Chapter 4:

April:

Faint light filtered through the Teacher’s Lounge as I placed the stack of papers that I had finished marking into the drawers. Finally! I thought I would never finish marking those tests! I stretched luxuriously and brought the cup of hot milk that was on my desk to my lips.

I was the only teacher in the Teacher’s Lounge at this time since most of the teachers were either having lessons or having their breakfast at the cafeteria. I already had my breakfast earlier on and decided to use this time to finish marking the tests.

It’s been two days since Damien had enrolled into Valley High and so far, he neither caused nor got himself into any trouble. Yet. I silently hoped that it stays this way.

“Miss Paige! Miss Paige!” A student exclaimed urgently as she burst into the Teacher’s Lounge, panting. “There’s trouble!” It was Violet Ayres from Class 4A, the only student in the class who seemed to care about her academic work.

I sprang up, “What kind of trouble?”

“A fight. In the classroom!” Violet replied quickly, “Hurry!”

Both of us ran as fast as possible to classroom 4A and I was thankful that I wore flats instead of heels today. As we were nearing the classroom, shouts and cheers could be heard, followed by the banging of tables and chairs. Oh no, this is bad.

Suddenly, a chair came flying out of the classroom, I grabbed Violet’s wrist and pulled her back just in time before it could hit her. It flew past her and fell to the ground with a loud thud. If I was a second later, it would have hit her.

“Are you okay?” I asked, letting go of the terrified girl.

“Yes…Th-thanks.” She stammered, still in shock.

I instructed her to wait outside before storming into the classroom. “What on earth is going on here?” I shouted. However, my voice was drowned by the shouts and cheers.

The chairs and tables were overturned and the classroom was in complete chaos. The other students stood in a circle, some were busy watching the fighting while the others were cheering. They took no notice of me and even if they did, they didn’t care.

I pushed my way through the spectators and was greeted by the sight of Damien punching a blonde haired student named Clyde. “Hey! Break it off!” I yelled, pulling Damien off Clyde.

As soon as I’ve separated both of them, Clyde stood up and clenched his fist, wanting to retaliate and punch Damien back.

I stood between the both of them. “That’s enough!” I shouted sternly, “Both of you, outside the class!” I pointed towards the door.

“Teach! He started the fight!” Clyde pointed at Damien.

“Say that again and I’ll punch your face again!” Damien threatened, raising his fist.

“Both of you! Out! NOW!” I yelled at both of them. I will not and let me repeat that again, will not tolerate fights in the classroom. The classroom is a place for learning and should not be treated like a boxing ring.

The two guys glared at each other before heading outside the classroom. Hatred and bitterness still remained on their faces as they left the classroom.

I turned to the rest of the class, “Who started the fight?” I questioned them.

The class remained silent.

“Who started it?” I repeated, firmer this time.

“Damien…” The response was soft, as though they were afraid to speak up, fearing that they may be his next target.

It’s only his third day at Valley High and he is already stirring up trouble, looks like he is really one trouble maker. “All of you clear this mess and get ready for lesson.” I addressed the class, “When I come back, I want to see all of you seated at your places with your books on the table.”

Once I was outside the classroom, I leaned against the wall and placed a hand on my forehead. I closed my eyes and heaved a heavy sigh. Damien, Damien. What am I supposed to do with you? A couple of seconds later, I opened my eyes, straightened myself and crossed my arms.

“Both of you,” I called out to the two boys standing outside the classroom, “Any explanations as to why both of you were fighting?”

Clyde rubbed his cheek where he was punched, “I don’t know, Teach.” He began, “Damien just came up to me and punched me without any reason so –“

“That’s a lie!” Damien cut in angrily, “I did no such thing!”

I held my hand up and turned to Violet. “Violet, who started it?” I asked her even though I knew what the answer would be. My reason for doing this is so that Damien wouldn’t think that I’m being unfair or bias.

Violet looked down and shifted uncomfortably, “Damien…started it…” She stuttered. With that, she picked up the chair that had almost hit her and headed inside the classroom, keeping her head down.

I turned to Damien, “Apologize.”

He gave me a hard stare. There was silence for a few seconds. “So?” I prompted him.

There was another few seconds of silence before he finally spoke. The words he uttered were completely astounding. “I’m not going to apologize.” He began, his voice was firm, “Because I did nothing wrong.”

“You started the fight.” I reminded him.

“Miss Paige,” Damien started, “I did not start the fight.” He replied stubbornly.

My patience was wearing off. “Mr Morrison, we’ll talk about this after school in the detention room.”

                                                 ~.~.~.~.~

“In order to find the gradient of the curve at this point, we need to differentiate the equation...” I explained to the class filled with uninterested students. Today’s lesson was about Differentiation and Integration.

The only student who was sitting up and busy taking down notes was Violet. The rest were either dozing off or doodling on their desks.

“Are you guys even listening?” I sighed out, walking towards the Teacher’s desk, taking the stack of papers and giving them out. “All the little sleeping beauties and gentlemen please wake up! Time to do some work!”

The students began to rub their sleepy eyes and started protesting.

“Can we not to this?”

“I’m too tired.”

“My brain is fried.”

“Math is so boring!”

“Come on! It’s only two pages!” I began to reason with them as I handed out the worksheets. You’d thought that I was making them do a hundred Math question from the way they protested.

I reached the back row and handed the worksheet to Damien who was putting his head on the table. He groaned and held the paper up, as he read the questions. He haven’t even finished reading the first question when he decided to push the Math worksheet aside, shut his eyes and go back to sleep.

Sometimes, I really wonder if I’m trying to kill those students by asking them to do one math question. I tapped his shoulder, “Could you at least attempt the paper?” I gestured to the worksheet.

I wasn’t asking too much right? I’ve spent the whole of last night working on this worksheet and printing it, the least these students could do was to attempt it.

Damien opened his eyes sleepily. He looked at me nonchalantly before shutting his eyes again. I was getting annoyed and frustrated.

“Mr Morrison, could you please –“

Before I could finish my sentence, Damien banged the table with his hands and stood up. He was a head taller than me and I felt quite intimidated. A part of me wanted to back away, but I stood my ground. Damien’s gazed shifted towards the worksheet in my hands and he snatched it.

Damien held the worksheet up. “You know what? I don’t get why do we need to learn this shit. It’s not like we’re even gonna use this shit in real life.” As soon as he ended, he began to rip the worksheet apart.

I was dumbfounded. I stared at him in bewilderment as he shredded the worksheet. I sacrificed my sleep just to finish that and he just ripped all my hard work as if it was nothing. As if it was absolutely nothing.

“And truthfully speaking, math itself is a terribly boring subject. Having you to teach it makes it even more excruciating than it already is. You know what? Just quit already. You’re a terrible teacher!” He spat those words at me as he threw the shredded pieces on the floor before sitting down again, “You can expel me now, for all I care.”

I was infuriated. I was hurt. I was upset. I wanted to scream at him. I really wanted to pull him out of the classroom, but I stood rooted to the ground, unable to utter a single word. How could he? I felt anger coursed through my veins like liquid fire. To make matters worse, he didn’t even look sorry. I searched his face for any signs of guilt or remorse – There was nothing.

I needed to get out of the classroom before I lose it. I took my things from the table and left the classroom without even dismissing the students. I was that furious.

                                                         ~.~.~.~.~

The dismissal bell rang, signaling that school was over. I stared blankly at my computer screen.

“What’s wrong?” Mr Carter asked as he handed me a sandwich. Mr Carter is an old friend of mine, we’ve been friends since college. Also, he is Valley High’s history teacher and is very popular with the female students. They’re always crowding around him after school. I can see why he is so popular with the female students – tanned, lean body, emerald eyes and those brown, lustrous hair that makes those hormone crazed girls trip over their feet whenever he walks pass.

Recently, there’s been some rumours spreading around the school about Mr Carter and I dating…well…in a way we are…but let’s just not talk about this for now.

“Nothing is wrong.” I replied, shrugging. I shouldn’t be bothered about Damien, he probably just spat those venom-like words out of pure rage because I sent him to detention. Besides, I was just doing my job. The only one who should be reflecting about what he said was Damien.

“Are you sure, April?” Mr Carter asked again.

“I need to make my way to the detention room now.” I flashed him a smile before walking towards the door, “Thanks for the sandwich!” I called back over my shoulder before closing the door.

My mind was in a whirlwind, I tried to think of how I should deal with Damien. What action should I take? What should I say to him? How am I supposed to deal with him without having the urge to strangle him. How on earth should I deal with him? Ugh. I stood outside the detention room and took a deep breath before opening the door.

There was only one person sitting in the middle of the room. However, that person wasn’t the one who was supposed to be here.

“Violet!” I called out to her. “What are you doing here? Where’s Damien?”

The girl stood up slowly, “Damien isn’t coming.” She said slowly, as she shuffled her feet nervously. “The one whom should be sent to detention should be me.”

“What? Why?” I blurted out in surprise.

“I lied.” Violet confessed, “Damien wasn’t the one who started the fight. It was Clyde.”

A/N: I hope you enjoyed Chapter 4! If you enjoyed it please remember to VOTE :D Also, I hope that you guys can give me some COMMENTS to improve and yes, you can FAN me if you want to! :D