Your workplace.

It’s as if your shoes were made of lead, making your feet heavy beyond belief as you walk closer and closer to South Union High School, the place that has been like your own little piece of hell for a month already. It’s hard to believe it’s only October with how slow everything’s been. Every day drags infinitely from 8:30 in the morning until you can finally leave at 18:00.

Where to start? The place is obviously in terrible condition. The concrete stairs are missing entire chunks and the guardrail in completely rusted. The double doors in front have one of their windows broken and patched with translucent nylon.

You start walking down the halls, the rows of grey lockers to your right. The very few students that are here this early completely ignore you. You look at your cheap digital wristwatch and confirm it’s only 7:50. You groan as you see one of the red tiled walls with a new graffiti on it. You swear, if this school has someone it doesn’t deserve, it’s the janitor, the most hardworking man you’ve ever met after your father. The man cleans this place as if his life depended on it, and always with the best disposition.

After a while, you arrive at the teacher’s office, a common space for all teachers since the place is not big enough to give each one their own office. There are three tables in the room, yet still barely enough for all teachers. You’re the first one here, so you sit at the end of one of them and hope no one will get mad. It seems all teachers have their preferred spot and, as the new guy, you’re not allowed to just sit wherever you like.

You’re early, with classes starting at 8:30, but it’s been like this for a while. You’re in the habit of waking up early, and it’s only a 20 minute walk from your place to the school. Thankfully, that removes the need for a car.

One by one, your colleagues start arriving. You greet them politely and they greet you back. Thankfully, there’s not any hostility between you, but there is a big rift. Every one of them is at least 15 years older than you, so there’s no common topics for you to talk about.

You keep yourself busy looking over your lesson plans for the day one last time before it’s time for homeroom.