#SC365 – Abominable

The doctor had reassured Miss Atkinson that the chest pains weren’t a sign of a heart attack or angina – but of anxiety. It didn’t make them any less frightening or painful. They always appeared when she had that class – the one where she was sure the teenagers in front of her had been replaced with nursery children.  

‘Aww, do we have to have this crap music on?’ Jen asks, pushing into the once serene space with an arrogance and swagger similar to a lion.   

She avoids answering Jen’s question as the rest of the class barge into the room, like lemmings in the way they copy each other. They curl their noses up at her relaxing music.  

Her body already aches with worry about their future antics. There’s four pupils she knows will display abominable behaviour until they will be isolated elsewhere. They’ve destroyed her strong persona, leaving her a frail shell that can’t cope.

‘I’m not doing any work today,’ Jen says. She folds her arms and inspects her nails.

One by one the rest of Jen’s pride refuse to do work: throwing pens to the ground and sniggering at their friends.  

The teenager rises from her seat, pushing away a table in her path. Her hands form into tight fists. ‘I’m leaving. Your music’s pathetic.’

She knows that any verbal sparring with the teenager will end in her crying in the toilets and vowing to get another job, but she tries again. ‘You need to be here. You have your exam in over three months.’

Jen squints her eyes and sizes up her teacher before walking towards the door.  

Miss Atkinson moves in the same direction. They had been told in a staff meeting yesterday not to let pupils wander the corridors.  

‘I want to leave the room.’ The words showcase Jen’s roar.  

‘You need to sit down.’ She knows her voice is losing all traces of calmness.

The teenager lifts a nearby table off the ground. It topples to the floor. ‘I want to go.’

As heart palpitations take over Miss Atkinson’s chest and her body trembles, she moves away from the door. Jen punches the corridor wall on her way out.