What if I ain't no violinist?

16. Twoset Teachers IV (Viola Vexation 1)

Eddy walked into the teachers' lounge at 4:30 pm, way after the last school bell rang.

"Brett..."

"Yeah, Eddy?"

Brett knew the voice that called him, so he didn't even have to look up from the test papers he was marking.

"Oh no Brett, you look really busy with all that marking, don't worry, it's not that important."

That tone of voice, Brett could have recognised it from a mile away, whatever it was, it's important for Eddy.

"It's okay, Eddy. Sit down and talk to me. I needed a break anyway."

Eddy plops himself in the chair across Brett. He carefully pushes aside some of Brett's geography exam papers that he'd been marking, mindful not to change any order of them. Eddy then places his elbows on the desk and buried his face into his hands with a huge sigh.

Brett chuckled.

"OMG Eddy, what have you done now?"

Eddy peered through a crack between his fingers at Brett.

"Geez, Brett, you make it sound like I stuff up all the time."

Brett grinned.

"Well, I wouldn't call them all stuff ups but you certainly come up with some iNtErEsTiNg stories. So, what's happened this time?"

Brett has only been a teacher a year longer than Eddy, but they say that the first year in teaching is the hardest with the steepest learning curve. So Brett knew that Eddy would have a million questions to ask every day and he wanted to be there to support Eddy, since he remembered how lost he felt last year. Even though they taught different subjects, they clicked as soon as they met and really enjoyed each other's company.

"Well Brett, it all started today at the beginning of recess, when I was asked by my headteacher if I had a copy of our recent half-yearly paper."

"..Okay, I take this is Year 11, cos we just had their exams last week ?"

"Yeah. So I go look for one on my desk, except I remembered I'd already completed my bit of marking so the whole bunch of Maths A papers including any spare copies were with Dan."

"Uhuh. By the way, you're super efficient with your making Eddy, that's impressive."

Eddy snorted. Brett's attempt to make Eddy feel better didn't seem to work.

"So Brett, I go to Dan and ask him for a spare copy. He gives me one. I go and hand it to the headteacher. He thanks me and walks off with it and I don't think anything of it. I assumed he needed it in a meeting or something. Look, it's not within my position to question the headteacher what he is going to use the test paper for, right? Man, he might have wanted to wipe his ass with the damn thing, but it's none of my business.

"Ooookay... I don't know where this is going, Eddy..?"

"So during lunchtime, Angela comes up to me. She teaches Maths B, the harder course."

"Huh? Hang on, don't you teach Maths A? How come B is harder than A?"

"I dunno, It's just set that way, we also have a Maths C course which is the hardest."

"Geez, you guys in maths are weird. Okay, whatever. Go on."

"Eddy, this is one of yours."

"Thanks Angela.. hang on, this John kid isn't one of my students."

"Oh? I just found it on my desk but it's a Maths A paper, so I thought it was one of yours. It must be one of Dan's students then... May I have a look at that again? Nope, this boy is actually in my class! ...But why did John do a Maths A paper...?"