"God I need a cigarette!" I gasped as I collapsed, exhausted, at the top of the small mountain my team had just hiked up in the Lake District.
"Youre supposed to be setting us a good example." Khalid laughed as he flopped down next to me quickly followed by his two schoolmates.
"Fu...To Hell with that!" I laughed, "I deserve one after a walk like that."
Still laughing at me puffing and panting the boys whispered something, then Khalid turned to me and asked nervously; "Do you really want a smoke?"
"I was supposed to have given up...but...yes... at this minute I would absolutely love one." I replied.
"Jonny," he turned to his friend, "give her one."
"Id love to; but will a fag do?" The good looking teenager giggled.
When the penny dropped that Khalid had made an innuendo the laughter got even louder.
"You boys will get me the sack!" I chided them as I took the cigarette from the packet. Jonny knelt beside me as he lit it in his best James Bond manner.
"Youre leaving anyway," the other boy, Fletcher, corrected me.
He was correct; this was my last day as a teacher in the UK and I was only doing this course as a favour to the Headmaster.
Im Nina and Im a 25yr old supply teacher in the North of England. Because I was sick of not knowing which school Id be at from one week to the next I was catching a train home to Bishop Stortford the next afternoon after Id safely put my three teenage charges on the coach home to Newcastle. Id been at this school 7 times in the last three years and had developed a good reputation among the pupils and staff, but knew that there was no chance that Id ever get a full-time job.
Every year twelve schools from the Newcastle area take part in an outward bound competition in the Lake District spread over four days. The Headmaster at Ponteland Comprehensive, where Id been teaching since January, was desperate for his school to do well for once; but Mr. Winnet who was meant to be in charge of a team of four h... Læs hele novellen
