After Titanic

The New Teacher

I woke early the next day got dressed and went downstairs with Cloudy at my heels. Father and New Mama were sitting at the table eating. There was a plate of toast in front of my seat at the table. I sat down and covered it in strawberry jam before taking a bite and sucking all the jam off the toast. I probably looked like a downright git because Father was shaking his head and laughing. By the time I was done eating Father had already left for work, so I took my plate to the kitchen sink and said goodbye to New Mama and Cloudy.

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Outside Bobby was waiting at the front gate, when he heard the front door shut he turned to face me with a cheeky grin on his face.

“Good morning, good evening, good afternoon.” He said with a bow, the grin getting wider.

I giggled before replying “Good morning, good evening, good afternoon, to you to Bobby Winters.”

We probably looked very odd to any passers by, but the only thing that mattered was that we were having fun.

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We got to school with five minutes until class started so we sat in our chairs and discussed things that we did on the weekend. Half way through the conversation a man wearing a yellow suite that was so bright it might have glowed in the dark.

“Bonjour je m’appelle Monsieur Burton.” The strange new man as he scraped the chalk down the chalkboard.

The room was filled with ‘huh’s’ and ‘what did he say’. The man yelled in English this time. “Silence now or you will all be punished after school.”

That shut everyone up fast, everyone knew what the usual punishment was, and five or more strikes with the ruler across the knuckles depending on the crime.

“My name is Mr. Burton” Said the yellow suite man. “Lets start with mathematics now shall we.”

Some of the questions that Mr. Burton wrote up on the chalkboard were so difficult that even I couldn’t do them. By the time everyone in the class had finished Mr. Burton had already finished writing out the instructions for the next lesson. I read the board it said we had to read for half an hour then go home. The hole class couldn’t complete this activity because we hadn’t ever been told to bring books to school before.

“WHY ARE YOU ALL NOT READING” Mr. Burton yelled making us all jump out of our skin.

One foolish boy in the back of the room called out. “Because sir we don’t have any books to read.”

“Well then you can all write a one hundred word letter to your parents explaining why your late for dinner tonight.” He said spit flying out of his mouth.

Everyone groaned and glared at the boy who had the idiotic idea to mention that. Within the space of half an hour more than half the class was finished writing their letters. I was proofreading my letter when Mr. Burton came around to my desk, snatched it out of my hands and read it aloud in a very high-pitched voice that was supposed to be mine.

“Dear Mother and Father, I’m writing a letter to apologies for coming home late after school today. The reason that I am home late after school today is the reason you are reading this letter. A boy in my class at school told the teacher and now the teacher has made us write a one hundred word letter to explain why we are not home on time. I honestly think it’s an unnecessary activity that should not be set because we can just explain that the teacher kept us back after school instead of having to write a formal letter.

Love from Martha.” He finished.

I felt like running out of the classroom and never coming back. Then Mr. Burton tore my letter in half then half again until it was so small it couldn’t be torn anymore.

“Oops” he said a smug grin crawling onto his face. “I guess it was a pointless activity. You may all leave now.”

The class breathed a sigh of relief. I however was absolutely fuming. I calmly gathered my things and walked out the door. As soon as Bobby and I were no longer within eavesdropping distance of the school I absolutely exploded.

“How dare he. He can not just tell us to do something then say its no longer important after we all spent half a hour working on it. That was just uncalled for. Some teacher he is, tearing up his students work.” I ranted.

All Bobby did was nod in agreement whilst I continued to rant. He is such a good listener.

“And now I’m done.” I said finally taking a deep breath.

“Good because were outside your house.” Bobby pointed out.

“Bye Bobby, I’m not coming to the attic tonight I think im just going to read in the library or play with Cloudy or even better just go to sleep so I’m not so angry tomorrow.” I said.

“Bye Martha see you at school tomorrow.” He said walking to his house.

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Inside my house I heard the grandfather clock in the drawing room hit two in the afternoon. I went to find New Mama to tell her that I was home. She was in the drawing room.

“Hello Mother, I think I might go for a lye down because I’m exhausted.” I said yawning.

I didn’t really see it necessary to tell her why I was so tired.

“That’s alright but come have some lunch first.” She said getting up and walking into the kitchen and poring me a bowl of soup. I ate with haste, eager to get into my bed and go to sleep. When I was done I took my bowl to the kitchen and walked upstairs. Inside my bedroom I put my nightgown on, crawled into bed and joined Cloudy in the land of dreams. ******         ******         ******         ******         ******         ******         ******         ******         ******         ******         ******