Chapter Text
“Have a nice day, Honey!” said Helen before leaning in to kiss the forehead of her 9 year-old daughter. Ashley made a grimace and looked around her to make sure no one had seen them.
“Mom, I’m not a baby, don’t kiss me in public,” the young girl protested. Helen laughed.
“It’s the first day of school, you’d hardly be the only child kissed by their parents.” Ashley bit her lip and looked around again. Then, she promptly kissed Helen’s cheek and ran toward the entrance, already reuniting with her friends. Helen smiled, proud of seeing her daughter integrating so well. They had only arrived in Old City the year before, John and her having decided that it would be best for Ashley if she could have both her parents in the same city and not at opposite ends of the country so she had conceded to move to the town he was currently living in.
The things between them were still stiff but not as tense as when they had divorced, three years prior. With the two of them working at the same High School, she had hoped they could go back to a resemblance of professional relationship. The first year had gone quite well, she was esteemed by her colleagues and by the students despite arriving being known only as “Mr Druitt’s ex-wife”.
Ashley’s beginning at the new school had been more difficult. There had been tears, pulled hairs, and convocations by the teacher for various motives but she had finally settled and made new friends.
She watched the silhouette of her daughter disappear among the crowd of yelling children with a fond smile and went back to her car. In 35 minutes, the headmaster would give his famous “back to school” speech and although she had no wish to bear the slow and monotonous pace of her superior she had no other choice but to attend to it. Hopefully she would have time to speak with James first.
She parked her car in the area reserved for the teachers and walked to the teacher’s room, expecting to find her friend there.
Of all the high schools she had been working in, Old City High was the most beautiful. Needless to say that when John had showed her the pictures hoping to convince her to move to Old City, she had been dubious about the Harry Potteresque features of the building. Rendered annoyingly sufficient by her mefiant reaction, John had taken on himself to show her more evidence. “It’s probably big enough for the two of us,” she had admitted, and a few months later she was working there too. The teacher’s room was as impressive as the rest, with a wide space, bookshelves and chalk boards covering the walls. She felt herself smile. It was good to be back.
Chatting calmly on the sofas were three of her female counterparts. A man she did not recognise, wearing in a three-piece suit with unruly black hair, was writing equations on a chalk board. She huffed: some people really liked to display their knowledge. She greeted her colleagues politely and took a closer look at the equations. The man was so absorbed in his calculations, looking back and forth between the board and his notes, that he had not sensed her coming. The equations were hardly as complex as they would seem for her three colleagues more inclined toward the fine art of language than toward the rigors of science, in fact, it was the level of difficulty demanded from her eleventh graders. He was probably working on the exercises he would give them. In the company of an impressionnable public.
“Watch your minus sign at the fourth line,” she couldn’t help but comment. He had forgotten to copy it to the next line. The man frowned, not giving away any sign of startledness, and corrected the minus sign, modifying every ulterior result before turning toward her. He seemed rather irritated that she dared correct him. Good. What a showoff.
“Thank you and you are…?”
“Helen Magnus, biology teacher,” she introduced herself. She held out her hand for him to shake it. He looked at her with some surprise and a little sufficient smirk before accepting to shake it.
“Ah, yes, I have been told about you. You’re the one that helps kids become doctors…” Somehow it wasn’t a compliment. She narrowed her eyes.
“I am, and clearly you now have an unfair advantage over me, you know my name and my reputation but I know nothing about you.” His smile grew confident and the least bit superior.
“Aren’t you women supposed to love a little mystery?”
“I could try figuring you out by slicing you and putting you under a microscope but I doubt you’d enjoy the experience,” she replied in a pinched tone.
“Yes… you must really be John’s ex-wife…” he replied pensively.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Her eyebrows shot up in anger.
“I’m Nikola Tesla, the new physics teacher.”