Sitting in Mrs. Farthingway's office, she felt slightly victimised. No one ever got sent to her office to be rewarded. Mrs. Farthingway, Coal Hill's headmistress and her boss, did not look happy in the slightest. Although she was never pleased, as you could tell by the lines deeply marked into her dark skin, consequently from frowning too often. Clara's trail of thought was distracted by the sound of fresh rainfall against the window and Farthingway's agitated voice. "Miss Oswald... Thank you for visiting me today." Farthingway said, her voice was higher than usual, as if she felt guilty. "It's fine Mrs. Farthingway. But why did you call me here, may I ask?" She asked, trying to sound professional towards her boss. "Well Clara, I'm afraid we have an issue, which you are at the centre of." Clara felt her stomach sink, quickly, but never the less she felt it. She briefly nodded, eagerly signalling her to continue. "Miss Oswald." She carried on, slipping back into her professional self, lacking sentiment. "You're obviously well aware of the news lately, and it has caused our school some unwanted, negative attention. Reporters have managed to get onto the property, God knows how. Our Year 7 admissions this year are the lowest on record and parents have complained about having you as a member of staff." At this moment in time, she realised that angry was such an overused word. It had lost its power because of this and no adverb could do it justice. "But that's not fair! I didn't ask for any of this? I'm doing my job, I got 12 out of my 28 bottom set kids a C last year! All of my top sets got at least a B! I am a great teacher, a great teacher. Why don't parents want me here? What are they complaining about?" She demanded furiously. Farthingway looked at her kitten heeled shoes for a moment, considering her next words carefully. "Well, Miss Oswald, most of our student's parents… believe in God. And I'm not saying that you have to believe, but you are seen as a cult figure in this society. They don't want you indoctrinating their children with your Doctor stuff. After much deliberation I think it is best for our school if we let you go." She stood up from the cushioned seat; every ounce of her skin was burning with rage. She pointed her small finger at Farthingway. "This is ridiculous; I haven't mentioned the Doctor to you, to your staff and to your pupils. But you're all dying to know, every last one of you care so much about my Doctor stuff. I've seen the whispers, I'm not thick! Stuff your job! I don't care about you, I care about my students. Just let me say goodbye to my class, okay?" She replied, biting every word. Farthingway nodded quickly, looking dismayed. Her younger classes weren't really bothered, teachers came and went. The years 9's were distraught, but they were overdramatic. Her 11's were sad, but she only had them for a year so it wasn't too bad. Her 10's however, reacted just like Clara, besides a few. She had most of them from the beginning of her teaching career. "Listen! Beth put that down please! Silence! I have news!" The mystery of what she was going to say quietened the class, after several nudges between peers, there was perpetual silence. "Okay, so I don't really live having to tell you this. But I'm leaving, there are some events going on in my life right now and the school think it is best if we go in different directions." The class erupted. "That's not fair miss, f**kin' 'ell. Just because of the news!" Jamie, a clever but inarticulate boy cried. "But you didn't do anything wrong Miss! You can't just go in the middle of the year!" Complained Tamika, one of her most dedicated students. Some of the more, conservative members just nodded, obviously believing that this woman was going to bring hell closer to earth. Or something ridiculous like that. "Language Jamie! Listen, calm down. Don't let me down okay, pass your exams, don't forget what I taught you, I had to do three years at Uni' to get this job! I'll miss you, I really will. It's obvious that it's about what's been on the news. But I'm not a bad person. Thank you for being a great class." She replied, feeling tears well up in her coconut coloured eyes. This wasn't fair, she didn't want to go. Her vision blurred, but she blinked back the tears. "Who is he Miss? Please tell us Miss." Madison, or Madi as she preferred, the nosy member of her class, blurted out. This received gasps and stares from her peers. Clara sighed, defeated. There was no point lying, they were going to find out somehow, she decided to tell them what she thought acceptable. She wasn't going to leave without her dignity and to be viewed as a lunatic. She was sick of holding her tongue, like the police had recommended. "He is my friend Madi, he hasn't done anything wrong and he shouldn't be where he is. He's not mad, he's not evil and he's not a God. He's just like us. People shouldn't make prejudices and they definitely shouldn't discriminate. Blame society and the media for this mess, they got me fired." She revealed honestly, and with that, she left the classroom with a smile. Something about defending herself, even without any proof, made her feel good.
Thankyou again for reading this, for now I'm keeping the paragraphs short, because I'm not sure if I should continue, but gradually they will get longer. Open to criticism.