Shaking her head, Gemma began walking again as the queue in front of them eased. Keeping her eyes firmly on the floor in front of her, she led the way past Jonathan.
‘Miss Murray, would you mind taking breaktime duty this morning? I’d like a word with Mrs Walters.’ Jonathan’s tone was pleasant enough, but it wasn’t a question. She knew that. And he knew that too.
And there it was. Proof that he was bringing their personal lives as neighbours into the workplace. Although she had to admit she realised she had done so first but she was one hundred percent sure he would have anyway, even if she hadn’t spoken to him the way she had during the meeting. Turning to face him as she walked past, she plastered a smile on her face. ‘There’s nothing I’d rather do.’
‘I’m sorry, Gem. I’ll take your duty tomorrow. I know how much you hate break duty during wet play,’ Annie spoke freely as they made their way down the corridor towards the Early Years department.
Annie was right, she did hate wet play. Having to either confine the children into one room and insist they spend their free time sitting in front of a movie, or else watch the large middle area between the two classes getting destroyed and having to encourage them to spend half their time tidying so it was ready for the following lesson. Nope, she’d much rather beable to take them out on the playground where they could run off some energy and actually have some fun. ‘No worries.’
‘So, tell me, what on earth is going on between you and the cute Mr Higgs?’
‘Ha.’ She shook her head. Cute wasn’t a term she’d used to describe their new headteacher, not in a million years, not now she’d gotten to know him. Cute didn’t knock at your front door at five in the morning, and Cute didn’t mess with the breaktime rota. Should she tell Annie? There was no reason not to, she supposed. ‘Our lovely Mr Higgs was banging on my front door this morning.’
‘Oh, yes? He’s doing home visits already, is he?’ Annie asked, her eyebrows disappearing beneath her thick dark fringe.
‘More like early morning wake-up calls at five.’
‘Five AM? As in this morning? As it is an hour after four and an hour before six? In the morning?’ Annie paused and turned towards her, her expression making it obvious as to what she thought might be going on between them. A thought so far from Gemma’s mind that even Annie hinting at it was enough to make her gag.
‘That’s right. You know I’m looking after my friend Hannah’s little dog, Alfie?’ Gemma waited until Annie had nodded. ‘Well, he’s still settling in and he barked a bit.’
‘Barked a bit?’
‘Well, okay, he woke me up on numerous occasions, but I didn’t think it would be loud enough for next door to hear.’ She shrugged as she began walking again. ‘He’s only small and his bark isn’t that loud.’
‘Whoa!’ Coming to a halt, Annie turned to her again, her eyes wide. ‘Next door?’
‘Yep, it turns out he’s my neighbour, but I promise you I only discovered that particular joy this morning.’ Gemma looked out of the windows which covered one side of the corridor theywere walking down. It was still raining. Heavier than it had been previously, and parents were huddled in groups under umbrellas or with their hoods up, whilst their children jumped in the puddles covering the playground or played tag with their friends. She quickened her pace.
‘Next door?’ She repeated. ‘Stop right there, girl. Are you telling me Mr Jonathan Higgs, aka our new head, is your next-door neighbour?’
Pausing, Gemma waited for Annie to catch her up before continuing. ‘Unfortunately, it seems that way. He only moved in a couple of days ago, and I hadn’t seen who it was. Until he woke me up bashing on the door this morning.’
‘I can’t believe this! Wow.’
Gemma glanced over at her colleague, the heavy weight of dread filling her stomach as she spotted the excited look on her face. The same look she wore when she was in receipt of some particularly juicy gossip. Gemma should have known better than to utter a word to her. ‘Annie, you won’t mention anything about this, will you? To anyone?’
Annie placed her hand over her heart, a look of mock-shock on her face. ‘Me? Seriously? You think I’ll gossip about this?’
‘Is that a no?’ She’d known Annie long enough to know that she wasn’t easily offended. And also that she loved nothing more than to spread a little gossip.
Sighing dramatically, Annie nodded. ‘Fine. It’s a no. I’ll keep it under my hat.’
‘Thanks.’ Gemma bit down on her bottom lip, knowing full well that it would probably be around the school by the end of lunchtime at the latest. She shouldn’t have mentioned anything, she only had because he’d wound her up so much, and she was grouchy and tired to begin with. Thanks to him.
‘Catch you later.’ Annie waved her hand behind her as she headed through the large middle area towards her classroom.
Shaking her head slightly, Gemma walked into her own classroom and saw that Tania was already positioned by the door out onto the playground, ready to welcome the children. ‘Hi, Tania.’
‘Morning. Shall I do the honours now?’ She indicated the door.
‘Yes, please. Let’s get them in and warmed up.’ Chucking her notebook on the desk, Gemma switched her laptop on, the room quickly filling with the tune ofTen Green Bottles.
Chapter Eight
‘High-five, Freddie. You’re a superstar!’ Gemma held her hand up as Freddie stood from his chair and slapped her hand. This was why she loved teaching, the quiet moments when a child learnt something new. She’d never tire of watching the pride flood their little faces as they realised they had finally succeeded in whatever task they’d been striving to achieve, whether it was being able to blend a trigraph, add and subtract successfully or creating the next painted masterpiece. ‘Pop your book in the book tray and then you’re free to choose another activity.’
‘Thanks, Miss Murray.’ Freddie picked up his Maths book and began to walk across to the row of drawers on which the piles of books were kept.
