2 A new start to life

Maria had never felt so grateful like this moment that the dean entered the teacher's room to bring her out. She picked her notebook and strode to the dean at the door with a grateful smile.

Just now, the moment the dean left her to get settled, the male teachers all came to her asking her questions about her personal life, the things she did on weekends and others. Maria felt that if she didn't escape the room, she would end up making the female teachers her enemies which was a bad start to her new job. Besides, she needed to keep a low profile, do her work well, earn enough money and find a new place to relocate and get away from 'that person'

Maria grew up with her aunt and father because her mother divorced her dad when she was 8 years old. Maria was grateful to her aunt as her aunt was the one who gave her shelter when she needed it the most. As for her father, he was just there as a figure and nothing more. He was a gambler who gambled their money away leading them to have a hardened life. Marley Suwait cared about only one thing- that was himself alone and no one else.

Now that Maria was able to care for herself, she intended to work hard and secure a permanent position in the school. That way, she would be able to save money and buy a nice house in Cosmos town for herself and her aunt. As long as she is able to relocate, her so called father in paper who steals from her and even uses her as bait for gambling won't be able to find them. Their lives will no longer be so difficult.

Maria followed behind the dean feeling elated and yet nervous about her new beginning. This was her first school that she was going to teach. She had been helping her colleagues back at school in self-study and also organised vacation classes for the children in her neighbourhood but since this was her first time officially been a teacher to a bunch of high-schoolers, Maria was a little nervous. She wanted to do well.

She went to high school and knew very well that high school was the beginning of a teenager's rebellion stage. Even though she skipped a grade between grades 10 and 11, she still knew how students in this level could be. She was already orientated by the other teachers about the students. They were not average students but rich kids from powerful families.

Maria clutched her book tightly as she saw that the dean had entered the class 3 A block and followed inside.

The moment Maria entered the whole class quietened and turned to look at her. Maria could feel their eyes burrowing into her skin but since this was going to be her job and she was going to be with them for a long time, she decided to look straight at them with a smile.

''Class up please''. Ad-Din spoke breaking the ice and the students stood up ''greet''.

''Good day, Dean, good day Miss'' the students said and sat back.

''Good day students. I believe you all know why I am here right?'' The dean asked suspiciously looking at his son. He knew his son had by now already spread the news about the new teachers to his colleagues.

''Off course, dean. You are here to introduce the new English teacher to us''. Globus said and the class laughed.

''Bingo. Now, I am glad to introduce to you your new English teacher Miss Maria Portia Lee but you can call her Miss Lee''. The dean said.

"Miss Lee is so beautiful; dean is she single?'' the boy sitting by Globus asked.

''That I say is none of your business and Miss Lee is older than you, young man''. the dean said.

''Sir, age doesn't matter as long as there is love. Isn't it?'' Globus added.

''Yeah, says the one who has never been in a relationship and will possibly be alone for the rest of his life?'' Calia said and the class laughed.

As the chitchat was going on, Karen sized Maria up and down and thought to herself that she wasn't as beautiful as the rumors claimed. She wore plain clothes and her bag wasn't even branded. She snorted softly and looked up.

''Dean, say, is Calia catching feelings for me? Why does she always retort to every word I say?'' Globus said and touched his chest smirking. Calia turned and glared at him.

''That's enough. You have English, so I will leave Miss Lee to you. Maria, come to my office when you are done?'' The dean turned to Maria and spoke.

''Yes, professor'' Maria said and smiled.

Her smile mesmerised half the class and the boys melted and watched her with admiration.

Soon as the dean went out, Maria walked to the podium and placed her book on the table and looked up and her eyes met with deep greenish ones making her stupefied for a while before she immediately looked away picking the marker to write something on the board.

Ad-Din watched the new teacher with interest and his lips curved into a half smile. She was the woman he saw on his way into the school. He didn't know she was a teacher. He thought she was a new student transferring to his school. She looked young and a little too petite to be a teacher to the students in their school. With her stature, she could easily be bullied by the students.

The more Ad-Din watched the new teacher, the more an apparent smile appeared on his face. This didn't go unnoticed by Karen since she was looking at Ad-Din the whole time.

Karen followed Ad-Din's gaze and landed on the new teacher and frowned. She felt an inexplicable discomfort in her heart and didn't know why.

Maria wrote a topic on the board and turned to face the students. She was first stunned to see how quiet they were and felt a bit embarrassed also because they weren't just quiet but they were staring at her. Their gazes were so obvious that Maria didn't know if she would be able to teach them anything.

''Hi, everyone. Since I am new, I will like us to get to know each other. You can introduce yourselves first before you say anything or if you have a question.

Today, I want us to learn some simple subject-verb agreement. We all know what subject-verb agreement is, right? Who can tell us?''

Maria put the marker down after she finished speaking. The whole class seemed to not have heard her at all and just stared at her.

Maria gave an awkward chuckle and bit her lips. Calia lifted her hand and Maria felt like giving the girl a kiss for saving her. Maria pointed at her saying ''yes, introduce yourself and tell us your answer''.

''Miss Lee, we don't want to listen to her. How about you do the talking and we will do the listening?'' Globus Jun said throwing Calia a smug smirk.

''Globus, are you tired of sitting in the class?'' Ad-Din asked suddenly drawing all attention to himself. He was usually quiet in class and wouldn't answer or say anything when the teacher was in class but now he even spoke up for the new English teacher? This was a major hit to the class.

Globus shook his head and apologised ''Miss Lee, I'm sorry''.

''Yes?'' Maria was confused at the situation but didn't say anything further. When she attempted to look at the boy who just saved her, her heart suddenly started racing. It was doing that again.

Her heart was beating and her eyes kept wanting to look at the boy at the corner.

Since she saw him in the car when she was at the entrance, her heart never stopped beating when she briefly thought about him. This feeling was strange to Maria and she thought she was probably sick but now, she felt an indescribable desire to look at the boy yet she couldn't and she didn't know why.

Maria decided to not think too much into it and nodded at Calia to continue.

"Miss Lee, as I was saying before the rude interruption" Calia said and stressed on the latter part of her words before she added "Subject-verb Agreement or concord happens when a word changes form depending on the other words to which it relates. It is an instance of inflection, and usually involves making the value of some grammatical category "agree" between varied words or parts of the sentence"

Calia said and the class hailed her name. She was the smartest and most intelligent girl in the whole of year 3 classes A, B, and C.

"Who doesn't know what subject-verb agreement is? Mrs. Mills taught us before going. It will be a shame if you didn't know what it was"

Karen Kash said and smirked arrogantly. Maria's eyes twitched as she looked at the girl who just finished speaking. She really didn't know what to make of her attitude but she still felt she had to do something about it, so she spoke.

"Student in front, if you know the answer, you are permitted to say it but I will not permit such rude behavior in my class next time"

Ad-Din looked at Maria and smirked. She wasn't easily bullied after all.

The class turned silent but Karen Kash was the most flustered as she didn't expect the new teacher to speak to her that way. She looked at Maria ready to say something but Maria didn't give her the chance and turned to the board and started teaching. Karen Kash felt humiliated.