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see!” Came the reply from a very, very short man.
    “Where should you be?” he asked.
    “Well nowhere really. I mean, I am trying to see if there is a common room for the teachers,” I hesitantly answered.
    “Ah, I knew it! You’re the new teacher from Australia, Cathy!” he declared, still with no sign of warmth or welcome.
    Whoever he is, I don’t like him already.
    “Yes, I am, but my name is Catherine, if you don’t mind.”
    “Catherine? Is that right? Well Catherine, how did you find your room? Was it to your satisfaction?” he questioned as he reluctantly put out his hand for me to shake.
    “I am Mr Kemp, science teacher.”
    Ah, that makes sense. Jules had said that she had made Mr Kemp move out of his room so I could be near her and he obviously wasn’t happy about it.
    Mr Kemp stood less than five feet tall, stumpy and old. He was wearing every shade of brown imaginable, from his shoes to his thick ugly glasses. His moustache was long and thin and what little hair he had he had tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, to spread out evenly over his shiny head. After I had shaken his small, sweaty hand he turned around and told me to follow him. He walked so fast with his stumpy little legs; the pace was such that I could have sworn he was trying his best to lose me. Plus, I’m sure he went the long, confusing way just to put me off. He didn’t give me a chance to look at anything that we passed. Every so often he would turn and look at me with his beady eyes, checking if I was still keeping pace.
    After several minutes of following him, I heard voices. We were finally there. Grumpy Mr Kemp picked up his speed just at the end. I guess he wanted to enter the room on his own. I started to walk a little faster and caught up to him so that we were now walking alongside each other. He wasn’t happy about that. ‘Mr Grumpy’ was out of breath. Not impressed that I altered his plans, he gave me a stern look.
    “Thank you Mr Kemp. It was lovely to meet you.” He didn’t reply and with a deep grunt he walked away from me. I still didn’t know where I was exactly.
    What exactly is this room? What if Jules or the doctor weren’t here? The room is full and they are all men? Where are you Jules?
    Looking around at the deep brown furniture, everything seemed so masculine; from the leather chesterfields to the black wing chairs. Sets of these chairs and lounges were placed around timber tables, each set providing a place for five to six people. A beautiful black and white veined marble fireplace sat at one end of the room, the flames naturally heating the room. It was a formal setting in a casual and social style. But it wasn’t until I sighted a coffee machine and other appliances that I realised it was the college common room.
    I tried to walk in as naturally and as confidently as I could, but it wasn’t easy. I really felt out of place and it was making me feel quite self-conscious. I could now clearly see that Jules wasn’t here and that I would have to share a table with someone I didn’t know.
    Oh my! I seem to be receiving some attention now!
    “Catherine!”
    I stopped and turned around immediately. Standing there was Mr Barclay, positioned beside an empty chair. I smiled shyly and started to walk towards him. I made my way slowly through the crowd. He was taller than I remembered and he smiled as I approached him. I ran my fingers through my hair and pulled it back from my face. I looked up again at him. At that point I had a strange feeling of déjà vu . My heart felt like it was on fire and it took every inch of self-control not to put my arms around him. I didn’t want to lose total control of myself. I could feel my smile fading and my legs trembling as I got closer to him. The déjà vu feeling became stronger. I felt as though I had lived this moment before.
    “Hello… please,” he said, pointing to the empty seat next to him.
    “Thank you.”
    I had a quick look around the room and took a