Abhorrence

Chapter: Period "Five" was just the beginning

Thank god tomorrow was Friday, I had the whole weekend to just get better. Oh wait, I had papers to mark. Maybe I could bribe Jan and Chris to mark some for ice-cream. 

"Miss are you on yard duty?"

I closed my eyes, breathe Charlie, I opened them turning around to see Matt walking with his bag swung over one shoulder and his blazer hanging on the other hand.

I raised an eyebrow and he dropped his bag pulling the blazer on, good boy.

"Yes Matt, I am," 

No Charlie, you may not yell at your students, no matter how annoying they are. Matt was a good kid, just caught on the wrong side of the friend group like many boys were in high school. I should know, for a whole year I was in the wrong group, the ones that made you a bad person.

Just thinking about it made me shiver, that was exactly why I wanted to be a teacher, to help my kids.

"Are you getting picked up?"

He nodded kicking a rock and then looked up, "How old are you miss?"

"Matt," I said raising an eyebrow, "You don't ask people, especially your teachers how old you are," I said. 

It was hard to believe that my class would graduate this year, they still looked and acted like babies half the time.

"I know but you look so young,"

I bit my lip, there was a thing with Matt, the quicker you give him what he wants, the quicker he leaves.

"I'm twenty-three," 

Not a complete lie, in a month I was turning twenty-three, the older I said I was the more professional I looked.

Matt's eyes widened, "Whoa I'm eighteen,"

I grunted, yep bad idea to ever talk with Matt, he had a way of making me seem like a kid, and it wasn't his height, half the kids in the school were taller than me, but this was an all boys school that started from Grade nine and went to Grade twelve, their graduating year. 

"How old were you when you graduated?"

"Seventeen," I was born before June which meant I had a head start. Matt seemed genuinely curious, like he was calculating something in his mind which made me curious. What was he thinking about?

He was a student, if applied his knowledge could do something great, but of course every teacher said that about every student, and we meant it.

"So your course was only three years?"

I nodded, "I went to UNSW," I said and his jaw dropped, yep I was a nerd, "I did a three semester course so it gave me an extra year to spare, no holidays but that meant my four year course made me graduate in three years,"

"That's so cool miss, I want to be a teacher, a sport one too, I thought it took us five years?"

I shrugged placing my hands in my pockets, "It depends, an education degree takes three years, two if you get lucky and get accepted into the fast course, but if you want to teach high school then you need to a year as experience, so I did it here and then they kept me,"

"Well yea miss you're really good, and you're better than Miss Bollen," 

I bit back a laugh, "You shouldn't say that about Miss Bollen," I hated her as well, she was an evil lady who gave them way too much homework and handed out detentions like lollies. 

"Do you think I can get a job here miss?" 

"Yes if you graduate, you went here so they'll take you in easily,"

"How did you get a job here cause miss you aren't a boy,"

Well no shit, "I went to your sister school," his eyes widened ever more like a kid just got Santa was real, which he was. 

"You did, that means you were smart,"

I laughed, it did. There were two selective schools, the smart kids school, one boy and one girls. I studied in one and now I taught in the other.

"That means in a few years I'll be teaching as well miss and you might still be right?" I nodded, "That means I can call you Charlie,"

"Matt!" I said in disbelief sighing, "I will always be Miss Stephenfort or Miss Fort,"

"Yea whatever, that's my ride miss, see you tomorrow,"

I shook my head in disbelief as he grabbed his bag racing off towards a car. I looked at my watch, four forty, yard duty over. 

I walked back up the stairs quickly holding my skirt against the wind reaching to open the door when it opened it self and I paused looking up.

"Ahh Miss Stephenfort," 

"Mr. Cameron," I said through clenched teeth, the sport teacher. The man that could send a shiver down my spine by being on the same planet as me.