125 and 214 Shades of Grimes

Greetings

I followed the lead of the beautiful assistant of the principal who apparently was called Jane down the hallway to the staff room. She had just shown me around the school, and finally it was time for me to settle down.
Today was my first day of work. I had graduated from my course and I was officially a teacher now – I would be teaching at this high school.
“Ready?” she paused outside the staff room, hand on the handle, and she was looking at me expectantly.
I took a deep breath, “Yes,” I squeaked. I had to admit that I was very nervous. Very. In my memory teachers were not exactly the type of people I loved back at school, but well, these would be different. They would be my colleagues.
Jane nodded in response, and pushed open the door, revealing a cozy room with all the teachers inside.
“Hello!” “Welcome to the school!” everyone was waiting for my arrival on the other side of the door and they were all cheering for me. I could feel redness creeping up my face and I smiled shyly at everyone.
“Hello everyone,” I said politely after the cheering had died down, “I’m (your full name). Nice to meet you all!”
They cheered in answer, and I relaxed slightly. They seemed bright and nice enough, not the boring old people – like the principal – that I was expecting. Most of them were very young; some in their twenties and most were in their thirties. The oldest group looked they had just hit forty or so.
I scanned the room and everyone was smiling warmly at me – except two. The moment I laid eyes on them they caught my attention.
They looked identical, with blond hair sweeping across their forehead, complimenting their green eyes underneath perfectly. They had very sharp and beautiful features and pale skin. They were absolutely gorgeous – and there were two of them… Twins. Oh well.
They were staring at me, expressionless, standing next to each other. They were even wearing identical clothes! How on earth could I tell them apart?
Ignoring their cold attitude, I brought my attention back to the crowd. I got to take turn shaking everyone’s hand, and when it was the twins’ turn, they were staring at me with unreadable expression – were they that cold to everyone all the time? Or had I done something wrong, or interrupted something? Was I missing something out there?
“I’m John Grimes,” the one with plumper lips said flatly when we shook hands.
“Edward Grimes,” the other one said simply when it was his turn. I smiled politely at both of them, and they were the last ones that greeted me. I turned back to look at Jane who was standing by the door, and I caught her trying to grab the twins attention. Looked like someone was interested in these twins here!
But when I thought about it – basically every single female would be attracted to them despite their lack of smile – they were simply gorgeous. I did not think I had ever seen someone as beautiful before, and there were two of them.
I laughed to myself, glad that no one could hear my thoughts – it would not be very appropriate for a teacher to think like that, would it? But I was young, and I did not see myself as a role model. I was simply here to teach some younger people who did not know as much as me. By the way, I would be teaching English.

I did not have any lessons during the first period, but I noticed that the Grimes twins did. They were gathering their stuff as the bell was heard, and I felt them glancing in my way a couple of times. I knew I was new here but, was it necessary to look at me like I was some sort of animal from the zoo?
Feeling annoyed, I asked the teacher next to me called Katy after they had left the room, “Hey Katy, you know the Grimes twins?”
“Yeah, what about them?” Katy was a pretty girl of similar age as me, probably a year or two older, and she seemed friendly – now she had an interested expression on that told me she was up for gossip.
“Err, how are they like? I mean, they’ve been emotionless the whole time I’m here,” I bit my lip, hoping that I had not offended anyone here.
“Oh,” Katy said, understanding lit her face, “They’re always like that. They always stick together and they don’t blend in with us; they always keep to themselves. But as you can see, they are – well – handsome, so they’re still adored by students even though no one has really seen them smile. They’re so distant to everyone. I’ve never exactly talked to them – no one has, except their students, I guess.”
“I see,” so it was not my fault then. It was who they were. I was glad that I had not angered anyone or anything.

I had lesson in the second period, and as I scrambled out of the staff room with my stuff, I came face to face with – who – John? Edward? I was not sure, but one of the twins… Oh wait, I remembered that their hair was falling towards the opposite direction… This one should be John. He stared at me impassively, showing no signs of looking away, which annoyed me. What even was he looking at? That was making me uncomfortable.
“Hi,” I mumbled a greeting and quickly walked away to my destination. Thanks to Jane’s tour this morning, I was able to find my classroom easily.
I could hear noisy chatter from outside the classroom, and I squared my shoulders before walking in. This was a junior class, and I guessed they would not really pick on me. I was secretly praying when I made my entrance – everyone was staring at me, a new teacher, curiously.
“Good morning class,” putting down my books and stuff, I faced the class, standing behind the desk, “I’m Miss (your full name), your new English teacher.”
This class seemed to be very friendly – they immediately smiled at me and many of them shouted a few greetings. Boy, was I relieved.
The lesson continued smoothly, and I was starting to get the hang of my job. Before I knew it, lesson was already over.
“Don’t forget your assignment for tonight!” I reminded them as cheerfully as I could manage as the students filed out of the room – I totally understood how horrible assignments were, but the truth was, I could not cut them just because they were horrible.
It was break, so I walked back to the staff room with my stuff. As I entered, Katy was there as well as one of the twins – this time it was Edward. And besides the three of us, it was empty.
“Hey (Yn)!” Katy smiled at me once I entered, and I caught Edward looking up at me for a moment before going back to his work on his desk. But I could tell he was listening closely as his brows were pulled together now, like he was focusing on something, and his head was slightly tilted towards our direction so that he could hear our conversation. His twin and his desk were just an aisle across from Katy and I, facing us.
“So how’s your first lesson?” Katy asked, and I began to tell her about the details, sitting down in my seat. I could tell she loved gossip.