Chapter Eight
A/N: Thank you to Guest for reviewing the last chapter.
Simon's arms sagged under the weight of his lunchtime marking as he made his way to the staffroom, eagerly anticipating the soft seat and accommodating table that awaited him when he reached it. The screeching of the students died down to a faint whisper as he pushed through the open door, but no sooner were the sounds inaudible than Simon had another problem to deal with.
The table beside Sue was littered with papers, to such an extent that the table itself could not be seen. There were lesson plans, quizzes and essays, all piled on top of each other as his wife frantically typed into her laptop. 'She must be recording the marks from the end of topic tests she was talking about.' Simon realised, debating whether or not to go and stop her. In the end, his compassionate side was victorious.
"Sue?" he questioned, sitting down in a chair beside her. The woman did not even look up from the screen. Thinking that she had simply not heard him, Simon reached out and placed his hand on her arm. "Sue? Sue?"
Sue snapped the laptop screen down and whirled round to face her husband. "What, Simon?! What is it?!"
Taken aback, Simon could not help but flinch, his brow furrowing in confusion. Sue hardly ever snapped in such a way, and certainly never at him; the couple of times he had seen her so riled, the outbursts had been directed at her older sister.
Simon moved precariously forward, as if he were approaching a caged animal. "Sue... maybe you should take a break. It's lunchtime, after all, and you'll have plenty of time to do that at home."
Sue briefly glanced towards the untouched plate of salad stood among the papers, then opened her laptop again. "I can't. I've got the fifth year progress checks due next week and I haven't even worked out the levels on my computer yet. Then I've got lesson plans for the next three weeks to get done, not to mention the revision worksheets for Year Six and all my marking. This is the only time I've got to get on top of it all."
By this time, Sue's head was in her hands, as if by getting just a few moments rest, she would raise her head again to find all her work completed. Simon felt a pang of guilt in his heart. He had discouraged Sue from doing a great deal of work during the summer break, choosing for them to decorate their new house instead. He had thought she would be able to catch up easily enough; obviously, he had been wrong.
"I tell you what," Simon spoke immediately as an idea came into his brain. "Why don't I help you? There must be something I can do."
For a moment, Sue looked wistfully towards him, then shook her head, disappointment marring her features as she realised the flaw with this plan. "Simon, I've got a degree in Chemistry and I wrote these papers. I know all the answers- you don't. It'll take longer if you have to ask me what's right or wrong all the time. It'd be better to just leave me in peace to do it myself."
Simon cast his eye once more over the scattered papers. There must be hundreds of them, hundreds of pieces of data to enter into the computer, not to mention that half of them still remained to be marked. 'And this is just the exam classes.' he thought, remembering the three stacks of red books sat on the kitchen table. 'I can't leave her in this state. I just can't.'
"Sue, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let you work yourself up like this." Simon was nervous of how his wife would react to this, but was far more fearful of what would happen to her if she continued to work in this way.
Sue took a few deep breaths, then closed her laptop with a sigh, moving a pile of papers from the chair beside her to make space for Simon to sit. He did so almost immediately, wrapping an arm around the woman's shoulders. She leaned into his embrace with a sigh so heavy that it seemed she had spent the last few minutes holding her breath.
"It'll be alright, Sue." promised the Deputy Head, running a hand through his wife's hair to soothe her. "You just have to do things one step at a time and I'll help you in any way I can. You'll get it done, don't worry."
"Thank you, Simon." Sue sighed, smiling as she pulled away from him. She lifted the plate of salad from the table and placed it on her lap. "I think I'll take a bit of a break to actually eat my lunch."
"Great idea." her husband responded. "And in the meantime, I'll try and get these into an order for you. You're going to get nowhere with your papers thrown everywhere."
Sue giggled softly and leaned in to kiss him... just as the door burst open, revealing a red-faced Rhiannon Salt.
"Sir, there's a fight in the playground." the girl all but bellowed across the staffroom, as if she thought that he would be unable to hear her. Simon winced before getting to his feet and speeding towards the door.
"I'll see you at the car after school." he yelled over his shoulder as he ran after Rhiannon, leaving his wife alone in the staffroom.
For a moment, Sue sat, stunned, in stillness. She looked at the salad on the lap, then at the papers strewn across the table. Simon's words still echoed in her mind, but they were fading away, drowned out by the panic flashing behind her eyes.
Sue moved like lightning, placing the salad, still untouched, down on the table and retrieving her laptop, beginning to type even more furiously than before. 'I have to make sure I'm good enough.' she told herself. 'Otherwise I've lost my job.'
Simon loved his position as Deputy Head of Waterloo Road and Sue herself was just beginning to enjoy teaching science. 'I can't afford to let myself get fired.' she knew. 'Simon would feel honour bound to leave with me and that would break his heart. I won't do that to him. I have to be good enough. I have to, no matter what it takes.'
A/N: In light of what will be happening in the next couple of episodes, I thought everyone needed some Sparkle to it more bearable. Please review!
