Mr.Nogla (Daithi De Nogla)

part one

I woke up with a long yawn, stretching out my pale freckled arms as the beep of my alarm rang my ears. Hitting the button on my phone, I dragged a hand down my face; squinting my eyes as the sunlight beamed through my blinds. I unfolded my thin, circular glasses and propped them on the bridge of my nose comfortably before looking around my room.

With a huff I swung my legs out from under my thick sheets and stepped to the window, pushing a blind to the side to peel out at the sunrise. Early Ireland was always beautiful from my window.

It was the first day of senior year in my high school and I was pretty much already ready for the year to be over. After taking a quick shower and dried my hair, I dragged my school uniform on and stood in the full length mirror, sighing as I smoothed my short pleated skirt. Green skirt, green blazer, white blouse, senior tie. Everything was going okay so far, I thought to myself as I pulled my white socks up and shoved my feet into my black docs.

After dragging a brush through my long black hair and checked in the mirror for any spots that had appeared through the night, thankfully there weren't many, I threw my backpack over my shoulder and headed down the stairs to find my parents had already left for work and my older brother, Ryan, was sat on the couch watching TV.

Ruffling his hair I gave him a quick hug goodbye from behind before grabbing my keys and headed to the door. "I'll get you back for that, hair ruiner!" My brother half shouted, half laughed before I told him bye and left, shutting the door behind me.

As I began my route to school ten minutes into the walk I heard a loud noise and a strong Irish accent curse behind me. Turning, I found an old, rusty car stopped a few metres away with smoke drifting from the hood of the car. A tall, thin, dark haired man stepped out the car and slammed the door shut with numerous curses as he pushed his glasses further up his nose.

I watched as he popped the hood, wafting the smoke from his face before inspecting it for a few moments and scratched his head. "Do you need help there?" I asked the stranger, an eyebrow raised as he kicked the tyre of his car in anger.

"Hm? Oh, uh, my car broke down and, well, it's my first day of work and I'm not too happy about being late." He sighed, having turned his head to scan me with his dark hazel eyes. I looked at his attire: black skinny jeans, plain grey shirt and checked flannel over his shirt- not the most common of clothing to wear on a cold morning for work.

"You don't look like you're going to work." I muttered, but to my luck, he heard.

"Well that's because I'm an art teacher. I didn't think a suit and tie were the most suitable to wear for painting." He turned away and pulled out a phone, letting a sigh escape from his pursed lips. "Of course, I forgot to charge my phone again. Great going Daithi."

"The school's literally 10 minutes away, can't you walk it?" I folded my arms, the cold breeze hitting my legs with a shiver.

"Is it? I guess that's not so far.. Do you know any garages around here?" He looked up from his glasses.

"Uh, you're the one with the car." I pointed out as I looked past him at his heap of junk that barely resembled a car.

"Not for a long time, though. This is my first car." He rolled his eyes, leaning through the open window of his car to take his shoulder bag out from the passenger seat.

"No kidding.." I murmured with a huff.

"You're not that quiet, by the way. I can hear what you're mumbling over there." Daithi commented, with a small smirk.

"Well my brother works at a garage so he'll probably be able to fix it.. Or tell you wisely to buy a proper car." I tilted my head to the side as I flashed him with a sarcastic smile.

"I thought you said you didn't know any garages?" He put his bag over his shoulder and took the keys out from his car, locking the doors.

"I didn't say that. Anyway, I'm going to be late for school so.." I said as I turned around to walk away.

"Wait, can I at least use your phone? Mine's dead." Daithi took a few steps forward, his hand outstretched as if to grab my shoulder. I stopped and turned my head to look at his desperate face.

"Why should I trust you? You could be lying in a scheme to kidnap me and take me away in your rusty garbage can of a car." I narrowed my eyes at him, causing Daithi to huff before he dug into his pocket and pulled out a badge and faced it to me for me to read.

'/School Name/ Mr. Daithi De Nogla'

I gave a sigh of defeat and dialled my brothers number, putting it to my ear. "Ryan? It's Tabitha. There's this guy here who needs you to pick up his.. car." I told my brother after I heard him pick up.

"Sure, do you know this guy? Is he a creep? Did he say anything weird to you?" His brotherly instincts kicked in after he realised what I had told him.

"Relax, it's some guy from my school. And no he's not a creep.. from what I've discovered, and he didn't say anything weird to me." I told him as I looked up at Daithi who wasn't looking too pleased about our conversation, causing a smirk to form on my lips.

"Alright, where's the car?"

"Literally 10 minutes down the road towards the school. You'll know it; it's a red pile of metal." I told him, causing Daithi's expression to sink lower.

"K, I'll be there in 10 with the pickup." Ryan told me before hanging up.

"He said he'd be here in ten minutes." I told him, putting my phone back in my blazer pocket.

"Okay, thank you so much- really. And also by the way, is my car really that bad?" He scratched the back of his neck as he looked between me and his car.

"Honestly? Yeah. If the kids at school saw you turning up in that it'll get trashed more than it already is." I laughed with a shrug.

"This is going to cost me so much money." He muttered to himself as he rubbed his forehead. "Anyway, you better get to school before you're late. Thanks, again, Tabitha." He stepped towards his car, turning back with a small smirk as I rolled my eyes playfully.

"No problem. See ya, Mr Nogla." I teased with a grin, giving him a wave goodbye before I carried on down the road, smiling like an idiot.