Impending doom

The new teacher entered the school doors, nervous. She was a fresh graduate and didn't know what to expect from the first day of school.

Some of her friends had warned her that she would be bound to be picked upon by both students and faculty for being a new face. In all likeliness, the older teachers will boss her around and the students would not acknowledge her authority.

But she's wanted to teach since forever. All she did was all she could do. She braced herself for the worst as she entered the faculty lounge.

"Oi, You're Ishikawa, ne~?" One of the teachers in the lounge, Nakazawa, called to her.

"Hai." Rika bowed in greeting to the older teacher who first acknowledged her presence.

"You look very young... Don't let the students eat you alive... Here's your homeroom class list, 1-D" Nakazawa handed her a folder labeled with the class section as she was led to a cubicle in the corner of the room. It was empty and already had cobwebs on the shelves. "Welcome." Nakazawa said nonchalantly--almost coldly before walking away.

Rika set her things on the desk before slumping on to a chair in a deep sigh. She looked at the folder. "1-D... ... I'm toast..."

She looked down the list. The names of her students were listed alphabetically, in English. No problems there. She was, after all, an English teacher. She read each of her student's names. The last name on the list struck a chord in her. It sounded familiar. "Yoshizawa Hitomi"

The boisterous laughter and chit-chat of the students echoed in the halls as they arrived. First in trickles, the nerdy ones arriving early. Later, as expected, students would flood the campus.

Rika decided to wait for the bell before leaving the faculty lounge. The utter chaos outside was bound to terrorize her. Only the bell could shepherd the students reluctantly back into order and the teachers back into sanity.

*dun-un dun dun*

The bell melodically rung. Rika sighed again, envisioning the impending doom that she had brought herself to. "What was I thinking when I took Secondary Education at the University?"

She slowly walked down the hall. It was nostalgic as she had walked these halls before as a student. She walked past the lockers and other classrooms to the last one in that wing: 1-D

"Here goes nothing..."