Emergency Faculty Meeting
Emergency Faculty Meeting
Episode: 4x06
Summary: Elsa calls a faculty meeting to discuss Ivan and Julia’s escape from school, causing a panic among the teachers.
It was the second emergency faculty meeting in two days. After the discovery of Mateo’s dead body in Pedro’s car, the teachers were unsure what to expect from this meeting. As they trickled into the headmaster’s office, it didn’t appear to involve anything good based on the expression on Elsa’s face. She sat in her chair with her arms crossed and her face set in a stern expression.
Hector had split his focus between his duties as the literature teacher and helping Pedro find a good lawyer. He was Pedro’s last ally. After the revelation that Elsa had started seeing Noiret, Hector couldn’t imagine that she could sink lower in his opinion. This whole year had been one tragedy after another. Hector braced himself for anything.
“I’ve called all of you here because last night, two students managed to steal a motorcycle and leave the school unnoticed,” Elsa declared without preamble. “They returned this morning and I’ve dealt with them.”
“Which students?” asked Hector curiously. The school board would throw a fit when they heard about this incident. How had they dropped the ball again?
Elsa looked down and sighed. “Ivan Noiret and Julia Medina. It seems that they’ve paired off, and this was not the first incident. Jacques Noiret wants this incident kept quiet, since he wants to handle it privately. Julia’s mother agreed.”
She looked up to gauge the reaction in the room. An uneasy silence had fallen over the teachers.
“Ivan and Julia are seeing each other?” Hector said aloud in disbelief. As if they didn’t have enough problems on their hands already, this added gasoline to the flames.
“Ay dios mío!” exclaimed Octavio, the fencing teacher. He made the symbol of the cross with his hands.
The other teachers were still trying to figure out how to react to the news.
“So the devil has found his bride,” asked Camilo dryly.
Martin looked at his fellow teachers in confusion. “They’re just two kids. You would think she said that Bonnie and Clyde had gotten together.”
“You’re still a bit new around here,” Hector responded. “They’re both troubled students who we’ve had serious issues reining in this year. It was bad enough when they were acting on their own, but together, who knows what mischief they’ll get into.”
Octavio snorted. “That’s putting things lightly. Its Elsa’s worst nightmares come to life. I wouldn’t want to be there for Easter with them. It would make the Last Supper would look like a casual get together.”
“Octavio, that’s enough,” said Hector. Then he turned to face his fellow teachers. “The fact that they left school grounds means that we’re not doing our jobs. I know they are difficult kids and this has been a particularly trying time for all of us with Pedro and Mateo -”
“Noiret and Medina together is still a new disaster,” interrupted Octavio. “They’re both terrors on their own, now there’s no use keeping up with that unholy alliance. I say if we can’t throw them out, then just let them do as they please until they try to burn the school down.”
Hector sighed. “I can’t believe this. We can’t fall apart now. They need guidance more than ever, since their parents aren’t able to provide it. They probably understand each other’s problems, and maybe this isn’t such a bad turn for them.”
“Disrupting class? Breaking out of school? It’s the same trouble except times two now,” said Elsa. “We’re running an elite school, not a reform school. Ivan and Julia probably spend more time in the stables than the horses.”
“I think we should give it a month before things go back to normal. They’re both too spirited to not drive each other crazy and split up themselves,” Amelia chimed in and Camilo nodded.
Hector wasn’t satisfied, but relented. “Fine. But we will keep a stricter eye on them. They will not be given any room to get into more trouble.”
Elsa nodded. “Of course. For their punishment, they will be doing chores separately. If Ivan is in the stables, Julia will be in the laundry room. They will not be assigned the same shift unless I have approved it, am I clear? The last thing we need is a pregnant student scandal.”
“You mean that the strange deaths and drug abusing students weren’t enough for the parents to start pulling their children out of this school already?” asked Octavio sarcastically. “We should just be glad if the baby is Noiret’s and not the stepfather’s. Ay madre…”
“Octavio!” scolded Hector.
“No! This is it for me. Once the semester is over, I’m done,” Octavio declared. “The Borgias had less drama than this school.”
“Octavio, please, calm down,” said Elsa soothingly. “There is no need to act rashly.”
“I’m acting rashly? You’re acting like dead bodies haven’t been turning up left and right linked to this school,” said Octavio. “But it wasn’t related to me until now. I teach the kids how to use sabers! It was bad enough to keep Noiret from skewering Novoa over Leal. She is the Virgin Mary compared to Medina. There’s no way this will end well.”
All of the other teachers simply watched Octavio make his assessment about the situation. No one could argue that he had been put into an uneasy position, as the students were prone to take out their aggressions in his class.
“Fine. If that’s how you feel, we’ll start looking for your replacement,” Elsa said. Then she turned to the other teachers. “Would any of you like to follow him?”
There was little response. Either they shook their heads or stared down at their shoes. The tension could be felt.
“Okay then. You’re all dismissed,” said Elsa.
Octavio nodded. As he walked out, he said to Camilo, “Every day here feels more and more like Sartre’s version of hell.”
“Cum vita brevis sit, nolite tempus perdere,” replied the old man. “Since life is short, do not waste time.”
“Which is exactly why I’m leaving,” said Octavio. “I’m done wasting my life on these ridiculous emergency faculty meetings.”
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A/N: This was actually the idea that started it all for El Internado fics. The thought came to me while watching 4x06, when the show could have had a lot of fun moments with the teachers' reaction to Ivan and Julia pairing up, since they were oddly up to date on the Marcos/Carolina/Ivan love triangle. I also thought it would be a fun way to explain why the fencing teacher suddenly leaves the school.