Double dose of fiction

What a miserable lot her class was, Jane thought. If only there was a way to get through to them . . .

ARE you okay, Jane?” Maggie asked as Jane came into the staff room. “You’re looking a bit pale.”

“I’m fine,” Jane lied, ignoring the voice inside her head that was screaming: No, you’re not fine. You’re anything but. Tell her you’ve got a migraine, bubonic plague, anything. It doesn’t matter what, as long as it gets you out of having to go in there and face that lot again.

“What class have you got next?” Maggie glanced up at the timetable on the wall and pulled a face. “Oh no, poor you. No wonder you’re looking pale. They’re a bit much, aren’t they? I had them last term.”

“Oh well, they’re not so bad really,” Jane murmured. “Some of them are just a bit high-spirited, that’s all.”

High-spirited? That isn’t what you called them just now. The voice in her head was screaming so loudly now, her head beginning to pound and her migraine becoming a reality. Tell her, it went on, banging away at her taut nerves like a hammer. Go on. She might as well know – if she doesn’t already. Tell her how you made a right mess of things last week and now you’re scared witless at the thought of facing them again. Tell her this whole thing has been a huge mistake. That you thought you could do it. But you really can’t.

What a fool she’d been to think she could. A stupid, idealistic and over-ambitious fool. It had all seemed so easy at first. The fulfilment of a dream. It was hard work of course, as she’d known it would be. But if she was honest, it was even harder than she’d imagined, but she’d been carried along

by her enthusiasm.

She’d really believed she could make a difference. That she had something to offer them that could change lives.

BUT that had been during her training which, thorough though it was, hadn’t really prepared her for the reality – although she’d been warned. Even so, last week her first time “at the coalface”, so to speak, came as a complete shock. There was so much to think about and the class was so noisy and inattentive, in spite of all her meticulous preparation.

“The trick is to make sure you keep one step ahead of them all the time,” she’d been told. But that was easier said than done, as she soon found out.

She’d almost lost it completely at one time. For an awful heart-stopping moment she froze for a second, her cheeks flaming, her mind a total blank, while from the back of the class came snorts of barely smothered laughter.

She didn’t need to look to see where the laughter was coming from.

Ruby and Charlene. The pair of them had been chattering and giggling from the start.

Ruby had masses of wild hair in an improbable shade of red and her skimpy top and eye-wateringly bright pink leggings were stretched to breaking point across her ample body. But at least she had a cheerful smile.

Her friend Charlene, by contrast, had a permanent sneer (when she wasn’t sniggering) and a thin, angular body with shoulder blades like coat hangers.

Jane had nothing against anybody having a laugh and a joke. In fact, it was good to hear them enjoying themselves, even if most of the time it was at her expense.

She kept reminding herself what had been drummed into her during her training, “They work better if you can make it fun.” Oh, they were having fun all right. Unlike the rest of the class.

She could’ve put up with that. But what really upset her was the way they’d laughed when poor little Daisy Ford had got in a muddle and completely lost it. It had been such a shame to watch Daisy’s fragile confidence shrivel under their sniggers.

“Hey, you’re not having second thoughts are you?” Maggie handed her a cup of coffee and peered at her anxiously.

Jane shook her head. The second thoughts were long gone. She was well into third and fourth thoughts now. But she couldn’t say that.

Maggie, bless her, had really gone out on a limb for her by offering her this job, especially as all the other applicants were better qualified than her and all considerably younger.

“Thanks for this,” Jane inhaled the fragrant steam. “A caffeine hit is just what I need.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Maggie said. “I can remember what it’s like that first time. And I did warn you it was a pretty challenging group, didn’t I?”

“You did indeed. It’s tougher than I thought,” Jane conceded, feeling she owed it to Maggie to be honest with her. “And I must admit I wasn’t quite prepared for the degree of resistance I encountered last week. I suppose I’d naively imagined they’d be a lot more enthusiastic.”

MAGGIE snorted. “That lot,” she said. “The only thing they’re enthusiastic about is who did what to whom on The Bold & the Beautiful. If there was an Olympics for couch potatoes, they’d scoop the pool. You can’t get through to them all, you know Jane.”

“The pity is,” Jane said, “I think most of them would really get a lot out of it if it wasn’t for the pair of troublemakers who hang around at the back and make no effort themselves. But then they have the nerve to sneer at those who do. You know the sort I mean.”

“Indeed I do.” Maggie gave a weary sigh. “It only takes a couple to ruin it for everyone. But it’s a crying shame though. I thought if there was anyone who could turn that class around it would be you, Jane. Don’t give up on them yet, will you?”

“Give up on them?” Jane put down her coffee cup and beamed at Maggie. “No way. In fact, you’ve just given me a great idea. Thanks a million.”

“Good luck then,” Maggie said. “Hang in there Jane, won’t you? You’ve got so much to offer. And it does get easier, I promise.”

There was a spring in Jane’s step as she picked up her music and went in to face her class. Thanks to Maggie the nerves and self-doubt had vanished and she was feeling quietly confident.

“Before we start,” she said, giving them her warmest smile, “I’d like you all to turn around so you’re facing the wall at the back.” There was a buzz of murmuring and muttering as Jane walked to the back of the room then turned around to face the puzzled class.

“Right. I thought we’d have a change-around this week. So let’s get started, shall we?”

She saw, with quiet satisfaction, that Ruby and Charlene weren’t looking quite so sure of themselves now that they found themselves right in the front of the class instead of lurking at the back.

“Okay then,” Jane called, energy and enthusiasm surging though her as the upbeat music flooded the room. “Are you ready for the warm-up, ladies? On the count of four then. One, two, three, four, and . . .”

This time everything went right. Her timing was perfect. She didn’t put a foot wrong and managed to stay one step ahead of them all the time.

There was no doubt, she thought proudly, aerobics classes for the over-sixties led by someone nearer their own age was one of her better ideas.

She’d only taken up aerobics in her fifties and it had changed her life in so many ways. Not only had her health and fitness improved dramatically, it had given her the confidence to train as an aerobics instructor herself so she could encourage older people to do more exercise.

As for dealing with Ruby and Charlene, turning the class around so they were at the front worked like a bomb. They were both working their abs far too hard to have the energy left to make a nuisance of themselves.

And little Daisy wasn’t so self-conscious now, tucked at the back where she could work at her own pace.

It looked like it was working. After last week’s faltering start, this week she really had, as Maggie had hoped, turned the class around. S

The voice in her head was screaming so loudly now, her head beginning to pound