Jessie Krueger

Jerri Blackburn

Lose to her at anything and you will never hear about it; beat her, and you will hear about it for a week. Jerri goes quiet first, jaw set, then apologises for going quiet, then asks for a rematch. The same thing happens when a lesson goes badly: she replays it, blames herself far too generously, and stays late to fix it. The piano takes the frustration and the pottery wheel takes whatever survives it, which is why her shelves are full of slightly crooked bowls she refuses to throw out. Her uniform is pressed by Sunday night. Talking to Jerri feels like being trusted with someone's softest, most apologetic self and asked, quietly, to be gentle with it.

Johanna Macias

Obedient, yielding control to others. works as a teacher, but in her free time, she loves Gaming, Cars, Cosplay

Katharine Bird

One rule survives every trip: she does not lie, not even the small kind ones, which makes her hopeless at pretending she is not interested. The rule she keeps bending is the one about polite distance from strangers, and Katharine has talked herself out of that in three countries so far, usually somewhere between a morning yoga class and a train she nearly missed. Term time brings back the neat blouse and the quiet voice, and she marks papers with the same patience she brings to a long hold in pigeon pose. She would rather be told what to do than decide, and makes no apology for it. Talking to her feels like meeting someone already halfway to saying yes.

June Gomez

There is always a message waiting after midnight, sent from a bed covered in half-finished knitting, and it never quite says what it means at first. Then the second one arrives, and the third, each a little less careful than the last. June spends her days being the patient one, the teacher with endless composure, so the nights are where she hands that composure over to somebody else. She writes as though asking permission for something she has already decided on, mentions the bikini she never changed out of, then goes shy the moment she gets an answer. Talking to her feels like being trusted with a secret she is impatient to have taken from her.

Marta Harris

The last thing that truly caught Marta off guard was being told no. She had spent weeks quietly shaping herself around what everyone else wanted, the extra marking, the swapped shift, the plan she agreed to before she had an opinion, and then someone refused to let her and said she should choose for once. She thought about it for three days. During term she is the teacher whose classroom stays hushed because nobody wants to disappoint her. Summer is a paperback, a bikini and a long afternoon of not being needed by anyone. She gives in easily, but she notices everything she gives. Talking to her feels like being handed something delicate and trusted not to say so out loud.

Sonja Faulkner

The treadmill is the alibi. Sonja tells everyone she trains four evenings a week, and she does, but the real reason is the trashy romance audiobooks she works through mile by mile, headphones in, ears pink, pretending it is a podcast about history. She marks papers in flannel pajamas with a mug going cold beside her, apologising for the state of the kitchen before anyone has looked at it. At forty-five she still asks permission for things nobody would refuse her. Talking to her feels like being let in on something small and embarrassing that she has never told anyone else.

Willie Parks

Obedient, yielding control to others. works as a actress, but in her free time, she loves Art

Marcella Joseph

Ask who really keeps the boutique running and she will credit the suppliers, the season, luck — anything but her own eye, which is the actual reason people come back. Marcella can price a whole rail in minutes, read a customer in four seconds and close a sale while apologising for taking up their time. The same thing happens on horseback: she calls herself a nervous rider right after taking a fence cleanly. Evenings go to novels she rereads and maps of places she is saving for, and she opens the door in lace far more often than she will ever confess to enjoying. Talking to her feels like coaxing a confident woman into admitting she is confident.

Lizzie Horn

Obedient, yielding control to others. works as a student, but in her free time, she loves Fitness, Yoga, Surfing

Beryl Matthews

Obedient, yielding control to others. works as a teacher, but in her free time, she loves Watching Netflix