“Sangria?” the waitress asked. Mark responded with an eager head nod. It was only 2:30 pm and he was already on his third glass. The others at the table all responded to the Catalan waitress in a similar manner. There were eight of them, all teachers from the Mid-Atlantic part of the US. They were there on a chaperone training tour – learning all the ins and outs of how to be responsible chaperones for teenagers travelling abroad on spring and summer breaks. Of course, drinking all the sangria Barcelona had to offer was not an official part of the training, but teachers tend to make the worst students. Mark had signed up to take a group of students to Costa Rica the following spring, which would be his first trip abroad as a chaperone. About half of the other teachers were also first timers, while a few were experienced chaperones cashing in some rewards points and providing some teacher-to-teacher wisdom beyond what the official training staff had to offer.
Author: Plaid_or_flannel
Chaperones break a cardinal rule [MF] [Long]
As Mark quietly trudged through the sand to Katelyn’s bungalow in the dark, he couldn’t help but think about the lecture he had given his students two weeks ago in his classroom. He had stressed to them the importance of not breaking any of the cardinal rules while on their service trip to the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica: no drugs, no alcohol, no fighting, and absolutely 100% no sex. Doing so would result in immediate removal from the trip and a expedited flight back to Maryland.
With each step he could hear himself saying to students and their parents that such behavior would not be tolerated. You are representing the school and the larger school community, he stated resolutely. He was sure this stern speech would be enough to deter any misbehavior on the part of his students. It never crossed his mind that he might be the one breaking the most serious of his rules.
But there he was, dodging crabs and rocks as he walked from the front of the hotel property where he was staying to the back, where his district mandated female chaperone was staying. Katelyn had volunteered to go on the trip quite eagerly. She was 35 and had never traveled out of the country and felt the need for some adventure after a messy breakup with her long term boyfriend.