Back to High School : Part 1

100% fiction!

My first day at work was Bad. When I completed high school I wished to never again come to the school to mingle with the teachers, some of whom I disliked for having punished me, given me bad grades. But there I was, going back to the school, not as a student, as a teacher!

It was kinda awkward to be one of them. I had once been a student at Springville High, not many years ago, now I was employed there as a science teacher, chemistry was my field of expertise. I had just gotten out of college and was on fire for teaching and I was going to be the best teacher there ever was.

"I'm proud to announce that we have amongst us a new member of staff, Mr James Cross, he was a brilliant student here, now his brilliance will be passed on to a new generation of young men and women," I smiled as the principal Mrs Harp introduced me to the staff in the staff room. I needed no introduction to most of these.

There was a feeling of importance in me , but also a feeling of being out of place, I was one of the few young teachers here, the majority were older folks, some on the verge of retirement. Some of them once had me as their student, some were new. I could see only a few new faces, among whom was this young looking teacher, Eric Philips was his name.

He looked like he was around my age. "Mr Cross will be taking over Mr Philips' class while Mr Philips will take over Mr Johnson's class, as you all know Mr Johnson has retired. Please make Mr Cross welcome." Mrs Harp said. When the meeting was over, Eric came over to me and said hi. He seemed quite nice. "let me lead you to your new class," Eric said with a smile on his face that showed kindness. We walked as we talked in the familiar hallways and then we entered a classroom. The students looked a lot older than I expected, maybe it was because I was the one who looked as young as these seniors.

I was introduced to them, then was left to do my work. I could see they weren't very happy to see Eric leave them.

As I looked at my students, I was almost intimidated because of my young looking self. "I can't let myself be intimidated, I am the teacher here," I said to myself, giving myself a bit of courage, courage that I hoped would last me this whole hour I was to be with these boys, or adults, whatever they were. "So, where did Mr Philips leave off so we can pick up from there?" I asked.

No reply was given me, only looks of disappointment. "I understand you still want him to be your teacher, but surely there's nothing you can do, so why don't you at least get over him and give yourselves a chance to learn, with me as your new teacher?" I said, as confidently as I could.

"We don't like you!" one of the students at the back said loudly. I didn't expect that, at least not on my first day here.

"And what is your name, young man?" I asked, in my teacherly tone that still needed perfecting. "Thomas," he said, after a bit of silence, a bit of regret in his voice.

Wow, I thought. A rude boy has just given me his name at my command, I must be pretty darn good at this teacher stuff. The guy was arrogant, I remembered his type when I was still at school. He must be the handsome popular type that think highly of themselves because every student at the school worships them.

Wait a minute, did I just think this guy is handsome? It seemed I did! I looked closely to verify my thought and surely he was extremely handsome. I was not going to be one of his worshipers, I was going to be a pain in his ass if he was to be disrespectful to me in my class, I had the power at my fingertips, I was not his fellow student, I was his teacher.

An evil grin suddenly invaded my face. "Thomas, did you speak for the whole class or you spoke for yourself?" I said. Hewas quiet for a moment. I stood looking straight in his eyes, I couldn't help but notice how enticing and alluring his eyes were. Even from were he sat in the back I could clearly tell just by looking in his eyes which to me were like windows into his heart that he didn't mean what he said.

Those psychology courses were coming in real' handy. He looked away, avoiding eye contact.

"Yes! I speak for the whole class, isn't that right class?" he said. I looked around the class, to see if they would agree with their lord, their prince.

"Yes," I heard a reply from most of the students, like a choir of loyal subjects they pledged their allegiance by their support of their handsome prince. "Well then," I spoke in a low tone of defeat, "you may request for my transfer to another class from the principal, but until then I'm your teacher and if you want good grades, which I hope you do, pay attention."

When the class was over I went to the staff room, where I found Eric, and a few other teachers. "So, how did it go?" Eric said. "Oh, very well. The students didn't like me at all and they weren't attentive, but other than that, all went well," I said, with a bit of sarcasm. "I see, Thomas Williams gave you the treatment, welcome to the club!" said Eric, laughing at me.

"That Thomas is trouble, but there's something else about him that I noticed, something deeper." "Whatever it is, it made me glad to leave that class." "what! Why wasn't I forewarned?" I said. "I didn't know you were going to be treated the same." said Eric. "Well, the battle is on," I declared. At home alone, I thought a lot about Thomas. What was wrong with me?

Was I falling for this rude kid? Falling for popular straight guys was not for teachers! I had to stop this.