One week had passed since Marzia's encounter with Scott. And finally, after seven days of perilous interviews and gut-wrenching waiting, Marzia was accepted as an English teacher in a private elementary school in the heart of the city. Her hard work and eagerness paid off after about twenty rejections.
Today is her first day at work. With unpalpable excitement, she arrived at the school early in the morning to meet her co-workers in the faculty room. With her bag in her hand, Marzia pushed the door open and gazed at the unfamiliar crowd. Most of them are doing their own thing, while some are having normal human interactions. Oddly enough, even that was amusing for Marzia.
No one noticed her coming inside, and because of this, Marzia tried to find an easy target. Her gaze is then fixed on a woman nearby. She looks about the same age as Marzia and seems busy preparing her lesson plans.
"Um, hi. Good morning! I'm Marzia." She lifted her palm to the woman sporting red hair.
However, to her dismay, the red-haired woman just raised her eyebrows menacingly. She ignored Marzia and went back to typing on her laptop.
"Oh, alright..." Marzia just sighed, dismayed that her first encounter here was pretty vile. With this, she just walked around the busy faculty, looking for an empty desk where she could temporarily settle while waiting for the department head.
When she got to the left side of the room, she was surprised that someone approached her. Marzia was then greeted by a middle-aged woman who seemed like she was in her forties. She had curly black hair and light olive skin that matched her warm toffee eyes.
"I assume you're the new English teacher." She raised her eyebrows at Marzia and shook her hands. "I'm Cassandra, by the way—the math teacher!"
Marzia smiled pleasantly at her. "Oh, hello! I'm Marzia. Nice to meet you!" She shook the latter's hand and looked around.
Thankfully, Cassandra pointed to the desk in the left corner of the room. "I think that's your space. It was previously occupied by Ronda, the senior English teacher in the department. She's retired so don't worry about her!" Cassandra said, and Marzia chuckled her reply. "I see. Thanks, Cassandra."
"Sure thing. You can ask me anything if you need help. We are happy to have you in our school," Cassandra added before going back to the desk that was in the opposite direction to hers.
Marzia just nodded at Cassandra and walked toward her desk. It was empty, clean, and didn't look like the previous owner of this desk left a long time ago. She then placed her bag on top of the wooden desk and grabbed the things she would need for her first class.
When she was done getting herself ready, she sat on her chair and peered into the room. For an elite school, the faculty was quite commodious to everyone. It had all the materials and textbook guides needed by teachers and students alike, as well as laptops and tablets that would aid them in their lessons.
Marzia couldn't help but feel excited that she would finally be able to use her degree to her fullest ability and learn more about the real world as she worked her way through this school.
After a couple of minutes of waiting, the bell rang. Marzia went to her first class. The head gave her the second-graders, and luckily, they were quite well-behaved on their first day. She made her way to the desk in front and checked the attendance. By the time she was done checking the girls' presence, she moved to the boys and noticed on the roster list that Chan Harrison, Ian's nephew, was one of her students.
Marzia was surprised to see the name there, as she had thought a kid like Chan would be home-schooled. She didn't expect that she would see the kid and be his teacher after that horrible encounter with that family. Sighing in dejection, Marzia decided to be professional and called Chan's name. "Harrison?" she asked, but no one answered.
"Chan Harrison?" She repeated, but still, the boy was not in the room. "Do you guys know where he is?" Marzia asked one of her students.
The boy with shaggy blonde hair replied to her. "He always cuts classes, Miss. And he is a troublemaker because he has no parents—that's what Teacher Ronda says."
'Ronda? Isn't she the previous English teacher?' Marzia asked herself, recalling Cassandra's words from earlier.
"Okay, thank you. But, dear, it's also not polite to criticize your classmates, okay? " She reminded the child softly.
Brian pouted. He fumbled with his fingers as he replied, "Sorry, Miss Marzia. I won't do it again."
"It's alright, dear." She flashed a smile at the kid and called the rest of the class for the attendance once again. After that, Marzia didn't push the issue further and just started their class with some introductions and icebreakers.
The students had fun playing, knowing their teacher more that they grumbled in discontentment when they realized her class ended. As Marzia said goodbye to her first class, she still couldn't help but think about Chan. Eventually, by the time she reached her second class, she assumed Chan must have been absent today. It was possible since he had been spoiled too much by his uncle and was way too rude and problematic.
Time passed by in just a flash and break time came. When the bell rang, she bid the students goodbye and went straight to the faculty to return her lesson plans to her desk and grabbed her lunchbox. Then, she headed toward the teacher's lounge and saw an empty seat beside Cassandra.
Fortunately, Cassandra saw her amidst the surging crowd and waved at her. Marzia quickly approached and sat on the side as she opened her packed lunch. Marzia didn't have time to prepare her meal in the morning so she ended up deciding to take what was left of her dinner last night. Good thing that there was some spaghetti in the fridge that she could take with her.
"Hey! So, how was your first day?" Cassandra asked, forking a baby carrot.
Marzia yanked her utensils and answered, "It was good. I wasn't expecting them to be that..."
She was cut off when Cassandra continued her sentence. "Well-mannered and behaved?"
Marzia lightly laughed. "Haha, yes. Exactly!"
"Well, dear, that's what you get when you go to a prep school," Cassandra said as she munched on her food. "So, where were you before you got this job?"
She dropped her utensils and pursed her lips. "This is my first job, actually." Marzia's eyes landed on the latter as she continued, "I mean, I do have experience as an aide. I've also tried tutoring for pocket money. But this? I've never done something as extensive as this?"
Cassandra nodded at her in a contemplative manner. "Oh. Now, that makes sense." She leaned against her back and added, "Don't worry, you'll adjust quickly. Besides, it's always like that on your first day in a new job. Trust me, even if you've been in this career for so long, you always feel like it's your first time when the academic year starts..."
Marzia couldn't agree more with her. She lightly laughed. "You're right! Uhm, if you don't mind me asking… How long have you been here?"
Cassandra raised three fingers. "Three. So, like you, I'm just a rookie here."
"Yeah, but wow, three years and you're still here! I heard private school teachers usually quit after a year and choose to teach at public institutes since they pay better." Marzia's eyes widened in wonder.
Cassandra shrugged. "Yeah, but they pay well here."
Marzia lightheartedly joked, "Oh, then you wouldn't see me leave anytime soon!" The two women shared heartfelt laughter. Just then, Marzia remembered her mother's debt. That was her problem right now. If she could stay in this school for a year, she could pay Mary's debts.
In the middle of their conversation, Cassandra picked up her bottled water and drank it. She gave some tips and tricks regarding teaching, which lead to a question, "By the way, do you have any problems with the second graders?"
Marzia shook her head. "None—"
Then, she paused when Chan's absence came to hit her thoughts. Considering that, Marzia felt compelled to ask Cassandra about the kid. "Well, Chan Harrison was absent on the first day, and Brian said that he always missed classes. Is it true? He is only in second grade, after all..."
"Oh..." Cassandra's head jostled back and forth. "That little boy is so mischievous that he always gets into trouble for the past two years he has been studying here. He's only known how to cause trouble among the faculty heads since his first day."
Marzia's attention was transfixed by Cassandra's story. She now knew that it would be hard to discipline Chan altogether, as he had been like that ever since. If there was a way to show the kid his wrongdoings, then reprimanding him would never work.
The kid had already been a knucklehead from the very beginning.
"Chan arrived here with his uncle, Ian Harrison—you know, the owner of Harrison Media."
"Oh, the really popular entertainment thingy?"
Cassandra nodded, "Yes, and they have their own channel!"
"I don't watch TV that much. Really? Is he that rich?" Marzia unconsciously, having trouble processing this confounding information.
She didn't know that Ian was that wealthy. At first, she just knew him as one of the corporate enthusiasts who was at the top of the social hierarchy., Marzia had no clue that he dominated the business industry, and more importantly, the entertainment one. That's a really big deal.
Cassandra continued, "Yeah! So, anyway, going back, Sir Ian is Chan's only living relative after his parents died in the car crash. It happened six years ago." Cassandra sighed, reclining away from the hardboard of the seat. "Thinking about it, I guess I can see the reason why that little kid turned out that way. I mean, tragic, right? Marzia?" she continued, looking at the stunned Marzia before her