an arm above her head. ‘Go Team!’
*
The first day of term passed by in a blur as it always did. The students weren’t exactly thrilled to be back in school after the break, but they hadn’t been back long enough to start causing any real trouble-probably because they weren’t being asked to participate in anything. The day flew by in a cloud of paper timetables, telling each class group exactly what was expected from now until the summer which for the most part went in one ear and straight out the other. In the staff room at lunch time, yet more paper was passed around with the times of staff meetings and departmental meetings printed on them. Rose hated that part of her job. Luckily, all her meetings were scheduled for the next week, so she was spared that headache for a few days at least.
At the end of the school day, Frankie popped her head in the door of room 17. ‘Are you going straight home, or would you like to go somewhere?’
Rose gathered up her things and walked towards the door. ‘A coffee sounds good. I think I’m in caffeine withdrawal; I just can’t bring myself to drink that stuff they have here. Where do you want to go for coffee?’
Frankie sighed. ‘Anywhere, anywhere at all. I just want to put some distance between me and this school, and I’m not ready to go home to Nana yet.’
Fifteen minutes later, the two women were ensconced in Shirley’s Tearooms, a single roomed establishment with plastic furniture, linoleum flooring and strip lighting. It served strong coffee which, along with the friendly staff, went some way to making up for the poor décor that made the bland functionality of the St. Jude’s staffroom look like it deserved a double page spread in an interiors magazine. There was a nicer coffee shop down the street which was chocolate box cute, with red gingham tablecloths and mouth watering homemade cakes, but a lot of their fellow teachers tended to congregate there after work. Rose and Frankie reckoned that they did enough small talk during their working day without continuing it after they clocked off. Shirley’s was much safer.
‘So why were you so desperate to get out of work?’ asked Rose as she emptied a sachet of sugar into her coffee. ‘Just the usual? Or was it something more particular today?’
Frankie blew on the coffee in her cup and took a sip before answering. ‘Oh you know it’s just those godforsaken departmental meetings. All the German teachers have a free class last thing on a Thursday, so we had the joy of our first meeting of term on our first day back. Sally was on my back today, yet again .’
Sally Richards was the head of the German department at St. Jude’s. Teaching was so tough in the school that Roger had come up with a departmental structure, to give some of the senior members of staff incentive to stay by giving them a title. The illusion of progression. Which was all great in theory, but subject departmental meetings were a pain for all concerned. Frankie had it tougher than Rose, teaching French, German and English, whereas Rose taught history, English and Classical Studies. Theoretically, this meant that they should both have three meetings every fortnight, but as Rose was the only member of staff who taught classical studies, and therefore constituted the entire Classical Studies department, she’d long ago elected to chair her departmental meetings at home in the bath with a large glass of wine.
Frankie was doubly cursed, as Frau Richards was known throughout the school as a cantankerous pain in the arse. She was disliked by the majority of the staff, mainly due to her tendency to comment on all aspects of their lives. Boyfriends, weight, dress sense or lack thereof – no subject was considered too personal for Sally to stick her oar in.
For most people Sally was just a nuisance, but she really had it in for Frankie. This probably had a lot to do with the fact that Frankie was a popular teacher and liked by the majority of
*
The first day of term passed by in a blur as it always did. The students weren’t exactly thrilled to be back in school after the break, but they hadn’t been back long enough to start causing any real trouble-probably because they weren’t being asked to participate in anything. The day flew by in a cloud of paper timetables, telling each class group exactly what was expected from now until the summer which for the most part went in one ear and straight out the other. In the staff room at lunch time, yet more paper was passed around with the times of staff meetings and departmental meetings printed on them. Rose hated that part of her job. Luckily, all her meetings were scheduled for the next week, so she was spared that headache for a few days at least.
At the end of the school day, Frankie popped her head in the door of room 17. ‘Are you going straight home, or would you like to go somewhere?’
Rose gathered up her things and walked towards the door. ‘A coffee sounds good. I think I’m in caffeine withdrawal; I just can’t bring myself to drink that stuff they have here. Where do you want to go for coffee?’
Frankie sighed. ‘Anywhere, anywhere at all. I just want to put some distance between me and this school, and I’m not ready to go home to Nana yet.’
Fifteen minutes later, the two women were ensconced in Shirley’s Tearooms, a single roomed establishment with plastic furniture, linoleum flooring and strip lighting. It served strong coffee which, along with the friendly staff, went some way to making up for the poor décor that made the bland functionality of the St. Jude’s staffroom look like it deserved a double page spread in an interiors magazine. There was a nicer coffee shop down the street which was chocolate box cute, with red gingham tablecloths and mouth watering homemade cakes, but a lot of their fellow teachers tended to congregate there after work. Rose and Frankie reckoned that they did enough small talk during their working day without continuing it after they clocked off. Shirley’s was much safer.
‘So why were you so desperate to get out of work?’ asked Rose as she emptied a sachet of sugar into her coffee. ‘Just the usual? Or was it something more particular today?’
Frankie blew on the coffee in her cup and took a sip before answering. ‘Oh you know it’s just those godforsaken departmental meetings. All the German teachers have a free class last thing on a Thursday, so we had the joy of our first meeting of term on our first day back. Sally was on my back today, yet again .’
Sally Richards was the head of the German department at St. Jude’s. Teaching was so tough in the school that Roger had come up with a departmental structure, to give some of the senior members of staff incentive to stay by giving them a title. The illusion of progression. Which was all great in theory, but subject departmental meetings were a pain for all concerned. Frankie had it tougher than Rose, teaching French, German and English, whereas Rose taught history, English and Classical Studies. Theoretically, this meant that they should both have three meetings every fortnight, but as Rose was the only member of staff who taught classical studies, and therefore constituted the entire Classical Studies department, she’d long ago elected to chair her departmental meetings at home in the bath with a large glass of wine.
Frankie was doubly cursed, as Frau Richards was known throughout the school as a cantankerous pain in the arse. She was disliked by the majority of the staff, mainly due to her tendency to comment on all aspects of their lives. Boyfriends, weight, dress sense or lack thereof – no subject was considered too personal for Sally to stick her oar in.
For most people Sally was just a nuisance, but she really had it in for Frankie. This probably had a lot to do with the fact that Frankie was a popular teacher and liked by the majority of
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