Break in the Staffroom

Break in the Staffroom

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The third-period break bell chimes and all the students bang their locker doors and rush out to the school fields. They seemed unbothered with the weak state of their twenty-year-old lockers and the likelihood of it falling apart just by a bang. Girls in their red shirts beneath their purple tunics grouped themselves around the school swings. On the other end, boys run towards the football field with their purple knee-length shorts and red t-shirts. Students on the unmowed playing field look so colorful from the headmistress office window. This is how Headmistress Winger monitored her students in the field. One could see how unimpressed she looked. According to her, the break after the third period was unnecessary since only one period would follow before lunch. Mrs. Winger stood right beside the window, with a cup of chamomile tea in her hands freshly prepared by the school caterer. She peeped through the broken glass in one of her window panels, just staring at the student’s play.

On the playing ground, girls ran around chasing each other, blindfolded with their navy-blue sweaters in an attempt to make as many contacts as possible. Some group of much older fifth-graders stood at the spectator side of the pitch, which had been termed the ‘cool corner,’ staring at the boys play and showcasing their weak muscles. They enjoyed watching the boys admire them. The school termed them the pretty girls, and they were untouchable. Not even the school could touch them. Word spread on the faded blue walls of the school that their parents made up the school committee and were donors to major school projects. Boys admired them and fantasized about a chance with them. All the girls in school wanted to be like them.

Meanwhile, Mr. Paco swung the brown, old wooden staffroom door and fled in with a one-meter ruler, a blockboard pen, and a math textbook, as if students were chasing after him. He dropped them at his untidy and disorganized, full of books table and sank into his seat. Mr. Paco put on his old black-framed glasses and started browsing through his outdated dial phone. Hardly had he settled down when Mrs., Floddle walked in majestically in her red ankle-length dress and black three-inch heels. As she walked in, she seemed so proud of herself. All the male teachers in the staffroom stared at her, and she loved the attention. She had finished her English lesson with her fifth-grade students.

“I don’t understand my students anymore. They hardly try to show commitment in their work! Look at this assignment I gave them yesterday” she leaned towards Mr. Paco as their desks were right next to each other. Mr. Paco burst into laughter as soon as he saw the student’s composition Mrs. Floddle was holding in her hand. His laughter drew the attention of other teachers in the staffroom. They all rushed to her white, quite organized table and tried to find the amusement behind the paper. “You need to use a different approach Mr. Floddle. Your students don’t take you seriously based on this assignment.” Mr. Ogler, the science teacher, commented as he tapped the floor with his sharp-shooters and walked towards his desk. His desk was next to the staff room door hence the nickname ‘usher’ by his colleagues.

The staffroom seemed very busy. The tea flask, together with the bread tray, was making rounds in the teacher’s desks. Teachers were conversing, mocking students they termed as stubborn, and laughing so loudly. The wooden board was full with all sorts of papers pinned on it. The wall was full of writings and peeled brown wallpapers that looked like they had been installed decades ago. They didn’t seem to care. On the higher walls, names of best-performing students hang on a plank of brown wall-mounted wood. On it was the sign, Best Behavior Students In school. Below the heading was ten vague names engraved with what looked like a screwdriver.

Mrs. Felicity stepped into the staffroom with his lab coat on and a pile of books in her left hand. She looked exhausted. “I could use a cup of tea, my fellow teachers!” she claimed. Mrs. Felicity sat at her almost falling desk and requested Mr. Paco to pass her a cup. The look on her face was priceless when she realized the teachers had drunk all the tea, and her eyes got teary. Lucky enough, the staffroom window was very high such that students would not witness their teachers scramble for food like uncivilized human beings. Teachers talked about sex and their love for marijuana based on the ‘High Road Valley’ show, aired on cable. They didn’t care for the information they were exposing their students to.

At the end of break time, the bell rang, the facial expression on their faces screamed disappointment. “They should give us ten more minutes! I barely touched my bread!” Mrs. Felicity cursed. Each teacher got busy at their desk preparing for the next period, and students rushed into their various classes to avoid punishment for being late.