As soon as recess came, Nina felt relieved. It had been a long morning, what with some kids not behaving or listening, and with trying to catch the students up to what they should have already been at. She felt glad that her next class wasn't until fourth period, meaning she had a chance to talk to Susan about the workload each class had.

"Hey Nina, how was your morning?" asked Tanya.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I wasn't listening. What did you ask?"

"How your morning went," laughed Nina's new friend.

"It was alright. My year twelves are so far behind in music, I don't know how I'm going to catch them up so they can even write the music for their project. My year sevens aren't even interested and don't listen. I need to talk to Susan."

"She should be here soon. Usually, she spends recess on the phone with her husband, and lunch she goes to the cafe. But she'll be here soon since classes start in thirty minutes."

"I don't have a class next anyway. I can wait. So, you wanted to ask more questions?"

Tanya grinned. "Tell me about this guy you like."

"His name is Jack. He's in London on soccer, but should be home by next week. At least I hope he is, I miss him."

"He sounds nice."

"He is. It's taken us ten years, but we finally found a way to make it work. Hopefully it'll last this time."

"I'm sure it will. And if you guys are going to stay in Erinsborough permanently, then there's no reason it shouldn't work out."

Nina smiled, thanking her friend. They continued chatting, with Nina telling Tanya about Jack for the most part, until the bell rang and everyone started getting up to head to their classes.

Just before the end of third period, Susan walked into the staff room, and found Nina alone at a table.

"Hey, how's your day going?"

"Good actually. My year twelves seem to have actually listened to me this morning when I told them that I would hand out detentions to anyone that is late. And then they actually liked the work I gave them in their music class first period. You know, they are really far behind on the curriculum though. By the end of year eleven, they should have known how to write music and should have at least performed one song. They didn't do any of that, and I need to get them up to speed if they want to finish the semester's project."

"What about changing the lessons around a little? It's your subject, you can change things around the way you want to."

"That'll give them more homework."

"Doesn't matter. If they need to catch up, then so be it. Don't be afraid to be a little harsh if you need to be Nina. It's okay. You're their teacher, and they'll get over it."

"I know. I'm trying, I guess I'm just not used to being in charge like that."

"What about when you were teaching Summer?"

"That was different. We were both kids and it was just once a week, sometimes not even that."

"You were still her teacher Nina."

Nina gave Susan a smile. "Tanya's nice. Is she new here?"

"Started this year. She's just finished her teaching degree. You know, she lives in Erinsborough too."

"That's wonderful. I can have a friend to spend time with."

"You have friends."

"Yeah, but not ones my own age. Michelle went back to New York early this morning."

"Oh. Well, Tanya is a couple years younger than you, but that's okay, she's still around your age."

"A couple years is better than like ten years, no offence."

"None taken. I think it's good that you have your own friends anyway. I also think it's good you are fitting in well here."

"Thanks," she said with a smile as the bell went off. "I should go, I have my mixed year nine and ten class. By the way, what year is it that I'm supposed to teach for them?"

"Year ten. The year nines in that class are doing a special program. They have two subjects of their choice and an english subject that they do as year ten."

"Okay." That seemed confusing. "Is this a new thing?"

"Somewhat new. It's been a part of the curriculum for about five years now."

Nina nodded, then stood, ready to leave. "Thank you again Susan."

"No problem. Now, you should go. I believe Tanya is next door to you this lesson."

Nina grinned as she left the room and headed to her students.

An exhausting first day was finally over. Nina watched her students leave the room, eager to get home and do whatever it was they did after school. Once they were gone, she sat at her desk, marking the tests she had given to her year eight students at the start of fifth period. It had just been something to test their knowledge, since she wanted to make sure everyone was up to date, but so far, it wasn't looking good. The only students that had done well that day were the year sevens, simply because they hadn't had a disrupted year like everyone else had. It was disappointing to say the least, and only added to her already huge workload. she had almost skipped lunch to try and work out her class schedules, and had only managed to eat because Susan had found her in the music room. She was actually glad that the day was over and couldn't wait to get home.

"Nina, are you staying a while?" asked Tanya from the doorway.

"Yeah. I want to work out the schedule for each class. Other than my year sevens, everyone is far behind what they should be at," replied Nina.

"Do you want me to wait for you?"

"No, I'll be at least another hour. You should go and rest before tomorrow."

"I was just going to go home and work on some stuff for my year nines tomorrow. I can do that in here."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. What's more fun than working on boring stuff with a friend?"

Nina laughed. "Good point."