Chapter Text
**Halfway through the year**
“Ms. Deluca this is the only option, if you want to make this trip happen she will have to go with you,” Principal Bailey informs Carina.
She, as well as the entire school, is aware of this altercation between the two women. But she has her reasons for putting them together, she hopes to stop whatever this is between them so that they are at least civil with each other.
Carina has always liked her boss; they have even gone out drinking a few times and are on good terms. But at this moment she wants to murder her. This is her trip; she has been trying to get it green-lit for two years. Now the year she is about to get a yes she is informed the last person on the earth she wants to spend time with has to tag along.
Maya Bishop is the bane of her entire existence and now in order to go to Europe over the summer with her foreign language students, she has to bring Bishop.
On her first day here she was abrasive and rude from the moment she met her and Carina developed some sort of grudge against her. Which in turn has made her loath Maya Bishop, she wants nothing to do with her. Ever since that first day, she has always been rude and it fuels Carina’s dislike for her.
But she can understand why Bailey said she should come; she is the History teacher and can teach the kids along the way as well. But she doesn’t have to like the idea of her coming on this trip she has worked her ass off to plan. She can avoid her for the most part of the trip unless it’s necessary to speak to her. But this also means that they need to work together to finalize everything.
“Fine, I’ll ask her and see if she is willing to come along on the trip with us,” Carina says hoping beyond all hope that she will say yes. Who knows maybe she will also bring with her some students from her class with her.
“Good, when do you plan on going?” Miranda asks wanting to know more about this trip.
“The month of August, the last month of summer vacation. I have nearly the entire itinerary planned out and a cost per student and have contacted an academic travel agency. I have all of the countries and cities planned for the most part. I thought about seven countries four days in each city and then two travel days to get there and back. We should get back a few days before school starts.” Carina explains knowing she really has to sell this for her to really be on board with her taking a bunch of teenagers to Europe for a month. It’s a big ask to let two teachers and a few parents take a group of teenagers halfway across the globe.
“It is going to be an amazing learning experience immersing ourselves into the culture of the countries and languages these kids are learning about. Not only that but if Bishop decides to come they will be learning about the history of every country and city. I know it’s a big ask but I already have a few students interested and a few parents willing to come along as chaperones.” Carina says hoping she isn’t going to get into too much trouble for already asking around to see who would want to come.
Miranda is slightly annoyed at what Carina did by putting her in a tight spot by telling some students about this. However, she does see how this could be an amazing opportunity for the students who are able to go. “If there is a good parent-to-student ratio then I don’t see a problem but I still want Bishop tagging along on this so you have to convince her first. Now your free period is almost over and I have paperwork to do. I also expect both of your lesson plans for next year turned in before you leave for Europe. And I want to see a lesson plan for this trip as well.”
“Yes ma’am,” Carina says walking out of the office with a huge smile on her face. Now she has to go to the one person she loathes to see if she can convince her to go to Europe with her and some students this summer.
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**A few weeks later**
“No. Absolutely not, I have no interest in spending a month with teenagers on my time off even if it is in Europe. No.” Maya says as she makes copies for the next week getting a head start on everything.
Carina wants to smack her; she isn’t even letting her explain how amazing this trip could be for the students and how much it would teach them. “Dio mio listen I get that we…aren’t on the best of terms-“
“That’s one way to put it.” Maya scuffs leaning her hip against the side of the copier looking at Carina as she crosses her arms across her chest.
“-But…This will be an amazing opportunity for them to learn about European history and the cultures and languages of every city and country we go to.” Carina says trying to appeal to the teacher side in her, the part that is always looking for a way to reach her students so that they really grasp the material she is teaching.
“No. I love my kids just as much as the next teacher but I do not want to travel through Europe with them.” Maya says standing her ground, she can see how annoyed Carina is becoming and she won’t lie, it’s amusing her slightly knowing she is getting under her skin. She doesn’t know what it is about watching her get all wound up that makes her laugh and amuses her.
“I will run all your exams at the end of the year through the machine and make all your copies for the first two months of school next year,” Carina says trying to bribe her to see if it appeals to her in another way.
“Why are you so desperate to go on this trip anyway? Why do you want to spend your summer vacation carting around who knows how many teenagers through different countries?” Maya asks curiously as to Carina’s motives behind this. There is no way she would have come up with the idea being a history teacher like she told Carina she loves her kids. But thinking about spending a month with her students during her summer doesn’t appeal to her in any way
“Because I want to teach these kids about different cultures and have them put their language skills to the test. I believe that traveling to different countries and experiencing different cultures is a great way to teach kids about empathy and how to be a better and well-rounded human beings.” Carina explains hoping it’s helping Maya decide to say yes. “you can’t tell me that you don’t want the same thing for your students.”
“Of course I want them to be well-rounded people but I never thought about taking them to a different continent in order to do it,” Maya says through a laugh like she said she loves her students with everything in her. But the thought of being responsible for who knows how many students halfway across the world doesn’t exactly appeal to her. Although Carina does make good points and she hates to admit it but she is getting into her head.
Maya studies her for a few moments trying to decide if she should say no just on the principle that she doesn’t like her and doesn’t want to spend a month of her summer with her. She knows that can’t be the reason she says no though, it would amazing for all the kids that went on this trip.
“All my exams and copies for the first two months of school?” Maya asks making sure the terms of the deal she is getting herself into if she decides to say yes.
“Is that a yes?” Carina asks perking up at the idea that this trip might actually be happening. A bright smile on her face.
Maya notices that Carina is insanely beautiful as she radiates happiness and excitement…’ where the hell did that come from’ Maya thinks and shakes her head letting the thought leave her mind just as quickly as it entered.
“I guess so, but I want to make it clear I am not doing this for you. I am doing this for the students,” Maya states pointing at her.
“Deal, that’s perfectly fine by me. Bailey’s the one who wanted you to come on this trip, to begin with.” Carina admits and Maya rolls her eyes as her copies finally finish.
“Glad to know you didn’t actually want me on this trip,” Maya scuffs and picks up the copies making sure everything is there.
“Let’s be honest here we don’t exactly get along or like each other so let’s at least pretend to be civil okay?” Carina says annoyed at the situation they have been put in by their boss.
“Fine, the only reason I am going is the fact I don’t have to stand here and feed through five periods' worth of answer sheets from my exams, and two months of copies,” Maya says gleefully knowing she can rest easy when it comes to the end of the year.
“That’s the only reason? Not the fact that you get to spend a month of your summer in Europe?” Carina asks annoyed at the look of pure happiness on Maya’s face.
“Oh I have already spent my fair share of time gallivanting through Europe after the Olympics, I have plenty of memories there I am doing this for the manual labor you are offering me in order to go,” Maya says chuckling to herself. This was all a lie of course; she loves the idea of going around Europe for a month out of her summer. She does also love these kids, some of them made her want to rip her hair out but a good percentage she loves and wouldn’t mind spending her summer with. She is doing all of this to get underneath Carina’s skin and make her angry, something she takes a lot of enjoyment out of.
“UHHHH! Come può qualcuno essere così insopportabile e irritante [How can someone be so insufferable and infuriating] You are insufferable do you know that? Can’t you just for one minute be a normal human being with feelings?!” Carina says angrily and stomps out of the copy room.
Maya chuckles and shakes her head going back to her room to start getting ready for what she has planned for the rest of the year. Only seven months until this trip and she already is a little excited, she hasn’t been to Europe since before she took this job as a teacher. She is going to look forward to this trip even if it means spending her last month of summer with Carina Deluca
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A week later
“Okay, we have a total of ten kids and three parents who have signed up by the deadline and made the deposit. Now we have to finalize where we are going and contact the travel company.” Carina says looking over all of the paperwork from the kids and their parents. They have all of the documentation they need to take them out of the country now they have to do I finalize things with the travel company Carina found and make their lesson plans.
Carina and Maya sit in a café looking over the laundry list full of things they need to do today.
“And make lesson plans for next year and this summer we can’t forget that.” Maya remarks in a snarky tone a little bitter that she has to be thinking about this in January.
Carina grimaces at the thought of that as well she really doesn’t want to have to think about next year in the middle of this year.
“Okay listen, if we are going to do this you need to not be so snippy,” Carina says more than a little annoyed with her.
“I am just saying when I said yes I didn’t realize I would have to do all of this to make this trip happen. If so I wouldn’t have said yes” Maya says the last part to annoy Carina. She is a little annoyed that she has to think about next year's lesson plan. She is barely through this year’s lesson plan. The lesson plan for the summer is coming pretty easy considering Carina had all of the countries and cities mapped out. All of the historical sites came right to Maya, it’s mapping out next year that she is bitter about.
Maya is known for being one of the most organized teachers in the school so turning in her lesson plan early for it to be reviewed isn’t really that much of a problem for her. It’s just tedious that’s what she is annoyed with.
Carina glares at her with her lips scrunched together in annoyance “We have a lot to get done today so let’s just get to it.”
“You have everything for the trip taken care of correct?” Maya asks going over her rough draft of notes for their itinerary that corresponds with her lesson plan.
“Yes, I have everything finalized with the company and sent everything out to the parents and students.” Carina says not looking up from her laptop, Maya looks up and she get another one of those intrusive thought about how beautiful Carina looks right now. She scrunches up her face as if she just ate something disgusting before going back to her laptop. What is it with her and these little thoughts that don’t make any sense, what is going on with brain that it’s thinking all of these things?
“Can you send me the countries? We need to pick all the activities we want to do so we can finalize it and send it to the travel company. I also need to know so I can plan around what we are doing. I have almost everything planned out but I just want to make sure everything works.”
The both of them spend the next couple of hours working on their lesson plans for the trip and Maya even gets as far as working on next year’s lesson plan. They both take a deep breath having felt better getting everything done on their list they needed to get done. They made great progress and feel proud of themselves, this trip is going to happen after all.
Now they need to turn everything into Bailey and they both hope she will approve and then the trip can finally get on its way. Carina still can’t believe that this trip is happening, she has wanted to do this trip for so long. Now she is hoping it isn’t all ruined by Maya Bishop going on this trip with her.
She can see Maya is actually interested in this and knows she isn’t just going for the manual labor she is offering her; she actually had a small smile on her face while they were in the coffee shop and it makes it a little better knowing she actually wants to go on this trip. Maybe this won’t be so awful after all, maybe she was wrong about her initial thoughts on Maya coming along on this trip.
She was pleasantly surprised that they got through three hours without bickering, granted they did minimal talking to each other but still. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable as they worked beside each other. Maybe Maya Bishop isn’t so bad after all and maybe this trip wouldn’t be so bad with her tagging along.