Post by Paige Saint Claire on Jan 29, 2012 22:33:35 GMT -5
**For the first time since Paige had graduated college, she was ready to start her career. The world had become a much darker place, a place where, if she got caught using her power, that she would surely be killed or taken into captivity, just like everyone that she knew. She tried to live as normal of a life as possible, for one living in fear of the government. She spent the majority of the last 10 years trying to learn to control her power. She hadn’t quite mastered it, but she felt that she had gotten good enough to start living again. Three months ago, she finally got up enough courage to go for her first job interview since before the Sector X was put into place. She received the call back from Seattle Public School district offering her the job as their newest Chemistry teacher. Not ideal, but it was a job, and an opportunity to integrate herself into the community of her new town. **
*5a.m. the alarm clock begins to beep. She rolls over and turns the alarm off falling back asleep. She wakes up an hour later, luckily, giving her just enough time to throw some makeup on and get dressed. She made it to her first day of teaching 15 minutes before the first bell rang. Time was not in her favor this morning.
Students started filing into her classroom, nerves started to grow inside of her. It had been eight years since she had done her student teaching, meaning eight years since she had to be in charge of a classroom of high school students. She took a deep breath, and patiently waited for the school bell to ring.*
“Good morning class! Welcome to Chemistry!” Paige said nervously when the bell rang, trying to command a classroom doesn’t work so well when the teacher is nervous.
The class continued to chat, so Paige tried again, this time a little louder, “Good morning class! Welcome to Chemistry” the class begin to quiet so she continued. “My name is Ms. Saint Claire. Let’s go ahead and get started with role.” She began reading down the list of students that were enrolled in her class.”
“Cassie…” no answer, “Cassie?” still no answer, “has anyone seen Cassie this morning?”
One student chimed up, “Her dad was caught by sector X yesterday, I wouldn’t be surprised if they took the whole family into questioning.” This comment started an uproar of conversation in the classroom. Conversations that put a knot in her throat, but she continued with role.
She got through the role and went over the syllabus and played some ice breaker games. She did this for 3 classes, none of them went as smoothly as she would have liked, so by the end of the day, she was sort of on edge.
In her last class, after she introduced herself, a student commented, “Are you related to a William St. Claire?”
Paige hesitated for just a second, knowing that this wasn’t going anywhere good. She had met a William St. Claire a long time ago, she thought they were related, but she never did find out how, and the last thing she knew he was taken into custody by Sector X.
“No, I don’t believe so, “ Paige replied.
“Oh, okay,” said the student. “my dad works for Sector X, and the other day he was talking to me about one of the mutants, his name was William St. Claire. My dad says that if he had his way, he would just do away with William, he’s more trouble than he’s worth.”
Paige didn’t comment on this, though it made her slightly furious, she continued with her plans for the day. This kid that brought up William proved to be a smartass. Everytime she gave directions he had to comment. About halfway through the class, she snapped,, telling him to just do what she says, and when he retorted with “I don’t have to listen to you, Ms. St. Claire!” she lost her temper (something she had never been great at controlling).
“You can go to the office if you can’t be respectful!” she said.
“Oh, I’m so scared…” said the student, the rest of the class laughing.
All of a sudden the desk the student was sitting in went up in flames.
*What have I done? Paige thought to herself. She ran out of the classroom, out of the school, got in her car and started driving not looking back.*
She drove until she reached the Washington state line. She stopped at the first bar on the other side of the state border and ordered a drink.
She was trying not to do anything to get herself noticed when…
*5a.m. the alarm clock begins to beep. She rolls over and turns the alarm off falling back asleep. She wakes up an hour later, luckily, giving her just enough time to throw some makeup on and get dressed. She made it to her first day of teaching 15 minutes before the first bell rang. Time was not in her favor this morning.
Students started filing into her classroom, nerves started to grow inside of her. It had been eight years since she had done her student teaching, meaning eight years since she had to be in charge of a classroom of high school students. She took a deep breath, and patiently waited for the school bell to ring.*
“Good morning class! Welcome to Chemistry!” Paige said nervously when the bell rang, trying to command a classroom doesn’t work so well when the teacher is nervous.
The class continued to chat, so Paige tried again, this time a little louder, “Good morning class! Welcome to Chemistry” the class begin to quiet so she continued. “My name is Ms. Saint Claire. Let’s go ahead and get started with role.” She began reading down the list of students that were enrolled in her class.”
“Cassie…” no answer, “Cassie?” still no answer, “has anyone seen Cassie this morning?”
One student chimed up, “Her dad was caught by sector X yesterday, I wouldn’t be surprised if they took the whole family into questioning.” This comment started an uproar of conversation in the classroom. Conversations that put a knot in her throat, but she continued with role.
She got through the role and went over the syllabus and played some ice breaker games. She did this for 3 classes, none of them went as smoothly as she would have liked, so by the end of the day, she was sort of on edge.
In her last class, after she introduced herself, a student commented, “Are you related to a William St. Claire?”
Paige hesitated for just a second, knowing that this wasn’t going anywhere good. She had met a William St. Claire a long time ago, she thought they were related, but she never did find out how, and the last thing she knew he was taken into custody by Sector X.
“No, I don’t believe so, “ Paige replied.
“Oh, okay,” said the student. “my dad works for Sector X, and the other day he was talking to me about one of the mutants, his name was William St. Claire. My dad says that if he had his way, he would just do away with William, he’s more trouble than he’s worth.”
Paige didn’t comment on this, though it made her slightly furious, she continued with her plans for the day. This kid that brought up William proved to be a smartass. Everytime she gave directions he had to comment. About halfway through the class, she snapped,, telling him to just do what she says, and when he retorted with “I don’t have to listen to you, Ms. St. Claire!” she lost her temper (something she had never been great at controlling).
“You can go to the office if you can’t be respectful!” she said.
“Oh, I’m so scared…” said the student, the rest of the class laughing.
All of a sudden the desk the student was sitting in went up in flames.
*What have I done? Paige thought to herself. She ran out of the classroom, out of the school, got in her car and started driving not looking back.*
She drove until she reached the Washington state line. She stopped at the first bar on the other side of the state border and ordered a drink.
She was trying not to do anything to get herself noticed when…
