With This One

Chapter Two

I called the number at the bottom of the letter the next day telling them the news that I was interested in taking the job in Brighton, England.  I had never left the country before other than the one time I went to Washington, DC on a summer trip with my dad.

It was the year I turned fifteen and all of the kids began drinking illegally and going out to parties.  I was invited to a few but I declined knowing about the trip my father and I were about to go on.  I was never interested in drinking and partying with my peers and thought that it would just be a waste of my time.

My father and I had left for a week to Washington to visit numerous museums and old monumental buildings.  To any other kid at my age, they would have thought that the trip was boring and pointless, but for some reason, I enjoyed it.  It was a great chance to just leave the world that I was so used to living in and visit someone else’s.

“Yes hi there, my name is Amelia Sampson.  I received a letter of recommendation for the opening teaching position in Brighton, England,” I said into my cell phone as I made my morning coffee.

“Ah yes, Amelia.  Will you be joining us in Brighton?”

“I have given the thought much consideration and I would be more than delighted to take this opportunity,” I smiled as I brought my coffee over to the dining table sitting down beside it.

“Brilliant!  I will email you the rest of the information that you’ll need,” she said as she typed away at her keyboard.

“Thank you,” I smiled quickly taking a sip of the hot coffee.

“Have a nice day,” she said and then hung up the phone.

Last night I had gotten hardly any sleep with the thought of moving across the world.  I had always wanted to go on a trip somewhere far away but I would have never thought that I would be working in another country.  I was lucky that I wasn’t going on this trip alone.

Emily, my friend of many years was also coming to Brighton with me to teach science to the younger grades.

Emily and I had met back in high school just before we graduated.  We had Biology together and had bonded over the dissection of our piglet.  We were inseparable for the remaining months of high school until we were sure we were splitting up for University, but our friendship beat the odds and we ended up going to the same school.  Emily also had the same plans that I did, wanting to become a teacher so we had a lot in common.  The main thing that wasn’t the same about the two of us was that she was married and I was as single as a Pringle.

Back in our first year at The University of British Columbia, Emily and I had a Writing and Rhetoric class together and that’s where she and I met Brian.  Instantly, Emily and Brian hit it off and began dating soon after meeting.  Being the person I was, I quickly became the third wheel in most situations but both Emily and Brian found ways to include me so I wouldn’t feel left out.  They tried setting me up on blind dates and Brian even went as far as to set me up with his roommate, but I had no luck.  After a very messy pasta sauce filled date with his roommate, I swore off dating in University and just accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to find anyone there.

Three years after the three of us had graduated University, Emily and Brian got married.  I was living less than twenty minutes away from the couple so we have always been able to stay as close as we were in school.

Their wedding was as magical as any other, something that I have planned for myself someday.  Unfortunately, I haven’t yet found my other half to that plan, so as of this moment, those plans are on hold.