"Last of the kids gone home, Susan?" I asked the older Teaching Assistant. It had been another long day. While the pressure was off in terms of education, while the country was in lock-down and the schools were closed, our jobs as teachers had undergone a seismic shift. As well as the online learning we were providing on a daily basis, schools remained open for the children of the "key workers" such as NHS staff, delivery drivers, police officers... anyone the country couldn't run without.
Unfortunately, this meant that quite apart from having extra time at home, with Erica and our new baby, I was just beginning another week of entertaining about twenty children with a skeleton staff. I'd been given the lead role as the senior member of this team, along with Holly, the Year 4 teacher and two TAs, Susan and Karen. It was a decent group, as both TAs were a good laugh, and Holly was easily my closest friend, and arguably the most attractive member of staff (although Rebecca, the Year 6 teacher, would probably stake a good claim for having the best body in school), so I wasn't short of someone to look at or have a laugh and joke with when the kids were busy working or playing.
Not that being down to twenty kids made life much easier, as they had no idea how to practice social distancing, so most of our time was spent nagging, and as the lead teacher on site, it was my job to make the daily calls to parents of "vulnerable children" - taking up hours of the day sat in the office while the others led the activities with the children or enjoyed the sun outside.
Still, Monday was over with now, and Susan informed me that yes, the last of the children had just departed. "Do you want us to stay while you lock up this first time?" she asked, the mother in her making the offer although I could tell she was ready to go home.
"No, I'll be fine - I had the keys a couple of weeks ago when I led the other team so I'm pretty quick at it now. Besides, I need to wipe down the office where I've been making the phone calls before I leave - no point you waiting around. You may as well get off now, and I'll see you tomorrow."
Susan nodded and headed off to find Karen, who would probably walk part of the way home with her. Holly was around somewhere too, although I hadn't seen her for a little while once the children had started being picked up. I presumed she'd gone down to her new classroom (she would be moving to be Year 5 teacher next year) to move some of her resources or make the phone calls to her class - another job we had to do over the course of the week. Unfortunately that did mean the bottom end of school would be open, which meant an extra few sets of locks to check before I could leave. Still, it was fairly early, only just gone 3pm, and Erica had text to say she'd taken the baby out in the pram for a while, so I wasn't in any rush.
I resolved to clean the office first, then if Holly still hadn't come past to leave, then I'd go and find her. Susan and Karen both waved bye as they passed through the school's now deserted Reception area, where normally about this time there'd have been at least a couple of parents with questions for the office staff. I took my time wiping down the phones and desks, making a mental note that tomorrow I should stick to one desk rather than just plonking myself down wherever, as it had doubled the cleaning load.
Quarter of an hour later I'd finished the cleaning, written up a couple of incident reports (these had to be done for every phone call, so there were lots for me to write this week), and packed up my laptop, but there was still no sign of Holly. I knew I'd have to go down to the far end to lock up anyway, so dropping my bag by the office door, I set off at a brisk walk to find her.
Holly and I had developed a good friendship since I came to the school, and always had a laugh, and probably flirted a bit more than most colleagues. Then again, most colleagues haven't fucked each other on a residential trip away. Luckily, my wife Erica has something of a cuckquean fetish, as well as being bisexual herself, and masturbated herself silly as I told her the story when I got home.
"Holly?" I called as I strode down the corridor. I wasn't near enough yet to be heard from her classroom, but it would alert her if she was in the toilets. As I walked further into the school the corridor got darker, and only the fact that the main door through to the bottom end was unlocked kept me walking down, as the lights beyond this point hadn't been switched on.
Slightly annoyed, as I began to think Holly must be in the toilets, I wondered why the door had been unlocked. I decided it was pointless to call ahead anyway, and that if Holly was on the phone, she probably wouldn't appreciate me calling out in the background, so I continued in silence. Reaching the dark Year 5 classroom lit only by the muted sunlight coming through the closed blinds, I peered through the windows in the door, as I pushed against it to check the lock, ready to turn around and away from what I assumed was a still locked door after all.
My plans changed pretty quickly. The door swung quietly open and I heard a low moan as my eyes fixed on the back of Holly's swivel chair, turned away from me towards the desk at the far wall, dark brown hair cascading down the back of it, and one bare leg stretched up onto the desk in front of it.
