Gotta Secret, Can You Keep It?

Chapter 1

A/N: this story is written from the point of view of an OC. Since that bothers me sometimes I thought I'd say something. Also, there won't be any 'bots, I decided to focus entirely on the human perspective. Now, I wrote this assuming the reader knew knows my OCs, which no one does, cause I haven't published any of my WIPs. It's ok to be confused about them, but hopefully that'll just add to the mystery and fun of the story. Have fun!

Rebecca Toal-Johnson was, by all accounts, completely normal. 

She was a 31-year-old woman fresh out of college with a marine biology degree with a supplemental teaching degree, happily married to her high school sweetheart: Wade "Flint" Johnson, who had a nice steady job as a car mechanic. The two of them were fairly normal, even if they had childhoods that didn't quite fit the norm. 

Rebecca had been looking for a job, but despite living on the Oregon coast, it was nigh impossible for her to find a well-paying marine bio job. It didn't help that the only job Flint could find was as a grease monkey at a Valvoline. It paid alright, but they couldn't support themselves without their families' help in their town's economy, especially with Rebecca's student loans. So, she began looking for teaching jobs. She and Flint looked across Oregon and began branching out elsewhere when it became clear they both needed a place to work and a house they could afford. 

They finally found a little place called Jasper, Nevada. Its high school was in desperate need of a biology teacher, and the major mechanic's shop needed an extra hand. Best of all, the housing was affordable. So they both applied and got the jobs. A month of moving shenanigans later, and they're nearly done moving into their new house. It's a small thing, but that's ok. They weren't planning on staying there forever. 

Even before they moved, Rebecca was planning her curriculum. She would be teaching just one level: introductory biology. However, depending on how the students did, she would push for higher levels. She wasn't the only science teacher, but she was the only biology teacher, and she was replacing an absolutely horrible teacher on top of that. She was doing her best to emulate her favorite biology teacher: her "Bio 200s series" college professor. She, of course, had to make some modifications to that style, namely, she wouldn't assign nearly as much reading. She remembers all too clearly the struggle of keeping up with homework. Speaking of reading, she didn't prefer the textbook the school was making her use. It was around 15 years old and she knew that as soon as she examined the classroom set that many of them would be falling apart from years of abuse. Unfortunately, she couldn't change that. She was a brand new teacher, and inexperienced to boot. She knew she wouldn't be able to push an isolated school to spend money on new textbooks. 

She had hammered out a strong syllabus and began drafting specific lesson plans by the time she got to tour the school. Despite being in a completely different state, Jasper High School was similar to the high school she had attended. A two-story, brick and mortar building with a smallish student body and an even smaller faculty/staff population. She was shown her classroom and given attendance sheets. About 20 or so students a period, with 5 periods full and 3rd period free (there's a noticeable difference, her school had 7 periods, but this one had 6). That was good. That will give her some time to grade papers and a semblance of office hours. 

Over the next month and a half, before the school year started, she created lesson plans, worksheets, powerpoints, and a handful of projects. This work kept her inside most of the time, which suited her just fine. You see, they moved to Jasper halfway through July. With summer in full swing, temperatures were well into the 100s daily. Growing up on the coast, Rebecca's definition of hot was 75 degrees. So, she stayed in their nice, air-conditioned house while Flint went out. Again, this was fine for her. She had hiked regularly back in Oregon, but there were plenty of in-home exercises she could do. And besides, she danced. Dancing had been a lifelong passion of hers, to the point where she considered being a dance teacher before deciding to be a marine biologist. She only left the house after night had fallen. When she and Flint needed to train. To let loose in the wilds of the desert.