He needn't be nervous he told himself. He was a good teacher, he loved his subject history and above all he loved working with young minds.
The thing making him nervous was a job at hand. He'd managed to bag a place in one of the most exclusive schools in the state. Teachers with years more experience would kill for this job and yet he was the one sitting here.
A mixture of a passion for the job, charisma and a little low-level flirting with the headmistress and school governors had secured him this chance. They had taken a risk, eyebrows might be raised by the appointment of a handsome young teacher, there might also (he suspected) be resistance because of his working class background.
He didn't care, he was here now with a new class of young soon-to-be-adults to teach....if his accent betrayed his lack of privilege and the spoilt rich-kids didn't like it then he could be tough if required. He'd worked in schools in wretched areas, he'd loved it in fact....this would be the other end of the spectrum.
The door burst open and the Year 13 A-level students began spilling into the room, all noise and energy and bluster. The nerves gave way to adrenalin.
He allowed them to find their places and the commotion ebbed.
"Good Morning, everyone....I'm your new history teacher, Mr Williams"
Michael worked his first lesson carefully. It was vital for him to assess the class as quickly as possible to work out which pupils will give him the most problems.
Some very bright kids...it would be great to work with them. Some really dense ones too (Mum and Dad's money would be very useful making up for their lack of brains).
There was also one or two trouble-makers, in a class of 17 and 18 year olds there always would be...he would have to come down hard on them but he had dealt with tougher kids than this....way tougher.
Then there was one girl who stuck out from the rest...she looked at him with a sense of superiority. She dressed way more daringly than the rest. At first he thought she was going to be another dumb rebel but she was in fact well ahead of the rest of the class, clearly an extremely clever young lady. He made a point of checking her work leaning over her and immediately cursing himself as he got a generous and wholly inappropriate view of her cleavage. Yes, she was an extremely beautiful girl to go with everything else...she seemed to regard everything as totally beneath her.
All in all it was an interesting first lesson. He sat back at his desk as the class trooped out and was surprised when a voice interrupted his thoughts
He remained sat at his desk as Natalia stalked over to him. She loomed over him shifting the usual teacher/student dynamic in her favour. It was also not lost on him that he was at eye level with her chest.
He stood up immediately, smiled warmly and shook her hand...it was always good to meet with some enthusiasm.
"Miss Contini isn't it?" He knew it was, one the first things he'd learnt as a teacher was to always know the kids names. He decided to ignore the jibe at the other teachers "...it's lovely of you to say that...some students seem to find history a waste of their time but I've always loved it. I am really looking forward to teaching this class, some of the field trips I can take us on will be brilliant...I see that in previous years they went all over Europe.....they didn't do that at my last school believe me" he smiled again. The rest of the class had left now so they were alone, he relaxed a little and sat on his desk "So is history a particular interest of yours?" He asked
The young lady edged slightly closer “Yes. I’ve always found history to be extremely fascinating. So, what brings such an attractive man as you to this college,”
"Whoa" he thought as she began flirting with him "Not good". He was shocked at how bold she was but then again she was rich, smart and beautiful...it was inevitable she was bound to be confident. He had to be careful here, he needed to ensure the appropriate boundaries were in place while still keeping her engaged and not throwing away her obvious enthusiasm. Humour usually help him out in situations like this.
He made a mock frown "Now, now Miss Contini...us history teachers are not just pretty faces you know...can't we be judged for our impressive knowledge of the 100 years war and not just our looks?"
“Well, some of the other history teachers would just mumble, tell us to read, and then give us a test, expecting us to get all the answers right when we barely reviewed the material in class. I don’t see that with you, Mr. Williams,” she said as she sat in the chair in front of his desk. “I see you as the type to be very…involved with the lessons. Am I wrong,” she began playing with her hair, looking at him, she was openly challenging him now.
He smiled to himself as the young lady continued her flirtation....she was good at this, really good. She sat there toying with her lustrous dark hair, a perfect example of a schoolgirl seductress. She was gorgeous, there was no ignoring that fact. "Wow" he thought as she lingered on the word "Involved"
As she had given him the chance to talk about the history syllabus he tried to steer the conversation onto professional matters. "Sorry to hear you've had some underwhelming experiences in previous history classes....I hate to see a class that isn't being stimul...kept interested by their professor" he cursed himself for his stupid choice of words.
"I promise I will do everything I can to make history come alive for you guys..." fixed by her unflinching gaze he began to feel like a mouse being toyed with by a cat. He retreated to humour once again "...even if I have to get us all to dress up as Yankees & Confederates or Roundhead & Cavaliers"
She smiled, she was clearly enjoying the cut & thrust of the conversation. It was clear however who was the cat and who was the mouse. “Do what you need, but I think that you…are already doing a fantastic job of stimulating the class with the syllabus and whatever you have planned for us,” she sat and adjusted her heels and her skirt. “Well, I am very….very much looking forward to our next lesson together” she said as she pulled out a compact and began to re-apply my lip gloss and making sure my hair was still in place.
Michael sat there, this seemed to be taking an age. Eventually she smiled at him “Have a pleasant day, Mr. Williams,” she said, looking him in the eyes as she stood up and strode out of the room.
Michael found himself holding his breath as she glossed her full, pouting lips "Oh God...get a grip man" he thought as she inspected herself (forcing Michael to inspect her too). Then she breezed out of the room like she owned the place "It's going to be great I promise" he called after her lamely.
Alone and with 5 minutes before the next class arrived he composed himself "What just happened?" he thought.
The rest of the day was fairly pedestrian but convinced him that this was going to be a great place to teach....the only thing that worried him was the attitudes of some of the other teachers. There was, as Natalia had described, an air of complacency because of the backgrounds of the kids they were teacher. It was exemplified at the end of lunch when one of the teachers said "Okay guys, let's go out there and make no difference whatsoever to these kids future". A few giggles followed. Michael faked a smile, perhaps they were just showing off to the new guy or perhaps they'd seen one too many arrogant, disinterested pupil walk out of school and into a top job courtesy of their family connections.
Michael wasn't going to be like that...he had really great lessons planned for all his years. The seniors lesson especially excited him, especially given the promised trip to France. The headmistress had said he had permission to plan it all because she'd "always wanted to go to France".
It didn't matter...he was going get these kids loving history in they way he always had...he was going to deliver on his promise to Natalia.
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