SUBJECTBALLS

Buts

Business sat down in her chair on one side of the desk, and English shuffled into the other one.

"You probably know what I want to talk to you about." Business began. "The... incident that occurred last week. On Wednesday, to be precise."

Business knew that English wouldn't need a precise date to figure out which incident she was talking about. She just wanted to put as much time between this moment and talking about the incident as possible.

It wasn't the incident that Business was scared of discussing, but the matters it would lead into; they would have to talk about the shortages of candidates for teaching positions, and everything that came with it. They felt sick to their stomach; Business was sure many people knew that, when it came to matters like this, her heart was as fragile as a rose.

"... so after that, Drama showed me the mark Maths had left, and then I-"

"Okay, wait, backtrack." Business had spent so much time lamenting in their head that she didn't notice English defending himself.

English told Business about the whole situation from the beginning, Business nodding silently. They didn't want to speak, despite their subsequent knowledge that they couldn't avoid speaking forever. For what she was sure was the first time ever, Business was thankful for English's big-talking nature.

"If you're caught instigating fights ever again, I will demote you from your Vice Principal position." Business said resolutely after English had concluded his explanation, much to his visible shock.

"Excuse me? But-"

"No 'buts'. This situation could have been easily and quickly handled, but you chose to cause more conflict. Drama was clearly in the wrong, but you chose to be biased towards her, not because she was right, but because you like her more than you like Maths. That's not a quality I want in my second-in-command."

English opened his mouth as if to retort, but closed it quickly.

"Who told you?" English said after a few moments of silence.

"They want to remain anonymous."

"It was PE, wasn't it?"

Business was sure her silence was telling enough.

"I swear, he's everywhere." English rolled his eyes, but then he let out a small gasp, as if realising something. Something else that PE might have seen.

Business spoke so that he didn't have to. "I'm... I'm gonna be honest, English, if I demoted you, I don't know if I'd be able to find a suitable replacement..." ...outside of this school, Business finished in her head.

English nodded, with a look that seemed to say; "If there's anything else you wanna get off your chest, go ahead."

"...Well, we're already short of teachers anyway. Most schools have several teachers for each subject, but I figured, since this is a small school, one teacher per subject would be enough, but there are some subjects we have no teachers for. On top of that, teachers seem to be leaving constantly. Can't say I blame them..."

English nodded again, silently listening.

"I mean," Business continued, "We don't have very good equipment, we don't have nearly as much funding as other schools. No matter how lawless the students here may be, they still deserve a decent education. How many gaps in the curriculum can we get before the government shuts us down?"

English remained silent.

"When I started this school a few years ago, when I payed a fortune to have it built, this wasn't really what I envisioned. Which is exactly how I felt when I invested into crypto, I mean, when I looked at it, I thought it would be an easy, simple money-making method. But it's like a strategy board game... you're an analytical guy, English, perhaps you should invest someday. Investing in anything, from crypto to stocks, involves strict calculations, if you make a single wrong move-"

They were interrupted by the robotic chiming of the bell, signalling the end of lunch.

English, who was in a daze, jumped at the sound.

"WHAT I'M SAYING IS," Business yelled to him over the overlapping student chitchat as they walked to class, "IF YOU ANALYSE THE BOARD AND PLAN YOUR NEXT MOVE, YOU CAN'T LOSE!"

...and the door slammed shut.

Business looked at her schedule. No lessons they had to teach this period.

Alone with her thoughts, the residue of the interaction remained in her brain.

Some subjects had no teachers at all. Some teachers had to teach several subjects. Poor, selfless PSHE had taken on the burden of taking over Textiles' class after she mysteriously resigned. When Computer Science left, Business didn't want to add to anybody else's workload, so they had taken on that subject.

No matter how many times she thought it over, she was no closer to closure.

So there was no point in thinking about something that only worried them.

She couldn't help but wonder...

What if she had elected someone else as her Vice Principal?