10:01am Sammy's English Classroom
Standing at the whiteboard, Sammy could hear the sound of students bustling about in the hallway. The bell dismissing period 2 had rang about a minute ago, but Sammy had yet to dismiss her students. "Don't forget your essays are due tomorrow." Sammy paused for a moment to make her students sweat a little more. On days when she found her students particularly frustrating, she liked to hold them after the bell as payback. After an awkward 30 seconds of silence, Sammy finally decided to cut them loose. "Class dismissed!" One by one her disgruntled students hurried out of the classroom en route to their next class.
Sammy smirked as the last couple of students hustled out of her classroom. Glancing up at the clock on the wall, Sammy decided she better go out and keep an eye on the hallway. Stepping out into the hallway she took her normal spot to the side of her classroom door furthest from Stephen’s classroom. "Douchebag." Sammy thought glancing over at Stephen. Back at the start of the semester Sammy and Stephen had divided up the hallway. Anything on Stephen's side of the hallway he would deal with, and anything on Sammy's side of the hallway she would deal with.
”It’s about time…” Stephen thought noticing Sammy had joined him in the hallway. It always irked Stephen when Sammy held her student’s after the bell, because it meant he had to cover for her while she was clearly messing with her students. “At least things have been calm…” Stephen thought taking one last look at Sammy’s side of the hallway. ”O come on!” Stephen spotted a student named Maggie attempting to discretely drink a Coke at her locker. Looking back down to Sammy he could see that she had also noticed what Maggie was up to. “Just do your job!…” Stephen’s inner monologue screamed at Sammy who stood motionless watching her.
After a minute of inaction by Sammy, Stephen had finally had enough. “Fine I’ll do it!” Stephen rolled his eyes. “Maggie put it away. You can wait until lunch.” Stephen said in a stern voice. The young girl realizing she was caught quickly put the cap back on the bottle and put it back into her locker. Stephen quickly turned his attention back to Sammy. “Were you just going to stare at her and let her drink it?” Stephen asked in an annoyed tone.
“I didn’t see her.” Sammy said defiantly as she turned back towards Stephen. “I can’t discipline something that I didn’t see.” Sammy crossed her arms taking a defensive posture. “And if anyone did something wrong, it was you. The school handbook clearly states that you should have given her a written warning. I should turn you into to the administration for how you handled that.”
Sammy’s combative words made Stephen’s blood boil, but before he could retort the bell rang out signaling the start of period 3. Sammy quickly turned and headed back into her classroom as the bell continued to ring. “That bitch!” Stephen screamed in his head as he watched her shuffle back to her desk. “No! Not this time.” Stephen stepped around the corner back into his classroom. “Open your books and take a look at the diagram on page 252. I’ll be right back.” Stephen quickly rounded the corner into Sammy’s empty classroom. Stephen knew that period 3 was Sammy’s prep period, which made it the perfect time for what he was about to do.
Out of the corner of her eye Sammy noticed a disgruntled Stephen marching back into her classroom. ”Don’t even.” Stephen barked in a muffled yet angry voice as he approached Sammy. “I don’t want to hear it.” Stephen leaned down towards Sammy who was seated at her desk. “In the five years I’ve worked here I’ve seen two new hires fired for poor performance. Both of those teachers were doing a better job than your currently doing. SO!” Stephen forced himself to pause for a moment to gather his wits as he stared daggers at Sammy who looked utterly shocked. “Look I know you don’t want to get fired at the end of your second year, because the thought of failing like that and having to move back in with your parents absolutely disgusts you. So let me give you a bit of advice. Very very soon you’re finally going to listen to that little voice in the back of your head that’s been begging you to finally swallow your pride and ask for help.” Again Stephen paused to keep his composure. “And when you finally decide to ask for help…” Stephen began to grin, "You're going to realize that you fucked up when you turned down my offer to mentor you last semester, because you know that I'm the one that can help you save your job." Stephen pulled back from Sammy. “Now I have a class to teach.” Stephen said turning and marching back out of the room.
“What the hell was that…” Sammy mumbled as she starred blankly at the classroom doorway.
