Henry got into teaching because he wanted to study history at university. He loved the subject, but he had a practical aspect to his personality too. He didn't see many opportunities for work as a researcher or in a museum. Besides, he wanted to know the story and not spend years figuring out how the story impacted the economy. He didn't mind reading what the students had to say about this though, He enjoyed reading thirty versions of the same essay. It always amazed him how it never really was thirty versions of the same essay,

Helena became a teacher because she liked talking. At university, she grew frustrated because she thought that the other students lacked ambition. It seemed to her that most of them came to the town to meet guys who were following more lucrative career paths, such as being a lawyer, a doctor or an engineer.

They hoped to marry the men and then never have to work themselves. Helena did not ever want to rely on another person for an income, so she despised those girls and even some of the guys. Money didn't matter to her so much as independence.

But then after she lost her first job she realised how foolish she had been to think that she would ever be able to escape relying on another for an income. She was as dependent on her employer as would have been on her husband. At least she reasoned to herself, a husband would love her and show her some loyalty. She began to despise the girls who married in university just a little less.

Strelitzia became a teacher because she believed that it was the easiest way to affect the future. She loved people and she didn't know of any other career path where she would be able to meet hundreds of varied people over her lifetime. Her favourite aunt was a teacher and she was always impressed when her aunt did things like watch the TV and recognise the actor or the presenter from her teaching days. "Oh that's Jacob" she would say. "To think I knew him when he was only 15. Such a nice guy and a hard worker. No surprise that he has done well. He showed such leadership potential."

Strelitzia wanted to be that inspiring teacher behind the good story. Even if she failed, she wanted to know the person who was that inspiring teacher. She wanted to pat him or her on the back and say "Good on you for being an inspiration"

She desperately wanted to be liked and her greatest fear was that someday a student would become a famous scientist and go on to say in an interview that they didn't enjoy science at school because they found it boring. She dreaded them saying that the teacher was dull.

She knew that she shouldn't feel so insecure, but it was hard not to compare herself to Helena and she knew that Helena was more vivacious and lively in the classroom. She didn't have the years of experience to come across as grounded and mature like Carissa and Maria.

Mr van Vuuren made gestures to indicate that he thought that Strelitzia and her subjects were boring and that she was a bad teacher. Vernon van Vuuren studied sports science on a scholarship. In college, he trained with the top rugby team. He often got to sit as a reserve and even played in a match. In those days there was not much work for personal trainers, besides he felt uncomfortable in one-on-one situations. He decided to get his postgraduate diploma in education.

At first, he was uncertain of his choices, because he did not consider spending time with children to be a particularly manly pursuit, but after his first practical teaching experience, he put all his doubts aside. He loved it when the children called him "sir". He was chuffed when he walked into a room and all the students shuffled to their feet. Most of all he realised that the youngsters listened to him and believed his words.

As a young man, he thought of the students as his pals. He was very happy to be their friend, but after a number of incidents, he came to the conclusion that friendships between students and teachers are impossible. The students were only trying to manipulate him in order to get out of work. Some of the less cool students complained to the principal and called him incompetent. Some even went as far as to say that he was not interested in teaching them.

Something hardened in him, and he no longer told the teenagers his drinking stories. He was going to take respect from his students in the same way that it had been taken from him when he was a child. He had been treated harshly and look where it had gotten him now. As he had always been told, bitter medicine is the best kind. Some might say that it is the only kind. Vernon van Vuuren's own school days had not been happy ones.

His own father did not consider academics to be of any importance. He wished that his son be more inclined to the physical. In primary school, Vernon did not do well. The larger boys would frequently make fun of him. They would threaten to beat him, and they carried out their threats enough time to let Vernon know that they meant what they said.

Vernon wasn't co-ordinated and was clumsy. However, as he aged, he learnt to fight back. First, he practised fighting on the smaller boys, but as time went by, he eventually stood up to the boys who were in his own class.

He improved on the sports field, he even got passing grades. The results were all because of determination and hard work. He never did learn to love learning, but it felt good not to feel the shame of coming last. He despised the boys in class who got good marks despite not studying. He could understand those who worked ahead of the syllabus. He hated laziness in any form. A more clear-sighted person might have recognised that he was jealous, but he just thought that they were annoying suck-ups.

Vernon worked hard on the field and he got better and better at sports. He felt respected as a first-team rugby player. The other students in his grade knew his name after he was called out in assembly for scoring the winning try in the championships.

He thought that it ought to get him more attention from the girls, but for the most part, the girls at high school avoided him. All that changed with the addition of alcohol.

If his friends could convince some girls to join them when they were partying. Vernon knew that it was smooth sailing for him. He could generally convince a drunk girl that he wasn't so bad. Actually, he was better company drunk than sober.

That was how he met his wife - Francesca. Francesca was a meek woman when she was sober, but she had a fiery side that came out when drunk. It seemed a good idea to go home with her.

Francesca was also studying for her postgraduate diploma in education. So, it was easy to always be around her. They naturally fell into a real relationship together. When Francesca told him that she was pregnant, he felt the pressure to do the honourable thing, and they got married.

Vernon loved being married, more than spending time with his wife. He loved the nod of respect that he got when he appeared in town and said - "My wife and my son". He loved appearing as a family man. He loved making mother-in-law jokes. He knew that he had done something right in life because somehow he had managed to get Francesca to marry him.

In their first year of marriage, Francesca taught the Grade Ones and they would crowd around her and touch her belly, so excited that their teacher was going to be the one to have a baby.

It was a spectacle that was repeated two years later when Francesca became pregnant again. When she didn't want to return to work after the second baby, Vernon van Vuuren was relieved. It was true that they have less money to share between themselves, but now he could show the world that he was able to provide for his family all on his own. He never spoke of how Francesca's mother would give quite substantial gifts to her daughter on a regular basis.

At work now, he was his own man and not one-half of the van Vuurens. It also was a huge advantage to his career. He knew that he would not have been offered the position to be the principal of the high school in a small conservative town had he not been married. He recognised the opportunity for not only himself but also his son. The school had a reputation for rugby and now his sons had a chance to make a name for themselves.

His eldest boy, Jaco, did not disappoint. That boy had talent. First, he was captain from grade eight, and then he became head boy. His future was bright and he was offered a bursary to go to Stellenbosch, but the chance was cruelly taken away from him after Jaco was involved in an incident involving the police.

He seethed as he thought of how the social justice warriors stole Jaco's future from him for no other reason than boys getting rowdy as is their nature.

His younger son Tiaan was also a good rugby player, but he did not hold Vernon's attention in the same way that Jaco did. Vernon van Vuuren was a hard man, but he did want his boys and his school to succeed. At least in the way that he understood success. He wanted them to be thought well of. He wanted to give the students a good memory of holding up the cup at the end of the season.

And he had. In the twelve years since he had become principal at Devilsmore high, they had won the inter-schools ten times. They had toured against some of the most prestigious schools in the country, Greys College, Boishaai amongst others and they had very well. They won the games.

The town loved him for it. They were proud of the inordinate number of Springboks the school churned out. They were willing to ignore the people who called Vernon van Vuuren heavy-handed because - look at the results. Before he came, the school seldom won anything.

If anybody said the school's focus was a bit narrow, he pointed out the school's excellent academic record. The number of university passes was 80% and not a single student had failed their matric exam in over five years. Carissa raised her eyebrows at Strelitzia whenever she heard Mr van Vuuren talk about the school's excellent academic record and its pass rate. She knew that Charl Smith had been quietly deregistered the year previous.

Not a single girl had dropped out due to pregnancy and the students always had their shirts neatly tucked in as they walked down the main road. So, parents were easy in the knowledge that the morals of their sons and daughters were in good hands.