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“Okay, children! This is the letter ‘G’. Anyone know a word that starts with a G? Don’t forget to raise your hands!” Several hands went up, and Miss Burkle gestured for a boy in the back row to speak.

“Gorilla!”

Miss Burkle smiled. “Very good, Joey! Anyone else?” She glanced over at Spike, and blushed.

Spike rolled his eyes. He’d been in the classroom for less than twenty minutes, and already he’d lost count on how many times the bint had looked his way, giggling and blushing. He was starting to find her behavior more than a little awkward, not to mention that he was already beyond bored. When he’d offered to take Hannah to school and ‘hang around’, he’d planned on waiting outside the classroom, but as soon as Miss Burkle had seen him she’d practically squealed, insisting that he’d join them inside. Of course, Hannah had seemed to be thrilled, proud even, so how could he refuse? But now he kind of wished he had.

Hannah had been very quiet in the car on the way to school, something he wasn’t used to. At first he’d thought that she didn’t want him to be there, that she was ashamed of him or something, but the girl’s reaction when Miss Burkle had asked him to join them in class told him that was not the case. And so far, none of the kids had said anything mean to Hannah, which was good. But on the other hand, none of them had made any efforts of talking to her at all. He wondered what they would be like out on the school yard.

“Now, let’s all stand up and sing ‘Once a farmer had a dog’!” Miss Burkle smiled brightly, before once again glancing his way. Spike held his breath. Surely she wouldn’t…? “Mr Pratt, why don’t you stand up and join us?” Oh bollocks!

He let out a nervous laugh, looking around the room. “No, I… uh… I think I’ll sit this one out.” She looked like she was about to object, then seemed to decide against it, much to his relief. The kids started singing, and he leaned back in the chair with a sigh, discretely looking at his watch. He was starting to wonder what he’d gotten himself into. Ten minutes later, they were still singing and he was ready to start climbing the walls. It was almost a relief when they were finally done and Miss Burkle told the kids that they were going to do some math before recess.

“I’ll just step outside for a while, bit, that okay? Need to stretch my legs.” Hannah nodded, and Spike left the classroom. Slowly wandering down the long corridor, he finally reached a large door with a sign saying ‘LIBRARY’. He shrugged, and entered.

“No, no, no, put that book down please, it’s very old! And may I remind you to keep your voices down; this is a library after all.” A man in his late thirties, or possibly early forties, was running back and forth, carrying a large pile of books. He was wearing a brown, tweed jacket. Suddenly he spotted Spike at the door, and hurried over to him. “Um… hello. I’m Rupert Giles, the librarian. How may I help you?”

Spike noticed that the man seemed to be more than a little stressed, and wondered if he was the only one working there. “I was just checking the place out, thought I’d find me something to read.”

“Oh, I see.” The librarian studied him closely. “You’re a parent of one of the students, yes?”

Spike was just about to object, when he realized that it might seem a bit odd for a grown man who didn’t have any kids to hang around the school. Of course, he could explain the circumstances, but he didn’t think the other man would have the time, nor would he be interested. So, he just nodded. “Right.” He reached out his hand in greeting. “William Pratt.”

Giles’ frown disappeared, and he smiled. “Nice to meet you, Mr Pratt.” He was about to say something more, but got interrupted by the sound of a large amount of books dropping on the floor, and sighed. “Oh, dear! I have to… excuse me!” With that, he hurried towards where the sound had come from, leaving Spike to snicker. The library was crowded, both students and teachers standing in line by the counter, not to mention all the people who were looking for various books over by she shelves.

He found an empty table and sat down, happy to find some sports magazines, and started reading. Almost ten minutes later, he jumped at the sound of a throat being cleared, and turned to see Giles standing behind him. He noticed that the crowd at the counter seemed to have cleared out a little, and chuckled. “Rush hour’s over?”

“For now, yes.” Giles sighed, looking tired. “I keep telling Principal Flutie that I need an assistant, but he claims that he can’t find anyone willing to work only a few hours a day.” He sat down on a chair next to Spike and removed his glasses, starting to wipe them with a handkerchief he found in his shirt pocket.

Spike was about to answer, when a young, dark-haired woman, obviously a teacher, came over to them. “Mr Giles, I need your help.”

Giles put his glasses back on his nose, and put on a smile. “Of course, Miss Calendar.” He got up and was about to follow, when a boy who looked around thirteen or fourteen came up to him as well.

“You have to help me find a book.”

Sighing, Giles gave him a patient look. “You’ll have to wait, Justin, someone else was before you.” He glanced over at Miss Calendar, now standing by the counter.

The boy; Justin, got an angry expression on his face. “I’m not waiting for anyone, you hear? You think for a second that I’ll hang around here with all the geeks, while you’re off flirting with the computer teacher? Think again!” He raised his voice, and the remaining people in the library were now staring at him.

Giles opened his mouth, then closed it again, obviously taken aback by the boy’s words. Spike decided to step in, and turned to Justin. “No need to get worked up, mate, what book are you looking for?”

Justin gave him a surprised look. He hesitated for a moment, before answering. “David Copperfield, by Dickens. It’s for my English class.”

“Right.” Spike gestured for Giles to go help Miss Calendar before turning back to Justin. “It ought to be over at the novel section, I’ll help you look for it.” He headed for the novel section, relieved when the boy followed.

Giles returned a couple of minutes later, having helped both Miss Calendar and Justin to check out their books. Spike gave him a worried look. “I hope you don’t mind I helped the guy, you looked like you could use an extra hand.”

Waving his hand in dismiss, Giles shook his head. “Of course not, your help was appreciated, I assure you.” He hesitated before he went on. “I’m about to head off for lunch, but you’re quite welcome to stay.”

Spike looked at his watch, his eyes widening. “Bloody hell!” He gave Giles an apologetic look. “Sorry, didn’t realize it was that much. Gotta go, have a girl waiting for me.” With that, he hurried out from the library, hoping that Hannah wouldn’t be too upset with him for being a little late. When he got back to the classroom, he realized that it was empty, so he headed for the doors leading out of the school building, hoping to find the girl outside.

Out on the play ground, there were kids everywhere, and he sighed. How was he supposed to find Hannah here? A group of children standing in a ring, obviously intrigued by whatever was happening in the middle, suddenly caught his attention, and he hurried over to them. When he got closer, he realized that what had gotten everybody so interested were two little kids fighting, in kid style, that was, which mostly consisted of pinching and hair pulling.

“Hey, that’s enough!” He pushed his way into the circle of kids, intending to stop the fight, when one of the kids looked up. "Hannah?!"


TBC





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