It's the summer break, and for the first time in his life, Mike would rather stay in the bloody classroom.<br><br>It's wedding season, and Mike is doomed to spend all summer sipping cheap champagne and pretending he likes tiny portions of posh food. From the passive-aggressive torment of Mike's mother-in-law to the insulting incredulity of his colleagues over what his mysterious husband actually looks like, Mike would voluntarily teach sex education to fourteen-year-olds for the rest of his life if it would only get him out of one more wedding. Even his husband in a kilt isn't going to save this one.<br><br>But there's nothing like watching someone else get hitched to remind him of where he's come from ... and where he's determined to go from here.

Married Ones

But Mike could finally sympathise with their toxic mix of dread and euphoria. After all, back to work. But he’d also not have to be here all year. Unlike this lot.


“Pick a seat, children, and sit in it! You’re picking a stool, not a university placement. Hands to yourself, please, Mr Price! This is a laboratory, not an exhibit at a second-class zoo, even if that is where most of you belong.”


Sixth formers. Mike liked sixth formers. Nobody took science A-Levels for fun, so it was a classroom of people who actually wanted to be there. So they settled—albeit with a lot of sniggering, and some unkind elbows in each other’s ribs—and soon twenty-six pairs of eyes were staring at him as Mike hefted his briefcase onto his desk, and snapped it open to find his very first lesson plan of the year.


Chapter 49