A Love Like War

"Alright guys," Vicky said, clapping her hands to quiet down her rowdy class, "it's the second week of the month and you know what happens every second week?"

A hand shot in the air and little Rosie with the pigtails waved her hand back and forth. "It's trip week Miss Winborn!" she shouted, excitement evident in her voice.

"You're right," Vicky confirmed, nodding her head at her over-eager pupil, "but inner voice Rosie, okay?" The girl nodded quickly and she got up from her seat, grabbed her list of buddies and stood at the front of the room. "I'm going to pass you out a letter just before you leave that your parents need to sign to allow you to go. No signature, you're staying at school." Even though she organised trips frequently for her class, she always found herself having to remind them as a group to remember their permission slips because some of them always ended up forgetting until the day of the trip and pleading with her to go, even though she'd already spoken to their parents and obtained their slip. It was easier to just communicate directly with the parents but unfortunately she had to do it through the children so that they could learn to remember important things if they wanted to do things.

After the initial chatter about the trip died down, she started reading off the pairs. They were paired for safety reasons because she didn't want some of the boys together because she knew how boisterous they got when in close proximity. She also didn't want a specific pair of girls together otherwise she would undoubtedly lose them within the museum and quite frankly, she did not want to lose her job. Teaching kids was something that she enjoyed doing, despite how much trouble they could get into, and even though it was tiring nothing would stop her from waking up in the morning and looking forward to going into school and seeing the smiling faces of her lovely class.

By the time she'd finished announcing the pairs and deflecting the complaints that she'd expected, the bell was ringing so she stepped back to her desk, scooped up the permission slips and went over to the door to make sure that each and every child was given one to take to their parents. "Try and get these back by tomorrow," she said, knowing that she'd be lucky if one was returned the following day. "And Timmy, make sure that your dad fills in the medical section," she called to the retreating mass of children before muttering to herself, "He forgets to each time." Closing the door, she faced the now empty classroom and with a sigh, went around tucking in chairs that some of the kids had forgotten to do and picked up any pencils she saw lying about on the floor.

Vicky glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that she had ten minutes until she had to phone the museum back in order to fully book their tour guide and entry. Their useless receptionist had been less than helpful when she originally phoned and had told her that she couldn't book a tour guide because they didn't have any available. However, she knew that they did because she had made sure to phone beforehand to check because she'd been indecisive between two different museums and the tour guide was the deal breaker. So she'd had to make another phonecall in order to speak to someone else who told her that yes, they did have tour guides available and no, she couldn't have absolute confirmation until two days before the trip because of how often schools had pulled out at short notice. She understood that perfectly but she did not understand the unhelpful receptionist.

She made her way over to her desk and sat on the chair, wiggling the mouse of her computer to wake it up from its sleep. The post-it note she had on the screen was torn off and crumpled up as she turned to the phone and picked up the receiver. Here's hoping that she doesn't get the unhelpful woman again.

The receptionist answered after two rings and once she'd told her the name of the school and that she was phoning for confirmation, she was passed through to the tour guide's line where a man spoke. "A party of 23, including you?" he asked.

"Yes, that's right. 22 kids should be in attendance for that day but of course there's a chance we could be short of a number because of illness and such. Is that okay?"

"That's fine, Miss Winborn. Just so long as there's no more than 23 in the party, any absences are okay." There was the sound of typing down the line and Vicky opted to be quiet as she wrote down what was being said for reference. "What time is arrival?"

She paused for a moment, trying to calculate in her head how long it'd take them to leave the school and make it to the museum. There was always a guarantee that someone would need to use the bathroom before leaving school despite having just arrived, the journey there would depend on traffic but that was normally good, so she ended up saying, "Around half nine, if that's okay?"

"Yes, that's fine. Are you intending to stay all day?"

"Oh no, just the morning. They're third grade, they're not old enough to spend all day surrounded by History without causing any damage," she said, knowing that if she kept them there for the entire day then she'd more than likely have to explain away a breakage of something valuable.

"If only all teachers would be like you," the man mumbled, relief flooding his voice at the news. "Your tour guide has been booked and we'll see you on Wednesday."

Vicky thanked the man and hung up the phone, grateful that she'd had someone helpful. Checking the time on the computer, she logged off and shut down before standing from the desk and picking up her bag, slinging her jacket across her arm as well. There were no meetings arranged for tonight so she was free to go home straight from school, something which she did. Most of the cars in the carpark had already gone so she had no one to say goodbye to as she pulled out of the school and headed for her home.

It didn't take long until she was pulling up outside of her house, switching the engine off and resting her head on her seat, suddenly craving a glass of wine. She hoped that Chloe had gone shopping because if she didn't then she wouldn't be able to have anything even remotely alcoholic because they'd run out over the weekend. Stepping out of the car, she withdrew her keys from her bag and approached her door, sliding the key in and turning the lock. After closing it behind her, she hung her keys up on the rack and called out, "Chloe, are you home?" as she slipped her shoes off and placed them on the shoe rack before stepping into the sitting room.

"Kitchen," came the reply to which Vicky responded to by leaving the room and heading down the short hall towards the kitchen. There Chloe was, unpacking the bags of shopping. She looked up as she entered the room. "How was school?"

Vicky grabbed a bottle of wine from one of the bags, tore the seal from it and grabbed a glass from the cabinet. "It was fine. I phoned the museum back and actually had someone helpful this time."

"And you need the wine because...?"

"Because I'm still pissed off at that damn receptionist. Like, you're working for a museum so you should know what you're talking about. You don't see me going around and telling people that I work for two hours a day only for them to find out that I actually work a full day," she ranted, pouring the wine out into the glass before picking it up in her free hand and taking a sip. "Besides, I'm trying to prepare myself for the trip."

Chloe laughed and stood up from where she'd been kneeling to put things into the bottom cupboard. "You're the one who had the idea to take your darling class on a trip each month," she reminded.

"I didn't think that Cathy would actually agree. If I did then I would have never suggested it!" She shook her head and took a mouthful of drink. Her boss had been more than happy to allow her to do educational trips each month provided that not all of them had to be paid for by the school and that she submitted a form at least a week before the trip with all the details included. This meant that she also needed to provide a contact number for the place just in case any of the children needed to be contacted or she needed to be alerted to an emergency at the school. Of course there was never likely to be an actual emergency, but it was health and safety that they had to be prepared just in case there ever was.

She refilled her glass after downing it and left the kitchen when Chloe said that she was going to start on dinner, instead heading to the sitting room and sitting on the sofa, sinking into the soft cushions. It was nice to be off her feet and in a quiet environment at the end of the day. It was also nice to come home and not have to worry about making dinner or going shopping because her sister handled all of those household jobs in exchange for living with her. The house was Vicky's present from her parents (though she chipped in at least by twenty percent) for achieving good grades in high school, gaining a degree in university and making something of her life. They'd been let down by their oldest daughter who just couldn't seem to hold a job - something which Vicky never really understood why because she was excellent at keeping the house in order. It was a shame that she wasn't prepared to get a job in house cleaning but then again Vicky didn't know what she'd do without her sister living with her. She was the best company ever and it was nice to come back to a house that wasn't empty.

After a while of relaxing in silence, Chloe shouted through that dinner was ready which made Vicky get up and go into the kitchen, making sure that she filled up her glass before sitting at the counter with her sister. "You're trying to win my heart," she exclaimed when she saw that it was pasta in her favourite wine sauce. "And trying to get me drunk."

Chloe shrugged with a smile on her face. "You know me so well."

"If you're planning to rob me, just remember to be tidy about it. The least you could do is make me not have to clean up your mess."