Mr Collins hated Mondays. It's well known that most people hate Mondays but Antony Collins loathed them; it meant the start of another week teaching rebellious, ignorant, hormonal teenage girls. Everyone had told him that teaching at a Catholic school would be a dream, but clearly they'd never taught at St Anita's. He was sure they were worst than any public school girls. On this particular Monday it was raining, not uncommon for December but it meant all the girls would be moaning about their hair and make up running - even though the school expressly banned make up. Antony sighed and got out of bed and examined his face in the mirror, his tired blue eyes stared back, looking totally disinterested and unimpressed with their own reflection.
"I'm only 26 yet I look so tired," thought Antony to himself sadly, before turning round and getting dressed for the day. A clean white shirt, dark trousers and a red tie, the standard outfit that would no doubt be crumpled, covered in ink and sweat by the end of the day. Slipping on his scuffed black shoes and grabbing a coat and umbrella, he braced himself for the day ahead.
After grabbing a coffee and pastry from the coffee shop over the road, Antony turned glumly towards the school building before him. It was big, brick and boring, like most schools, but the grey clouds and rain made it look even more ominous.
Hoards of girls ran past him, barely acknowledging his presence and almost knocking his coffee out of his hands in a bid to get inside as quickly as possible. Antony walked behind them into the building and into his classroom. He never mingled with the other teachers, few of them did talk to each other unless forced. Sitting down and taking a sip of coffee, he examined his lesson plan for the day and groaned; he had to teach Shakespeare to the 6th formers last thing in the day. Despite the fact that they'd chosen to study english, the 6th formers were no better than any of the year seven classes with attention, apart from the group of girls who sat at the back silently, which had always unnerved Antony greatly. They sat and took notes dutifully but they also tended to stare at him, especially Alex, who was known amongst the staff for being a very dutiful student but a bit lax with the rules around uniform. She'd been told off more than once for too short a skirt or for not wearing her tie. A huge uproar had been caused when she dyed her hair ginger; the headmistress had only allowed it because it was a natural-looking ginger and her grades were impeccable.
The school bell clanged loudly, bringing Antony back into the room and back as Mr Collins. He tried to ignore the fact he'd just spent a good 10 minutes thinking about a student and how she looked.
The day dragged, as Mondays always do, and 4pm rolled around, bringing with it the 6th formers. It wasn't long before Antony noticed Alex intently staring at him again, and that she wasn't wearing her tie and that her skirt was far too short. Without realising, Antony also noticed how Alex's shirt buttons were undone at the top, one too many it seemed, as he could see a good portion of cleavage and the hinting of a red lace bra poking out the top. His eyes trailed down further, noticing the lean calves crossed under the desk, with a pair of black dolly shoes at the end.
"Alex," he said, his voice slightly hoarse he found to his embarrassment, "see me after class please." He said simply, trying to keep his sentences as short as possible.
"Why, sir?" Her voice replied, low but clear in the silent classroom. Everyone was quiet whenever she spoke, which was rarely in his class.
Turning to face the board he replied to her, too worried to look again. "You're in violation of uniform rules again Miss Archer." he said, his voice, mercifully, a little stronger now.
"Oh, that again, Mr Collins. I suppose I've got some minutes to spare for you." She purred and her friends around her giggled. Antony shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably and started to write on the board.
"Romeo and Juliet is our play for today," he said and turned around, purposefully not looking at Alex. "Open your texts to page 75 please," he said, and looked down and tried not to groan. It was the scene where Romeo and Juliet consummated their marriage; he knew this was bound to cause some trouble. Some in the class seemed to know the scene already, probably from Leonardo Di Caprio, and started giggling.
"Now who knows what this scene is about?" He asked hesitantly.
"Sex!" A girl in the middle shouted and the class started giggling. Antony saw Alex roll her eyes and raise her hand, her chest moving slightly further out the tight school blouse she was wearing, unhindered by a tie.
"Yes Alex?" He said, still not looking at her fully, as the class fell silent.
"It's actually about Juliet's inner turmoil over consummating her marriage to someone who has killed her cousin. It's about whether to pick love over family, whether she should give herself body and soul to him completely." Antony noticed the accented words and swallowed hard, feeling something else paying attention to the girl, but not to what she was saying.
"Yes, that's it," he said quickly and went back to the board, writing down some of what she'd said and continuing the lesson.
The hour from 4-5pm dragged more than the whole day had, but when the bell rang Antony groaned silently; he still needed to talk to Alex. Alone. Everyone else ran out excitedly, glad the day was over even though the world was dark and wet outside. Alex moved to the front of the class and sat on a desk, legs crossed elegantly, leaning back slightly, chest out.
"You wanted to keep me behind sir?" She said, smirking a little. He hadn't looked at her since the start of the lesson and she knew why.
Antony shuffled his paperwork and looked at her and his breath got stuck in his chest, seeing her leaning back with so much exposed. She raised an eyebrow at him, encouraging him to speak, but he couldn't and he was glad to be sat behind his desk. She sighed and hopped off the desk and walked towards him and lent over his desk, exposing even more of her chest to him, "Come on sir, what's up?" She asked him innocently but the wicked grin on her face showed that she had fully meant a double entendre.
Antony looked down, took a breath and spoke. "Once again Miss Archer, you are in violation of school uniform rules. Good grades does not mean you can break the rules as often and when you please." Alex giggled and moved round the desk so that Antony could see all of her.
"What exactly is wrong sir?" She asked, standing with her legs a little open, one hand on her hip and standing tall so everything was in full view.