After her confession, Anna was met by very suprised face.

Rachel leant forward on her desk, ' What? '

Mika's jaw dropped, ' You what? '

The whole school who had heard it over the tannoy system thought exactly the same.

Brett stood in shock for a moment before bursting out with, ' But.. you can't... you're not old enough... and you're my aunt... and... and... no way.'

Anna forced herself to lok him in the eye, 'I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to tell you like this.'

'No, you can't be. You're my aunt. You're brother and his late wife are my parents.'

Anna shook her head slowly, ' They raised you because it was best for you, but they're not you're parents.'

Brett looked rather angry, ' I don't believe this! ' he fumed before storming out and slamming the door behind him.

Tom saw the heart broken look on his girlfriend of three months face and held her close to him.

' Probably not the best way to tell him sweetheart,' he siad gently.

' Wait a minute - you knew? ' Mika asked Tom in suprise.

Tom nodded silently.

' This is unbeliveable,' Mika muttered.

Rachel stood up from her seat, ' Mika, why don't you get back to class and not mention this to anyone - which teacher do you have now? '

Mika motioned towards Anna, who was still being embraced by Tom.

' Well just go back and keep this quiet. We don't need everyone knowing, it'll cause all the gossips to come out.'

At that moment, the school sectretary entered the room, looking rather embarrassed.

' What is it Bridget? ' Rachel asked impatiently, ' We're in the middle of something here.'

Bridgte looked uncomfortable, ' I know - everyone knows.'

Rachel looked confused, ' What? '

Bridget pointed towards the tannoy, which had the red light on, ' The tannoy is turned on, so everyone heard what has been said.'

Everyone in the room turned to look at the tannoy and saw that it was indeed turned on.

Furiously, Rachel turned it off.

' Why on earth did no one come in and tell us it was turned on sooner? ' she fumed in great annoyance, ' Why didn't anyone outside this room, who knew that they were listening in on a private conversation, come down here and stop us talking - it was pretty obvious that we didn't want this whole conversation broadcasted around the school! '

Tom looked over Anna's shoulder at his eldest step daughter, ' Just go back to class Mika.' he told her.

Rachel also dismissed Bridget, leaving the three teachers alone.

' Great,' Anna sighed,' Now everyone knows that my nephew is really my son and that my nephew-who-is-really-my-son stormed out on me and doesn't want to know because he hates my now.'

Tom shook his head, 'He does not hate you, he just needs time to adjust to this. It's big news.'

Rachel looked over at the maths teacher in concern, ' Are you going to be OK to work today? '

Anna nodded,' I'll be fine.'

' And what are you going to do about Brett? ' Rachel persued, only asking out of concern for her employee.

Anna took a deep breath, ' I'll talk to him today after school, and we can sort things out.'

Rachel nodded satisfied, ' Good. Now you go back to work, and just ignore what anyone says to you, OK? '

Anna made for the door, Tom close behind her, before Rachel called out,

' Oh, and I have something the both of you might look forward to..'

' What's that then? ' Tom asked.

' We're holding a christmas ball just for year 11 and th 6th form in the community hall, and we need a few teachers there to chaperone... I thought you two might fancy it more than some of the other single, grumpy and boring teachers.'

Anna and Tom agreed... It was something to look forward to and as Rachel had been so obviously hinting at, they would get time to be together as a couple.