It was over a week after the hockey match against Starkiller Academy. Rey was doing some desultory marking in the Physics office during her lunch break, picking at her pasta salad, when George, her head of department, poked his head round the door.
"Got a minute, Rey?"
Anything to distract her from Year 10s who could not spell "amperes". She drew up a stool for him.
After a few minutes in which George asked her how she was getting on and Rey was suitably enthusiastic about her first few weeks in the job, he brought up the real reason he had wanted to speak to her.
"You were probably involved in the Aldershire Junior Physics Challenge at your last school, weren't you?"
Rey nodded. "I remember that it happened. It was at St. Corellia's last year, wasn't it? I remember we sent a team, but I didn't go. We didn't win."
"Yes, AGS won. We win most years, to be honest. And this year it's our turn to host it."
"Here? Wow, that's cool!"
George smiled indulgently. He really was like a friendly bear, Rey sometimes thought. "Yes, it is. And I was wondering if you would be interested in organising it."
Rey's eyes widened. "You want me to organise the Junior Physics Challenge? I've only been here a month!"
"It'd be a lot of work, mostly rather dull, but it's not difficult. It will be a good first step in organising events and trips."
"I would love to!" She absolutely beamed at him. At her previous school she had never been given any responsibility and she was longing to prove herself. "What will I have to do?"
"Oh good, I was afraid I would have to do it again and I'm ready to hand over the baton to someone with fresh ideas… You'll need to book the hall for the day - I'll have to look up the exact date but it's a Wednesday at the beginning of December - you'll get half a day off timetable. You'll need to find guest judges and prizes and sponsorship and you'll need to invite all the schools in Aldershire. Tedious stuff but the kids love it so it's worth it. The theme this year is forces, so you can do a lot with that."
Rey's mind was already running ahead in planning creative and interesting interpretations of "forces". "I'm on it! I'm so on it. Leave it to me!"
George heaved himself off the stool and briefly squeezed her shoulder before leaving her. "That's what I was hoping you'd say. I'll email over all the details and let me know if you need any help."
"Will do."
Rey put her lunch away in a desk draw and her Year 10 marking on top of another pile of not yet marked example sheets. She had fifteen minutes before afternoon registration to start looking for sponsors and she intended to do as much as she could.
In fact, most of the organisation was relatively straightforward. George had lists of who they had approached when they had hosted the competition before and most were happy to be involved again in a such a good way of promoting Physics to children. The most tedious job was emailing the Physics departments of all the schools in Aldershire (including her old department, which felt slightly awkward) to get confirmation of their attendance.
She should have known it was going too well. Starkiller Academy - of course it would be Starkiller - did not have any contact details for its individual departments on its website. For any enquiries, the website invited her to contact the Assistant Head, Armitage Hux.
"Great," Rey muttered to herself. "Emailing Ginger Hitler… what could possibly go wrong?"
From: rsmith at ags dot sch dot co dot uk
To: amh at starkiller dot org
Subject: Aldershire Junior Physics Challenge
Dear Mr. Hux,
I am writing to you about the Aldershire Junior Physics Challenge, held this year at Alderaan Grammar School on Wednesday December 5th. Please could you ask your Head of Physics to get in touch with me at rsmith at age dot sch dot co dot uk to confirm their attendance?
Kind regards,
Rey Smith (Miss)
Teacher of Physics, Alderaan Grammar School
Well, nobody could object to that email, even the pickiest of pedants. She hit 'send' and waited for a reply.
And waited.
After a week, during which time nearly all of the other schools had replied to her and organisation was progressing nicely, she had still heard nothing from Starkiller. Her feelings towards the school and Hux especially were not the pleasantest.
"Who does he think he is?" she ranted to Rose. "Does he think he's so above us he can't even be arsed to reply to me?"
"Probably," replied Rose frankly. "I mean, this is Starkiller we're talking about. Or perhaps Hux passed on the message and it's the Head of Physics who's being slow."
Rey shook her head. "I'm emailing again. And I'm going to get shirty on them."
"Ooh, look at you being badass!"
From: rsmith
To: amh
Subject: Re: Aldershire Junior Physics Challenge
Dear Mr. Hux,
I emailed a week ago about the Junior Physics Challenge, this year held at Alderaan Grammar School, as you can see in the message below. I have not yet heard anything from your Head of Physics. If you do not wish your school to take part, please let me know as soon as possible. Or will we have the pleasure of welcoming the Starkiller team in December?
Kind regards,
Rey Smith (Miss)
Teacher of Physics, Alderaan Grammar School
"You get a tad bitchy at the end," Rose said, reading over her shoulder. "Are you sure that's wise?"
It had rained persistently every day that week and she had burned her hand on a Bunsen burner on Wednesday. "I'm feeling a tad bitchy."
She pressed 'send'.
And waited.
Oxbridge and medicine university application deadlines were approaching and for several days Rey did not have time to think about the Junior Physics Challenge. Accompanied by a soundtrack of rehearsals for the school's musical production of Anastasia going on in the Music department whose windows were near the science block, Rey proof-read personal statements and provided information for references as best she could when she had only been teaching the students since September. On Friday, however, with the early applications sent off and everyone able to breathe a sigh of relief after a very stressful week, Rey checked up on the replies she had received over the last few days.
Nothing from Starkiller.
"I am through with them," she exclaimed to Rose as she looked up from her inbox. "Screw Hux. Screw Starkiller. I would just say we'll leave them out of the whole thing except it's unfair on the kids who might want to take part. It's not their fault their administration is terrible."
"But royalty is royalty, one always has to wait!" sang Rose, who had been half dancing round the office with a tray of wires to the sound of a major chorus rehearsal.
Rey rolled her eyes. "OK, Barbra Streisand. Honestly, I don't know how you stand hearing all these songs over and over again. I loved Anastasia as a child but I'm ready to never hear Once Upon a December ever again."
"Nooo, don't say that! I'm going to play in the band - you have to come and see us! AGS musicals are also the best; you should have seen Grease last year! It was so good."
Rey thumped her head on the table as after a pause a piano could be heard starting up again and soon a chorus began singing The Press Conference for about the fifth time that lunchtime. "Fine. I'll come and see you play in the band if you just stop singing along with them now."
As Rose squealed with pleasure and tried to ask her in a subtle way if she thought Finn would come too, Rey turned her attention back to her computer.
"I'm going straight to the top, over Hux's head. This is a matter of principle now. I am going to get a response from Starkiller if it's the last thing I do. Now, what's his email?"
She opened the Starkiller Academy website.
"Whose?"
"Kyle O'Ren's. The headmaster's. And if it gets Hux in trouble, all the better. Huh."
"What?"
Rey squinted at the website and shrugged. "It's not Kyle O'Ren. It's Kylo Ren. Never seen it written down before. I thought he was Irish. Now I just think he's got a weird name."
"Weird name for a weird guy? Have fun roasting his deputy, Rey; I need to go set up for the practicals this afternoon."
She disappeared out into the adjacent classroom and Rey opened up a new email, typing rather more forcefully than usual.
From: rsmith
To: headmaster at starkiller dot org
Subject: FW: Re: Aldershire Junior Physics Challenge
Dear Mr. Ren,
I am writing to you because I have emailed your assistant, Mr. Hux, twice now about the Junior Physics Challenge that is going to be held at Alderaan Grammar School this December and received no acknowledgement of my email or had any contact from your Head of Physics. You can see my two emails below.
It is frustrating not to receive any response from your school when I am simply trying to do something nice to inspire students with a love of Physics and I would like Starkiller students to be involved. If you do not wish them to come to the competition, it would be a courtesy to let me know. I am left with a poor opinion of your administration and the usefulness of your website that does not allow for direct contact with your Physics department.
I look forward to hearing from you very shortly.
Kind regards,
Rey Smith (Miss)
Teacher of Physics, Alderaan Grammar School
"Kind regards - and fuck you, Mr. Ren."
She pressed 'send'.
The phone rang and, suppressing a sigh, Kylo lowered the baguette he was about to take a bite from.
"Ren."
"Lord Snoke is on the line, Mr. Ren," said his PA.
Of course he was. Because this was just what a day needed that had started with double Year 8 reading Romeo and Juliet and failing to understand even the most basic aspects of the play and had continued with chasing after the final early entry UCAS forms to sign off.
"Put him through."
Kylo sat up straight. Snoke could not see him down the telephone but it was an instinctive response.
"Kylo Ren. I want to hear your Oxbridge numbers."
"Twenty-one for Oxford and nine for Cambridge," said Kylo, who had been staring at applications and references so much that week that he did not need to look it up.
For a moment Snoke was silent and Kylo barely breathed.
"Twenty-one is satisfactory but tell me, why are there so few applications for Cambridge?"
"I don't know, my lord. I suppose the students didn't want to apply there so much this year."
"You suppose? Last year, there were thirteen applications to Cambridge."
Kylo clenched his fist under the table. "It's a different year group. Different students. Different priorities."
"Priorities that seem not to involve aiming high to elite institutions. May I remind you that Cambridge regularly surpasses Oxford in the league tables. Hardly what I would expect from an ambitious school like Starkiller Academy."
"You know, Snoke, it is possible to get a good degree from universities that aren't Oxford and Cambridge. You can't make students apply somewhere they don't want to."
"Yes, you know all about the worth of a degree from Oxford, don't you, Benjamin Solo?"
His voice was barely more than a crackle down the line but every word was distinct and hit Kylo like a poisoned dart. His grip on the telephone receiver was so strong his fingers ached with the effort. He swallowed.
"I spoke out of turn," he whispered, crumbling and cringing in his executive chair. "I'm sorry the numbers aren't what you wanted, Lord Snoke."
"They are not. I do not care about superficial differences between students and year groups. Students are guided by their teachers and it is up to you as Headmaster to set the tone for the school. If they are not aiming high, if they are not applying to the prestigious universities you want them to, then that is a fault with the leadership. Young people need guidance. Your students should look to you. They should look to you as you looked to me. They will thank you for it later."
"Yes, Lord Snoke." He closed his eyes briefly.
"You forget yourself and all I have done for you. Do you think you would be where you are now without me?"
"No," said Kylo after a pause, in case Snoke had not yet finished speaking.
"You would have been nowhere."
He did not reply.
"Repeat it, Ren."
"I would have been nowhere."
As he spoke, Outlook pinged as a new email arrived in his inbox. Kylo, too miserable and focused on the telephone conversation, ignored it.
"And yet here you are - Headmaster of Starkiller Academy in your early thirties. I have put you on the path to greatness - not even your grandfather Lord Vader achieved so much so early. But now it is all up to you. Of course, if you want to throw away all my hard work-"
"I don't want to do that."
"I'm glad you see sense. Now tell me, Ren, do you know what Alderaan Grammar's numbers are this year?"
"It's only the deadline today. How am I supposed to know that?"
"Find out. I hope for your sake that it is lower than yours."
Kylo opened his mouth to say something - anything - about how unfair that was. Alderaan Grammar was a prestigious, academically selective school with a centuries' old reputation whereas Starkiller Academy was a two year old unselective institution built from the ashes of a failed school. How could they possibly compete? Snoke, as so often, wanted the impossible.
But there was a click and the line was disconnected. Kylo gently replaced the receiver and passed his hands over his face in exhaustion. Then he picked up the nearest thing to hand, a jam jar containing several pens and a pair of scissors, tipped the stationery out and hurled it across the room where it made a satisfying shatter against a bookcase.
Feeling slightly better, he picked his baguette up again and turned his attention idly back to his computer and the new email that had come in while he had been on the phone, trying to get himself back under control. It better not be another email from that damn Year 11 girl's mother about discrimination because of her tights. He would not be responsible for his response to that.
R Smith - FW: Re: Aldershire Junior Physics Challenge
He almost dropped his baguette. Then, when the roaring in his ears and the pounding of his heart allowed, he clicked on the email.
A/N: Apologies for missing last week's update. Like Rey at the UCAS deadline, I was snowed under with exam marking. FFNet is a terrible website which won't even let me write an email address properly. I strongly suggest you move over to reading this on AO3. You can leave reviews there even if you're a guest. It's the same title and pen name. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favourited or followed here so far.
Oxbridge - shorthand for Oxford and Cambridge, Britain's most prestigious universities. Equivalent of the Ivy League. Deadlines for applying to them are earlier than other application deadlines, in mid October rather than mid January. The early deadline also applies to medicine and vet med applications.
Personal Statement - the part of a university application where the student writes about themself and why they want to study their course.
UCAS - acronym for the university admissions process. Rey as a subject teacher will be helping students applying for Physics with their UCAS form and may be helping her head of department write references for them. Kylo as headteacher will have to sign off on all references (if not write them all depending on the school's policy) and be the final checker of every application.