Tuesday 11 January 2011

Teenage riot, February 2031

Round 30: February 2031 (Summer)

Principal Kendal Draper is 55; Joanna Draper is 36 and Julia Gray is 20.
Students: Elspeth Romilly and Josh Royce-Nihill are both 17, Chris Draper, Lucy Gray and Edward Lachance are all 16, Oliver and Sebastian Gentry are both 15, Anthony and Veronica Moretti are both 14, Adelaide Sitko and Noah Gottlieb are both 13 and Mitchell Carmody is 12.

This morning, Kendal's first duty is to brief Julia Gray on what will be required of her as a student teacher. It's only her first day so she will mostly be observing. Julia will be working with the older kids, in Joanna's classroom.

Joanna can be a bit abrasive and Kendal's not too sure what Julia is like yet, so she's a little apprehensive about leaving them alone.

But Kendal has her own class to teach, so she doesn't really have much choice.

When she enters the classroom, Kendal's five students are already waiting for her.

Veronica is probably Kendal's star student, or at least, she'd like to think she is. She completely dominates any class discussion.

Kendal doesn't mind. She's happy to have someone take such an interest in the books they're reading.

Adelaide doesn't get why everything comes so easy to Veronica. Half the time, she can't even follow the discussion in class and just sits in her seat, praying she won't be called on.

Veronica is Adelaide's best friend and tries explaining things to her when the teacher's back is turned but a lot of it goes over her head.

Isn't it enough that they have to read the books? Do they really have to discuss every single detail as well?

Interest in school obviously doesn't run in the family. If Kendal can keep Anthony awake during class, it's an achievement.

She's not always successful. Anthony is extremely smart but that's why he doesn't try in class.

He's well aware he can coast by without studying, so he doesn't bother.


Looks like Kendal didn't have much need to worry anyway; Julia and Joanna are actually getting along great.

Currently, Joanna and Julia have their class out for PE.

Sullivan has had a lot of rain this summer and even older kids have some pent-up energy they need to burn off.

Not everyone is keeping their mind on the game though.

Veronica is currently supposed to be in metal work class but seeing she couldn't care less about learning to make stupid toys, she's skipping out to hang out with Oliver instead.

Oliver actually loves PE but hormones are powerful and he's choosing to spend his class time with Veronica anyway.

Veronica's parents only just (reluctantly) gave her permission to start dating this year. They're not aware that Veronica and Oliver have been sort-of-but-not-really dating for a little while now.


Unfortunately for them, they've been spotted by Joanna, who has no patience for teenage lovebird antics. Oliver is ordered back to the basketball hoop and Veronica is to report back to the metal work room.

Joanna will be keeping a close eye on Oliver from now on.

Although Oliver is far from the only student distracted from PE.

Joanna prefers teaching inside, away from distractions, where she can watch all of her students closely.

The students are more productive indoors and it's a better environment for Julia to observe on her first day.

Veronica might not like metal work but Adelaide loves it. She's discovering that as well as playing sports, she really likes working with her hands.

Anthony has deemed himself too good for metal work and is wasting time in the boys' bathroom instead. At least until one of the teachers finds him and hauls him back to the classroom.

Mitchell's not exactly finding metal work easy but he can't believe they get to do robotics at school! They never got to do anything that cool at primary school!

But like all the kids, Mitchell would rather be at lunch.

Mitchell already has two friends from primary school at SDHS - Noah in Grade 8 and Anthony in Grade 9.

Anthony spends most of his lunch time telling Mitchell and Noah about all the girls he's made out with, not mentioning that all these girls are imaginary.

Mitchell's not sure he believes him. Anthony won't name any of the girls, because he's a "gentleman" and there don't even seem to be that many girls at school any way.

Noah, however, is taking it all in and starts to think that maybe he'd better catch up with his friend.

Similarly unlucky in love is Sebastian. He knows Veronica is dating his brother but that doesn't mean he can't test out the waters every now and then, just in case she might be more interested in him.

She's about as interested as she was last year and the year before that, which is to say not at all.

If he'd just turn his head slightly, he'd notice that Adelaide is rather taken with him but he has eyes only for Veronica.

Adelaide is undeterred though. Maybe if she sits behind him, he'll notice her when he gets up.

Outside, Noah realises that the day is close to ending and if he's going to make his move on Elspeth, he'd better do it now. It's a bit nervewracking though!

So he just grabs her and goes for it, before she can say anything!


Elspeth is a little surprised to say the least and she tells Noah in no uncertain terms that it's not happening.

Not quite the ending to the day Noah envisioned but hopefully, he'll get over it soon enough.

Notes:
  • I didn't end up doing that much with Julia after all. But I will probably have her in the primary update next year. I was thinking about my student teacher thing and if I restrict them to doing it only in their senior year, they're restricted to doing prac in whatever school I happen to be playing that year. And I did my student teaching in my second-last and last year of uni, so they can too.
  • I laughed when I saw Anthony checking himself out in the boys' room. It reminded me of Wade, way back when he was at high school!
  • Noah's first kiss and it's with Elspeth! They are somehow already BFFs, so the kiss was accepted but she made that face anyway, lol! Seemed appropriate!

16 comments:

  1. Oh man Noah!! What the heck! Glad it was accepted, though you can tell it wasn't well-received! Sebastian is a cutie, I hope he can take notice of Adelaide.

    It was great seeing all the new kids in action, and seeing Julia be a student teacher.

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  2. Adelaide is so cute...she's turning into one of my favorites. :)

    Poor Noah. Elspeth probably would have dumped him soon enough anyway. Anthony in the boys' room is hilarious! He just looks so thrilled with himself!

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  3. Maisie, LOL, yes, I don't think Elspeth knew quite what to make of Noah! She should probably have a talk with Sophie!

    I'd like to see if Sebastian and Adelaide get together. I can imagine what David would have to say about it though!

    Thanks for reading!

    Rachel, I like Adelaide a lot too. I think I'm going to have fun with her.

    Yes, Noah has probably dodged a bullet with Elspeth! He didn't know what he was getting himself into!

    I always crack up when teens check themselves out in the mirror! Too funny!

    Thanks for reading!

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  4. Noah! lol! He's way too young for her anyway. She'll just end up breaking his heart.

    Also, ah, young hormones. Poor teachers have to keep on it and watch where those kids go!

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  5. I love your group shots! And the action in the classroom, the boredom, Adelaide's reaction to Veronica's dominance, the way everybody is circling once they're allowed outside, it is all so perfect!

    Noah should definitely stay away from Elspeth!

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  6. I haven't messed around with teens near enough, some wonderful shots here! LOL! Wow, talk about a great reaction to that kiss, poor Noah. Time to move on~ Especially loved the classroom shots!

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  7. It's funny that Julie and Joanna get along so well considering they're both not so nice :P

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  8. Lunar, Noah is definitely too young for Elspeth! Wade will be secretly happy she's put a stop to any burgeoning romance between them! He wasn't happy.

    This is why I'm glad I teach primary school! You occasionally have to deal with little crushes in the upper grades (and Hot Teacher polls, my God) but not all this craziness! And the kids don't actually hit on you like my friend's high school students do!

    Thanks for reading!

    S.B, thank you! I was a lot more inclined to work on setting things up here, because I only had 12 students.

    I was a pretty average student but I remember feeling the same way as Adelaide at times. Those dominant students were always the ones who kept us in five minutes after the lunch bell had rung, lol!

    I'm hoping this Elspeth and Noah thing has been put to bed now.

    Thanks for reading.

    Drew, oh, teens are a lot of fun. They're probably my favourite age group (besides adults...I guess adults are everyone's favourites).

    The classroom shots were a lot of fun. I found a classroom pose box in that list at GOS and was playing around with all the poses; there are some really good ones.

    Thanks for reading!

    Apple Valley, maybe they enjoy discussing their misanthropy. ;) I'm kind of a grump sometimes and I hate being around relentlessly cheerful people and am actually comforted by being around other grumps, lol. I'm sure it works with kind of mean people too!

    Thanks for reading.

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  9. I like the classroom photos. Oh goodness, I wouldn't want to teach teenagers!

    Wow, Sebastian eyeing his brother's girlfriend. I hope he notices Adelaide and forgets Veronica. It could cause some serious tension if his brother finds out!

    Noah cracks me up. Why bother asking if the girl wants a kiss, just go and grab her.

    I never thought Julia would become a teacher but I guess it's because I always see her as Jack's psycho ex-girlfriend, lol.

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  10. Sari, there's a reason I teach primary school!

    Poor Adelaide. Sebastian hasn't so much as looked at her so far. Hopefully, he'll open up his eyes because Veronica can't stand him anyway.

    LOL, I'm hoping Julia will calm down a bit once she's not seeing Jack every day. In her freshman year, before he arrived, she was acting quite normal!

    Thanks for reading!

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  11. LOL Noah's a brave one! Although I don't know if that was bravery or just naivete. He's adorable and reminds me of his dad with his baby face.

    I liked seeing all the new kids in the school. Anthony looks super cool checking himself out in the mirror and Mitchell is quite the cutie. I didn't really see it that much until now. It's weird seeing Julia as a teacher. I hope she doesn't go bi-polar on any of the students LOL. But I do remember having some teachers through the years who probably were bi-polar. So she should be fine! ;) Great update!

    Oh and thanks for mentioning that there's a classroom posebox. I'll have to remember to go looking for it.

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  12. Danielle, probably more naivete on Noah's part here! He and Emma look a lot like their dad. It'd be nice if the next baby took after Amelia a bit, as adorable and Noah and Emma are!

    I aged Mitchell up to check what he'd look like when he was older, because he was so odd looking as a toddler. I think he turns out looking a lot like Jesse. So yeah...he's going to get cuter. ;)

    You know, I figured you already might have the classroom pose box! When I was posing the kids, I was remembering the picture of your lecture theatre, with Paul Reid snoozing!

    Thanks for reading!

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  13. omg, rolling! As a high school senior myself, I must say you write us oh so well.

    All the romantic hijinks, and Joanna running after them... ha!

    I must say, Veronica is stunning. Man, she's beautiful!

    And I love the educational posters all around the school. So accurate, so cheesy, and so effective.

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  14. bbop, I'm glad to hear that! I went to a girls' school, so this is kind of out of my range of experience! I did attend a co-ed school for the first six months of high school though and I remember the teachers breaking up a few couples who were getting too amorous in the playground!

    When Veronica aged up to toddler, I remember wishing she looked a bit more like Cara; she's really all Caleb. But she's so pretty that I don't really mind so much any more.

    Thanks for reading!

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  15. I love this update! Those teens are a little bit all over the place!

    Tsss, Veronica, sneaking out of class to meet up with your boyfriend! Understandable though :)

    I never would have picked Noah to be this brave, but good for him! He might actually find a girl this way :) but I think Elspeth is a little bit out of his league here!

    Sebastian just look around, there's a really pretty girl waiting for you!

    I love the view of Kendal's clasroom! And lol at Anthony with his head on the table!

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  16. Tanja, the kids went a bit nuts this round!

    Veronica is trouble. I'm already feeling sorry for poor Caleb and Cara!

    I guess Noah's motto might be "nothing ventured, nothing gained", so he had to try. He wasn't happy with the results but now he knows (hopefully!)

    Anthony needs to learn some more subtle sleeping in class techniques. ;)

    Thanks for reading!

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