No, she couldn’t just sit there and accept his judgment. How dare he? What gave him the right to even pass judgment? Yes, he might be their new head, but he clearly wasn’t experienced in the world of teaching. Business, maybe, but not actually interacting with and teaching children. Flaring her nostrils, she fixed her eyes on him, suddenly aware that everyone else in the room wasstaring right at her. ‘The children were all engaged and enjoying themselves. Each and every one of them was singing and joining in with the actions of the song. I simply can’t understand how you couldn’t see that.’
‘With all due respect, Mrs…’
‘Gemma Murray. Miss.’ She replied curtly, forcing herself not to tell him what she thought of him.
‘Miss Murray, the children may have been having the time of their lives and enjoying themselves, they may have been engaged and joining in, but the fact remains that when the timetable indicates that today’s assembly time should have been spent on learning about community ties, and you were having a singsong with the children in your care, that is not following the carefully prepared timetable. It was merely hyping the children up and more than likely affecting their concentration during subsequent lessons. And, as I have said, the staff to pupil ratio had clearly not been thought through.’
Opening her mouth to answer, Gemma closed it again as Annie spoke for her. ‘Gemma volunteered to step up because Diane Norton was scheduled to take the assembly, and she was… she’s not here.’
Without missing a beat, Jonathan continued, his eyes still fixed on Gemma’s. ‘Clearly not an ideal situation, but for future reference, perhaps refer to the assembly plans rather than going off track.’
Crossing her arms, Gemma sighed. It was clearly going to be a barrel of laughs working with Mr Rule Stickler here. Everyone else had just been relieved that she’d offered to take the children for assembly time, even Diane Norton would have been grateful. In fact, she’d often approached her moments before assembly was due to start and beg her to take her guitar along to the hall so she could squeeze a meeting in with a parent or sort out a staffing issue.
As the meeting came to a close and Jonathan Higgs finally retreated to his new office, Gemma checked her watch. Drat. It was six o’clock already, which meant poor little Alfie had been by himself for far too long since the dog walker had visited. Pushing her chair back quickly, she stood up, gathering her notebook and pen in her arms.
Standing up next to her, Annie laid her hand on Gemma’s forearm. ‘Don’t take any notice. He’s only just walked through the door, he’ll soon be calling upon you to take assemblies at the drop of a hat once he realises what life is really like in a school.’
‘Well, I might not be so willing to step in for him after the way he’s just berated me in front of everyone.’ Gemma turned to the door, Annie a step behind her.
‘Honestly, don’t take it to heart. He had a bad word to say about almost everyone.’
‘I know. I just…’ Gemma shrugged. Why did it bother her so much what he thought of her? Yes, he was now her headteacher, her boss, but she knew she was good at her job. All her previous lesson observations stated that, and he’d soon see it too, but… She shook her head. Probably because she’d been so certain she’d made a good first impression.
‘Gemma, Annie, a few of us are heading to the pub to dissect what’s going on here. Are you both coming along?’ Adam lowered his voice as they walked past the headteacher’s office.
‘I can’t, sorry. I’m dog-sitting for a few weeks, and the poor thing has already been on his own far longer than I’d intended him to be.’ Gemma grimaced. She dreaded to think what state her floors would be in already, and as good as the chance to decompress and make sense of everything which had happened today whilst nursing a rather large glass of wine sounded, she loved her cream fluffy rug a little more than the effects of wine.
Chapter Five
‘I’m sure it won’t be that bad.’ Sophie lowered her voice as her daughter, Florrie, paused and came skipping back down the narrow track along the edge of a field just outside the village to her and Gemma.
‘It was. He was. He is. He’s just awful.’ Gemma shook her head. Ever since getting home an hour ago, Gemma had tried to distract herself from thinking about how Jonathan had spoken to her, about her, in front of her colleagues.
‘Auntie Gemma, can I walk Alfie for a bit, please?’ Florrie knelt down in front of the small Lhasa Apso and began fussing over him.
‘You sure can.’ Passing Florrie the lead, Gemma grinned. Gemma had known Florrie her entire life. If Florrie had been a year younger, Gemma would be teaching her too. However, Florrie had moved into Year One just as Gemma had transferred to reception, so they’d passed each other.
‘Thanks.’ As Florrie took the lead in her hand, her eyes shone with happiness.
‘Did you meet Mr Higgs, Florrie?’ Sophie asked as they began walking again.
‘Who?’ Florrie glanced back at her mum, momentarily confused, before turning back to Gemma. ‘Can he run? If I run, will he run with me?’
Gemma laughed. ‘He can run.’
‘Just don’t go too far ahead…’ Sophie shook her head as her daughter ran off in front of them, little Alfie trying to keep up beside her.
‘She’ll meet him tomorrow. I’m guessing he’ll send a letter out to the parents, too.’ Gemma threw the slightly gnawed tennis ball she’d brought with them in case Alfie wanted to play in the air before catching it again.
‘Ah, I see. It’s all been very hush-hush, hasn’t it?’ Sophie looked at Gemma. ‘Has something awful happened to Mrs Norton?’
‘It has been rather secretive. It still is. Even in school, we’ve not been told why Diane has stepped down. I’ve no idea what’s happened.’ Gemma shrugged. She assumed the truth would come out eventually, but until then, she could only guess as everyone else was.
‘I’m sure once he’s been there a few days things will settle down.’
‘I hope so. One thing’s for sure, though, I shan’t be going out of my way to help him settle in. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed there’s been some mistake and Diane will come in tomorrow as though nothing’s happened.’ Gemma sighed. She had a feeling she’d be waiting a very long time for that to happen. Somewhere between a million years and forever probably. ‘Sorry, all I’ve done this evening is moan at you about work. How are things with you?’
‘Okay, thanks. Lewis let Florrie down at the weekend again. Surprise, surprise.’ Sophie rolled her eyes.
