Leanne King knew so much about her situation was wrong, she wasn't meant to be in a seedy gambling den, she shouldn't have gone all in on borrowed money, and the river should not have been the queen of hearts.
"Hope you got better than a full house darling," chuckled the lady sat opposite Leanne. Leanne felt the knot in her stomach tighten knowing how much money she owed Sally Smooth. She didn't know a lot about Sally but she knew that you don't choose a name like that if you only have legitimate business interests.
"Three of a kind." mumbled Leanne, pushing her cards away from her.
"I guess that means it's time for us to have a chat in my office." Replied Sally, gesturing for a big man behind Leanne to lead her upstairs.
In Sally's office, Leanne and Sally discussed how Leanne was going to pay back the money.
"I take it you have a job?" asked Sally.
"Yes, I teach at the local school, I can pay you back." Pleaded Leanne.
"Not on a public school teacher's salary. I want 5 grand a month from you." Sarah turned to the large man that had helped bring Leanne to her office. "Derek, could you bring in a couple of the ladies that couldn't make the monthly payments?"
Derek sauntered out of the room and returned with 2 leads in his hands, the leads were attached to the collars of 2 naked women crawling on all fours, they had dog masks that covered their heads and tails that were clearly secured internally.
"This is Jenny and Alison. They missed 1 payment and now they roam our high rollers lounge. OK girls back to the paying clients, whichever of you gives out the least blow jobs will have to lick the toilets clean!" The 2 unfortunate girls rushed out of the room and Sally turned to Leanne. "5 grand in 4 weeks or you join them, I'll admit with your long brown hair and curvaceous body you would pay off your debt quickly this way but I would prefer cash... go on, off you fuck."
...
Leanne had to admit that Sally was right, a public school teacher couldn't afford those repayments. The moment she got home she started looking for better paying jobs with a quick start date. After 2 weeks the only response she got was from St. Chad's, a snooty private school in the countryside near her town. One of their teachers had suddenly left and they needed someone to replace her as quickly as possible. They wanted her to come do an interview period for a teaching job that paid double what she was currently on, this was her only chance to avoid the horrible fate of the ladies she saw that night.
She was told that at St. Chad's, teachers have to take a class for 2 weeks and then the decision of whether to hire her or not would be taken by her students. She hated these progressive fads that empowered students but if it got her out of this hole, she would become best friends with every last kid in the school.
...
The next day Leanne took sick leave from her current job and made her way to St. Chad's. She had decided that she would use the fact she was an attractive young woman to tip the scales in her favour, so she wore one of her old professional business suits. It was smart, but was also a bit tight and had a skirt a bit shorter than proper. Leanne thought this would give her the edge over the pocket mining boys of the class.
She was met at the gate by a bubbly friendly woman who introduced herself as Miss Croft, the headmistress. Leanne was able to get 3 or 4 words in between Miss Croft thanking her for appearing at such short notice, complimenting her outfit, telling her how great class 6b is and how much she's going to love teaching them and walking her to the classroom, almost pushing her through the door.
"Ok everyone, books down and eyes up!" Chimed Miss Croft. In unison the class stopped what they were doing and stared forward silently. Leanne was taken aback at how well they were all behaving, this was very different to the public school she was used to. "This is Miss King, she will be teaching you for the next 2 weeks and then we will decide if we want her to become part of the St. Chad's family. Why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"
Leanne took a step forward and stared at the class, she couldn't help but wince at the cheeky grins of students looking her up and down, all while knowing that her fate was in their hands.
"Thank you Miss Croft, as you heard my name is Miss King. Before here I was working at Bridgeford comprehensive" a little snigger of elitism creeped out of the class. "I have been working in teaching for 3 years now and I am really excited to help mould the future leaders of this country." It was a bit trite but Leanne thought a bit of ego stroking would help make a good first impression.
"Well I'm sure you have a lot to teach them, their maths mock exams are in a week's time and with Mrs Southall leaving so suddenly they are rather behind." Miss Croft chirped on her way out the door. She closed the door behind her and left Leanne alone with the class. Leanne decided that she would start by bonding with them and then move to teaching them later.
"OK class it sounds like we have a lot of work to do, so before we start let's relax and get to know each other better. How about we take it in turns to talk about what we feel our strengths and weaknesses are?" The whole class silently turned towards a girl slumped in the far corner, it was clear that she was the popular one and the rest were waiting to see how she was going to act. With as much contempt as she could manage she raised her hand. Leanne looked at the room plan and saw the girl's name was Becky.
"Yes Becky?"
"Can I start with your weaknesses?" This was not a good indicator for Leanne, clearly the opinion of the popular girl mattered the most and she couldn't bring down iron fist discipline like she was used to in her classes. "Your weaknesses is that you underestimate us, you poured yourself into that outfit this morning hoping that the hormone addled possessors of Y chromosomes will vote you through to a cushy job. Now you want is to be best buds because being friends with us is the most important thing, you care more about getting this job then our education, even now there is going to be no ramifications for me speaking out like this because you fear us, and a teacher who fears her students is as useful as a lion tamer with felinophobia."
Leanne stood their shocked while the class erupted into cheers around her. She struggled to think of what to do but knew she had to act fast or this girl could seal her fate as Sally's next puppy. She decided to come out swinging.
In a sweet voice that cut through the class Leanne stated. "Congratulations Becky, you are well on your way to being a stand-up comedian or chat show host, now I would never decry someone's choice of future occupation, but perhaps you could spare a thought for those who want a life beyond watching or hosting daytime television. They need to learn skills beyond meagre attempts to throw shade at authority figures." the cheers dropped to a louder silence. Becky smiled, knowing that she had found a worthy adversary.
"I love it when teachers assume they are smarter than me, it makes it more devastating when I take them down" Becky stated, never breaking eye contact with Leanne.
"Oh honey, if all you care about is undermining people who are trying to teach you then the only thing you're going to be taking down are Craigslist adverts for failing business ventures." Leanne had forgotten about everything but taking Becky down a peg, she couldn't get the job if she wasn't the dominant female in the class even if she had to lower herself to classroom insults. After all the rest of the class we're hanging on her every word far more than if she were teaching maths.
"I don't undermine people trying to teach me, I undermine people who think they are trying to teach me when they aren't as smart as me."
"Becky, I am smarter than you 7 days a week and will continue to be into the future."
