All my love and apologies are down below 3
Alison stood at the front of the line, with a trail of children behind her. They were all zipping up their jackets and pulling their hoods over their heads. She silently cursed the English weather, it was May and it was cold, pouring down with rain, but the week before it was sunny and hot.
"Miss Meath." Called an eight year old.
Alison looked down at the girl who came to the front of the line to speak to her, "Yes, Louise?" giving the child an encouraging smile.
"Miss, I don't have a hood on my jacket." Louise looked down at her hands, as if she was in trouble.
Alison breathed out a laugh and bent down to the young girl's height. "Would you like to use my umbrella?"
The child looked back up at her teacher; her eyes as wide as her smile, nodding enthusiastically. She watched as Alison picked up her two umbrellas from the wall and walked back to the front of the line.
"Would you like the colourful one," she holds up the colourful umbrella, "Or the boring navy one?" she raises the dark umbrella in the air. Her speaking was animated and slightly patronising.
The young girl chewed on her top lip, then pointed to the navy umbrella. "The navy one."
Alison frowned at the girl's choice, then smiled warmly at her. "That would be my choice too, Louise." And she hands the child the umbrella, which then skipped to the back of the line.
"Everyone ready?" she called, watching the children stand to attention.
"Yes Miss Meath." They all say together, slowly, and follow as she leads them outside. She knew why they were all suddenly so obedient. The fact that they had parents evening that night might have played a part.
As the last child rushed to take their mother's hand, Alison turned on her heel and walked back inside to the classroom to pick up her side bag and helmet. She then hurried to the staff room to sign out. In there were a few teachers talking and munching and drinking, making each other laugh. They didn't acknowledge Alison's presence, only the head, Scott Adams, noticed her signing out.
"Going so soon, Miss Meath?" he smirked at her.
She shrugged at him; he knows that she never stays back, only on Mondays for meetings and on Thursday for Drama Club for the year sixes. She turned to him, frowning. "Do we have to dress formal?" she knew it would be a yes, but she prayed that this parents evening would be an exception, she likes being comfortable at work.
Mr Adams sighed heavily. "This parents evening is the same as any other, so you can work it out for yourself. The parents need to know this school has a sense of professionalism, even if some staff aren't as professional as others." He looked down his nose at her – literally and metaphorically – just like the rest of the staff.
"I've proved to you that I don't need a certificate to show that I'm more qualified at teaching that others." she knew a few teachers who cared more about falling asleep with a silent class than actually letting the children be children.
"I know; which is why you only work PMs." He 'smiled' at her, his mouth was closed and his jaw was clenched, she could tell he was hiding gritted teeth behind his lips. He wasn't too keen on giving her the job, but the deputy head seemed to see potential in her, so she only taught pupils after lunchtime, but now that the deputy had changed, he's been trying to rid her of her job, but the majority of her students have improved in her work, with none of their work standard dropping. The previous parent's evenings show that the majority of parents appreciate her teaching and her as a person. So he would need a very good reason to kick her off the job.
Alison mocked a sweet smile at him and picked up her helmet of the ground beside her feet. "It's parked across the road, like it always is. Don't worry, I do follow the rules." Referring to her motorcycle, she walked towards the exit of the staff room.
"Remember, its formal, so no jeans and don't be late!" Mr Adams called at her as she walked out the door, giving him a lazy wave of acknowledgement.
Alison left her apartment with most of her boxes tipped upside down with the contents scattered across the floor. It took her a while to search for a pair of trousers and a blouse. She tied and pinned the majority of her hair back, with her fringe being the exception.
Parking her bike beside the pub, Ali took of her helmet, only realising that her hair had fallen out of its neat style.
"Can you gimme that berry cider that I had the other night, Neil." She called as she walked toward the bathroom. "Pretty please. I just need to fix my hair."
She came back out and saw her glass of cider on the bar, and took a seat in front of it and put her money beside it. The barman took the money and handed her a folded up note. "That bloke who you were talkin to told me to give you this. Someone's got an admirer." He winked at her.
Alison rolled her eyes at his comment, to which he smirked and walked to the other side of the bar. Taking a sip of her drink, she read the note.
Alison
Kong studios, come whenever you want between the hours of 7 and 7:10
It won't be hard to find, ask around.
"Well tough shit, I have work till 7:30." Ali mumbled under breath. She drank the rest of her drink and left.
She walked to the school, it was only a ten minute walk and she was still a little early. As she walked through the school gates, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.
Okay I was a tad harsh be here between 630 and 730 x
"Still finish at 7:30," she muttered under her breath. She knew exactly who the text was from; even an idiot could work that out, but she was left a little confused as to how he got her number. She was midway through sending a text when she heard her name being called accompanied by an impatient double clap.
"Alison, chop chop. Those parents don't want to see a messy classroom." Mr Adams shouted at her, she did feel that he was more of a horrible teacher who didn't like her because she did no work and somehow got amazing grades, instead of a colleague; she didn't even feel comfortable calling him Craig, his first name.
"Yes sir." Alison muttered under her breath.
She entered her classroom, which was already tidy and had the desk all set up for a face to face discussion with the students and their parents. Ali sat cross-legged on the carpet and sent a text.
I appreciate the fact that you've stretched the greeting time to an hour, but I finish at 7:30 and since I dunno where to go, it's gonna take me at least 30 minutes to find 'Kong Studios'
Murdoc replied within the next two minutes
Thats a shame x looks like were gonna have less time together x
Alison snorted at his text, it sounded too needy for her liking.
I do have work Murdoc, so I'll see you later, around 8
Ali switched her phone off and sat on the floor waiting for a student and their parent or parents to knock on the door. Murdoc's last reply read:
Would it kill you to send an x?
He was definitely a tad too needy.
As Alison rode her motorcycle towards the car park of Kong Studios, she saw Murdoc standing there, watching her.
She took her helmet off and hopped off her bike. "Waiting for me?" she smirked at him.
Murdoc just grunted and walked inside, without inviting Ali in, even so, she still followed.
I HAVE A REASON FOR MAKING YOU WAIT AGES FOR A CRAP UPDATE! FIRSTLY I'D LIKE TO TELL YOU ALL THAT I LOVE YOU K THANKS 3 So, my laptop kept switching off every five minutes because the fan was broken and the over-heating was ridiculous, and that happened when I got back from holiday at the end of august, which was a good few months away – sorryyyyyy 3 Other reasons: I just started college (English college, its further education, not higher education, I did a year of sixth form last year, it killed me, so I didn't revise and got shit grades (but a C in drama YAY) and now go college doing a performing arts course ^.^ so happy – and that'll end when I'm 19, then I have to go on to think about university or drama schools or theatre groups…) so that's taken up most of my time with the rush of settling in etc. Another reason, I've met so many new people and want to talk to em all so my social life has reached its peak once again and I'm on facebook and texting all the time, but that's died down A LOT now, so I'm all good for updates. I've pretty much wrote all the chapters to this, well I say chapters, I mean elements of chapters, I've written the ending to this too XD so yeah please forgive me and I LOVE YOU ALL AND REVIEW PLEASE EVEN THOUGH THIS ISNT AS GOOD AS ID HOPED 3 3 3
