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It goes on for ever. The headmistress keeps droning on and on, repeating things they all already heard numerous times. School values. Academic clubs. Set rules for their pupils to follow without a question. This is Eloise's seventh year as the literature and social studies teacher at the East Mayfair Girls' Grammar School and she can recite the speech along with Mrs. McCreedy in her head. She's almost tempted to do so aloud as well, just to see the old witch's left eye do that funny ticking thing it does when she's at the bring of hysterical outburst. She stops herself just in time. The school year is just beginning tomorrow and she is still in somewhat hot water from last year. No need to poke the hornet's nest. But god, the temptation…
Eloise takes a covert look around the teachers' lounge and at her colleagues. Almost everyone has the similarly glassy look in their eyes, the empty, polite expressions on their faces as they try not to fall asleep. Their music teacher seems have lost that particular fight already. Then again, the man is so old that he could just as well be simply dead. The thought makes Eloise chuckle and she tries to cover her snort with a polite cough. It is a testament to how tuned out her co-workers must be, because nobody but one notices. He raises his eyes from where they were firmly bored on the table in front of him, connects their gazes for a split of a second. He's back to bloody taking notes of the headmistress' speech in the next moment, but Eloise could swear that he smirked at her.
His name is Theodore Sharpe, a history teacher that is taking over after Edwina. Eloise's best friend left at the end of the last academic year, marrying and moving with her new husband to West Berlin of all places. Friedrich (Freddie for his friends) has a minor position in the local government there. Officially. Secretly, Eloise thinks his job might involve less of a tedious office work and more spy-slash-informant-slash-contact person from the east part of the city type of workload. (She expressed this suspicion to Edwina once and the other woman just gave her a small, pensive smile and said “Don't worry, we know what we're doing” and that was it. Eloise continues to worry, but that is about all she can do about it.)
Either way, Edwina left behind some pretty big shoes to fill and Eloise is curious to see how her replacement will manage to tackle this challenge.
She's jerked out of her pondering by a sudden round of scattered applause, the end of the headmistress's speech catching most of them unprepared. Before Eloise can properly react, people are getting up and heading towards the exit. The first mandatory teachers meeting is over and last free afternoon before their pupils roll in awaits them. Eloise tries to escape as quickly as possible, but her plans are foiled. Mrs. McCreedy's shrieking voice stops her at the last moment, one foot already out in the hallway. Mr. Sharpe, who was walking a step ahead of her, turns as well when hearing Eloise's name, probably startled by the volume it was uttered. Eloise only catches another of his smirks – this time somewhat sympathetic – before she turns back into the lounge and walks back to her boss.
“Miss Bridgerton, I just want to make sure that there will be no repeat of the last year's… indiscretions.” The headmistress pierces Eloise with a stern glare, trying to subdue her. Everything in Eloise screams to bark back at her, but she musts tread carefully. She cannot afford to lose this job. And more importantly – she doesn't want to lose it.
“Whatever you mean, Mrs. McCreedy?” She could lie and promise she will behave, placating the old hag for some time until inevitably landing back on her bad side for one thing or another. But no, better not give any promises. And to keep this short and vague enough as not to be goaded into making any either.
“You know very well what I mean.” Eloise tries to keep her face devoid of any other expression but slight polite interest. However, Mrs. McCreedy is not fooled and spells her concerns out loud, taking away Eloise's hopes of playing dumb and unaware.
“The inappropriate debates you hold with your students have no place in this school.” Eloise stops herself from rolling her eyes at the last second. Clinging desperately to the last remains of her sanity, she replies as evenly and non-confrontationally as she is able:
“Forgive me, but what is inappropriate about teaching fourteen years old girls about their own bodies?” Mrs. McCreedy's eye starts doing its nervous tick, but by now, Eloise can hardly appreciate the sight.
“Fourteen is way too young to be exposed to such things.” The headmistress declares uncompromisingly. She doesn't allow any protests, no matter Eloise is already opening her mouth to voice them, and continues, aloof and condescending:
“Now, I conceded to having them be informed of the… biological aspects of their adolescence, but you are taking it too far, Miss Bridgerton.” Sad thing is, she actually believes that the bare minimum she allowed Eloise officially tell their students on this topic, is perfectly enough. She was actually just fine with the way things were before Eloise stuck her nose in it. The three lessons that their biology teacher spend explaining the reproductive system of rabbits and then when getting to humans, simply declaring that “it's basically the same for them” and not allowing any questions, deemed sufficient education on the topic.
For a moment, Eloise is back to being fourteen herself, sitting in her bedroom with both Daphne and Frannie and listening to their mother trying and failing to educate them as well. (Their mother might have given birth to eight children, but she remained remarkably embarrassed about the whole process of making a baby. She did reasonably well as far as explaining how to deal with “monthly curses” to her daughters, but from there, it was a string of vague flower metaphors and desperate pleas to “guard” their chastity, since it is their biggest treasure. She wasn't even able to tell them from what they are supposed to be guarding this gift they've been given. So in the end, it maybe wasn't so surprising that Daphne ended up pregnant at barely eighteen.)
“Sexual education and health is part of their adolescence as well.” Eloise will be dammed if her students enter life as insufficiently informed as she once was. She is determined no to back off on this. The firm resoluteness must be easily readable in her eyes, because Mrs. McCreedy huffs first in annoyance and then in anger, before throwing frankly absurd accusation at her:
“You are encouraging them to promiscuity.”
“What? That's ridiculous!” Seeing she managed to unnerve her, the headmistress doubles down on Eloise, back to her patronizing tone:
“There is no need for them to know such things before marriage.” Eloise looses the battle and rolls her eyes so far she thinks she can see the back of her own head.
“What if they don't want to get married?”
“Then they have no need for this information at all.” There is also no stopping the sarcastic tinge her voice now takes.
“How very… Victorian.” Mrs. McCreedy narrows her eyes and menacingly points a finger at Eloise, delivering her final warning, threat, ultimatum.
“I'm not joking, Miss Bridgerton.”
“I assure you Ma'am, joking is the very last thing I associate with you.”
Eloise manages to get out in the next five minutes, somehow, miraculously avoiding actually making any concrete promises about the content of her lessons. Oh, there is no doubt she will be under a heavy scrutiny, watched as a hawk not only by the headmistress herself, but her little birds as well. (Most teachers try to stay out of her way, but there is few who share her conservative values and like to see them implemented in practice. And, there is no helping it, there is always some students that rather stick with the adults in charge than their peers.)
Well, she will just have to be more careful. The school hosts girls of ages from fourteen to eighteen and the last year's graduates were able to keep their extra extra lessons close to their chest. It wasn't until one of them got caught snogging with a boy from the boys' grammar across the street at the joined dance that the cat got out of the bag. The poor girl got so hysterical when being chastised by the headmistress that she blurted “But I didn't do anything Miss Bridgerton said could get me pregnant!” as a desperate attempt at defence. Needless to say, things went to shit pretty quickly afterwards. Eloise shudders at the memory of being yelled at first by Mrs. McCreedy, then the girl's parents and then, when she regaled her family with the story at their monthly dinner, by her own brother. Though why Colin “kept a sex journal before marriage” Bridgerton had a need to act all high and mighty, she will never know. Well, that's a lie, her brother is a bloody hypocrite, plain and simple and Eloise is suddenly overcome with desire to punch him in the face. He's not the cause of her current frustration, but will do as a vent in a jiffy...
“Hello.”
“Oh god dammit.” She's so lost in her fantasies of smacking her brother silly that she entirely loses any awareness of her surroundings. Eloise's feet guide her safely through the school's hallways, but her mind is too occupied to notice the obstruction in her way, until it speaks and stops the collision at the last second. She raises her head properly – and finds herself face to face with the new teacher, Mr. Sharpe.
“Sorry, I thought you saw me.” He's grinning at her, the apology for startling her sincere, but heavily coloured by mirth. His smile is downright infectious and involuntarily, Eloise can feel her mouth replicating it.
“It's alright, I was lost in my own head.” She waves her hand, signalling that no harm was done. Mr. Sharpe's grin widens and then he's nodding in the direction she came from:
“Did you get a detention?” He teases and Eloise chuckles before mock-seriously replying:
“I'm one strike away.” Her good humour is appreciated and then there is a hand in front of her, reached out as an offer for greeting. Eloise takes it without thinking twice, earning herself another smile.
“I'm Theo Sharpe.” Her new colleague introduces himself, pressing her hand with just right amount of firmness. Their eyes meet and amazingly, Eloise suddenly finds herself curiously short of breath. The eyes staring back at her are the most warm and lovely shade of brown she's ever seen.
“I know.” He was introduced in the teaches' lounge earlier, so she is not lying, but the way she says it is much less suave than Eloise had hoped for. She mentally shakes herself. Better not go there.
“What's your name?” Thankfully, her breathy answer is graciously ignored and Mr. Sharpe moves the conversation along. He has a slightly pleased glint in his look now, something Eloise is familiar with in men who think they managed to charm her at her mother's soirees. That thought snaps her back to her usual brusqueness better than anything else and she can say her name without making fool of herself.
They quickly establish the first name basis, Eloise only making a pause when her companion uses the shortened version of his name.
“Not Theodore?” Theo scrunches his nose in distaste and even puts on a show of exaggeratedly shuddering.
“No… that gives me flashbacks to my mother scolding me.” Matching his faux-serious tone, Eloise nods her head sagely.
“Yes, I know what you mean.” She motions towards the teachers' lounge, before starting walking away, finally getting out of the school. Theo easily matches his steps with hers, walking by her side. His tone when asking his next question is still light and teasing, but if Eloise is not mistaken, there is a whiff of genuine worry underneath:
“What did she scold you for?” Eloise sighs deeply, some of the annoyance and anger she felt when confronting Mrs. McCreedy coming back.
“Lets just say our opinions on how to approach sex education differ widely.” That is a very light way to put it. She has already high hopes that Theo will be one of her allies on the teaching staff, courtesy of his age if nothing else, but she is hesitant to imprint too much of her own opinions about their headmistress on him before he can form his own.
“You have sex education in here?” There is a genuine surprise and tad of excitement in Theo's voice when he reacts to her statement. Eloise feels almost guilty for snuffing that out.
“We really don't. That's the problem.” They reach the main door and Theo holds them open for her as she passes by. He's back at her side in the next second, however.
“I take it you have tried to change it?” Eloise doesn't know him yet, so she cannot be hundred percent sure he's asking with the intent to disapprove or support. (After all, she has to manage her expectation, the age doesn't always guarantee the familiarity of thought. One doesn't have to look further than her own brother.) In the end, she decides to take the leap of faith this time:
“I just don't see a point in telling girls how the sex works and how to protect themselves when they are already pregnant.” Eloise stops in the middle of the pavement, catching Theo's gaze in challenge, daring him to disagree, to berate her for spoiling the children or some such nonsense. However, nothing like this happens.
“My sister is a nurse at the woman clinic in Poplar. I can get you some materials if you want.” It's a genuine offer and the thing Eloise appreciates the most about it is the complete seriousness with which it is presented. Theo doesn't say it in order to endear himself to her, but for the unquestionable care he has for his future students. (Again, she doesn't know him yet, but somehow, Eloise is absolutely certain in her assessment.)
In a sudden surge of whimsy, she winds her arm around his and starts walking again, Theo only briefly pausing to settle her hand more comfortably around his, before following her lead without question.
“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” Eloise says happily. Theo moves the fingers of his free hand to briefly touch the brim of his hat, giving her his best Bogart broody stare.
---
She stumbles into the teachers' lounge, hands full of books and (now) empty coffee thermos under her arm. Eloise can feel a wet sensation under her armpit, exactly at the spot where the top of the thermos is. The things is leaking when not standing upright, something Eloise keeps forgetting. Now she must bear the consequences in the form of coffee stain on her shirt. Of course, she doesn't have a spare in her cupboard as of now and to make the matters worse, this September continues to be unreasonably hot, so covering herself with her blazer is not an option either. Just wonderful.
Thank god it's Friday. Eloise is just about done with this week.
She dumps her load onto the central table in the room, drops down on her designated chair and slumps gracelessly over the desk. Thankfully, no one else is here right now, so she's spared any disapproving tutting at her lack of lady-like manners. Eloise closes her eyes, resting for a moment. She still has three classes to teach today. Now, she loves her students dearly, but it seems that the last echoes of warm weather are making them especially spirited today, leaving Eloise frankly exhausted. Bunch of wild animals, she thinks fondly of the class of sixteen years old girls she just left at the mercy of their next teacher. Absolutely incorrigible.
The door to the lounge squeak, an unmistakable sign of their opening. Reluctantly, Eloise straightens up, looking towards the entrance. The person to walk in is Theo, his arms also full of books and students' notebooks, plus he's balancing a rolled up map on top of it all. Unknowingly, he replicates Eloise's movements perfectly, down to splaying himself on the desk and sighing melodramatically. Eloise reaches out just in time to stop the map rolling off the table, Theo having no interest of saving the thing.
“You look like you were chewed and then spit out by a hippo.” Eloise says and gets only a grunt in response, Theo's face still smashed into the cool wood of the table. He raises one hand, making some vague gesture that could be both a sign of agreement or pointing her to shut up and murmurs something unintelligible. He raises his head and repeats it only after Eloise asks him to, not understanding him the first time around:
“Kind of feel like that.” He gives her a tired smile, folding his arms and resting his chin on them while never taking his eyes off her. Eloise gets up and walks to the side table that has a hotplate and a kettle at the ready.
“Who did you have just now?” She asks while preparing them a fresh batch of coffee. She didn't use to drink the stuff, bar an occasional social visit with cakes. Now she consumes probably unhealthy amount. At least that's what her mother keeps telling her.
“The graduates.” Theo pushes his chair back and stands as well, rounding the central table to join Eloise at the kitchenette area and help her with preparations. Eloise no longer stops and wonders at how naturally they are able to work together, no matter the task.
“My favourite.” She says, teasing only a little bit, since the girls in this years' graduation class do, in fact, hold a special place in her heart. Theo just nods, but doesn't say anything. Eloise gives him a thorough once over. He really does look awful. She musts remind herself that this is his first teaching gig. Theo got his degree in History and Politic and planned to become a novelist afterwards. He still plans to do that, but in the meantime, he had to reassess a bit. Occasionally published short story has not been enough to feed him in a long term. He had some other jobs as well, ranging from part time columnist for a local newspaper to helping hand in a printing shop, but in the end, the need to have steady income to pay for the roof over his head was – if not stronger than more urgent – than his leftover romantic ideals of a living like Franz Kafka. So he got himself an approbation and took the first position that was offered to him.
Eloise nudges him slightly with her elbow. Despite him not having a lot of experience so far, he is actually a very good teacher already. Eloise firmly believes that one day, he will be able to go back to his dreams and follow his true calling, but in the meantime, she will do her best to help him not lose his sanity.
“They are wonderful when you get to know them.” She assures him, before honestly admitting: “But, they can be a bit intense, I remember crying a lot when I started.” She was barely few years older than her eldest students, unsure of her capabilities and with no earned authority yet. When she says crying, she means hysterically sobbing into her pillow at night, because she felt like a total failure. But it got better. And it will get better for Theo too, even though now he whispers, almost timidly:
“They are little bit scary.” He looks like a puppy that was smacked on the nose with rolled newspaper and Eloise has to suppress the chuckle already bubbling in her throat to hear him continue speaking:
“I think that teaching at girl's grammar is what they call a baptism by fire.” Now Eloise does laugh a little, because… well, he's not wrong.
They take their cups with freshly made coffee and move back to the table. Since being alone here Theo's not bothering to walk around back to his place but sits down on the chair next to Eloise's. She stirs her beverage before bringing it to her mouth, blowing away the steam rising from it.
“You need to set firm boundaries. Otherwise they'll eat you alive.” Eloise says before taking a sip, grimacing as she (predictably) burns her tongue. She sees Theo wince and since he yet has to take a drink himself, she can only assume it is because of her words and not the temperature of the coffee. Hoping to lighten the mood a bit, she continues with a tease:
“Especially with that pretty face. You will have it so much worse because of that.” Theo is an exceptionally handsome man, Eloise has to concede on that. Not that she cares, but there is no denying of the fact. And she knows well their students have noticed too. (She caught several doodles in the homework notebooks with little hearts and “Mr. Sharpe” scribbled into them. There was also a raise in slight vandalism on the school premises. Particularly the bathroom stalls. The things she read there she would rather not repeat.)
“Don't you mean better?” Theo inquires, brows furrowed in slight confusion. Eloise hides her tongue that she kept out to cool after being burned and smirks.
“No.” It doesn't take Theo long to understand. Something akin to horror crosses his face.
“Teacher crushes?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Oh god.” Now he looks properly terrified, probably rethinking all his life choices that led him to this moment. Eloise reaches for the sugar-basin and drops another cube into his mug. He needs all the sweets he can get to soothe his nerves, she thinks amusedly.
“I suppose it is kind of inevitable.” Eloise concedes eventually, hoping it will make Theo somewhat calmer. Or at least not on the bring of a panic attack. It does seem to do the trick (that or the amount of sugar he inhales with his coffee), so Eloise doesn't feel bad whatsoever for voicing out the boundaries she expects Theo to follow:
“But let me make something clear. The second I see you reciprocating any of them or behaving inappropriately in any way, I will end you.” She is not joking any more, her tone clearly indicating that no budding friendship between them will stop her from implementing the justice if need be. (No matter that some people at this school – and indeed, their society as a whole – are still turning a blind eye to things like this.) Eloise holds Theo's gaze and waits for an acknowledgement. It comes basically right away and once again, said completely seriously:
“Fair enough.”
---
Time moves at an astonishing rate and Eloise is happy to report that her and Theo's friendship continues to thrive. They find they have a lot in common, from similar taste in books to political opinions. And even where their views differ, they still enjoy the verbal sparring that accompanies the discourse. Theo also makes good at his word and gets Eloise in touch with his sister and they both manage to organize couple of host lectures at the school with her, allowing the older girls to get proper information about subjects otherwise stupidly denied to them.
Theo also slowly finds his footing in teaching and with Eloise's help manages to establish himself among both his colleagues and the students. Come December, he is well in the running for one of the favourite teachers at the school. Eloise still teases him about it being thanks to his pretty face and he still grimaces uncomfortably every time he hears her. Nevertheless, when some older girls come to him and Eloise for support in opening a book club, they both happily give it and together weather Mrs. McCreedy's endless interrogation about the enterprise. But, just as they managed to sneak Lisa Sharpe into the school under the guise of hygiene lecture during the Domestic Science class, they now make the book club looking as innocent as possible. (Mrs. McCreedy still listens on first couple of meetings, checking that the literature discussed is once again in the terms of what she deems as appropriate for their students. Eloise and Theo keep their personal reading recommendation for the times they can be sure she is not spying.)
The happiness and joy in her personal life is however no reason to become complacent in the face of the problems their society still faces. Or rather, the glaring injustice that accompanies her own profession. The first round of protests had to be called off due to the thick, poisoned smog that settled all over London at the beginning of December, but the second the situation got just a little bit better, it was back on and Eloise now finds herself in front of Sanctuary Buildings on Great Smith Street, surrounded by her teaching peers of all ages, all of them calling for erasing the pay gap between them and their male colleagues. Some nondescript clerk made it out of the Ministry building about a half an hour ago, trying to placate them with empty phrases and vague promises they all heard hundreds of times before. He's booed back into the building and nobody else comes out, despite the repeated chanting of the minister for education name.
Eloise is right in the thick of the crowd so she doesn't notice the trouble right away. It's only when the mass of people starts to sway dangerously, shuffling from side to side, sweeping people in the movement whether they want to or not, she manages to raise up on her tiptoes and look over the heads to find out what is happening.
It is not a riot police. No, with the press lurking around, sending a gaggle of policemen to beat up a crowd of mostly women teachers would be an actual disaster. The men pushing onto them from both sides wear no uniforms, nor any identifying signs. It's only when they open their mouths and start shouting obscenities at them, Eloise realises who they are. She internally groans as she tries to not lose her footing. There is always some hecklers, yelling at them to get back into the kitchens, calling them whores and – and that is new today – “fucking commies”.
At first, Eloise doesn't think much of it, since this is not her first time in similar situation. But then she notices that the thugs are closing in on them from both sides, blocking the exits. There seems to also be much more of them than usual, enough to actually inflict some damage and people in the crowd realise that too. Panic starts to mount, those at the fringes either trying to make a run for it (thankfully still allowed to do so without any physical attacks, only insults and threats thrown at them) or they try to get further away, stepping back to the centre, squishing those already there. In the few minutes, Eloise is pressed tightly from all sides. She still holds her head above the crowd, seeing clearly as one old lady, a retired teacher with a picket board saying “Equal pay for equal work” bravely steps out and starts reading their adversaries a riot act, scolding them. Eloise cannon hear the words over the panicked murmuring around, but she sees the man facing the woman shrink visibly, until his mate steps in, snatches the board from the woman's hands and throws it on the ground. He then starts to shout, loud enough for everyone to understand, that “the old bitch should get lost before he sends her home to her husband in a shoe box”. Some other teachers step out to defend her and the brawl starts, causing the crowd step even further away from it.
Trapped in the middle of a sea of bodies, Eloise quickly loses any advantage her height and tall heels she's wearing have provided her. People are pushing more and more and she stumbles, not able to see where she's going. She loses stability and to her horror, find herself sinking down. She claws on the coats of those around in vain attempt to get back up, but it's useless. Her knees touch the ground and feet around step on her legs. She can feel one of her shoes slipping off, her unprotected nylon-clad toes now getting even more abused by the shoes of those around. If she gets any lower, someone will kick her in the head. Eloise never particularly enjoyed tight spaces and now can feel the panic around getting hold of her too. Determined not to succumb to it, she uncompromisingly grabs the nearest person and tries to haul herself up once more.
Sharp sound of a whistle slices the air and everyone and everything freezes for a second. Eloise uses this moment to successfully get up. Fruitlessly, she taps around with her bare leg, trying to locate the missing shoe. Another loud whistle and the crowd moves again. Eloise sees a group of policemen pouring out of the Ministry building and getting between the protesters and their hecklers. Well, seems that the police was at the ready after all. Whether to protect them or the toffs in the ministry, that is open to interpretation, Eloise thinks sarcastically.
Men blocking the other side of the street probably get scared by the uniforms and start to flee, allowing the teachers to move out as well. The crowd shifts again. Balancing basically on one foot, Eloise loses her stability in the rumble and feels herself going down again. Thankfully, this time someone catches her before she hits the ground.
“Oh… thank you… Theo!” Two strong arms hold her around the waist and she manages to turn just enough to see the person who helped her. For once, Theo is not grinning, but in fact looks rather shaken. (Later, he admits that he really didn't expect things to get so rough at a teachers' pay protest.)
“What are you doing here?!” Eloise shouts over the humbug that keeps reverberating around. The hecklers all too keen for a fight, the scuffle between them and the police escalating by the minute. The reason for the protest now unfortunately buried under this, the press sure to report the scandalous conclusion of the meeting rather than the reasons it was called in the first place.
“Getting trampled, just as you. Come on, we need to get to the side.” Initially, Eloise thinks Theo is being sarcastic, but then she does notice a foot print on his coat, lending his words an unexpected gravitas. She's tempted to protest, in order to look for her missing shoe, but in the end thinks better of it. Sneaking her arm around Theo's waist in a similar manner his is around hers, she nods and then limps after him as he pushes through the mass of people. When the crowd finally spits them out, even the heavy city polluted air is like a spring breeze to them, both gulping it down greedily. They continue in haste until getting far enough from the scuffle to feel safe. Only then they stop, both breathing somewhat strenuously and looking all kinds of messed up.
“So… You go to equal pay rallies?” Eloise asks in a forcefully light conversational tone. She holds onto Theo's arm as she balances on one foot to take off her remaining shoe. Thankfully, there is no snow on the ground, or rain, but the pavements are dreadfully cold. She starts to shift from foot to foot in foolish hope to limit her feet's contact with the chilly cobblestones. Theo watches her for a second, before gently tugging her to him, guiding her to step on his shoes. It is a precarious balancing act, forcing them to hold onto each other tightly once again, but at least the hard leather of his boots is significantly more comfortable than the harsh ground. Eloise cannot really lean back to look him in the face without losing her balance, so she does the next best thing and leans in, pressing her face into Theo's shoulder. She can feel his arms tightening around her in response and when he speaks, giving her the answer for her question, his voice is both his typical mix of teasing and sincerity and somehow rugged. Eloise thinks it might be because of the rush they have just experienced.
“Why wouldn't I? I'm a teacher now. And I see no reason why my women colleagues shouldn't be rewarded equally for doing the same job as me.” He wasn't the only man on their side of the protest, but the truth remains, many male teachers, while maybe acknowledging the problem, have no much of an urge to go and do something about it. Eloise chuckles unhappily and starts listing the arguments she already heard in her relatively short teaching career in order to explain this injustice:
“Because we are less efficient, emotionally unstable, not firm enough, not capable of critical thinking, have smaller brains…”
“Right, right…” She cannot see it, but is pretty sure Theo is rolling his eyes. The tone of his voice clearly suggests that he views these reasons just as idiotic as she. Her mood suddenly improved, Eloise risks raising her head and finding his eyes with hers.
“I'm not done! There are whole lists of arguments why we don't deserve to be paid justly!” The exasperation, sarcasm and general fatigue with the human stupidity colour her words. Theo rolls his eyes again.
“I know. My old mates from university kept repeating them fairly often.” Eloise wrinkles her forehead in distaste.
“I really hope you got better friends.” She mutters. She can feel herself tilting backwards, her balance slipping. Theo brings her closer to his chest.
“I did.” Eloise can feel her cheeks warming up, the corners of her mouth tugging upwards at Theo's simple statement. It's very easy to get lost in the moment, very easy to admit that she likes very much being considered a friend by Theo.
Nevertheless, the moment must end eventually and it's Eloise to do it, finally stepping down from Theo's shoes and his embrace. She leaves one of her arms around his, however, something she tends to do quite often when they walk together. (She tries not to examine it too closely.)
“So… coffee?” She says, chirpy and smiling. In her free hand, she clutches the shoe, mentally lamenting the loss of its twin. They were her favourite pair. She says so to Theo after he follows her steps with a simple “Lead the way” while asking if she's going to throw it into a garbage. She doesn't, holding onto her shoe the entire way it takes them to reach her apartment.
By that time, her stockings are in shreds and her toes are turning slightly blue. She gets changed and warm and Theo makes her hot tea, but it isn't enough and she comes down with a nasty cold the very next day, forcing her to stay out of school for the rest of the week. Theo stops by every day, bringing her groceries, making her soup and relaying stories from the classes he's substituting for her and the good-wishes from their pupils. Eloise almost wishes he wasn't such a good caretaker, because she enjoys his company in her home immensely.
(Also, when she gets back to school and opens her designated cupboard in the teachers' lounge, she finds the shoe she lost at the rally there, cleaned and ready to rejoin its counterpart on her feet. Theo just shrugs his shoulders when she asks him about it, saying he had to walk through the Great Smith Street on his way home anyway. Eloise, knowing well that he lives in Lewisham and therefore nowhere near the Ministry of Education buildings, lets him get away with it.)
---
Year 1953 rolls in and their book club continues and by spring it turns into a place for discussions of any kind, not just literature. Be it women rights or current world politics, their young Queen or the old parliamentary members, no topic is off the table. Neither Eloise or Theo have their own offices like some of the senior faculty members, so when they want to go beyond their duty as teachers and provide their students with some additional attention, they have to do so in the empty classrooms under the guise of academic clubs or lesson consultations, often covering for one another. It is not uncommon to see Theo walking through the hallways between the periods, ostensibly reading one of his books, tapping his knuckles on the classroom doors to alert the people inside when a danger is coming. Thanks to that, Eloise has always time to switch to discussing the latest class assignment with any girl she currently has in, leaving Mrs. McCreedy none the wiser that few seconds before she barged inside, demonstration about how to correctly use the prophylactics was taking place. (Eloise is a firm believer of not leaving anything to chance. There is no telling if the boys her girls go out with have access to this kind of information either.)
Theo's position in school seems to settle as well. Some of the girls still secretly make moon eyes at him, blushing every time he hands them their graded papers, but most of them got over their little crushes already, much to Theo's relief. He's finally even capable of not looking like he's going to puke when the topic arises in conversation. He managed to establish firm boundaries as Eloise recommended, remaining approachable for anyone to come for help of any kind, but uncompromisingly shooting down any and all attempts at whatever some of the bolder ones have tried at first. He was as gentle as possible about it, while still remaining firm, but there are still some offended feelings going around.
But it doesn't seem to be a problem at large, not at first. The girls calm down, the book club keeps being well attended and Eloise with Theo meet outside the school as well with ever increasing regularity, often going to political speeches together, engaging in heated debates or just silently browsing used-books stores. Theo writes and Eloise is more than happy to put her English degree to use and edits his works for him, the two spending the lunch hours in the school cafeteria, sitting close to each other at the table, heads together as they talk in hushed, confidential voices. They celebrate as one when Theo's pieces, be it essays or short stories, get picked up and published in newspaper or literary almanacs, sharing the news with their students too. They even start thinking about setting up a writing club at school as well, presenting this idea to the girls one day, scouting if anyone would be interested.
(They are little bit disheartened by the lukewarm response they receive in return. The thinly veiled suspicion with which some of the girls were watching them then should have been their first warning, to be absolutely fair. But both Theo and Eloise were too excited to share this possible new revenue with the girls to recognize the fact. When the trouble starts mounting afterwards, they have trouble to recognize it at first too.)
It begins innocently enough. Attendance book for Theo's classes starts getting misplaced and eventually lost, forcing him to endure twenty minutes long lecture from Mrs. McCreedy about importance of orderliness and diligence. Knowing that he is also probably complicit in Eloise's extracurricular activities, but not able to prove anything as of now, the headmistress lays on him with force, her “warnings” clearly having the undertone of threats. When Theo gets out from the Headmistress' office, Eloise spontaneously gives him a hug right there in the plain view of everyone, because he looks a bit green around the edges.
It escalates, the initial pranks getting meaner and more damaging, Theo obviously always the target. He finds himself under the scrutiny almost every week, from the headmistress as well the other teachers and the carefully built position he managed to establish for himself starts crumbling. There are talks about him failing as a teacher from their colleagues. Mrs. McCreedy does nothing to dismiss them, now seemingly having some personal vendetta against Theo, just as she does against Eloise. The end-of-the-year evaluation hangs over Theo's head, the possibility that he could lose the job he grew to love over the course of the year suddenly scarily tangible. (Theo's assistance helped keep Eloise out of the trouble for most part and she is well aware of the injustice that her friend now faces.)
It's clear that pupils are behind all this and as flabbergasted as both Theo and Eloise are about it, they try to figure out what prompted this bout of hostility towards previously adored teacher without involving any other authorities first. But, not matter what they say, alone in their classes or together in their clubs, nobody seems willing to talk. Most of the girls are probably truly innocent, but there is few, mostly the older ones, that while remaining dead-silent, shoot Theo icy glares when they think nobody is looking. Eloise notices well enough, however, and a thought starts taking root in her mind. Could this be as simple as insulted pride taking revenge? She remembers being sixteen, back then she fancied herself in love with someone new every other month and she also remembers well how it stings not having this puppy love reciprocated. Could this be a pay-back for Theo not entertaining their attentions as they hoped for?
“Look at this!” Eloise shares her concerns with Theo one day and right on the next one, he falls into the classroom she's in, enjoying the free period. It coincides with Theo's, actually, and they often spend it together, alone and away from the teachers' lounge where the judging stares of their colleagues keep following their every step. Before Eloise can properly react, he thrusts a couple of picture magazines right in front of her face. Eloise takes them and looks. Scantily clad curvy blonde bomb-shell stares at her from the front page and when she flips through it, more of the same follows.
“Hm… I'm more into brunettes.” Her attempt at joking falls flat and when Eloise raises her face up to Theo's, she can see he's almost shaking with agitation.
“Someone planted it on my table!” He says, sounding horrified, confused and yes, angry. She doesn't blame him. The anger is well warranted by now.
“McCreedy almost found them. She was to have one of her “social conversation” lessons in that classroom after the free period. I forgot my notebook, so I went back and… found this just laying there!” Theo sit down on the desk, hiding his face in his hands. Automatically, Eloise reaches out and puts her hand on his knee, giving it what she hopes is a comforting press. Theo's left hand reacts immediately and, leaving its position over his eyes, joins Eloise's, their fingers entwining easily. There is no need to voice what would happen if a publications like this were discovered with a teacher – and somewhere where students could very easily come across them. Theo would be out before he could say half a word in his defence, something like this just a thing Mrs. McCreedy would love to sack him on the spot for.
There is also no need to voice that trying to find out the culprits is now of critical importance. Theo might have dodged this bullet, but more are sure to follow. And as much as Eloise loves her students, she will not tolerate bullying.
They keep observing for another two days, trying to find out who will look the most perplexed that Theo is still in the school. Comparing their notes later, Eloise and Theo come to the conclusion that the main masterminds behind Theo's harassment are all also part of the book club, so they decide to utilize the next meeting as an opportunity to confront them.
Luck is on their side in form of Mrs. McCreedy being gone for the day, so they don't have to worry about being spied on. Once all the members of the club enter the classroom and sit down on the chairs arranged in a circle in the middle, Eloise shuts the door and then takes the magazines she hid with herself out of her handbag and hands them to the first girl on her left. She can hear the startled gasp that escapes the girl and when she looks down at her, the shifty way she tries to avoid Eloise's stern gaze tells enough without her even opening her mouth. The magazines change hands, making it round the circle until ending back at the teachers. Theo grabs them and rolls them tightly, his knuckles turning while at the force his fingers grasp at the paper.
“I will only ask this once. What is going on?” Eloise's tone when speaking is stern and unyielding, demanding of the truth. She doesn't need to use her strict teacher voice all that often, but today calls for it. Unfortunately, it has exactly zero effect, the girls exchange few furtive looks, but no one says anything. Eloise sighs.
“Someone start talking. I appreciate you are trying to stick together, but whatever this is, it got out of hand.” Theo keeps presenting a remarkable calmness when speaking, especially since he is the injured party here. He keeps the anger successfully hidden, only a certain degree of hurt and disappointment shining through his otherwise unreadable facade. In the end, that is what makes the first ones to crack, especially since the latter emotion echoes in Eloise's expression as well.
“We didn't mean to hurt anyone.”
“We had no other choice.”
“We just wanted…” Several girls speaks at once, neither giving any proper justification for their actions. Their voices trail off and quiet stillness settles over the classroom again. With infinite patience, Eloise prompts them to continue:
“Wanted what?” Another two heartbeats of silence and then…
“You're going to leave like Miss Sharma!” The tearful wail comes from a girl Eloise frankly expected to break as first. But, it's such a random explanation, leaving Eloise just as stumped as before, that after exchanging a confused look with Theo, she can only dumbly ask:
“What?”
“You are going to marry and leave and we will be stuck here with all the old teachers that don't tell us anything and…” There are tears freely running down her cheeks and the girl cuts herself off with a heaving hiccup before finishing her sentence. Eloise stands up, walks across the small clearing in the middle of the room and hands her a handkerchief.
“Why would you think I'm getting married?” She asks, confused astonishment in her words. Standing at the centre of them, she takes a look around the girls. Another one crosses her arms over her chest and pouts, thunderous expression on her face.
“We're not blind.” Some more girls nod in agreement. Eloise feels like she fell through the looking glass.
“I need more context, girls.” She admits and amazingly, she finally gets it. There is an accusing finger accompanying the next words. But it's not pointed at Eloise. It's pointed at Theo.
“We can see you – with him!”
“Me?” Theo's indignant squeak is mostly ignored.
“We see how he looks at you and how you look at him. It's the same Miss Sharma was with her prince.”
“Prince?” Once again, Theo is ignored, the fact that Edwina's Freddie has some aristocratic ancestors, thus earning this nickname among the students, not very high on the list of things Eloise feels need to be addressed right now. Not when the floodgates are split open and the girls start all talking over one another, their previous reluctance to divulge anything forgotten.
“We can't lose you too. There are no other teachers here to care for us the way you do.”
“And our parents don't tell us anything either.”
“We need to know things.”
“We need you!” Despite the potentially devastating consequences of their actions and their absolute inadmissibility, Eloise can't help but feel a little bit moved by the sentiment behind it.
“Girls, I'm not getting married.” She tries to be convincing, but for some reason, it doesn't sound quite right to her own ears and not reassuring enough to anyone else either.
“Not yet.” Someone grumbles behind her back, but before she turns to see who, exactly the same stormy expression settles over their students and they all look the same. With a little bit of desperation, Eloise starts pacing, feeling like she's on a trial.
“There is nothing between me and Mr. Sharpe. Right?” She turns to Theo, who in the interim stood up as well, the magazines now laying forgotten on the chair behind him. Eloise expects him to nod, confirm her words, but he remains silent. Suspiciously so.
“Right?!” Eloise's voice cracks a little on the repeat and she watches with unabashed fascination as Theo blushes under her scrutiny. He might be the oldest person in the room, but he suddenly looks like an awkward teenager himself, one of his hands making way up and nervously tugging at the hair on his nape.
“There might be… something. On my side.” He finally speaks, looking anywhere but her, his cheeks getting even darker. Eloise feels her feet moving, bringing her closer to him, the movement out of her control. It's like a fishing bait has been hooked into her chest and she's being pulled closer and closer, powerless to the force.
“Something?” And now her voice softens into a bare whisper and her cheeks grow warm too when Theo gives her a bashful smile and responds just as gently, his head giving a small distracted nod towards the girls around them.
“Something along what they said.” He has an extraordinarily expressive eyes, that Eloise noted very early on into their acquaintance. She learned to read them, read him, fairly well over time, yet now, the emotions that stare back at her from them, leave her breathless. It's not that she doesn't understand it. She's just too astonished to see it in the first place.
“And what exactly is that?” She needs to hear it, needs to make sure her mind is not making this up. She thinks she should be a bit upset, not with Theo, but with herself, for not noticing this sneaking up on her. Their friendship started so naturally and for the love of her, Eloise cannot remember the moment when it might have changed into… this.
Theo takes few steps towards her, stopping only when they stand face to face, tips of their shoes nearly touching. Smile is playing around the corners of his lips, smile that Eloise feels is making way on her face as well. She thinks she already knows what his answer will be, but before Theo can say the words, one of the girls loses her patience with them and the moment between the two is broken by an annoyed exclamation:
“He's mad about you!” Affirmative murmur follows the statement and that is enough for both Theo and Eloise snap out of their bubble and turn their attention back to the more pressing matters on hand. This can wait. Will have to wait. (But oh, Eloise is not planning on waiting for too long.)
“Right.” She clears her throat and with one last sappy smile steps away from Theo and turns to their students. Theo however remains on her side and they face the girls united.
“Let me see if I get this right. You were trying to drive Theo… Mr. Sharpe out of this school, because you thought we were… involved with each other.” It does makes sense – in the irrational teenager kind of way. As much as Eloise likes to think that her students are the most brilliant girls on earth and god's gift to humanity, she is now pretty sure that neither of them stopped and thought of the full scale of consequences their actions could have on Theo's life, should they succeed and get him fired. Their next words confirm it. There is no malice towards Theo in it, just absolute confidence in their logic.
“It's nothing personal, you are a great teacher too. But we had a vote about it and the result was that if we have to pick one, it will be Miss Bridgerton.” To his credit, Theo doesn't look at all insulted, just terribly confused.
“But why would you need to pick?” He asks and is rewarded by another round of annoyed huffs and eye-rolls.
“Because Miss Bridgerton couldn't teach after you get married! It might no longer be the law, but Mrs. McCreedy would sack her anyway.”
“Like she did Miss Sharma.”
“So you see? We had to do it.” They have a little bit inadequate idea about the full extent of events that went on behind Edwina's departure, but they are not entirely wrong either. While the marriage bar was removed for all teachers during the war, the tendencies to disqualify women from work force after marrying are still prevalent. And no one is more keen on this than their headmistress.
“Is it just me or it makes some weird kind of sense?” Theo murmurs into her ear and Eloise momentarily cracks and laughs, short and nearly barking sound as she tries not to lose it entirely. She's tethering the line of hysteric, because all of this is simply mental.
“How about this. If I were to swear, here and now in front of all of you, that if me and El… Miss Bridgerton ever get together in some way, I will definitely not be the cause of her deciding to leave the school, can we cease the battle?” Theo is ready to bury the hatchet, but despite the seeming progress of the last minutes, his offer is not accepted with much enthusiasm.
“Well, that doesn't really help our problem, does it?” Is the biting reply he gets. Eloise frowns, her amusement gone in the instant. These girls caused too much trouble to be this snippy any more.
“There is no problem!” She growls and most of the students snap into attention at hearing the tone. Only few last brave ones try to keep arguing, but Eloise doesn't let them this time. Gesturing between herself and Theo, she speaks:
“You have said it yourself. There is no legal ground on which Mrs. McCreedy could sack me if we got married and you better believe that I would raise hell if she tried.” It seems that is finally something that gives the girls pause. By the corner of her eye, Eloise catches sight of Theo grinning proudly at her declaration.
“We are planning to start unions here.” He adds, ready to fight by her side if need be. Once again losing the full control of her body, Eloise feels her hand move and wrap its fingers around Theo's.
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It takes some more convincing that truly, she is not planning on leaving the girls at the mercy of the geriatric teachers' faculty this school has. Once they believe, Eloise and Theo make sure that the full understanding of their actions settles in, not coddling them when pointing out how horrible it is to play with lives and livelihood of others for one's own gain. Nevertheless, once the realisation sets in and the culprits express their genuine remorse and apologies, they are forgiven and especially Eloise is happy to see that the girls spend rest of the school year making sure that Mr. Sharpe regains back his spotless reputation. They are the paragons of model students, not hesitating to sing Theo's praises to anyone willing to listen, outperforming each other in his classes and giving him credit when they dominate in the knowledge competitions with other schools.
They might be laying it a bit too thick, at least in Theo's opinion, but it does the trick. Mrs. McCreedy doesn't forget to point out his supposed failures, but those alone are not enough to terminate his employment and Theo passes his evaluation with good enough score to remain in his position. The cheer the girls in their book club emit when informed of this is quite real and full of genuine happiness.
And then the year ends. Eloise says goodbye to those who graduate, proud to see good number of them continue in the pursuit of knowledge at various colleges, but just as happy for those who decide to find their calling elsewhere, be it trade, work or home life. After all, as long as she knows that it is indeed their decision, she has no reason to criticise.
First of July she sleeps in, long past the time she normally wakes up, enjoying the fact that for next six weeks she will not have to get out of bed before ten if she wishes. Or at all, she thinks with a satisfied smirk and the thoughts straying towards a certain someone. That someone rings her bell around noon, bringing two portions of fish and chips wrapped in newspaper from the vendor down the street. He hands her one right in the doorway, not batting an eye at the fact Eloise is still in her pyjamas.
“So I heard that there is a printing workshop at Chancery Lane. An opportunity to find out how the process works and even print your own thing if you want. Would you be interested to go?” Theo asks as he follows her into the kitchen, setting his lunch on the plate Eloise hands him. She doesn't answer with words right away. Taking the now full plate from his hands, Eloise puts it on the table next to hers.
In the echo of the past, she steps closer, closer until their chests are pressed together. Her arms sneak round his neck and Theo settles his on her waist, bringing her up, Eloise's bare feet stepping on the scuffed leather of his shoes. Their faces drawn together, noses touch in a playful caress before lips do the same. First kiss is light, exploring and introductory, but it soon turns heavier, filled with enough heat to set them both on fire.
“I like learning new things.” Eloise says and this time, Theo answers non-verbally too, leaning back in and kissing the smile off her lips.