Chapter Text
Natasha had just graduated high school, she’d always wanted to be a teacher for as long as she could remember, growing up her teachers had been the only female role models she'd had in her life, her own mother often being unpresent or all around just drunk. These teachers had been the ones who had inspired her love for learning, and truly the only reason she had even made it through high school. Throughout her whole life, Natasha knew she wasn’t the kindest, or the warmest, but that never stopped a big part of her soul wishing that one day she could be a role model like that for other kids, kids like her.
Throughout school she tended to naturally find academics easy, especially in subjects such as English or Maths, but there was one she always especially excelled in. History. She had a special love for it, a deep rooted passion that had only blossomed as she grew, a certain history teacher she had in high school truly passing down her own love for the subject to her. That was when she decided that history was her future, and combining that with her deep rooted dream of inspiring young girls just like herself, she decided to set her mind to one career, a history teacher, and when Natasha Romanoff set her mind to something, she always got it.
In university she… well most would say they thrived in their uni days, however, Natasha could not relate. The only good, well kinda good, thing that came from it was her best friend.
Yelena.
If you had asked any one who had come across the pair, they would have almost definitely told you they were an unlikely duo.
Yelena: known for being one of the most charismatic and funny girls across all of campus, always out with everyone, never studying, literally loved by everyone… and well… Natasha: Cold, stubborn, and very serious, known for killing with a single glare, having a first in all her classes, and having not once in all her 4 years of being at the school spotted at a single club or social night.
Yet somehow, against all odds, Yelena had adopted the introvert in their first year and called her her own, always somehow around Natasha with an arm linked through hers, without even surprisingly being shoved away.
After they’d graduated, (Natasha had been offered honorary graduate but declining from not wanting attention), the two had gone their separate ways, mainly from the fact Yelena wanted to go to America to catch her ‘big break’ in acting, and Natasha had just wanted to stay in England and follow her original goal as a secondary school teacher. Yelena made Natasha promise to stay in touch no matter what, and agreed she’d come back and visit her at christmas.
So now she was alone, and officially job hunting.
It didn't take long until she was offered a job at a relatively nice high school in London, considering she excelled in all her classes and there was a current lack of female teachers, the school was practically begging for her, so naturally she accepted.
That first day she walked into the school was one of the scariest days she ever faced. Natahsa wasn’t easily shaken, she’d done teaching placements before, but this felt very different. This was real.
She'd have to teach, in front of real students, her students, and that was terrifying for a fresh out of university teacher. Sure she was known for her cool icy facade, but even her of all people still had anxieties creeping in sometimes.
Walking into that classroom, so bare, so boring, screaming at her to make it her own, while still smelling of the cheap white paint they'd used to cover up any remnants of the previous teacher, it hit her that her dream was finally coming true. But any remnant of confidence she was hanging onto too all came crashing down the moment she had to stand in front of all those kids, teenage eyes bearing into her. They were just kids though… What was the worst that could go wrong..?
A lot apparently. A lot of things could go wrong.
After her first week of teaching, she’d been hit with at least 12 pens, had 5 paper aeroplanes aimed in her direction, and a concerning amount of swear words targeted at her. But it was all just part of the job, she could get through it, they would warm up to her eventually. right…?
By week 2, she had gotten into some form of a routine: get into work an hour before classes started, set herself up for the day while finishing any last minute lesson plans, still having time to grab a coffee from the staff room. She'd then have her morning classes (usually the more tame ones), and when lunch would come around, she’d sit in her classroom marking tests alone (sad, she knew that, but it was very productive), and finally, when afternoon classes ended, she’d stay a couple hours after school to get any work that needed doing done.
It was a good routine in her eyes, it worked, plus it was productive… However the only problem with this routine, was that now with the lack of Yelena's constant presence, and voice down her ear, she found that surprisingly she was becoming quite lonely… She hadn't yet interacted with many of the other staff members, and since they all assumed the new icy Russian professor wouldn’t want any company, it seemed she’d stay alone until she put some actual real effort into socialising… something she wasn’t very good at.