The Da Vinci Term

House Master Way arrived at Heathrow Airport and pushed his way through the Arrival Hall to make his way outside the terminal building. He had just arrived after a short 4 days break in the States. Before he gets to his cab, he was stopped several times by a few fans who recognized him underneath his thick black coat and sunglass. Even though he was dead tired, he politely signed their autographs and posed for their cameras.

“Thank you,” He said as the airport attendant closed the cab door for him. He sank his tired body into the backseat, took off his sunglass and closed his eyes.

“That is one long flight, eh, Mr. Way?” Ean, a Wolver who also doubled as hisslave assistant during his short stay in the US said from the front passenger seat.

He nodded wearily.

“We’ll get there in 45 minutes,” Said the cab driver. Gerard nodded again. He was simply too tired to respond.

***************

“Welcome back House Master Way!” Nicky cheered happily as she passed House Master Way at Bekynton Hall. The other girls grinned as they saw their House Master was back in the House after four days of Biology Conference. They missed the man when he was gone, and although they had ran over a few House rules when he was not there, they were glad to see him back in the House.

“We miss you, Mr. Way,” House Captain Nita said. Gerard nodded and smiled weakly. Some other girls went to greet and hugged him before he walked back to his quarters.

“Is it just me, or did anyone else noticed that Mr. Way is kinda… quiet?” Jenna said to the girls at her table. Her friends nodded.

“Yeah, he seemed to be living outside his body. Oh please, pass me the salt, Kasey…” Kii Kii said and stretched her hand to take the little salt container from Kasey.

“I wonder what’s wrong with him,” said Kasey before passing the salt to Kii Kii. Kii Kii and Jenna nodded in agreement. There was a silent moment before Jenna piped up again.

“Whatever it is, I’m worried…” muttered Jenna.

****

A few days later, it was very clear that everyone in the House had realised that Gerard had changed upon returning from that Biology Conference. A lot of speculations had circulated around the House like a hot conspiracy theory. What happened to Mr. Way, they asked. Why did he changed?

“I think maybe he’s in this some kind of Biology experiment… and then it went wrong, altering his mind and all…” Sara said, widening her eyes.

“No! I think he’s just tired,” Nicky protested.

“Tired? He’s back for two days already!” Sara said in defence.

Meanwhile at the Common Room…

“I think he hates us,” Kirsty said sadly.

“That might be true! I mean, he’s not in the mood in Bio class today!” gasped Esther. She flicked her hair behind her shoulders and her eyes sparkled back at Kirsty.

“Please don’t tell me he hates us…” She said.

“Oh God,” Ree muttered, she had butterflies in her stomach just over the thought of it. “He’s dumping us for the Dunearn girls!”

“That’s bullshit, Ree,” said Meg, “and what? Miss McKay will be our new House Master?”

“Now hold on a minute, Meg,” Ree said dramatically. “Think about it. He may get tired of us teasing him about everything… Naming his member ‘Breakfast Monkey’, worshipped his ass… staring at the bulge on his pants… Maybe he thinks that we are a bunch of perverts who are always on the lookout to harass him, that’s why he’s moving to Dunearn!” Ree said.

“NOOOO!!!!” The girls shrieked at once.

“Hey guys, what’s up with the screaming?” House Captain Blue asked, and took a seat beside Meg.

“Blue, you’re the House Captain… Did Mr. Way told you about why he’s acting so weird lately?” Meg asked. Blue shook her head.

“No. Why?” She said and helped herself to a piece of chocolate chip cookie on the table.

“Mr. Way is all weird when he got back from that conference…” Kirsty explained.

Blue bit her cookie slowly, pretended not to know what the girls were talking about. Then the Common Room door creaked open and Ean appeared.

“Oh hey guys, I need help with these boxes…” she said, pointing to some twelve big boxes in front of the Common Room which had been there since Gerard got back from the States.

“What are these boxes for?” Esther asked.

“Just some of Mr. Way’s stuff…” Ean said and began pushing one big box to the storage room beside the House Master quarters.

“Mr. Way‘s stuff? Is he moving to Dunearn?” Meg asked, a hint of freaking out in her voice.

“I don’t think so,” Ean said.

“Hey Ean. Why is Mr. Way all weird now?” Blue asked while helping to carry a slightly smaller box to the store room. Ean piled up the boxes neatly in the store room and turned to Blue.

“He looks fine to me,” she said and helped Ree with another heavy box.

“Hell no. We all know he’s not fine. And he better not be like this any longer because he has to coach us for Sports Day!” Blue protested.

“Oh c’mon, Blue. That man was just going through his pre-midlife crisis…He‘ll be all chirpy very soon,” Ean said but the girls were not satisfied with her answer.

“Hey Ean, listen. We all know you don’t give a shit about him but we do,” Meg said, pushing the final box into the store room with her feet. “Just because you don’t like him, it doesn’t mean we are too,” she added.

Then suddenly, the door to House Master’s house swung open. Gerard walked out from his house, turning the keys and without saying anything to the girls, he walked away. He had his head buried under a furry black hoodie and his gaze was fixed on the floor at all time. His steps were weak, but he continued walking to the main door and disappeared in the cold Windsor weather.

“Is that what you call fine?” Ree said, and poked Ean on the chest.

*****************************


Our beloved House Master, looking all sad…what happened to him? Was he sick? Or did he planned to move to House Of Dunearn? Stay tuned for more updates!