Temporal Exploring 101 - Cultural Immersion

II.9 A new teacher

"This is Ms Jefferson, girls."

It was highly unusual for Headmistress Stuart to show her face in the gym. None of us had expected her to show up in person to introduce our new PE teacher.

"Ms Jefferson will take over for Ms Parr who as you all know has accepted a position at Winghurst Academy." She turned towards our new teacher. "Please do not hesitate to approach me if you encounter any problems here, Monica."

"I trust that will not prove necessary," the slender curly-haired woman replied. "I am sure we will get along just fine." She looked at the fourteen students that made up our class. "Don't you think so, girls?"

Most of us nodded, as that seemed to be what both the headmistress and Ms Jefferson expected us to do.

Mallory Carmichael rolled her eyes, but she had wisely turned sideways so that neither the head nor our new teacher could see it.

"Good. I wish you a successful first day here at St. Albert's, Monica." With a final benign nod, Headmistress Stuart turned around and left.

"Alright, girls," Ms Jefferson addressed us. "For a warmup, there is nothing better than running laps." She seized the whistle that was dangling on a band she wore around her neck and blew it. "Get moving, girls."

Relieved and a bit bored, we started to make our rounds. We knew the drill from our old PE teacher Ms Parr, or at least we thought we did. That is to say, we broke into a gentle trot, talking and chatting as we did so.

Unfortunately, Ms Jefferson would have none of that.

"Faster, girls. That's not what I call a run." She blew the whistle again.

"Go, go, go," she chanted. "I want to see you apply yourself here."

Grudgingly, I increased my pace. Did I tell you that I thoroughly detested running? From the looks on some of my classmates' faces, I was not the only one among us who felt that way.

Most of us started to move a bit faster, though. Pretending that we were at least jogging, if not actually running. Only Jen Turner was blatantly defying our teacher's orders as she continued to trot at a leisurely pace. Her sister Debbie was watching her with a strange smile. I wondered what they were about. The Turner twins were always good for all sorts of mischief.

This was different though, I realized.  Jennifer was testing the new teacher. Perhaps Debbie had dared her sister to do so.

The teacher blew her whistle again.

"Stop. Let's take a short break, here. Everybody stand in line, please. Yes, that's better." She focused on Jen Turner. "Step forward, girl. Yes, you."

Jen took a few steps to stand in front of our new teacher.

"Is there a problem, officer?" she asked, with a crooked smile.

There were quite a few giggles coming from my classmates. I must admit that I did not get the joke, at the time.

Ms Jefferson regarded Jen coolly.  "You will address me as Miss, or as Ms Jefferson. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Miss."

"Good." Our new gym teacher smiled pleasantly. "What's your name, girl?"

"Turner, Miss. Jennifer Turner."

"Excellent. Now, I want you to do something for me, Turner."

"Yes, Miss."

"I want you to bend over and touch your toes, Turner."