Mr. Cumberbatch

Chapter 10- Close Encounters

It's finally Friday. Nicole feels as if this week has dragged on forever. But, today she's planning on making the best of her time. She grabs her bags for school and kisses her mom on the cheek before leaving the house.

Once she arrives to the school's parking lot, she sprays perfume and checks her messages. Nothing. It's been a full day of not hearing from Amanda. She's starting to feel a bit worried. What if something bad has happened?

She's sent at least six messages asking if she's okay, but had no responses. She's made up her mind that she's going over to her house later tonight at least to just check up on her. It's not like Amanda to just fall off the face of the earth like this. Even when she's sick, she always finds a way to put some kind of complaining post about it on social media.

Nicole puts her stuff away in her locker and checks her hair in her mirror. She grabs her books for English and pulls out the paper Mr. Cumberbatch had given her for the teacher's assistant. She walks into the classroom and knocks her hand on the open door so she wouldn't startle him.

"Hello, Nicole. I hope you've thought long and hard about the assistant program," he says spinning his chair with the swift movement of his feet so he would be facing her in the doorway.

"Yes, I certainly have," Nicole says walking towards him. She shows him the parental signature written at the bottom of the paper. He takes it and looks at it closely with his reading glasses on. A bright smile appears across his face. He slides the paper into a folder and puts the folder into his bottom desk drawer. He then pulls out a binder with some papers inside of it and hands it to Nicole.

"This will be the binder you will take everywhere with you. Even the meetings. Take good care of it.  We will use this to jot down ideas and lesson plans, and I've also made sure to put a schedule in there for you," he says flipping it open and pointing out every paper.

"Thank you very much for this opportunity. I really appreciate you choosing me out of all the other students," Nicole says earnestly.

"I'll be looking forward to having you as my assistant Miss Miller. I'm very excited. I know you will be capable of accomplishing great things," he says with a confident smile. "I'll see you during the first meeting after school."

Nicole smiles and looks to the ground as she walks over to her desk and takes a seat. At this point, the classroom is halfway filled up with students. The bell rings and the last of the straggling students make their way through the doorway. She's still unfamiliar with most of the students except for one that she recognized. It was Kevin, the boy she knew from biology last year. He takes a seat in front of her and turns and flashes a smile in her direction. Nicole is the only girl he's ever tried to talk to because of how shy he is. Nicole knew this, and for that matter, she makes sure she's the one to start the conversations. She taps the back of his shoulder to get his attention.

"Hey, Kevin. So I hear you made the football team again this year," she says to him.

"Yep, I guess I was lucky enough to," he replies shyly.

"Are you kidding? You're one of the best players! It would've been a huge loss if they hadn't of put you on the team," she says reassuringly.

A slight smile appears for a split second on his face and then he turns back around to face the front of the classroom. The small smile was enough for Nicole to know she made him feel a little better about himself. She's always trying to boost his confidence.

"Okay, class. Before I start the lesson today, I'd like to say that as an English teacher, It's required of me to choose a worthy student to become my personal assistant," Mr. Cumberbatch says walking to the front of the classroom. The entire classroom fills with excited glances and whispers in hopes of him choosing them.