BREAK THE RULES

CHAPTER ONE

ISLA

It's time. I look at the university's building, holding a cup of tea in one hand and squeezing my phone in another. I'm freaking out right now. Being surrounded by the students isn't helpful at all. I take two deep breaths. I got this. I enter the building with positive thoughts. Hallways are busy and loud. I overtake people on my way to the office.

"Isla!" Henry approaches me. "You're just in time. Are you ready for your first day?"

"I couldn't be ready more!" I say with a big smile.

"Today won't be hard for us. Not much is going on at the start of the year. I want you to focus on observing how I work and write down any questions you might have. Okay?"

"Sure thing."

Henry smiles and excuses me for a moment. I take off my coat and open my locker. I remember taking out a folder with all my notes and putting my phone on silent.

"Isla, time for us." I hear Henry from the other side of the room. When did he get there?

"Of course."

It's happening. It's really happening. I was waiting for this whole month.

Watching Henry while lecturing makes me double sure that he is very passionate about everything he teaches. He is more than happy to answer questions or show diagrams. I bet he did everything he could to do what he loves.

"Are you bored?" He asks me when students are escaping the hall.

Three lectures are done, and two more are left for today.

"No, not at all. I wish I could have a teacher who is so passionate about what he teaches."

"Thank you. Some people, even passionate about something, can't find a way to show everything as they would like to do."

"I never thought about it this way," I admit. "I will learn so much from you from the lectures and in general."

"I believe that one day you will be able to hear similar words from someone else." He closes his laptop. "It's a long break. Go get something to eat."

"Okay. I'm going to Subway. Do you want something?"

"No, thank you. I'm good. My wife took care of it." He smiles.

"Enjoy your meal, Henry. See you in twenty minutes."

I wait in a long queue, so I take out my phone and write a "to-do" list. A few things need to be done today, and I really want to finish everything in approximately two hours. I know I won't do any of it if I sit down after work.

After my lunch break, I get back to the hall. Students aren't here yet. Henry has headphones on and is talking with someone. I want to leave, but he shows me by hand gesture that it's okay for me to stay. I'm trying to be quiet as much as I can.

"Okay." He takes off his headphones two minutes later. "This is a new group. They are just starting." He informs me. "Should I show up as a good guy or bad guy?" He pretends that his hands are guns.

If I know something about Henry, it's that he loves to joke from time to time about pretty much everything.

"Maybe just let them decide. I believe that you should treat people as you want to be treated. They shouldn't expect you to be nice if they act unpleasant, right?"

"Make sense."

"You knew that already."

"I just allowed you to shine for a moment." He laughs.

Sometimes I can't believe that he is almost fifty. Henry gives me printed pages. One quick look is enough for me to understand that there's a task from some workbook. When I take my eyes off the pages, I notice that the hall is getting full.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Henry Matthews, and we will see each other quite often. I teach marketing communication, modern technologies in marketing and sales, business negotiations, and a few more things."

I see that people are pretty terrified, and to be honest, if I wouldn't know Henry, I would probably act the same. In the end, it's one teacher for so many subjects. You can be screwed with all of his classes if you act wrong.

Ten minutes later, Henry turns on some video.

"Can you please start giving students those copies I handed you?" He whispers.

I nod my head in agreement. During the past three lectures, I did anything barely, so now it's time to do something. The video ends, so I get up from my seat and go to the first row of students to give them copies, asking them kindly to pass them to the back.

"My assistant started to give away copies with the task. I want you to focus on this particular task, take it seriously and think about the best you can do. It seems easy at first but read it carefully. There are some traps you should be avoiding. Good luck!"

Two minutes later, one guy on the back raises his hand.

"Excuse me, I didn't get my copy."

I roll my eyes. His voice seems arrogant, and I guess he thinks the whole thing is funny. I made sure to give an exact number of copies for each row.

"I got this." I say quickly to Henry, who sips a water bottle.

I go to the guy with a copy.

"There you go."

He doesn't look happy.

"Is something wrong?" I notice a guy sitting next to him in the corner of my eye. He smiles with one corner of his lips. I give myself a high five in my mind.

"Everything is fine, thank you."

"Good luck."

When I'm back in my seat, I can't help but look at the guy sitting next to "I-didn't-get-my-copy" lad. His little smirk was absolutely amazing.

Henry gave him fifteen minutes to finish the task, and now it's finished. I'm about to collect those copies from students, but I will take each copy by myself just in case. You never know if someone won't get a fantastic idea about not giving it back.

The following lecture went faster than I thought.

"Thank you for today, Henry." I say, putting things back in my locker in the office.

"Thank you, Isla. It's great to have someone next to you during the day. I'm glad that they decided to hire you."

"I'm so happy about this as well. When we first met one month ago, I was sure I got the best teacher." Henry laughs a little what's makes me smile.

"You are one day closer to having your own lecture."

"Don't bring this up. It's stressing me out!" I smile to not show how true it is.

We can say my job as a teaching assistant here is a kind of training. I don't know how long I plan to do it, but I know one thing for sure - I have to gain enough experience and skills for my lectures.

"Okay, okay." He laughs. "See you tomorrow."

"See you."

Two hours later, I'm at home dancing while cleaning the living room. Two hours later, I'm at home dancing while cleaning the living room. I wipe the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand when I hear a laugh. I roll my eyes.

"Charles!" I'm indignant, but not for real. "I told you so many times already that I gave you the key in case of emergencies!"

"It is an emergency."

I raise one of my eyebrows up.

"I'm listing then."

"I'm bored." He says, throwing himself on the couch.

"Well, as you can see, I'm not. So maybe you want to help me, mate?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"You are unbelievable." I'm giving up and heading to the kitchen to turn off my washing machine.

Charles and I have been friends since we were ten years old. There were some ups and downs. We didn't talk for three months back in 2015, which was the worst time in our friendship. We grew up, and he is like a brother to me. We rented a flat while studying at university. After we graduated, he went to Italy for two months, so I had to find a place to live. Due to my tiny flat and my ten-month contract, it's impossible for us to live together. He's not happy with that. Not at all. I'm not gonna lie; I miss the times when I was pretending to be his girlfriend to scare away the girls who were planning a future with him after one night's stand, but it is what it is.

"Is everything okay?" Charles enters the kitchen.

"Yes, why?"

"I was talking to you past two minutes from the living room." He rolls his eyes.

"Well, I guess that I was ignoring you." I laugh.

"Not funny at all." He shows me a middle finger.

"Grow up, Howard."

"Shut up, Mitchell."

"You better go for Chinese food."

"You can dream about it, bud." He leaves the kitchen, and I hear him grabbing his keys from my glass coffee table. "I'll be back soon, you little pain in the ass!"

~

I'm so excited to share this book with you. I hope you will love and hate characters as much as I do. I believe it will be a real emotional rollercoaster for all of us. 

It's good to have you here!