What if I ain't no violinist?

3. Twoset Teachers

Eddy located the large building on campus and entered the quiet school hall in a hurry.  As he looked around, a man quickly approached him.

Eddy noticed the man and said "Oh hi, I'm sorry I'm a bit late..." when he was cut off by the man's hiss.

"Young man, you are late !"

Startled, Eddy quickly tried to apologise.

"I'm sorry I..."

The man continued irritably.

"And you are out of uniform !!"

"...What?!"

"I hope you meant to say I beg your pardon, young man"

"Look, I'm not a student...!"

The man's jaw dropped.

"Oh.. um.. I should be begging your pardon. I'm really sorry, I thought you were.. er, you look so young. So you are one of the invigilators or are you a staff member?

Eddy was lost for words. The man who mistook Eddy as a student didn't even look much older than him.  Eddy was pretty hurt but wanted to remain professional.

"Eddy Chen, I'm doing a block to cover for Tom Richardson in the maths department".

"Brett Yang. I'm maths, too. Look, I'm really sorry"

"Hi Brett, no sweat. So tell me what should I be doing ?"

It was lunchtime and the staff lunchroom was filling up with hungry teachers.

"Brett, have you met Eddy Chen? "

Brett looked up from his phone and saw the maths headteacher standing with Eddy.

"Yes, yes we have. He's covering Tom's classes right? Hi, again Eddy. I hope you're settling in nicely. Would you like to sit down?"

Brett tried really hard to be as nice as possible to Eddy to make up for the ass he'd been to him a couple of hours ago. He put his phone down on the table and pointed to the chair in front of him as he looked up towards Eddy's face.

Oh, c'mon, just look at him, he looks so young !  He could definitely pass as a late teenager.  I could pick at least 10 of our year 12s that look older than this guy.  His face...

...is kinda cute.

"Hi Brett, yes I am. Everyone is so friendly and helpful. Thanks."

He's nice.  Wait, oh no, does he mean it or is he being sarcastic?

Eddy sat down in front of Brett.

Hmm, I guess he's not holding a grudge.  Phew.

"So, how long have you been teaching Brett?"

"I only started this year."

One of Eddy's eyebrows went up.

"Oh my god so are we're like the same age?  I just finished my teaching degree last year. Geez and you mistook me as a student?"

"No Eddy, I'm a year older.  I finished the year before and worked as a casual teacher for a year, this is just my first year as a full-time teacher."

"Oh, I see. ...So, you really thought I was a student huh?"

Brett cringed.

"Look Eddy, I'm really sorry about that, okay? I got a bit stroppy at you only because I was a bit annoyed that my partner was late and was trying to mark attendance for 200 kids on my own."

"Fair enough. I'm sorry too, for being late. I was only told to supervise the exam in the hall when recess finished and I had trouble finding the place."

"And you rock up looking like that...you're dressed pretty casually and your hairstyle.. you do look pretty young."

"Well so do you??  But point taken about the hair and the clothes, my hair goes like that when I'm flustered and I'll try to dress more professionally next time"

The next day Brett walked into the staff room and almost choked on the muffin he was eating.

Eddy was dressed like an old university professor, a knitted cardigan with elbow patches...!  

"Hi Brett, am I looking old enough for ya now ?"

...I suppose he doesn't have to know I prefer younger guys.

A/N: Twoset Teachers continues to the following sequels (although Brett and Eddy may be different subject teachers in different episodes)

Twoset Teachers II (Chapter 5)

Twoset Teachers III (Chapter 13)

Twoset Teachers IV (Chapter 16)

Twoset Teachers V (Chapter 25)

Twoset Teachers VI (Chapter 37)

Twoset Teachers VII (Chapter 45)

and hopefully more...!