't get on?"
"Well he's never brought it up before," Tilly shrugged. "Maybe the rumours are also out of proportion." She said as they arrived back.
"Well Jas said she saw them kiss the other week. The day they told us about the trip."
"Like that would ever happen, Evan." Lydia told him.
Tilly smiled to herself, "alright guys, go hit the showers and I'll see you at breakfast." The group disbanded, and Tilly returned to find Hugh and Paul drinking coffee, fully dressed. Tilly took her things to the teacher's shower block and got ready for the day. "Hey, you ready for breakfast?" Paul asked when she returned.
"Yes, let me put this in my room," she said going to hang up her towel. "You guys will not believe what happened this morning," she recounted the talk she had with her runners. "So since when do you guys kiss at school?" She asked before they left the cabin.
"We don't, your dad was messing with some girls from my class."
"Jas and her friends?"
"The very same," Hugh confirmed.
After breakfast the teams split up for their first solo activities. Paul's team had a trapeze game, where they had to climb a pole, jump off and grab the trapeze bar and hold on as long as they could. Their combined time would be added to the score board. Tilly had gone with Hugh's team who were doing trust exercises. They were being scored on their teamwork as they were not able to be paired with someone in their class. Tests included trust falls, finger team lifts and a blind communication course where one had to lead the other blindfolded through a maze of obstacles. Every obstacle hit got minus points. After lunch they switched activities and after dinner they were treated to some games of paintball between the classes, where Paul took a paintball to the chin from one of Hugh's protection squad. He didn't need Hugh's medical knowledge to know that it was going to bruise.
"That's gonna take a while to fade," Hugh told him as they returned their paintball gear.
"Gee, really? Considering how much it stings, I never would have guessed," Paul replied, getting him some dirty looks from Hugh's class.
"Well it doesn't always take a real Dr," Hugh winked.
"Oh, you mean the term medical professionals took from people with doctorates?" Paul teased playfully. Tilly, behind them, rolled her eyes and ignored them as she pushed past to return her gear, she had been substituting for a girl on Hugh's team who refused to get bruises while playing. Despite all this, they had seen an improvement in the behaviour between some of the kids.
Wednesday morning Tilly went on her run again with the kids, most of them had bruises peaking out from under their sleeves and were a little sore, but they were dedicated to their craft. There was one addition to their group, Rhys had seen them the day before and asked Tilly if he could join. She had gladly welcomed him to their group, while the kids exchanged looks.
The morning went so well Paul shared his plan with Hugh to get them a day at the coast, hoping Hugh would go along with it. That afternoon they approached Lori and Yasmin who agreed to their plans, thinking the kids would enjoy it and get a lot out of it. Lori announced it at the campfire that evening as Tilly, Hugh and Paul watched on. They noticed a lot more mingling between the kids and more jokey exchanges rather than threatening ones. After they ate their hotdogs they were told they had one more task for the night. They followed Lori into a large space with a wall of mirrors. Paul and Hugh knew what was coming, it was time for their dance lesson.
By a stroke of luck, it wasn't the same instructor who had taught them for their wedding. It was a man and his partner who were going to teach them a beginners' class in Tango. The kids were told to pair up with someone from the other class, which they did with little resistance. Lori and Yasmin joined in together. Hugh and Paul had decided that Hugh would dance with Tilly while Paul sat out and would switch in. Fate seemed to have other ideas as Rhys snuck in and tapped Tilly on the shoulder, asking her to dance with him. Shooting her dad an apologetic look she accepted, though she didn't look too guilty about it. The kids watched as Paul and Hugh stood beside each other, ready to 'learn' the dance.
Tango had been a part of the course they had taken for their wedding, so they already knew most of the steps. That didn't stop them from messing around a little and playing up at going wrong for the kids. "Will you let me lead please?" Paul asked part way through.
"Sorry, habit," Hugh said. They usually switched up who was leading when they practised, but as Hugh had picked up the dance quicker in the first place, their instructor had made him the lead.
They left the class, watching the kids splinter off into mixed groups for their free time before bed. "I know I was sceptical, but this is quite fun, and I think it might be working," Paul told Hugh.
"I know, they seem to be having a really good time, they aren't the only ones it seems," he nodded towards the door where Tilly was joking around with Rhys.
"You know, I always liked him," Paul said. Hugh laughed, Rhys had not been into Science at all and Paul had been lumbered with him because his mother insisted he take Physics whether he liked it or not. He always handed in the work but there had been no enthusiasm, no matter what Paul tried.
"Don't kid yourself," he chuckled, and they moved off to start their rounds checking the kids didn't wander off too far.
The next morning, Tilly found her group returning from a jog as she warmed up. "What time did you guys even get up?"
"We felt like an early one, watched sunrise over the lake," they told her, "sorry we decided last night, we didn't want to wake you." Lydia said.
"We're gonna hit the showers." Evan said, pushing the small group away as Rhys approached.
Tilly looked confused as he got to her. "Everything OK?" He asked.
"I think so, they went early without us." She told him.
"Weird," he commented, "shall we?"
"Let's go," she nodded. They set off at a comfortable pace, with some talking. By the end they were just walking and having a deep conversation before agreeing to hang out on the day out, which they parted to shower and change for. Before they did Rhys looked around, dipped and pecked her cheek, leaving Tilly as vibrant red as her hair, as he jogged back to his room to get ready and she cupped her cheek and bit her lip.
"You look happy," Hugh noted as she jogged through for her towel and clothes.
"What? I'm no happier than usual," Tilly lied, badly. Hugh just shot her a look. "The kids went jogging without us this morning, me and Rhys went solo and after deciding to hang out today he kissed me on the cheek."
"Who kissed you?" Paul asked returning from his own shower, dressed and ready.
"Rhys did. Don't worry, no one saw, it was just… Really nice," she was grinning from ear to ear. "I gotta go," she shook her head, remembering why she came back to the cabin.
When they arrived at the coast, Lori, Yasmin and Rhys lead the group to a cordoned off area on the beach. "OK, first and only activity of the day," Rhys announced. "In your teams you have four hours to create something made of sand. It can be anything at all and we will judge you based on creativity, execution and teamwork. Oh, and your teachers don't have to get involved in this one, but they don't get a vote."
"Miss Stamets shouldn't get to vote either," one of the kids from Hugh's class on Paul's team called out, "she's Dr Stamets' daughter."
"Emily, you wound me," Tilly said fake hurt, holding her hand over her heart.
"Did I say Miss Stamets got to vote?" He asked. "Just me, Yasmin and Lori. Oh, and your time started when I started talking, get to it!" The groups raced over to their areas and crowded around to begin planning while the teachers and reps stood amazed.
"If Reno could see them now." Paul said.
"Tell me about it, she'd think they'd been brainwashed or something," Tilly agreed.
"Dr Stamets come on!" Emily, the girl from before called out.
"Dr Culber, hurry, we want you in on this," Jeremy shouted, running over to the teachers.
Tilly watched open mouthed as Paul and Hugh jogged over to their teams. "Wow, you guys are miracle workers," she said to the reps.
Tilly walked around the perimeters around the half-way point of the contest, the builds were really coming along and starting to take shape by this point and they were attracting a lot of attention from beach goers. She indulged in explaining they were on a team building retreat and this was both a treat and a contest. Most of the visitors watched the remainder of the contest, pointing out their favourite bits to the judges and pointing out anyone showing good teamwork skills.
Tilly blew a whistle to get their attention, "OK, that's time guys, step away so the judges can inspect your work."
The kids backed away, careful not to make anything collapse and watched nervously.
The judges, after much deliberation and talking to their impromptu audience decided that Hugh's team with their towering kingdom and surrounding village with a flowing stream won out over Paul's teams' extremely detailed, 3-D mermaid mural, though it had been close.
They gathered each team for a team picture with their creations and a whole group one with both creations visible.
"Alright," Yasmin got their attention. "As a treat for your excellent progress this week we're giving you the rest of the day to spend free-time in the town, doing as you please – within reason," she added. "Just meet back here for 5:30 for the bus, one of us will always be on the bus should you need us, but to be sure take these," Lori and Rhys handed out slips of paper, "these are emergency only contact numbers for us and your teachers. Now go have fun." The kids gladly split off into groups to go exploring. Yasmin and Lori were taking the first 2-hour shift on the bus, freeing up Rhys to ask Tilly to join him for lunch.
Paul and Hugh took the time to find a café and relax, catching up on the school and checking their emails with the laptops they'd brought with them, breaking for a late lunch.
They returned to the bus in time to see some kids already back, talking between themselves. When they arrived back where they were staying Lori informed them that tomorrow they would repeat the first task again and at this point any team could take the victory.
The following morning after breakfast the teams assembled to be taken to their start points for the race and Tilly was taken over to the island in the middle of the lake, where she got an idea. "Why don't we make this a little more challenging?" She said to Rhys, glancing up at the zip-line tower and back to him.
After the start of the race Rhys radioed Lori and Yasmin to let them know of the change in the race and hooked Tilly up to the zipline, before leaving her in the tower to wait where the kids would think they were. From her vantage point Tilly saw the teams arrive at the lake and row out on their rafts from opposite directions. She watched as they found Rhys, looking around for her.
Raising a walkie-talkie to her mouth she pressed the button and spoke loud and clearly. "Did you guys really think it would be that easy? Look up," as they did Tilly launched herself off the zipline tower, back towards the mainland. The teams raced back to their rafts, setting back across the water after Tilly, who was being let off the zipline by Lori. She went running into the woods to her hiding place.
She was eventually found by Lydia who had followed their jogging route to her hiding place, taking the victory for Hugh's team. Hugh's team were awarded prizes while Paul's team were put on clean-up duty after the bags had been packed into the bus. They had to go around vacuuming the cabins and dusting, though the other team did chip in to help. Before long the kids were saying goodbye to their reps and climbing onto the bus. "Tilly," Rhys called, jogging over to her. "Thought I'd missed you, I'll be back home visiting family next weekend, I just wondered if you'd like to meet up, go out?" He asked, nervous.
"I'd like that," she smiled.
"Great, I'll pick you up Friday night, 7?"
"I'll see you then," she pressed a scrap of paper into his hand and kissed his cheek before darting onto the bus. She'd managed to get hold of some travel sickness tablets and had taken them an hour ago to let them settle in as she took the seat near the back with the kids. Her dad and Hugh sat together at the front. Paul stood to talk to them.
"OK it's three hours back to school if you want to text your parents that we're leaving you can, myself, Miss Stamets and Dr Culber are all very proud to tell you that should you pass, which we know you will, you will all be graduating." The teenagers cheered, "but, no more fighting. If anything was made clear this week it should be that me and Dr Culber are definitely not at war with one another."
Hugh stood from his seat, "and should any of you require further proof," he took Paul's face in his hands and pressed their lips together, as the kids gaped, and Tilly laughed.
"Wait, so, you guys are boyfriends?" A girl asked.
"Close," Paul said, "we're engaged, for two years now and this summer we'll be married. Anybody still unclear? Good, now should anyone at school bring up this war or whatever they think is going on, just play dumb, OK? We like our privacy, it's why we don't tell people."
The kids agreed to the secrecy, Paul and Hugh sat down and told the driver they could go. On the ride home Hugh took a nap against Paul's shoulder as he read a research paper sent to him by an old friend for his opinion. He'd known Straal for years and they had worked together while earning their Doctorates. At the back Tilly was fielding questions. "So, they've been together all this time?"
"Well, yeah."
"And you knew?"
"Of course, I knew," she chuckled, "that would've been kind of a hard secret to keep."
Reno was waiting back at the school for them, Paul got off to greet her while Hugh reminded them of their secrecy and let them off when he saw their parents. "Not that I agree with you hijacking their leaving treat, it was a good trip." Paul admitted to Reno as he watched cars pulling away. "And it worked. No more fighting from our forms." He assured her. "The rest of the school," he shrugged, "rumours are a hard thing to kill."
The next week was one of the most peaceful weeks the school had ever seen in the Science department. There were no fights, arguments or references to the war between the two teachers. Friday night Paul and Hugh waited while Tilly got herself ready to go out. Rhys had arrived a few minutes early and was talking to them, reminiscing about his time at Discovery High with Tilly. Hearing her bedroom door close he rose to his feet, smiling as she descended the stairs. "You look, wow, as always," he told her, making her blush.
"Thank you, so do you," she turned to her dad and Hugh, "I have my keys, see you both in the morning," she and Rhys left, hand in hand, a short walk into town, to their destination. They went for a meal and then a bar afterwards for a few drinks, running into a couple of friends who they played bar games with into the night. Tilly cursed, checking her watch, "crap, I have to get home," she told him. "Thank you, for a great night."
"No, thank you, can I walk you? I'd prefer to know you got home safely," he offered, and she smiled, nodding. They walked, he put his jacket around her shoulders when she shivered beside him. They came to a stop outside the gate.
"Thank you, again, I had a really nice time and I'd really like to do it again."
"I would too. Can I see you again tomorrow, before I go back?"
"I'd like that, but we're going into the school to do up my classroom."
"I could help," he offered, "I mean, if you'd like, I would like to help."
"School gates at 10?"
"See you there." Rising onto her toes Tilly pressed her lips to his, her hands on his arms, his on her waist.
"Looking forward to it," she whispered pulling back. "Goodnight." With a final peck on the lips she handed him back his jacket and he watched her inside.
Over the final six weeks of the term the exam results were released with no bad news for the science department; with University places for all who had applied. Paul and Hugh were so proud of their classes and form groups, who were looking forward to their graduation. Rhys and Tilly saw each other nearly every weekend, one weekend he told her he was finishing his post-graduate and had began looking for jobs more local to home. The place he had been working had been something to help pay his way through his studies and he was looking forward to moving back home and to be able to see her more often. She asked him to be her +1 at her dad's wedding, a date he was more than happy to join her on. Paul and Hugh were happy for her, glad she was happy.
As the Summer came to an end, Paul, Hugh and Tilly were spending more and more time in school, preparing for the year ahead. Tilly was welcomed aboard as their trainee teacher by Ms Reno and assigned a mentor that wasn't her father or her step-father. Paul and Hugh did everything they could think of to help her prepare for her own classes, she was teaching the mixed science students, the ones who hadn't chosen a specific science to study but required it as it was a core subject. Also, she had her lower year classes from the year before and some first-year classes. She was excited to get started, as Reno had hinted that she would likely be offered a permanent job in the school once her training year had been completed. Of course, Tilly didn't want to assume anything, the school year hadn't even begun yet.
A few of Paul and Hugh's old students came to visit in the first few days to say goodbye before they left for their futures and to congratulate their teachers on their marriage. All had kept the secret, not telling a soul. Paul and Hugh were keeping their own names, for professional reasons within their fields. The teenagers felt it was knowledge they had earned and so kept it to themselves. The only indication that the men were married were simple matching wedding bands that had taken residence on their left hands.
Tilly was returning from the photocopier on the first day of the term, walking down the science corridor when she heard the following exchange ahead of her. "Are you seriously playing opera, Dr Culber?"
"Indeed, I am Dr Stamets, is that a problem?"
"Yes, I can barely hear myself think."
"Well then I'll turn it up, it's meant to be good for studying, maybe you and your form can benefit," Hugh snarked, playfully across the hallway. The two form groups of first years were watching the exchange nervously.
"No need, my class is soundproofed from the inside, besides, we don't need opera to make us smart," Paul returned, ushering his class inside. Tilly passed through them as the kids walked into their classes, confused, shooting her father a confused look which he returned a discrete wink. Once inside her own classroom Tilly burst into laughter. Had they been playing their classes all along? Neither of them had ever told her and she'd never been in their corridor at form time.
Logging into her computer she opened her emails and addressed one to both her fathers, knowing they wouldn't read it in front of the kids. It simply read:
'Reno is going to kill the pair of you if she ever finds out.'
Ten minutes later her inbox pinged with two replies, a sticking out tongue emoji from Hugh and a simple 'what she doesn't know can't hurt us' from Paul, reading both of which just made her smile and dissolve into giggles. They were going to have a lot of explaining to do over dinner.