Chapter 13 - Save the last dance
It had been a month since Cescas attack and as she had told everyone she wasn’t letting it get in her way, her reputation at school was slowly going up as the students of waterloo road were slowly seeing through the teacher who slept, married and had a baby with a pupil label. Cesca was now settled back at work, they were in a routine with Mia and Jonah had defiantly not been to another party since it all went belly up. They were happy and they had the support of their friends and family around them. Mia was slowly getting bigger to, she was now 6 months old and beginning to start the phase of teething which was leading to more sleepless nights but she was using the time that Mia kept her up to catch up on coursework and the late afternoons to catch up on some sleep, they had it sorted. Jonah was still on track to hit his target grades, all he needed to do now was set the exams which were now only 4 days and 12 hours away. It was now approaching 8.15 am; they were all ready so got in the care, each of them in a surprisingly happy mood, despite it being the first week back after half term. They all got into the car, Mia in Cescas arms with little Flopsy, who was looking very loved and cuddled these days. Jonah followed behind with the buggy, managing to lock the door this time now that he was sober. They were all in the car ready to leave; Cesca turned the ignition just as Mia was sick. “Great, just what I need, to be late on the first day back, thank you Mia”, She undid her seatbelt quickly ran in with Mia to change her, leaving Jonah in the revving blue Clio. He couldn’t help but laugh this was typical for them; everything was going to perfectly that morning something had to happen. 10 minutes later Cesca reappeared with a clean little Mia, dressed in a blue and white nautical tunic and some frilly leggings complete with white flowery shoes. She put her in the car, giving Flopsy back to her, luckily he had escaped the avalanche of sick luckily for Cesca, without Flopsy the day would have been a disaster. They were still early so there wasn’t as much panic as there was a few minutes ago as they set off to school, “I wonder what today has in store”, Jonah wondered as he began his morning conversation with Cesca, “it’s the first day back at waterloo road anything is possible”, they both laughed, Jonah placed his hand between Cescas on the gear stick, they were smiling and giggling and generally in a very happy place, however miss grizzly guts had other ideas she would much rather be grizzling and wining in the back, but she couldn’t help it her teeth were beginning to come through and that was really painful. They reached school, Cesca was beginning to get a headache with all the moans and grizzles that Mia had made and she was sure that it would only get worse after teaching 5 classes full of girls and boys between the ages of 11 and 18. They both got out the car, Cesca placed Mia in her buggy whilst Jonah grabbed his bag and walked round the car, “alright misery guts, stop your winging”, Cesca said as she began to look for some baby bonjela to soothe little Mia's gums. She unscrewed the cap after nearly emptying the entire contents of her bag out on top the car, “Here we go sweetie”, She began to stick her fingers in Mia’s mouth, surprisingly Mia didn’t like this either so this only ended in her crying. “This is going to be a long day”, Cesca said as she began to pick up her bag and push the buggy along to the front of the school. They reached the steps and as normal Jonah helped her lift up the buggy and then took Mia to crèche, it was the first day back and Karen had arranged a meeting which all the staff were to attend so Cesca wouldn’t have a chance to see Mia off at the crèche. They kissed each other before seeing each other off with a hug, “have a good day Jonah”, Cesca called out as he turned and smiled wheeling Mia off to the crèche.
Cesca was greeted as per usual on the first day back of term by Karen and Chris; she was also then joined by a slightly agitated Tom and an Adana who couldn’t help but smirk at what Tom was saying. “Morning Ces, ready to meet the new gang”, his words were sarcastic from the word ready, Cesca laughed, “Tom, give them a chance, have you even met them yet”, “met them, have you seen them”, as the words left his lips a rather snobby, smartly dressed, hair in a tight top knot of a bun walked past smugly, “morning, I guess I’ll be seeing you in the meeting this morning”, the young lady said, “Yes, you will”, Cesca replied trying not to look at Tom as she knew it would only make her laugh. “See what I mean”, they all walked in through to the staffroom, where they were now all just waiting for Karen and Chris to address the meeting. Sure enough as if on cue Karen walked in as enthusiastic as ever followed by her second in command or right hand man, Chris. “Welcome back”, she began “I hope you have all had a lovely holiday but now it’s time to get back to the job, this morning plans for the school dance are going ahead were hoping to see a lot of you their not only to supervise but to have fun, we hope. I would like to welcome our new members of staff, Daniel Chalk, our new maths teacher”, Daniel begins to stand, his glasses slowly creeping down the ridge of his nose, his tie all wonky and his flies undone, people begin to stare before he notices his trousers, he very openly does them up, hoping to be discrete but failing miserably, “hi, just like Karen said I’m Daniel”, there was a slight hesitation in his voice. “Nice to see such enthusiasm”, Karen responded, “that’s me enthusiasm in everything, maths is my middle name”, the staff all begin to turn to each other, whilst Karen stares sarcastically smiling at Dan who has now sat down in embarrassment. “I would also like to introduce Eleanor Chaudry, a new English teacher, a patient politician I must add”, “Yes in fact I have been nominated twice for our constituency, but I turned it down this time for I wanted to pursue my career back in teaching”, Tom looks at Cesca who is now on his side about Eleanor at least, Daniel seems much more sincere and almost certainly a shy type. “and lastly I would like to introduce our new site manager, Rob Scotcher”, Karen said his name with almost a smirk on her face, something was going on and it wasn’t going to get left un noticed as Tom added “You okay Karen your looking a little flushed”, “Me, I’m fine, just the stress of coming back”, she quickly responded, Rob winked in Tom’s direction, they could both tell they were going to get on like a house on fire. The teachers began to get the things they needed together and headed off for first lesson, “I’d prepare for that class if I were you”, Tom interrupted an Eleanor who was concentrating on her new unfamiliar timetable. “I’m sure I’ll be fine, all these kids need is a bit of discipline”, Eleanor added before walking off to her next lesson, “Have fun installing that”, he said under his breath to a Cesca who was slowly becoming hysterical.
Jonah was now all ready and set for the day, he had maths first period with Mr Chalk, he walked in to a friendly face who was slightly over whelmed, “Morning Sir”, a polite Jonah greeted his new teacher who was clearly very nervous, “urm morning, please.. Can you sit in your seats”, he addressed the class who all except a couple including Jonah followed his instructions, the rest carried on, sitting on tables and generally being extremely disrespectful. Jonah got his textbooks out beginning to scroll through it, quickly recapping his mind on last terms topics. The class became rowdier and rowdier, there was no stopping them. “Were not on the beach or in town now” a timid voice began to break through the noise, Kyle stack responded “Sorry porkers, I didn’t know that granddad pig was teaching us, it says on my timetable Mr Chalk, do you know where he might be”, the disrespectful students roared with laughter whilst the others either stayed quiet or sat in disgust. Jonah knew he was mature but did 17 and 18 year olds really act the way Kyle just had. “I am Mr Chalk”, Daniel quietly responded trying to get the classes attention and settle the issue the class had with his weight and looks, “So are first module is”, he began to click the board moving it to the next slide, “ALGEBRA”, the disrespectful students moaned. Jonah couldn’t understand this was an A level class, these students had chosen to take the course why were they so determined to wreck it for themselves and make a perfectly friendly teacher who was obviously very shy’s life hard. Jonah couldn’t take it much longer he had to address the class, he stood up catching everyone’s attention “Right now that I have your attention, would you like to share it with Sir, it’s his first day, why make it hard? He isn’t making yours hard, he wants to teach you the subject that YOU chose, you don’t have to be here you chose to, so why hold yourselves back”, Jonah sat down, the class had obviously got his message as they were now all silent and listening to what Daniel had to say, it was all going well until Mr. chalk turned around to be greeted by what seemed to be and egg and cress mayo sandwich. It struck his face as the filling splattered everywhere leaving him speechless, he didn’t know how to respond, he was shy, timid and friendly not strong and firm. The class were yet again roaring with laughter. “Sir, why won’t you stand up for yourself, there only pupils”, Jonahs words stuck in his head as the bell rang, causing the students to bundle out the door in an aggressive manor. Jonah left too once the group had calmed down, he liked Mr Chalk, he didn’t want the class to get to him, plus Jonah really needed and an A in maths if he were to get into oxford.
Meanwhile Cesca was in food tech a lesson she had been forced to cover since Ruby wasn’t in. She wasn’t impressed as much as she loved food, she was defiantly not a good cook and that wasn’t exactly an ideal quality when you’re teaching 14 year olds how to prepare a dish.
They were making Banoffe pie a dish Cesca loved but had never made so the teaching was slow, which led to distracted and bored pupils, “stop talking”, she carried on with the dish, it was slowly getting quicker now that the harder part had been finished, it was now into the fridge to set, however some students who hadn’t been listening chose to place there’s in the oven, that had been what they had heard from Cescas instructions. She began the instructions of clearing up, which they had done relatively quickly, she then looked for the sheets on the desk and asked one of the pupils to give them out, rudely they refused, “I’m only asking you to hand out some sheets, please may you do that”, the student got up frustrated, slamming there chair back in to another who was about to sit down after finishing clearing up, this soon turned into a fight, Cesca got up walked over separating the two boys, “Cooler, NOW”, the boys looked at each other both hesitant, “BOTH of you”, they left still pushing and shoving each other as they left. Cesca sighed and got back to teaching the class who were now quietly settled and getting on with the work sheets. There were only 20 minutes of the lesson left so Cesca got out some coursework and began the long process of marking. Until a foul smell crept up on her and the sudden sight of orange. Cesca instantly ran over to the oven where the smoke seemed to be coming from, she got the Banoffe pie out of the oven which was now entirely black and on fire, she placed it quickly on to the side only to see the fire suddenly get bigger as some paper towels which had neatly been piled up caught on fire. Cesca called the class to get out and hit the fire alarm, the class were nearly out as Denzil quickly smothered the pie with a tea towel, Cesca was completely unaware of his actions as she hurried down the corridor distressed but keeping her cool as she directed her pupils on to the field, how had this happened, they weren’t even meant to be using the ovens.
Jonah was in the middle of English, it was one of his more academic days, when suddenly the fire alarm went off, he grabbed his jacket despite being told to leave everything by Tom and headed down to the field, none of the students were aware that it was a real drill. Cesca was waiting, her class lined up still in their aprons, she had been given a register and had quickly but precisely taken it, she got Tom to watch her class before heading to Karen to explain what had happened. “Karen, I need to talk to you, it’s about the fire”, “Cesca, you mean, there is a fire”, “YES! It’s in food tech, someone put there Banoffe pie in the oven, I didn’t know it was in there, I watched them put them in the fridge”, “Cesca calm down, don’t worry, the right people are here for the job” as Cesca who was starting to feel guilty began to walk back a very guilty looking boy named Kyle Stack approached Karen who simply told him to get back in to line, though Cesca did find it a little odd that he had walked so calmly yet quite shaken up to Karen, he must have wanted something. Jonah was now outside to, he looked around for Cesca, worried after being told it was a real fire, he finally caught sight of her but couldn’t help thinking about Mia, was she out of the building? As Jonah began to get more panicky out came Mia and Flopsy, thank goodness and Beth, she was screaming her little lungs off, Cesca could see Beth was struggling to calm her down so she headed over there Karen giving her the nod to do so,”Aw, Mia, don’t be scared”, she rocked her daughter back and forth whilst looking out to the rest of the school listening to what Karen had to say, she watched as fireman reported back, she heard glimpses of the words, boys changing rooms. She didn’t understand, the fire was in Food tech she had seen it with her own eyes, she had calmed Mia down so gave her back to Beth kissing her forehead as she did so, “there we go Mia, mummy has to go and do something”, She walked back but as she did so Karen stopped her “Cesca the fireman say that there was nothing in food tech and that it was in the boys changing rooms, they did comment on the slight linger of burnt toast but nothing more”, Karen gave her a reassuring smile, “There was a fire, someone must have put it out”, Cesca looked over at her class a very apprehensive Denzil was awaiting to here the verdict of the fire, he too couldn’t understand. “Denzil”, she said to Karen, “what about him?”, “he must have put it out, he was the last one to leave”, Cesca ran over back to her class, she needed to know what had happened she felt like she was going slightly bonkers. “Denzil, did you put the fire out?”, “Yes, miss. I did”, Cesca’s face grew into a smile as she finally knew it hadn’t been her lack of teaching skills. “It was Harry miss, he hadn’t been listening, he put his in the oven, but he forgot”, A very timid harry appeared from behind Denzil, “Oh Boys, it’s out and that’s the main thing, Harry I hope this teaches you the valuable lesson of listening”, “I’m really sorry miss, I just wasn’t paying attention and I understand now how important it is to do so”, Cesca let out a little smile before saying “I do need to tell your mum though Harry tell her what’s happened”, Harry nodded apprehensively as Cesca once again walked back over to Karen, “Right, well I know what’s happened in food tech, a case of not listening and forgetfulness strikes again”, “I’m glad that’s been cleared up one less thing to sort out”, “Karen, it was Harry, he seemed distracted all lesson, I engaged the class as much as possible but he wasn’t the normal bubbly Harry, you should speak to him, something is on his mind”, “Thanks Cesca, I really appreciate it, now I really have to address this issue of arson”, “You mean the fire was started on purpose”, “that’s what the police are saying”, Cesca was so shocked, why would someone do something so careless for the fun of it. Cesca was now standing with her class, keeping them under control as they awaited further instructions from Karen. “Right, we have now been told that the fire which occurred in the boys changing rooms was deliberate, the culprit will face a 2 week suspension and their first strike, if they do not own up to their actions they will be facing a criminal record, a fine and permanent exclusion from waterloo road, we do not tolerate vandalism especially when it involves risking people’s lives, we would much appreciate it if you were to come forward to myself or Mr Mead with any useful information” The teachers were shocked, it wasn’t the best message the new teachers got but hopefully they would now understand that it isn’t as simple as teaching at a boarding school where people pay to attend.
The drill had occurred at the end of the day so students were encouraged to leave and go home, however were told that the school dance was to be cancelled, the fire had damaged parts of the hall and therefore could not be used for the dance, until Jonah who was always Mr. clever clogs came with the most amazing idea and plan ever, he spread the word that the dance was on and this time it was to be under the stars. He and Ronan began to set things up, decorating the tress with lights and the decks in the middle of the field, it looked beautiful, the teachers were greeted with a beautiful sight as they began to leave as the dance was cancelled. “Boys, what’s going on? Karen asked confused as to what they were doing. “Well, since we can’t have the dance inside we’ll have it outside”, Jonah proudly exclaimed. “Well I am rather proud of you both, it’s a brilliant idea and shows initiative, I guess the dance is back on, I’ll spread the word to the staff”, Karen cheerfully wandered off over to the other teachers, Jonah then when to greet baby Mia and Cesca who he had just seen walking out of school. “This is looking lovely, did you do it”, Cesca was so shocked, “Well I wanted to dance with you and I wasn’t letting a fire stop that from happening”, Cesca smiled as she went and gave him a kiss, “I guess I’ll see you in a few hours then”. “Yeah, you will. I have some clothes here so no need to bring anything and you remembering that my dad is going to have Mia for the evening?”, “how could I forget, Mia's been excited all day, Beth tells me”, Cesca winked and slowly goes off to the car, Jonah watches as she drives away off to his dads then home to get ready.
Cesca had taken Mia to Marcus’s and had been home for a while, she was just choosing what to wear, a lot of it she hadn’t seen for so long after not being able to fit into it anymore. She decided on a tight purple knee length dress, it was silk and flowed very nicely. I was strapless so she grabbed a shawl from her cupboard it was black and matched her heels as always, she grabbed her clutch and headed for the door, it felt weird leaving by herself. She reached the dance getting out of the car quite elegantly in her dress, she couldn’t help but notice how gorgeous and smart everyone looked, the dance was a great idea, she met up with some of the teachers before finding Jonah who seemed to have found her first as he suddenly appeared from nowhere. “Wow, you look amazing”, “thanks”, she gave him a much wanted kiss, he headed back to his friends as they were after all at a school dance, they didn’t want to take advantage of the moment. The teachers despite being described as supervisors were beginning to enjoy themselves too, one or two of them mainly Tom and sometimes Adanna even had a little boogie on the dance floor. It was now approaching the last song and Jonah couldn’t complete the night without a dance with his beautiful wife, so despite everything they agreed he asked her for the last dance. She accepted and they danced away the night under the stars. It was beautiful and truly a romantic movement. “Jonah, this is perfect”, “Well we missed out on out first dance at our wedding, so I hoped this would make up for it”, Cesca smiled she hated the past being drawn back up again but this was thoughtful and she loved it, they began to get closer and closer until the song ended, Jonah went to say goodbye to his friends leaving Cesca on her own, just as she was about to turn and say bye to her fellow colleagues a rather drunk Chris was in her path, “Cesca you really do look gorgeous,” , “Thanks, but Chris you should really be getting home”, “I’m fine, I’m with you”. Cesca was feeling herself being swallowed up by the earth, Chris was on a mission and he wasn’t leaving till he got it. Meanwhile Jonah had said goodbye and was walking back to Cesca when he saw Chris hold Cescas arm, he took no notice, Cesca wasn’t doing anything he was sure Chris was just being friendly, until he went in for a kiss, Cesca was shocked she slapped him round the face, the whole of the school looking round as Jonah came charging towards him, Jonah scrunched up his fist and without thinking swung his arm round, punching Chris in the face causing him to shudder as he fell to the ground, “JONAH” Cesca shouted, Jonah had messed up, he didn’t know what to do, he went to hug Cesca who was completely and utterly in shock, “No Jonah”, she was shocked and disappointed in him, she was glad that he was protective of her, but this was too much, this just reminded Cesca that Jonah was an 18 year old boy, he didn’t handle jealousy very well. Cesca couldn’t deal with it, she headed towards her friends for support as Jonah spoke the words, “I’m sorry, it’s just I love you Ces”, Tears began to roll down Cescas delicately made up face, she loved him to but he had hurt her despite the fact his actions had good intentions.
Cesca was greeted as per usual on the first day back of term by Karen and Chris; she was also then joined by a slightly agitated Tom and an Adana who couldn’t help but smirk at what Tom was saying. “Morning Ces, ready to meet the new gang”, his words were sarcastic from the word ready, Cesca laughed, “Tom, give them a chance, have you even met them yet”, “met them, have you seen them”, as the words left his lips a rather snobby, smartly dressed, hair in a tight top knot of a bun walked past smugly, “morning, I guess I’ll be seeing you in the meeting this morning”, the young lady said, “Yes, you will”, Cesca replied trying not to look at Tom as she knew it would only make her laugh. “See what I mean”, they all walked in through to the staffroom, where they were now all just waiting for Karen and Chris to address the meeting. Sure enough as if on cue Karen walked in as enthusiastic as ever followed by her second in command or right hand man, Chris. “Welcome back”, she began “I hope you have all had a lovely holiday but now it’s time to get back to the job, this morning plans for the school dance are going ahead were hoping to see a lot of you their not only to supervise but to have fun, we hope. I would like to welcome our new members of staff, Daniel Chalk, our new maths teacher”, Daniel begins to stand, his glasses slowly creeping down the ridge of his nose, his tie all wonky and his flies undone, people begin to stare before he notices his trousers, he very openly does them up, hoping to be discrete but failing miserably, “hi, just like Karen said I’m Daniel”, there was a slight hesitation in his voice. “Nice to see such enthusiasm”, Karen responded, “that’s me enthusiasm in everything, maths is my middle name”, the staff all begin to turn to each other, whilst Karen stares sarcastically smiling at Dan who has now sat down in embarrassment. “I would also like to introduce Eleanor Chaudry, a new English teacher, a patient politician I must add”, “Yes in fact I have been nominated twice for our constituency, but I turned it down this time for I wanted to pursue my career back in teaching”, Tom looks at Cesca who is now on his side about Eleanor at least, Daniel seems much more sincere and almost certainly a shy type. “and lastly I would like to introduce our new site manager, Rob Scotcher”, Karen said his name with almost a smirk on her face, something was going on and it wasn’t going to get left un noticed as Tom added “You okay Karen your looking a little flushed”, “Me, I’m fine, just the stress of coming back”, she quickly responded, Rob winked in Tom’s direction, they could both tell they were going to get on like a house on fire. The teachers began to get the things they needed together and headed off for first lesson, “I’d prepare for that class if I were you”, Tom interrupted an Eleanor who was concentrating on her new unfamiliar timetable. “I’m sure I’ll be fine, all these kids need is a bit of discipline”, Eleanor added before walking off to her next lesson, “Have fun installing that”, he said under his breath to a Cesca who was slowly becoming hysterical.
Jonah was now all ready and set for the day, he had maths first period with Mr Chalk, he walked in to a friendly face who was slightly over whelmed, “Morning Sir”, a polite Jonah greeted his new teacher who was clearly very nervous, “urm morning, please.. Can you sit in your seats”, he addressed the class who all except a couple including Jonah followed his instructions, the rest carried on, sitting on tables and generally being extremely disrespectful. Jonah got his textbooks out beginning to scroll through it, quickly recapping his mind on last terms topics. The class became rowdier and rowdier, there was no stopping them. “Were not on the beach or in town now” a timid voice began to break through the noise, Kyle stack responded “Sorry porkers, I didn’t know that granddad pig was teaching us, it says on my timetable Mr Chalk, do you know where he might be”, the disrespectful students roared with laughter whilst the others either stayed quiet or sat in disgust. Jonah knew he was mature but did 17 and 18 year olds really act the way Kyle just had. “I am Mr Chalk”, Daniel quietly responded trying to get the classes attention and settle the issue the class had with his weight and looks, “So are first module is”, he began to click the board moving it to the next slide, “ALGEBRA”, the disrespectful students moaned. Jonah couldn’t understand this was an A level class, these students had chosen to take the course why were they so determined to wreck it for themselves and make a perfectly friendly teacher who was obviously very shy’s life hard. Jonah couldn’t take it much longer he had to address the class, he stood up catching everyone’s attention “Right now that I have your attention, would you like to share it with Sir, it’s his first day, why make it hard? He isn’t making yours hard, he wants to teach you the subject that YOU chose, you don’t have to be here you chose to, so why hold yourselves back”, Jonah sat down, the class had obviously got his message as they were now all silent and listening to what Daniel had to say, it was all going well until Mr. chalk turned around to be greeted by what seemed to be and egg and cress mayo sandwich. It struck his face as the filling splattered everywhere leaving him speechless, he didn’t know how to respond, he was shy, timid and friendly not strong and firm. The class were yet again roaring with laughter. “Sir, why won’t you stand up for yourself, there only pupils”, Jonahs words stuck in his head as the bell rang, causing the students to bundle out the door in an aggressive manor. Jonah left too once the group had calmed down, he liked Mr Chalk, he didn’t want the class to get to him, plus Jonah really needed and an A in maths if he were to get into oxford.
Meanwhile Cesca was in food tech a lesson she had been forced to cover since Ruby wasn’t in. She wasn’t impressed as much as she loved food, she was defiantly not a good cook and that wasn’t exactly an ideal quality when you’re teaching 14 year olds how to prepare a dish.
They were making Banoffe pie a dish Cesca loved but had never made so the teaching was slow, which led to distracted and bored pupils, “stop talking”, she carried on with the dish, it was slowly getting quicker now that the harder part had been finished, it was now into the fridge to set, however some students who hadn’t been listening chose to place there’s in the oven, that had been what they had heard from Cescas instructions. She began the instructions of clearing up, which they had done relatively quickly, she then looked for the sheets on the desk and asked one of the pupils to give them out, rudely they refused, “I’m only asking you to hand out some sheets, please may you do that”, the student got up frustrated, slamming there chair back in to another who was about to sit down after finishing clearing up, this soon turned into a fight, Cesca got up walked over separating the two boys, “Cooler, NOW”, the boys looked at each other both hesitant, “BOTH of you”, they left still pushing and shoving each other as they left. Cesca sighed and got back to teaching the class who were now quietly settled and getting on with the work sheets. There were only 20 minutes of the lesson left so Cesca got out some coursework and began the long process of marking. Until a foul smell crept up on her and the sudden sight of orange. Cesca instantly ran over to the oven where the smoke seemed to be coming from, she got the Banoffe pie out of the oven which was now entirely black and on fire, she placed it quickly on to the side only to see the fire suddenly get bigger as some paper towels which had neatly been piled up caught on fire. Cesca called the class to get out and hit the fire alarm, the class were nearly out as Denzil quickly smothered the pie with a tea towel, Cesca was completely unaware of his actions as she hurried down the corridor distressed but keeping her cool as she directed her pupils on to the field, how had this happened, they weren’t even meant to be using the ovens.
Jonah was in the middle of English, it was one of his more academic days, when suddenly the fire alarm went off, he grabbed his jacket despite being told to leave everything by Tom and headed down to the field, none of the students were aware that it was a real drill. Cesca was waiting, her class lined up still in their aprons, she had been given a register and had quickly but precisely taken it, she got Tom to watch her class before heading to Karen to explain what had happened. “Karen, I need to talk to you, it’s about the fire”, “Cesca, you mean, there is a fire”, “YES! It’s in food tech, someone put there Banoffe pie in the oven, I didn’t know it was in there, I watched them put them in the fridge”, “Cesca calm down, don’t worry, the right people are here for the job” as Cesca who was starting to feel guilty began to walk back a very guilty looking boy named Kyle Stack approached Karen who simply told him to get back in to line, though Cesca did find it a little odd that he had walked so calmly yet quite shaken up to Karen, he must have wanted something. Jonah was now outside to, he looked around for Cesca, worried after being told it was a real fire, he finally caught sight of her but couldn’t help thinking about Mia, was she out of the building? As Jonah began to get more panicky out came Mia and Flopsy, thank goodness and Beth, she was screaming her little lungs off, Cesca could see Beth was struggling to calm her down so she headed over there Karen giving her the nod to do so,”Aw, Mia, don’t be scared”, she rocked her daughter back and forth whilst looking out to the rest of the school listening to what Karen had to say, she watched as fireman reported back, she heard glimpses of the words, boys changing rooms. She didn’t understand, the fire was in Food tech she had seen it with her own eyes, she had calmed Mia down so gave her back to Beth kissing her forehead as she did so, “there we go Mia, mummy has to go and do something”, She walked back but as she did so Karen stopped her “Cesca the fireman say that there was nothing in food tech and that it was in the boys changing rooms, they did comment on the slight linger of burnt toast but nothing more”, Karen gave her a reassuring smile, “There was a fire, someone must have put it out”, Cesca looked over at her class a very apprehensive Denzil was awaiting to here the verdict of the fire, he too couldn’t understand. “Denzil”, she said to Karen, “what about him?”, “he must have put it out, he was the last one to leave”, Cesca ran over back to her class, she needed to know what had happened she felt like she was going slightly bonkers. “Denzil, did you put the fire out?”, “Yes, miss. I did”, Cesca’s face grew into a smile as she finally knew it hadn’t been her lack of teaching skills. “It was Harry miss, he hadn’t been listening, he put his in the oven, but he forgot”, A very timid harry appeared from behind Denzil, “Oh Boys, it’s out and that’s the main thing, Harry I hope this teaches you the valuable lesson of listening”, “I’m really sorry miss, I just wasn’t paying attention and I understand now how important it is to do so”, Cesca let out a little smile before saying “I do need to tell your mum though Harry tell her what’s happened”, Harry nodded apprehensively as Cesca once again walked back over to Karen, “Right, well I know what’s happened in food tech, a case of not listening and forgetfulness strikes again”, “I’m glad that’s been cleared up one less thing to sort out”, “Karen, it was Harry, he seemed distracted all lesson, I engaged the class as much as possible but he wasn’t the normal bubbly Harry, you should speak to him, something is on his mind”, “Thanks Cesca, I really appreciate it, now I really have to address this issue of arson”, “You mean the fire was started on purpose”, “that’s what the police are saying”, Cesca was so shocked, why would someone do something so careless for the fun of it. Cesca was now standing with her class, keeping them under control as they awaited further instructions from Karen. “Right, we have now been told that the fire which occurred in the boys changing rooms was deliberate, the culprit will face a 2 week suspension and their first strike, if they do not own up to their actions they will be facing a criminal record, a fine and permanent exclusion from waterloo road, we do not tolerate vandalism especially when it involves risking people’s lives, we would much appreciate it if you were to come forward to myself or Mr Mead with any useful information” The teachers were shocked, it wasn’t the best message the new teachers got but hopefully they would now understand that it isn’t as simple as teaching at a boarding school where people pay to attend.
The drill had occurred at the end of the day so students were encouraged to leave and go home, however were told that the school dance was to be cancelled, the fire had damaged parts of the hall and therefore could not be used for the dance, until Jonah who was always Mr. clever clogs came with the most amazing idea and plan ever, he spread the word that the dance was on and this time it was to be under the stars. He and Ronan began to set things up, decorating the tress with lights and the decks in the middle of the field, it looked beautiful, the teachers were greeted with a beautiful sight as they began to leave as the dance was cancelled. “Boys, what’s going on? Karen asked confused as to what they were doing. “Well, since we can’t have the dance inside we’ll have it outside”, Jonah proudly exclaimed. “Well I am rather proud of you both, it’s a brilliant idea and shows initiative, I guess the dance is back on, I’ll spread the word to the staff”, Karen cheerfully wandered off over to the other teachers, Jonah then when to greet baby Mia and Cesca who he had just seen walking out of school. “This is looking lovely, did you do it”, Cesca was so shocked, “Well I wanted to dance with you and I wasn’t letting a fire stop that from happening”, Cesca smiled as she went and gave him a kiss, “I guess I’ll see you in a few hours then”. “Yeah, you will. I have some clothes here so no need to bring anything and you remembering that my dad is going to have Mia for the evening?”, “how could I forget, Mia's been excited all day, Beth tells me”, Cesca winked and slowly goes off to the car, Jonah watches as she drives away off to his dads then home to get ready.
Cesca had taken Mia to Marcus’s and had been home for a while, she was just choosing what to wear, a lot of it she hadn’t seen for so long after not being able to fit into it anymore. She decided on a tight purple knee length dress, it was silk and flowed very nicely. I was strapless so she grabbed a shawl from her cupboard it was black and matched her heels as always, she grabbed her clutch and headed for the door, it felt weird leaving by herself. She reached the dance getting out of the car quite elegantly in her dress, she couldn’t help but notice how gorgeous and smart everyone looked, the dance was a great idea, she met up with some of the teachers before finding Jonah who seemed to have found her first as he suddenly appeared from nowhere. “Wow, you look amazing”, “thanks”, she gave him a much wanted kiss, he headed back to his friends as they were after all at a school dance, they didn’t want to take advantage of the moment. The teachers despite being described as supervisors were beginning to enjoy themselves too, one or two of them mainly Tom and sometimes Adanna even had a little boogie on the dance floor. It was now approaching the last song and Jonah couldn’t complete the night without a dance with his beautiful wife, so despite everything they agreed he asked her for the last dance. She accepted and they danced away the night under the stars. It was beautiful and truly a romantic movement. “Jonah, this is perfect”, “Well we missed out on out first dance at our wedding, so I hoped this would make up for it”, Cesca smiled she hated the past being drawn back up again but this was thoughtful and she loved it, they began to get closer and closer until the song ended, Jonah went to say goodbye to his friends leaving Cesca on her own, just as she was about to turn and say bye to her fellow colleagues a rather drunk Chris was in her path, “Cesca you really do look gorgeous,” , “Thanks, but Chris you should really be getting home”, “I’m fine, I’m with you”. Cesca was feeling herself being swallowed up by the earth, Chris was on a mission and he wasn’t leaving till he got it. Meanwhile Jonah had said goodbye and was walking back to Cesca when he saw Chris hold Cescas arm, he took no notice, Cesca wasn’t doing anything he was sure Chris was just being friendly, until he went in for a kiss, Cesca was shocked she slapped him round the face, the whole of the school looking round as Jonah came charging towards him, Jonah scrunched up his fist and without thinking swung his arm round, punching Chris in the face causing him to shudder as he fell to the ground, “JONAH” Cesca shouted, Jonah had messed up, he didn’t know what to do, he went to hug Cesca who was completely and utterly in shock, “No Jonah”, she was shocked and disappointed in him, she was glad that he was protective of her, but this was too much, this just reminded Cesca that Jonah was an 18 year old boy, he didn’t handle jealousy very well. Cesca couldn’t deal with it, she headed towards her friends for support as Jonah spoke the words, “I’m sorry, it’s just I love you Ces”, Tears began to roll down Cescas delicately made up face, she loved him to but he had hurt her despite the fact his actions had good intentions.
