Because of the way Word handles temporary files, you should never save its documents to removable media. Always save to the local hard drive and COPY to the removable media. Similarly always copy to the hard drive and open the document there.
The normal template issue on the school laptop suggests a number of things, but the most logical one is that the lock file associated with the normal template has been orphaned. Close Word completely and see
What to do when Word crashes
If the original normal template is deleted or better still renamed, Word will create a new one with default settings.
If you have not changed the default location enter or copy
%appdata%\Microsoft\Templates
to the address window of Windows File Explorer and you will be taken to the folder that contains the default template normal.dotm. Note that this folder is normally hidden.
You may find Save in two places useful.

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Graham Mayor - MS MVP (Word) (2002-2019)
Visit my web site for more programming tips and ready made processes www.gmayor.com