Heartstopper Future

Chapter 18: Charlie's First Day

Date: Thursday 18th July 2024

Charlie’s POV

I wake up to Nick messing about with my tiny bump that’s growing a little bit every day. It’s actually quite comforting, considering I’m a ball of nerves.

Today is my first day working at one of the schools, and I'm terrified that I'm going to do something, to mess everything up. I know that it wont happen, because they seem to really like me and how I do things, but that doesn’t stop me from being terrified.

A few minutes later, our alarms go off (because we both woke up before them), so we decide to get up and get ready. 

We end up having a quick shower together, to try and help calm my nerves – which it did – then get dressed and go downstairs for breakfast.

After a quick breakfast, we go into the kitchen and make our lunches. I pack a sandwich, some crisps, and some salady bits along with a big bag of popcorn just in case. After a bit of googling, I confirmed that it was a pregnancy craving and it’s actually a surprisingly common one. 

Once we have everything packed and ready to go Nick drives me there, before going to his school. I walk through the gates, remembering all the happy times I had here, and all the happy memories I plan on making.

I go in via reception, and am greeted by the deputy head, Mr Sean Wood, and the head teacher, Mr Toby Osborn. We start off with the formalities such as saying hello, etc. then 3 students appear and Sean introduces them to me and vice versa.

They are all from year 6, one from each class, and they take me on a tour of the school. The whole way they are bubbly and chatty. They’re so carefree, I think to myself, imagining what it would be like to be their age again.

After a very thorough tour, they lead me to my office. When we get there, they say that they have to get back to class but Mr Wood and Mr Osborn would be here soon. I put down my bag in the corner of the room, and start to familiarise myself with the space. 

It's bigger than my office at Higgs, but I assume that it’s because I’ll be doing a lot more group work here, than over there.

About 5 minutes after the years 6s leave, Toby and Sean arrive with a clipboard. They explain that this is my schedule for the day, and I’ll need to go get the student or students at their allotted time and make sure there back by the time the session ends. After each session I’ll need to write up a report on how it went, what was discussed, etc. using a template that is also on the clipboard. I then need to put away the reports into the student’s files which are in the filing cabinet.

After explaining, they then depart saying they’ve got something to do, and leave me on my own. Wow, I’m really getting thrown in the deep end. But I sort of like it like that, that way I’ll be able to stand on my own 2 feet right from the start.

I look over my schedule for today and it reads:

9:50 – 10:20 -> Group session, Reception (Emma O, Charlotte X, James Q)

10:20 – 10:25 -> Write up reports

10:25 – 10:55 -> Group session, Year 1 (Elijah S, Amelia M, William N, Ava R)

10:55 – 11:00 -> Write up reports

11:00 – 11:20 -> Break, come to staff room

11:20 – 11:50 -> Group session, Year 2 (Sophie E, Henry D, Lucas T, Isabella P, Benjamin U)

11:50 – 11:55 -> Write up reports

11:55 – 12:25 -> Group session, Year 3 (Mia E, Evelyn A, Mateo Y, Levi W, Luna L)

12:25 – 12:30 -> Write up reports

12:30 – 13:30 -> Lunch, come to staff room

13:30 - 14:00 -> Group session, Year 4 (Sebastian H, Elanor Z, Ella B, Daniel K, Michael D, Abigail M)

14:00 – 14:05 -> Write up reports

14:05 - 14:35 -> Group session, Year 5 (Alexander C, Sophia O, Scarlett R, Owen J, Samuel I, Emily S, Ethan G)

14:35 – 14:40 -> Write up reports

14:40 – 15:10 -> Group session, Year 6 (Aria R, Penelope T, Chloe Y, Layla T, Nora O, Owen L, Samuel J, Jacob L, Aiden P, Joseph B)

15:10 - 15:15 -> Write up reports

15:15 – 15:30 -> Wait in your office, we will come and see you

After reading it, I realise I only have a couple of minutes until my first session, so I quickly get out the files for the students I’m seeing, so I can get a little bit of background information. Once it’s 9:50 I go and collect the students from their lessons (the teachers seemed to know about it so their wasn’t much hassle) and take them back to my office. 

To make them more comfortable with me, we play a board game until our time runs out, at which point I take them back to class, go back to my office and write up the reports.

I do the same with the next group, and after that, it’s break, so I grab my popcorn and head to the staff room.

When I get there, I spot Toby and Sean, stood amongst a group of teachers, so I make my way over.

When they notice me, they introduce me to everyone, and everyone introduces themselves to me. A few of the students teachers, that I had already seen, seemed thankful to me as they said things like “They seemed happier than normal when they got back to class,” Which made me feel amazing.

After break, I went back to my office and repeated the process that I had already done. 

The day flew by and before I knew it, it was 15:15 and someone was knocking on my door. 

“Come in!” I call out to them.

“Well Charlie,” Toby says “You’ve had a very impressive day.”

“Thank you.”

“However, today you were given a schedule, I want you to make you’re schedule for Tuesday, but please bear in mind that it’s a half day, so you only have until lunch, so you need to prioritise which students you see and when. We advise, that if you do and 1 to 1 sessions that they’re 20 minutes, and group sessions 30, but you can change that if you think it’s what’s best for the student or students.”

“Ok, see you on Tuesday,”

“Goodbye.”

At 15:30 I walk home, feeling on top of the world. I cant wait for my day at Truham tomorrow. But before that I have to tell Nick how amazing it was today.

Nick’s POV

I get home before Charlie, so I just go into the living room and wait for him. The wait feels like an eternity, and the longer I sit still, the more I start to worry; what if something happened to him? What if something happened to the baby?

I sink more and more into these thoughts until the sound of the front door opening pulls me out. Charlie then comes into the living room and sits next to me, with the biggest smile on his face, than I’ve seen in a while.

He then begins to recall his day, telling me about the students he met, and what some of the teachers are like. I begin to think that we’re really going to like it there.

When I leave for rugby, later on that evening, Charlie had started making his schedule for Tuesday.

Upon my return, I notice it, completed, on my desk and Charlie fast asleep on the chair. I carry him over to the bed, trying not to wake him, and take off his jeans so he’s more comfortable.

Once I’ve showered I join him under the covers, and he instinctively moves over to me and I fall asleep cuddling each other.

Merry Christmas