Chapter 11 (or 10.5)
This is the same as the last chapter but from Nikki's point of view.
Monday morning, Nikki's eyes peeled themselves open to the incessant electrical bleeping of her alarm clock; it was the first day of her new teaching job. According to the time on the clock, 7.30, she had already slept through 2 alarms. What! She flung herself out of bed still half dazed, luckily she had picked out her outfit the night before and it was now hanging up on the outside of the wardrobe. Nikki began pulling on her practical fitted suit, and discovered that shirt buttons are really hard to do up when you're eyes are still half shut…
She just had time to grab a slice of toast before bundling herself in to her 4x4 and tackling the morning traffic.
When she arrived at the school she was told to report to Michael's office to pick up her timetable and such like, Nikki wandered through the playground and was almost knocked over by the feeling of nostalgia, of the memories of being in a playground not dissimilar to this one kicking a ball around with her friends, she quickly shook that thought away and strode through the double doors.
Her meeting with Michael was short and sweet, he welcomed her to the staff made her a cup of tea (which was nice because she hadn't had time for one at home), and got her to sign some forms. Before she knew it, she was following him to the staffroom, her stomach churning. She walked in behind him attempting to appear confident yet at the same time attempting to make no eye contact with anybody. She didn't hear what Michael was saying, instead she looked around taking in the décor and not the 50 or so faces of her peers all staring at her, to be fair some of them weren't staring at her, some of them weren't even staring at Michael but seemed completely uninterested in the day's proceedings.
Michael introduced her to the rest of the staff and she smiled and nodded at the blank faces, tough crowd. Surely the kids couldn't be any worse. Michael dismissed the staff and they all filed out passed Nikki, there was one person left in the staffroom standing in front of her…
Her blonde hair was tied up in its practical ponytail, even though she was wearing gym clothes she still looked perfect, exactly how Nikki remembered her, she certainly couldn't imagine Jen in a suit. Nikki realised that her mouth was wide open, she wanted to say something but she was so shocked that no words would come out. Jenny spoke first.
'Hey Nik, you look like you've seen a ghost' she said quietly,
'Hi', Nikki's voice was almost a whisper, and soon without any questions asked she was stood in the middle of the empty staffroom back in Jenny's arms. 'Jenny I'm so sorry, im sorry, im so sorry'.
'Hey its ok, its ok Nik.' Jenny held Nikki at arms length, her eyes began to fill with tears as she looked at her. Those year 8's could wait. ' I missed you', I think we're due a catch up' she smile.
Nikki smiled back although the tears were still pouring, 'Jen, I've got a class…I..'.
'Well you can't go like that can you' said jenny rummaging in her pocket for a tissue. 'listen, I'll see you at lunch yeah?'
'yeah, hey, why don't we go out for lunch? We can chat properly then.'
'sure'… 'Nik?'
'yeah'
'I still love you',
And with that Jenny left the staffroom leaving Nikki, still in shock, to wipe her face before her first ever class.