Hello SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. I started this chapter last week but today I had an audition for the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) and I only got given the monologue, I had to learn of by heart, last Friday. So I had five days to learn that. Anyway I completely failed in my audition. I was so nervous, I forgot some of the lines, I was physically shaking and I barely acted it out. So yeah, basically I haven't got that part. The monologue was one from Henry the IV part one, Act five scene four. After the audition I came out the room and nearly started crying because UGH it was so annoying. But I've got an interview this Friday for work experience at the RSC so I still have that to look forward to. Anyway again sorry this took so long and for any readers who also read Sparks Fly, the next chapter should be out this Sunday.
Concealing The Truth.
Clara groaned as the familiar sound of her alarm clock bleated in her ear. Her head popped from underneath the covers, her eyes still half shut and her hair a mess. She put her hand up to shade her eyes from the small sunbeam escaping through the curtain.
The usual routine happened after that. Take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast and off to school. She was earlier to school today so she had enough time to go and have a few minutes in the staff room. She made herself a cup of coffee and sat down on one of the chairs in the staff room, a few other staff greeted her and she had smiled at them. She sat and sipped her coffee, just then the head teacher Mr Coburn walked in and called out saying he had an announcement.
"We have a new teacher joining us who is going to be the new history teacher. Please, a warm welcome to Jesse Moyle!" He said. A few of the male staff gave a cheer, others clapped as did Clara. Clara looked over at him; he was young, straight black hair that was slightly jelled into a quiff. His body was a slightly muscular shape and he wore a suit with no tie and the top button undone.
He too was looking around the room with a nervous smile. He looked at all of the other teachers and then he looked over at Clara to see her also looking at him. They caught eye and he smiled at her. She blushed, she didn't know why but she did hope he didn't notice. She smiled back and turned away from him. After finishing her coffee she turned round to find he was still stood there looking at her. She blushed again and turned away, getting up to put her mug back in the small kitchen sink. She gave it a quick rinse and then dried it, putting it back into a cupboard.
"Hello." An unfamiliar voice said to Clara. The voice was strong but soft.
Clara turned round to meet the eyes of Jesse once again. "Oh, hello." Clara replied. "I'm Clara." She told him, shaking his hand.
"Lovely to meet you Clara." He replied with a grin. "What do you teach?" He asked her; leaning on the kitchen surface casually.
"I teach English." She replied.
"Oh good. How did you come to teach English?" He asked; staring into her eyes, not looking away.
"I've always loved looking after kids. I used to be a nanny to my friends kids, after she passed away in an accident, and being a nanny wasn't enough to pay a living so a friend of mine called the Doctor suggested I came and worked here. So I thought, why not." She told him; she felt nervous under the constant eye contact. "What about you? What made you choose teaching?"
"I don't know. I just liked the idea of teaching. The last school I taught at wasn't doing me many favours. But I've always loved history and I know allot of kids think it's boring so I wanted to try and change their view on it." He told her; still grinning and staring into her eyes. "What room do you teach in?"
"I teach in A5. What about you? Do you even know where your room is?" Clara joked. She giggled, as did he, then he stared at her as he noticed something.
"You have really cute dimples." He said staring at her cheeks. He reached up a hand and gently touched one of her dimples with his thumb. His eyes moved back to Clara's as her smile slowly shrank and her dimples slowly faded. Then he jerked his hand away from her face and a visible deep blush appeared on his cheeks. He looked down and all of a sudden became very nervous. Clara smiled sweetly at his sudden shyness. "Eh sorry. I-I'm in room uh S2." He said finally answering her question.
There was a long awkward pause before he said. "Um do you want to meet up for lunch later?" he asked with an unsure look.
"Yeah sure." Clara replied with a reassuring smile.
His eyes flicked to her dimples again and then back to her eyes. Clara watched as an almost visible wave of relief washed over him from her answer. "I'll meet you here at lunch time?" He asked; fiddling with his blazer buttons.
"Yep. Lunch time it is." Just as she confirmed the bell rang. They both smiled at each other and walked out the staff room in silence. Clara turned right to head down the corridor towards her room. He followed her for the first few moments and then realized that his room was down the other way. Clara grinned as he realised this and as he looked at her and pointed down the opposite end of the corridor.
"Um right my rooms this way. Um… I'll see you later." He told her; he looked very nervous again and Clara just giggled, this capturing his attention again. He walked backwards still staring at her and nearly knocked over one of the little year sevens; making him turn round and apologise making Clara giggle again.
"See ya'" Clara called back to him as she walked away.
"The new teacher likes Miss Oswald!" The year seven, that he nearly knocked over, said; with a grin looking up at him and then walking away.
"Miss Oswald." He muttered as he strolled back to his class room.
.
.
.
.
Break past and Clara had stayed in her room, sorting out some of her lesson plans for next week. The bell rang for lunch and Clara dismissed her year seven class.
"Mr Moyle likes you miss." One of them shouted as they left the room.
"Wha-" Clara began but turned around to see her class was already gone. She shrugged and grabbed her phone, slipping it into her pocket, just in case the Doctor rang.
She strolled down to the staff room and found Jesse waiting for her.
"Jesse." She said smiling.
"Shall we go get lunch then?" He asked with a grin.
Clara just nodded and they both walked to the canteen. Clara grabbed a baguette which was filled with salad. She went to pay for it but Jesse stopped her.
"I'll pay." He said.
"It's fine seriously Jesse." Clara protested.
"Seriously, Clara, I insist." He told her; paying for it.
They both sat down in awkward silence on a table which had a few of other kids on.
There were three of the geeky girls sat on the same table as them and Clara heard one of them mutter 'I ship it.' She turned round when she heard this and just saw them giggling.
"So… How was your last lesson?" Jesse asked her; breaking the silence between them.
"It was alright. I had the year sevens. They weren't so much a nightmare, just very giggly and some of them come up with the weirdest stuff in their English books. They have very lively imaginations." Clara said with a smile. "What about yours?"
"Mine was alright. I had the year nines. I introduced myself to them and they weren't so bad, they were a bit cocky but I can expect it as I am a new teacher here." He replied; taking another fork full of pasta into his mouth.
"Actually, that's a point, how are you finding your first day here?" Clara asked curiously.
"I'm enjoying it. Yeah. It's a lovely school and the students are a lot better behaved than they were at my previous school. The staff are all kind and I met a beautiful girl today." He replied grinning and pointing at Clara at the last part. Clara smiled, looking away, blushing and biting her lip. He stared at her with an ear to ear grin.
After finishing their lunch Clara and Jesse went for a walk around the school; Clara showing him all of the different class rooms.
"And here is one of the I.T. rooms." Clara said pointing through the small window on the door to the I.T. room. She turned to look at Jesse who just stared at her and nodded, not bothering to look through the window.
"Can I see your room?" Jesse asked; still staring at her.
"Uh sure, yeah." Clara replied; leading the way back to her room.
When they reached her room she unlocked the door and they both stepped inside.
"Oh this is a lovely room." Jesse commented whilst looking at the display of children's work on the walls.
"Thank you." Clara replied with a small smile.
He turned and grinned at her for a second then turned back to look at more of the work on the walls.
.
.
.
After ten minutes of them both chatting in Clara's class room the bell went and Jesse waved goodbye.
For the rest of the day Clara was smiling. She went home smiling but didn't quite manage to smile when she saw herself in the mirror when she got back to her flat. She looked at herself in the mirror and sighed.
She threw on an oversized jumper and some baggy jogging bottoms and collapsed into bed. She cried until there were no tears left to cry. Then she just laid there, in the dark, the only sounds where her slow breathing and the sound of the small clock in her room. Slowly, the numbness of the silence and the lack of emotions sent her into a deep sleep in which she fell so deep into that no thoughts could touch her. She was safe. For now.
Ok so there you go. I'll hopefully upload the next chapter sooner. It was just this week I had an audition on Wednesday and an interview on Friday, both for the RSC. And then today and last night I was round at my friends for her birthday party so I'm really sorry for not updating sooner. Thanks for reading though!