Attention please!!

There were only two people in the entry room to the sixth form college. They had both arrived late and had run in through the front doors. They had both been on a long bus journey to get there. Both had set their alarms late and had not had breakfast. But that is where the similarities ended.

Bruce the boy was 16 and just started at the college. He was doing a plumber’s course as his GCSE grades weren't good enough to do A levels. He liked football but not rugby. He drank too much even though he hated the taste of alcohol. He smoked. He liked the Arctic Monkeys. He was new and was just starting to establish friendship groups.

Stacey, the girl was 17 and had already been at the college for a year. She was doing a hairdresser qualification as she thought university was too expensive. She didn't like any sports. She drank little even though she loved getting drunk. She vaped. She liked Hannah Montana. She has already established her friendship groups.

They both ran in and looked around. There was no college secretary, just as there normally was one. They scanned the room. There were lights on, but no one could be found in the entry room building. In the rush to get to class, they both had forgotten their ID’s and thus couldn’t proceed past the entry room.

Bruce then looked at Stacey and she looked back at him. Both had confused looks in their faces. Their eyes scanned the room. They then looked at each other and shrugged. They sat down on chairs opposite each other.

They didn’t know what to say to each other as they hardly knew the other person. So, they sat in silence for a few minutes. After some time. Stacey looked in Bruce’s direction, but he was busy on his phone. A few minutes later Bruce looked in Stacey’s direction, but she was busy on her iPod.

There was an awkward silence between them. Bruce started drumming on the seat. Stacey played with her hair. They both did this when they were bored. They were both wondering why the secretary wasn’t there.

An hour had passed when suddenly Stacey saw something. There was a big notice on the notice board. She went over and with her eyes beckoned Bruce to follow. The notice board normally had things about student council or posters of various external organizations like Childline or Youth Parliament or Young Enterprise. This time however it only had one, quite big note on the notice board, and a smaller one underneath.

Together they both started reading it. The note said-

“College will be closed today because of the strikes. All classes will be cancelled. This is in line with the teachers’ Union.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused. For compensation, please call the freephone number. To lodge a complaint, talk to your form tutor”.

Below it was a poster for the charity Mind.

It took a whole for the teens to digest this information.

Bruce facepalmed himself whilst Stacey burst out laughing. They looked at each other properly for the first time and smiled. It was the kind of smile that said, “How stupid”.

They went back over to their chairs and picked up their belongings. They then walked out of the door and waved goodbye to each other before going separately to their bus stops.