They all stood in the corridor outside the classroom, waiting for something with Class 6 to go wrong.
Lynne was becoming impatient. She had been waiting for a while but nothing seemed to be happening.
Billy crossed his arms. He was enjoying himself and wasn't in any hurry.
Finally, Lynne walked into the room to find the students sitting with their feet up on the desks, snoring, playing with their cell phones, and chatting with their friends.
Lynne called for their attention but they ignored her completely. All she could do was open her book and calmly begin the lesson.
She actually felt a little relieved. The discipline in the classroom hadn't improved at all, but at least there was no sign of a strike. She thought, "Billy and Leonard it looks like your fantasy strike isn't going to happen. Now perhaps the new teacher, Mr. Ambrose will be safe."
From the corridor, Billy was surprised to hear Lynne giving her lesson in the classroom.
That was not what was supposed to happen. Why hadn't the strike started?
"Wait a bit longer", he told himself.
One minute passed, and then two minutes. Three minutes passed, and then five minutes. Still, nothing happened.
His vision of the students swarming out, shouting their protestations, hadn't come true.
Ten minutes later, he heard that Lynne had stopped talking.
"Now it's going to begin", Billy thought. He listened on excitedly. But nothing happened.
"Miss Bowen is probably trying to pacify the students. That's never going to work," he commented.
After waiting for fifteen minutes, everything still seemed normal.
He couldn't believe it.
"What are you doing waiting by the door?" Alex's voice suddenly came from behind him.
"Mr. Ambrose, why don't you wait here with us? Any minute now the show should begin," Leonard said snidely.
Then he suddenly felt something hit the back of his head. "Ouch, who hit me?" he said as he turned around and found Billy staring at him.
"Mr. Wilde, why did you hit me?" Leonard asked in bewilderment.
"Of course, I didn't hit you," Billy replied quickly.
Leonard touched his head and found a small lump. It was very painful to touch.
Billy was the only person standing behind him but he couldn't think of any reason for Billy to hit him. Was it a ghost?
"It was retribution," Alex said quietly.
Leonard rubbed his head and said, "Don't get too comfortable. This isn't over."
Billy backed Leonard up, "Alex, don't think that your position is safe here at Oak Ridge high school. I'll find a way to reveal your true colors to everyone."
Alex knew what Billy thought of him but he wasn't afraid of him.
"Well, I look forward to seeing what you decide to do," he said.
He knew that he could kill Billy with no trouble at all, but restrained his anger. Biting his tongue, he turned to leave.
There were several teachers in the corridor, but when they realized that nothing exciting was going to happen, they started to wander away. Only Billy and Leonard waited longer hoping that the strike would still kick-off.
Half an hour later, there was still nothing.
Standing outside the classroom, their legs started to feel tired.
When the bell rang indicating the end of the class, Lynne walked out smiling and the students of Class 6 followed her out.
Billy and Leonard finally had to accept that they were wrong. Nothing was going to happen.
"Miss Bowen, wait a minute," Leonard said as he caught up with her.
"Was there anything unusual about Class 6 today?" he asked.
"No, what were you hoping would be unusual?" Lynne asked pointedly. "Were you hoping that there would be something wrong with Class 6 today? Is that an appropriate wish for a teacher and educator of young people?"
Lynne turned away in disgust and walked away from Leonard and Billy.
"Damn it!" Leonard cursed.
Billy hissed, "Just wait. Once Alex has been driven away from the school, we'll make sure we get rid of her too."
**
At noon, Leonard and Billy were still stewing over what had happened.
In the office later that afternoon they were still discussing it.
"Why was Class 6 so calm today when they've been so disruptive lately?" Leonard asked.
"Yes, it's really strange," agreed Billy.
"You wait. The afternoon is about to start. Now something's bound to happen," said Leonard with certainty.
"Yes, and an inexperienced novice like Alex will have no chance of controlling them," agreed Billy with a satisfied smile.
The group of teachers who wished Alex ill felt very confident.
Again, they waited outside the classroom, but everything inside remained calm.
At the end of the afternoon classes, Billy went into Class 6 and waited for the students to leave the classroom.
It was a crucial moment because if the day passed and there was still no strike in Class 6, it wouldn't be Alex who had made a fool of himself, but himself in front of the rest of the teachers.
Finally, Eric and a classmate walked out together.
Frustrated, Billy rushed up to Eric and said angrily, "Eric, what's the matter with you? Why didn't you strike like you said you were going to?"
"Billy, who the hell do you think you are? Get out of my way or I'll thump you," Eric replied.
Billy's face froze. He had spoken in a whisper, but Eric's voice was so loud that everyone around them heard him.
The students started chatting excitedly. One said, "I can't believe that Eric just dared to talk back to Mr. Wilde! Billy's really mean."
Billy felt despondent. The day had been a total disaster.
However, at that moment, he heard a voice coming from the classroom.
"Everyone from Class 6, please go to the running track immediately. We're about to begin."
It was Alex addressing the students of Class 6.
Billy's face suddenly changed as he realized what was about to happen. There had been no incidents at all in Class 6 that day which meant that he and the other teachers had lost their bet with Alex. As punishment, all twelve of them who were involved in the bet were going to have run fifty laps of the racetrack.
Each lap was 400 meters, so fifty laps were twenty kilometers. It would take them a good couple of hours.
Billy couldn't believe that Alex was blatantly encouraging the students to watch them.
"Please let's forget all about the bet," he begged Alex. He realized that he had met his match in Alex Ambrose.
"If you lose, you have to accept your punishment," Alex replied coldly then walked away. He was starting to find life in a high school quite interesting.
Eric laughed and told everyone, "Guess what? Mr. Wilde and the other teachers made a bet with Mr. Ambrose that something would happen in Class 6 today. They've all lost and have to run fifty laps of the racetrack."