So, as the classroom door opened, I was remembering the conversations that I used to have with my house-mates when we were all teacher-training: one in maths, one in history and me in drama and dramatherapy. Children are like animals, we agreed. They can sense fear. Like pack animals. Like hyenas. They know when you're afraid and they use it against you, taking advantage of their superior numbers to destroy you. We really did see our charges as interchangeable with wild dogs. No wonder I'd given up as soon as I'd qualified: no audience was ever as frightening as a classroom ....
I could smell them as soon as I saw them; fresh smoke clung to their clothes as they came in. Whatever else they were allergic to, it wasn't cigarettes. As the five of them slunk into the room - they were late of course - it was a small scrappy red-haired boy who voiced what they were all thinking. 'Who the fuck are you?'