Second Chance(22)

As Jack rang the buzzer on the main door of Marlham High at seven-thirty his heart was pounding, partly from the cycle ride and partly from nerves. It was too early for the school to be open, but Jack didn’t have to wait long before a man came hurrying through the lobby with a smile of greeting. He keyed a few buttons and the doors opened.

“Hi. You must be Jack Redford.” The man offered his hand. “I’m Mike Bennett.”

“Ah yes, hello, Mike. Good to meet you.” Jack hoped his hand wasn’t too sweaty as he shook.

Mike was the guy Jack was taking over from, and although he hadn’t met him when he was interviewed, he’d been told Mike would be responsible for his induction during the first week.

“You too, Jack. Right. Let me show you where your workspace will be. Follow me.”

The next hour flew by. Mike was terrifyingly efficient and in theory that should have made it easy for Jack to pick up the reins. But Jack was worried he would mess up all Mike’s systems once he was left to his own devices. There were a few members of staff out on courses today, and those lessons were already covered. But two people had phoned in sick and left messages on the dedicated staff absence mobile phone, so they needed to try to get supply teachers in for their lessons.

It took a lot of phone calls, emails, and texts before everything was in place for the school day and they managed it just in the nick of time.

“What happens if you can’t find people to cover? Then what?”

“If all else fails then it’s down to me—or you now. I supervise the kids and if the teacher who is absent hasn’t set any work for them I get them to use the time to do homework or read. Of course in reality they often end up mucking about, but as long as they’re in their seats and not breaking things or each other, then I turn a blind eye.”

“Okay.” Jack felt a spike of anxiety at the thought of having to do that kind of crowd control. He wasn’t a disciplinarian by nature. He’d never needed to be.

“So, now you’ve got today sorted, you can get on with the longer-term planning. Part of our role is also organising exam invigilation, and there are school exams coming up next week so we need to plan and allocate teachers to those slots. But there’s a staff briefing at 8:40 before registration at 8:55, so let’s head up to the staffroom for that.”



Once it was time for Jack to clock off for the day he was shattered. Overwhelmed by the noise and bustle of the school, his mind was stuffed full of more new information than he could cope with. Still a little tired from the meds, he’d been fighting back yawns during his last half hour, while Mike showed him around the intricacies of the school database.

“Right.” Mike checked his watch. “Let’s leave that for today. We’ll get back to this tomorrow.”

As Jack made his way to reception to sign out, the corridors were noisy chaos. It was lunchtime and throngs of kids roamed about, giggling and talking loudly. A group of older boys were being particularly rowdy in a stairwell, bouncing a football they probably shouldn’t have indoors. When they saw Jack they quietened down a little, watching him till he’d scurried past, ignoring their curious gazes. A burst of laughter rang out once they were behind him, and Jack tensed, bad memories rushing back of being teased and pushed around by boys like that in the days before he found his tribe at school. Once he was friends with Nate, they’d been a team. They still got teased sometimes, but at least they were together. It was them against the world, and as they got older, and better at hiding their fear, eventually the teasing had stopped.

Outside, Jack was dismayed to find it was raining. Not being allowed to drive was a serious inconvenience with his working hours. Fortunately he had packed a waterproof jacket, but by the time he got home his trousers were soaked and clinging to his thighs. He’d better invest in some waterproof trousers too, or maybe some cycling shorts and he could change at school. He’d have to ask Mike tomorrow if there was a staff locker room he could use.

After putting the bike away, changing into dry clothes, and eating some lunch, Jack collapsed onto his bed. He put some music on and lay back, closing his eyes. Exhaustion made his limbs feel like lead weights. Unused to exercise, he was physically drained as well as mentally. At this rate he’d be a lot fitter after a couple of weeks though, he supposed that was a silver lining.



Jack must have dozed off, because he was woken by a text alert on his phone a little later. Reaching for it, blinking away the disorientation caused by sleeping in the day, he smiled when he saw it was from Nate.

How did your first day go?

Okay I think, Jack replied.

You think?

It was a lot to take in, bit stressful. But it should get easier.

I hope so.

Jack didn’t want the conversation to end there, so he replied with: How are you today? Been busy?

Working on a blog post about trans stuff.

Trans stuff? That’s pretty general. Tell me more.

There was a pause while Nate typed. Jack’s eyelids started to droop again, so he got up and took his phone downstairs to the kitchen. His mum was sitting at the kitchen table with her laptop and a pile of paperwork.

“Hi, Mum. Do you want a cup of tea?” Jack offered as he filled the kettle.

“Oh yes please, darling. Earl Grey.”

Jack’s phone buzzed in his pocket, so he got it out to read while he waited for the kettle to boil. Nate’s reply was long.