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By *tix9 OP Man
44 weeks ago
St Leonards on Sea |
Shit! This was it - end of my career! Headline in the local newspaper! My head raced through a thousand consequences within the space of a couple of seconds!
Jess was now up and frantically dressing herself, moving towards the stock cupboard at the back of the classroom. I followed suit, whilst desperately straining to hear any more sounds from the corridor below. Yes. Definitely footsteps. There they were again! As I listened, I heard whoever it was, walking purposefully past the stairs and disappearing down the corridor. Jess stepped back out of the stock cupboard, and shot a 'what's happening' look towards me. We both gathered our composure a little and I gestured that I should go downstairs and say 'hello' to whoever had popped into school. She winked and gave me a thumbs up, as I turned and made my way out of the classroom door.
Creeping downstairs, I quickly made my way to the staff toilet, just along the corridor, splashed some water over my face and made sure that there was no obvious 'evidence' about my appearance. Looking at myself in the mirror, I mouthed, 'just be normal,' and made my way down the corridor, past the stairs and on towards the classroom at the end of the lower level.
I could see the classroom door open, some music already on and footsteps moving around the room. It was Sally, our second- newest recruit, who'd been at the school sine September. I stepped into the room, "Hey, Sally how's you? Good holiday?"
"Oh, hi," she said, didn't think anyone was in school. Do you mind me coming in? I wanted to get my room ready before the kids come back."
"Of course not. It what a few of us are doing. In fact, I've just taken Jess, our new HLTA upstairs to her room - she's doing the same as you."
"Wow, that's keen! She seems nice? I hope she'll fit in well with us here."
" Oh, I think she will," II replied, thinking - if only you knew, Sally, if only! "Pop up and say hello later, if you have a minute. I'm sure she'd appreciate that."
"Will do. It'll be nice to have someone starting - means I'm not the newbie, now."
"Let me take you up and introduce you to her, Sally."
We made our way up the stairs. As we neared the top, I called out "Hey Jess, you still in here?" We walked into the room, "This is Sally. Sally, this is Jess." Sally move forward, smiling broadly to shake hands, I assumed, but went straight up and gave Jess a big hug. Although I thought this was a little 'familiar', I didn't think any more of it. I was relieved that everything seemed to be normal; we hadn't got caught and the two of them were immediately chatting.
"I'll leave you both to it," I said. " I'm popping down to my office."
" if you like, shall I come down in about an hour for some of that induction programme you were keen to carry on with?" asked Jess.
" Er, yeah, sure that's fine," I replied, trying to sound perfectly normal. With that, I made my way back down to my office.
Sitting back on my office chair, I felt in a daze, with my head racing through all the things that had gone on that morning. It must have 20 minutes or so later, when a know at the door snapped me out of my spinning daydreaming state. It was Sally and Jess. "Can we have a word?"
" Sure, what can I do for you?"
They seemed to be a little strange - a mix nervous giggles and excitement. " So, what did you want to ask?"
" Well," started Jess, " You wouldn't believe it, but when Sally walked in with you, and we caught each others eye, we both realised that we knew each other."
" Yes, in a rather unusual way," said Sally, looking at Jess and stifling a slightly embarrassed , sounding giggle. "Have you heard of a website called FAB? Probably not."
She was right, I hadn't.
" How can we put it? It's a site where people make contact and arrange to meet for 'fun and games. You know, casual meets, NSA?"
They could tell by my expression that I was still none the wiser. I opened my mouth to tell them I didn't understand, when Jess beat me to it.
"Once I realised who Sally was, I mentioned to her that you had been very kind and started my induction earlier on this morning." Sally stifled another little laugh - she knew!
"We have an idea," Jess continued. "You wouldn't want our induction to be known about, beyond the three of us, would you?"
I could feel the colour draining from my face!
" Well, Sally and I think we might be able to come to a nice arrangement that would suit us all"...
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