"Take care on your way home, kids," Edward Bartlett said as he waved the students goodbye by the gates. Then, he walked back inside the building. As he went back to his classroom, Belinda Cogzell was sitting on his chair behind the table.
"Oh, hey, Ms. Cogzell," he called to her as he approached her.
"Hi, Sir Bartlett," she replied with a smile.
He grabbed a spare chair and sat by the table, minding a safe distance from her. "Can I help you with anything?"
"Yeah, you see…" She leaned on the chair with her legs crossed, exposing her perfectly tanned thighs under her bright red pencil skirt. "I've already been working here for a week but I'm still confused on some stuff."
"Oh, sure, what is it?" He genuinely asked as he looked into her eyes.
"I'm still vague on what we, teachers, do aside from teaching."
"Hmm." He leaned back on his chair as if he was thinking. "In a nutshell, as primary teachers, we are responsible for teaching them the national curriculum subjects. We're here to guide them and help them take the first step to education. Aside from teaching, let's see..." He stared his eyes unfocused on the floor underneath Belinda's chair. "We're also responsible for preparing lesson plans, and we're going to be teaching a broad range of topics from various subjects like math, english, music and physical education,” he said as he counted with his fingers.
"And since children have a very short attention span, they get bored really easily," he added. "To avoid that, you will have to be creative in using interactive and engaging teaching methods to encourage them to actively participate in classroom activities to develop their cognitive, numerical and verbal reasoning skills."
“Oh, I see.” She exhaled. “I can be creative,” she said underneath her breath as she crossed her legs in his direction.
“Excellent!” he exclaimed. “Also, we don't have assistants here so we have to mark their work ourselves. That's why most teachers stay late at school and some even bring their paperworks home with them. And children want to feel special, they'll be more open and cooperative to you if you're able to distinguish them and make them feel special."
"Hmm-mmm, special." She leaned her forearms on the table, pushing her chests on the table exposing her cleavage. "Tell me more about it," she softly said, almost whispering.
"First, you'll have to remember their names. It'll take some time but your efforts will surely take roots.” He chuckled. “Next is their interests. You don't have to be specific to every child, just a few with unique and rare hobbies.And it’ll also help if you share the same interests.”
“Well, there’s no way kids that age would share my…” She inhaled softly. “Interests…”
“Well, that’s fine too,” he replied. “the goal is you'll have to get to know them, make them feel that you want to befriend them. And then you'll always have to provide necessary feedback, encouragement and support. Compliments; a very simple thing that every child longs for. Sometimes I even write little notes on their assignments to interact with them." He softly chuckled in embarrassment.
"Hmm, I see you're a very diligent teacher, Sir Bartlett." She tucked her black hair behind her ear. "But speaking of special, I heard you just got married." She glanced at his hand. "But I see no ring, why is that?"
"Oh." He chuckled. "The marriage was postponed."
"Postponed? From what I heard, the bride didn't show up though." She ran her fingers on the edge of the table. "Did she get cold feet and ran away perhaps?"
"Of course not." He laughed. "My fiancee is just a free-spirited person. She's like a bull, always charging forward."
She extended her hand to him and touched his shoulder. "But how could she leave a man like you...alone?" she said in a slow manner, gently blinking as she gazed into his eyes.
He touched her hand on his shoulder. "Some people might think like that." Then he gently pulled it away and put her hand on the table. "But my fiancee never left me, and never will." He stood up as he forced out a smile. "if you'll excuse me, I have matters to attend to."
"Wait." She sprung up. "I'm sorry if I offended you in any way, I didn't mean to badmouth your fiancee or anything." She lowered her head as she fiddled with her hands.
"It's fine, I'm not offended." He turned to her and patted her shoulder. "Come on, Ms. Cogzell, cheer up. You don't have to feel sorry."
She lifted her head. " But I still feel bad."
He carried the chair he used and put it back to its place. "It's fine, let bygones be bygones, I know you didn't mean it."
"But I still owe you a proper apology," she insisted. "Yeah, why don't I treat you for dinner, how does that sound?"
"Dinner?"
Meanwhile, Zia Scott had been eyeing the school guard at the gate. The class had already ended, no student was permitted to enter the premises again without a valid reason or accompanied by a guardian.
"How did I even end up inside the last time?" she thought to herself as she spied on the guard from a distance.
As her thoughts wandered, the guard had left its post. Finally realizing this, she slipped past the gate and successfully sneaked inside the school campus.
She walked around nonchalantly, blending into the small crowd with her head bobbing around looking for Edward. She looked around the benches scattered around the building but she could not see him. Relying on the other possibility that he was still somewhere inside the campus, she decided to enter the building to look for his classroom.
"Where is it again?" she mumbled to herself as she glanced around the doors on the corridor. While looking around as she walked aimlessly, she fell flat on the floor as she bumped into what felt like a hard pole. When she looked up, it was a bald old man, perhaps a teacher.
The old man crouched down and helped her stand up. "I'm so sorry, little girl. I didn't see you there. Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you, sir," she replied as she dusted off the dirt on her frilly white skirt.
"Where were you going, little girl?" He crouched down and looked at her.
"Uhmm." She hesitated. "I'm looking for Sir Bartlett."
"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Another one of Edward's pupils." He chuckled. "Look here, little girl." He moved beside her and held her shoulders. "If you turn that corner over there," he said as he pointed out his finger. "His room is in the third door you see. He's probably there."
She turned around and smiled from ear to ear. "Thank you, mister." Then she did as he instructed and turned on the corner.
"I think around here..." As she finally stood before the door, she tiptoed as she struggled to turn the knob open.
As she opened it, the sight beyond the door made her feel as if gravity was pulling her hard on the ground. Her whole body felt heavy and numb. And as if oxygen had dispersed from her body, excruciating pain pierced through her heart, she could hardly breath.
Edward was lying on the floor and Belinda was on top of him.
Zia clutched on her heart as she forced a voice to come out of her mouth. "W-what the---"
Thank you for reading! Have you also ever seen an awkward situation as you open a door? Share your thoughts in the comments!
"But I still owe you a proper apology," Belinda Cogzell uttered as Edward Bartlett headed for the door. "Yeah, why don't I treat you for dinner, how does that sound?" "Dinner?" he replied. "Yes, please, I really feel bad about what I said about your fiancee." She slowly approached him. "Just a light dinner between co-workers, what do you say?" "I'd love to but I already made plans, Ms. Cogzell, maybe some other time." Her face contorted. All her life, no man had ever resisted her advances. She would make even the toughest man with the highest pride beg on all fours just to make her stay. She had taken pride in her beauty and irresistable bombing hourglass body. With that weapon she was able to sabotage relationships and families. Men were at her mercy. And she merely thinks of them as her source of money and fun, mere tools for her entertainment. She is like a viper that captivates men and wraps them around her little scheme before inflicting her veno
"W-hat the---" Zia Scott uttered and ran off in panic. She sprinted out of the campus as she painfully sobbed. And as she trudged along the sidewalk all the while sniffing the snot running down her nose and wiping the overflowing tears in her eyes, horrible thoughts were haunting her mind. Who was that girl? What were they doing? What is she to Edward? What were they doing? What is their relationship? What were they doing? Does she know that he's engaged? What were they doing? Where did they meet? What were they doing? When did they meet? What were they doing? What were they doing?! "JUST WHAT WERE THEY DOING?!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, then a new set of tears had flooded her already dried-up eyes again. "Seriously," she uttered in between
"Likewise." Sarah Lewis curved a smile as she heard Gray Stewart's response. "It's really funny how you always catch me when I'm in trouble," she said as it went silent again. "Yeah," Gray shortly replied while keeping her eyes on the road. "You're like my personal saviour," Sarah said. "Always to the rescue!" She thrusted her arm out as if imitating a superhero's typical flying pose, then she laughed softly as she put her arm down in embarrassment. "Yeah." She briefly glanced at Gray then on her hands resting on her lap. "I'm sorry, I must be annoying you, I'll just keep quie---" "It's fine, keep talking," Gray said while she b
As soon as Gray Stewart and Zia Scott heard about the dreadful accident, they rushed over to the hospital. As they arrived, they saw Edward's mother pacing back and forth near the reception area, awaiting their arrival. "Martha!" Gray called out her attention. "Where's Edward." "Come with me," Martha said as she walked away, and the two followed behind her. "What happened?" Gray asked as they were walking. "I--I don't know," Martha's voice was breaking. "I...I heard he got hit by...by a car just across the school. T-the driver was speeding a-and...and noticed him too late. He was hit pretty hard," she explained. "Here," she added as she stopped on her tracks. "He's still inside." Gray and Zia looked at the room she was referring to. "The operating room?" Zia asked. "I-it's been an hour, I'm so worried," Martha answered as she brought a hand up to brush up her hair in exasperation. "W-wait," she added. "Who's this?" she asked as she pointed at Zia. Gray glanced at Zia beside h
"Hi, I'm Belinda, Belinda Cogzell. Edward's friend from work." Gray Stewart briefly stared at her then she continued reading her magazine. "Are we in hell right now?" "Excuse me?" Belinda said with one eyebrow raised. "What?" Gray glared daggers in her with her dead fish eyes. "Oh, I was reading a line in the magazine." "Ah, I see," Belinda responded. "Look, I just came here to visit Edward. I wanna see how he's doing," she said as she gestured her hand towards his bed. "Well, he's lying unconscious with that massive choker on his neck and a few stitches and little metals replacing his crushed bones inside. So I guess we can all agree that he's definitely fine," Zia mumbled to herself as she rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"...it's my fault." "What?" Gray Stewart looked at her over her shoulder. "It's...It's," Zia's voice was breaking. "It's my fault," she muttered as she looked at Gray and a teardrop unbiddenly escaped her eyes. "What--you really believe whatever that reptile said?" Gray gestured her hand to the door where Belinda was dragged. "B-but, w-what if it's...what if it's true?" "What if it's true?" Gray approached her and leaned on the foot of Edward's bed, crossed arms. "So what? Are you just gonna let that kid die?" "W-what?" Zia's brows furrowed. "Look, let's say you didn't run away, let's say he was able to catch up with you while y
"Oh, God...please," Gray Stewart prayed, holding Sasha Neuman's bloodied hand tightly in between her shaking hands. "Please," she whispered underneath her breath, gazing down with her well up eyes at an unconscious redhead woman wearing a non-rebreather oxygen mask with a pulse oximeter attached to her finger that was connected to a monitor. The equipment inside the ambulance slightly sways with the high-speed driving. The two paramedics smeared with blood sat quietly across from Gray with the female paramedic studying the electrocardiogram monitor and the man beside her monitoring the patient. Only the soft sobbing and whispers of Gray could be heard amidst the reverberating noises from the siren and vehicle horns. And the faint beeping of the ECG monitor. "...please..." Gray leaned her forehead on their clasped hands, and her eyes, closed. "...please..."
"Arghhh..." Gray Stewart groaned as she sat up from an unfamiliar bed. A bed would be a stretch as it looked more like a backless stainless steel bench not even long enough to hold her six foot long body. She rested both elbows on her open thighs and dropped her head on her palms. "What the hell happened?" She strongly brushed up her hair as the intense pain in the head came knocking in. She looked around the room. It was closed with no windows and two doors. The bench she had slept in was placed nearly at the center of the room. Both sides of the walls had large glass wine cellar cabinets and a door on each edge. Behind her were racks with stored cardboard boxes, and wall hanging cupboards. She heard clinking noises from the door on the left. She finally rose and headed towards the door. As she peeked past the d