"Lillian? Are you there?"
Sylvia knocked on the door of her room.
Her eyes fluttered open, knowing her shift was close, so she panicked and ran to the door.
"Sylvia? Why are you here? Don't tell me it's already 9 am." She said in a rush.
"Huh? It's only seven thirty, I'm here to ask if you want to cover for half of my shift, I have some errands with the lead teacher here."
Lillian sighed. "You owe me big time for scaring me up, but since you have covered for me last time, I'll do it."
Sylvia excitedly squealed and chatted with her for a few seconds before closing the door. Leaving a tired and drowsy Lillian with no will to sleep. "Might as well get ready now....." she mumbled to herself, dragging her to the built-in washroom in her room.
Lillian is 24 this year, and she decided to become a school hostel teacher last year for the experience since she had no idea what to do after finishing her university course, might as well gain some working experience. She was actually aiming to become a teacher's assistant, but the spots were full. Now she's stuck being a nanny for 13 year old boys. There is a lack of male hostel teachers at the school, so it wasn't unusual that female teachers often took care of male students. There were older male teachers taking care of those above 15, though. All teachers have their own individual rooms. The kids, though, are not so lucky. 8~10 people have to share a room for the whole year, and the next one, and the one after. It was a very strict school, after all.
---
"Fredrick, this is your room keys. You will be in charge of the 15 year old's this year. I'll give you the rulebook later." The old male hostel teacher Nicholas led him to the hostel lobby after handing him his keys. "Now I will show you how to do your shift, it's almost 9 am, so you just do your daily check in here with your digital admin card, then sit at the hostel reception and use the computer to do some filing works, or in some circumstances you will be in charge of bringing the sick students to the doctor. The work we do every day varies a lot, so don't worry. We will let you get the hang of it soon."
Fredrick tamely nodded. He's 19 as he just graduated from high school not long ago and needed some experience. He was quickly accepted as the new school hostel teacher as he was one of the fewer male beings who decided to be one.
Nick led him to the reception, noticing another girl already sitting in one of the seats. "Lillian, this is Fredrick, our new colleague. He will be working with us from now on." Nick introduced them to each other. "Fredrick, this is Lillian. She joined us a year ago. You can ask her questions if you have any. I'll be in my room, 6th floor, if any of you need me." Nick left as soon as he finished his sentence. "Lillian, help Fredrick out, okay?"
Fredrick sat down timidly, but he looked down immediately as he was met with Lillian's cold, icy glare, scaring him. "Hi, do you know what you need to do?" Fredrick looked up and noticed Lillian speaking to him, with the same expression as before, with a surprisingly friendly tone. "Uhm, I..." Fredrick was stuttering.
---
"Are you okay? Don't worry today. You just need to arrange the information about students who will stay over here for the weekends." Lillian got up and leaned over next to his spot, showing him the file location on the computer in front of him. "Here's the information. Type it correctly into the document. I'll take care of the girl's information, you'll do the boys." Lillian handed him a file with notes from other teachers, markings about which student will stay over.
Lillian sat back down in her seat. She looked up to check if the young boy had understood anything. He was rather tanned and built, but he barely managed a stutter. "T.....thanks." He quickly turned back to his computer, nervously typing away. Lillian noticed his ears all red. She figured he might be introverted. She patted his back and said, "Good job, I'll go get something." before leaving him alone at the reception.
She was amused by the new colleague, seemingly intimidating on the outside, but surprisingly introverted.
She received a text notification from the lead teacher, reminding her to get Fredrick's contact information to get him into the details about his job. Lillian clicked open another notification. It's instructions to bring the sick students to the doctor at 10 am. She checked the time, and it had been almost an hour since she came to her shift at 8:40 am, and her other colleague who was supposed to be here at 9 wasn't anywhere to be seen. That other colleague was an older female teacher with a bossy attitude. She was usually nice but often went with her own rules.
She could either call Sylvia to cover temporarily at the reception as she needed someone to help her bring the students to the doctor or ask Sylvia to go with her. She knew Sylvia hated to bring students to the doctor, not that she hated the students, but the idea of waiting for almost a whole hour in the clinic.
Lillian went back to the reception, spotting the old female teacher who was supposed to be here at 9. Lillian told her that she would be bringing the new kid along with her. The bossy teacher just nodded and stayed silent while Fredrick looked up, eyes widened in confusion.
---
"Get up, we're going out." Fredrick was busy typing away when he got startled by a voice.
"I-" Fredrick was surprised at the sudden invitation.
"I said we're going out. The sick students need to see a doctor. We don't have a school doctor, so get ready, we're leaving at 10." Lillian said while gently knocking at the table, motioning him to get up.
"You'll get the male students. They're at that room over there. Make sure that they wear their jackets. The clinic is chilly." Lillian said before heading off to the sick girls.
"O-okay-"
"I thought it was something else." Fredrick mumbled to himself.
