The Point of No Return {sequel to The Arbitrary life of Avery Blake [teacher]}

The Point of No Return {sequel to The Arbitrary life of Avery Blake [teacher]}24

And then it went away and time itself returned back to normal.

‘Did you…’ I began, not quite sure where I was going with it.

‘Yes.’ Kimberly said softly, nodding in confirmation.

**

And so came the day of our principal’s departure.

A nervous buzz ran through the halls of the school.

It all came down to my group. It wasn’t as if we were particularly desperate for Principal Maletos to stay; it just felt like our-my duty.

‘You ready?’ Meghann asked as I approached my three best friends.

‘As ready as I can be.’ I shrugged; a nervous buzz passing over my body.

‘Good enough.’ Kiren said before we were off.

**

Four periods came and went before it was time for fifth. I was prepped for Music until we were told that instead of fifth period, we were to make our way to the assembly area and have an official farewell ceremony for Principal Maletos.

Oh well, I shrugged, just made our plan easier to achieve.

**

‘Thank you everyone for coming at such short notice,’ began Ms Stewart, my teacher, as well as the head maths teacher. ‘Today is an important day, as well as a very sorrowful day; because today, we farewell our principal, our teacher and our friend.’

I looked around at the surrounding crowd, most of which were trying to hold back snickers of amusement. I, too, was one of the many people trying not to laugh. Sure, it was pretty sad, yes, but cliché? Yes.

Ms Stewart coughed before continuing. She went on about how this school had gained so much from his knowledge, his experience and blah blah. Before she asked Principal Maletos (who was sitting patiently in one of the seats next to the podium), Cole raised his hand as he approached the stage.

‘May I have a second, Jodie?’ Cole asked with a kind smile as he waited hesitantly by the steps.

Ms Stewart blushed –understandably –before coughing, trying to hide it.

‘’Course, go ahead. I hope you don’t mind, Jim?’ she asked but didn’t wait for an answer before she went and sat down by the spare seat next to Principal Maletos.

Cole nodded approvingly towards the pair before turning back to the students.

‘Hello,’ he spoke politely as mostly everyone returned the greeting by a simple word or nod; girls adding a flirtatious smile, of course.

I just shook my head at them, not bothering to feel the jealousy because I knew Cole truly loved me…or so I hoped.

‘Now, I’ll try to be quick as I know you are all anticipating the weekend. Okay, I’ll get straight to the point; hands up, how many of you actually benefited out of Principal Maletos’s charge of this school? It could be by introducing a new team, passing a camp, sweeping a broken rule under the mat or even giving you a kind smile in the hallway.’ By the time Cole’s quizzical words reached everyone –from what I could see –everyone’s hands were raised.

Cole showed a satisfied smile as we locked eyes.

‘Now, now, Cole. What’s this about?’ asked Principal Maletos as he raised himself up off of his chair and stood frozen but superior-looking.

If it were anyone else, they would have shrunk at his gaze but Cole stood his ground.

‘Jim, why don’t you sit back down and you’ll find out in a second.’ Cole suggested, but everyone knew it was more of a command.