Lessons In Love

Chapter 1

It was the first day of term and Robin Locksley was on a come down from a summer full of, well full of relaxing in the sunshine, doing nothing, living a stress free life and most importantly, spending time with his son. But now school was starting up, he would have a horde full of new students, new names to learn, kids with new potential. He had the role of schooling them through it, moulding them into their best selves, offering them help when they needed it. He loved his job, but at times it could get rather stressful, especially when the kids were too cleaver for their own good, kids who would misbehave to gain attention.

Having the long holiday at the end of the school year gave him time to recuperate, but this year, he didn't feel ready to go back, not now; especially since he was staring at an entirely new school, which would mean he had to remember a hell of a lot, names of staff as well as students, his way around campus, timetables, everything, everything was new.

Today had not gone off to a good start, he had overslept, forgotten to reset his alarm after weeks of waking up when he pleased. Roland, his four-year-old son, had been ill over the weekend, so naturally he was exhausted, completely drained. To top it all off, he couldn't find his briefcase, what a great start this would be to the academic year.

Robin quickly checked the time, 'Crap!' he though. He was supposed to be there for 8am and he still had to drop Roland off at playgroup! Looks like he was going to have to skip breakfast, it wasn't the first time he had to, in fact it was a quite frequent occurrence.

He shouted up to Roland to tell him to put on his coat and shoes and he finally managed to locate his briefcase, which was hiding under a huge pile of Roland's comic books, how it got there, Robin would never know!

"I'm here Daddy" Roland said as he came bounding down the stairs.

Robin bent down to check that Roland had put his shoes on the correct feet, miraculously for once he had! He chuckled and ruffled his son's curly brown hair. "Come on then champ. Let's get you to playgroup before I miss my first class." Roland nodded and held his father's hand as he followed him outside. After he made sure that Roland was safely buckled into his car seat, they set off to playgroup.

Slowly he dragged himself through the main entrance, passing several teachers on his way, merely saying hi to a couple of them; but most seemed to just cast him strange glances, probably wondering who this stranger was in their school and why he was in such a hurry.

Finally, after having to ask for directions, he managed to locate the head teacher's office. He knocked at the door, then entered. "My apologies for being late Mr Gold, I had somewhat of a crisis this morning." If a crisis was defined as him sleeping in and losing his briefcase, he often had many crises.

Mr Gold sighed, looking up from his paperwork, casting him a look which was rather hard to read. "Well Mr Locksley, you're here now." Robin could tell, that the man wasn't one for pleasantries. "Please proceed to your first class." Gold mumbled waving him away as he went back to his paperwork.

"Yes, well, just one question if I may?" Robin tried.

"What is it?" He asked, a hint of frustration present in his voice.

"Where exactly is my classroom?"

"To the left and down the hall, room 13A."

"Thank you." Robin nodded and walked back out into the corridor. He sighed and shook his head, 'great job Locksley!' he thought 'what a wonderful first impression you must have given him!'

He was so busy scolding himself for his lateness that he wasn't looking where he was going; someone bumped directly into him and his briefcase went flying through the air, the impact causing the girl to fall backwards.