TEACHER TEACHER! [re-uploaded due technical issues with first upload]

COMING UP ON 'TEACHER, TEACHER!'

The pub was lively, with almost everyone sitting as a group or in a pair. One thing was certain—no one drank alone here. Ruby, Nalini and Jax were sat together, with Michael and Paige a few tables away. Aahan inhaled deeply, the strong aroma of alcohol burning his nostrils.

"Aahan! Over here!", called out Paige, waving him over with her right hand.

• • •

Rowan scrolled through his camera roll, a soft smile appearing on his face when he saw the multiple pictures he had taken with Irene.

Just then, Irene walked into the assembly hall. She sat down beside him, her arms brushing against his.

"Why the long face? I thought you'd be happier."

"I am", said Rowan

"I think you might need to tell your face that", she teased, making Rowan smile.

"Thank you, for being so supportive these past few–well, no. You've always been supportive."

Irene smiled. "Well, that's what friends are for. But... I'm still worrying about that look on your face before. Is something on your mind?"

"No, it's nothing."

Irene reached out and tapped her index fingers against Rowan's head.

"Let. Me. In. There."

Rowan chuckled. "Ok, ok, fine! I just... this whole thing has given me a crazy stupid amount of courage for some reason. Like, I feel like I can do anything."

"Well, that's good. Anything in particular you want to do?"

Rowan looked up, his eyes finally meeting with Irene's.

• • •

Huddled around in a badly formed circle, the teens decided to play Spin The Bottle. The bottle landed on Eloise, then Aurelia. A playful grin appeared on Aurelia's face. She grabbed Eloise's top, pulling her closer and connecting their lips. Eloise cut the kiss off before it got too long, to Aurelia's surprise.

Irene looked around as other students cheered and whistled. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, unable to see what was so great about this game. She debated getting up and leaving, but wondered if that would be too rude.

"Hey, Irene! Earth to Irene? The bottle landed on you", said Eloise. "And Atlas."

"Huh? I-I don't–"

"It's cool if you don't want to", reassured Atlas.

"Nah man, don't be a buzz kìll", said James. "What's so hard about kissing? Even this swot knows how to–"

"Hey, James? I've got something for you", said Zee.

She walked over to him, the smug look on James' face annoying her further. With one swift motion, she tilted her cup of fanta over his head, lifting the middle finger of her free hand in front of him as she did so.

•••

Ruby stood with her hands firmly on her hips. She glared at Michael, with a nervous Nalini and Jax watching from their desks.

"Pull your finger out and do something, Michael! Stop waiting for the world to fall on its knees for you. You have to put in the work for you to get something in return. We should know... remember?"

"But we didn't get something in return, did we? We got a divorce."

"You know what? Right now? I'd say that was a pretty good 'something'."

•••

"And the candidates for Head Boy are... Roland Mitchell, Marcel Colllins, Rowan Sterling, Atlas Williams and... Elliott Brown!"

•••

"Faster, faster!", screamed Eloise's little brother Ivan.

He hugged Spencer's waist tighter as the older boy picked up the pace whilst riding his skateboard. Ivan laughed gleefully as they moved all around the skatepark.

Resting against a nearby tree, Eloise smiled brightly as she watched them. Her smile softened a little when she saw how gentle Spencer was being with her younger brother.

•••

"Look, Moorside Secondary may be your school, but we're your family", said Jacob. "Family over everything, remember? So you need to do this, Elliott."

_ _ _ _

My plan for this story is a bit all over the place. I have loads of plot points, but I need to reorder some to make it fit with character development and other long-running character storylines.

I've been feeling a little unmotivated though, due to personal things that are going on for me that are quite stressful, and also because the plot points follow a sitcom format, in that there is a new mini storyline in each chapter. That makes it a little tricky for me to figure out where to place them so that they mix well with the individual character storylines.

I'm hoping that this little sneak peek chapter will help me get more motivated. Some things may change, and they won't necessarily be in the order as they are here, or have the same dialogue as they do here.

Is there anything in particular that intrigues you? And this barely touches the surface of what I want to cover in terms of the bigger group storylines.

starryeyedturtle

DoodleYeet

LeMystical-Puffle

1-800-RICKY-BOWEN-

Tornado-Jockey