Alice-Miranda Takes the Lead (3 page)

Alice-Miranda was awake long before Mrs Howard's clanging bell roused the rest of the house. She was sitting up in bed reading when Millie yawned and rolled over.

‘Good morning,' Alice-Miranda greeted her friend.

Millie sat up and rubbed her eyes. ‘I wish it was still holidays,' she grumbled.

‘Oh, I don't,' Alice-Miranda replied. ‘I mean, I love being at home but there are so many things
going on here and I can hardly wait to hear about Miss Grimm's plans for the term.'

Millie shook her head. ‘One day, Alice-Miranda, when you're as old as me, you'll be completely
over school
.'

Alice-Miranda giggled. ‘I can't imagine what it's like to be as ancient as ten. But I don't think I'll ever be over school. I simply love it – and I know you're only teasing me because secretly you love it too.'

‘Well, just don't tell anyone,' Millie smiled, ‘or you'll ruin my reputation.'

At the opposite end of the corridor, Mrs Howard's shrill morning call began. ‘Rise and shine, girls, rise and shine. Time to get up, time to sparkle. Chop, chop, choppy chop.' Her chorus continued along the hallway, punctuated with loud bursts of bell ringing. She stopped outside the girls' door and knocked firmly before entering.

‘Good morning, ladies. I trust you slept well after your
late night
.' Mrs Howard placed her bell on Alice-Miranda's desk and set forth retrieving uniforms from the wardrobe.

‘Good morning,' they replied in unison before Millie yawned loudly.

‘Run along now to your showers, you don't want to be late for breakfast,' Mrs Howard instructed.

‘No, that's for sure.' Alice-Miranda threw back the covers, leapt out of bed and gathered up her toothbrush and towel. ‘Mrs Smith's making creamy scrambled eggs with crispy bacon this morning as a welcome back treat. And I'll ask her for something extra special for your tea this afternoon, Mrs Howard, to make up for last night.'

Mrs Howard shook her head, picked up her bell and followed the pair into the hall. ‘Off you go now,' she smiled.

The dining room was abuzz with chatter as the students caught up on all the happenings of the holidays. Clattering cutlery was momentarily stilled when Miss Grimm arrived to take up her seat at the head table alongside Miss Reedy and Mr Plumpton. Although things had changed remarkably in the past term, the girls were still only getting used to seeing their headmistress on a daily basis. This morning, dressed in a stylish pale pink suit and with her hair pulled back into a low ponytail, Miss Grimm looked much younger than her thirty-seven years. On the way through the dining room, she greeted the students and grinned broadly.

‘So what do you think Miss Grimm has in store for us this term?' Jacinta asked as she loaded her fork with another mouthful of scrambled eggs.

‘I hope it's something fun, like a trip away, or maybe a school fair or a carnival,' Millie replied. ‘We've never had anything like that since I've been here.'

‘Maybe it's a gymkhana. Miss Grimm seemed keen for girls to bring their ponies back to school this term,' said Alice-Miranda.

Jacinta pulled a face. ‘Oh, I hope not. You know I can't stand horses. That wouldn't be any fun at all.'

‘Well, we've got assembly this morning so maybe she's going to tell us then,' said Millie.

Alice-Miranda changed the subject. ‘Has Sloane arrived yet?'

Jacinta stared blankly. ‘Who?'

‘Your new room mate. Sloane Sykes?'

‘Oh, no. There was no sign of her before I left the house.' Jacinta frowned. ‘She'd better be nice.'

‘I'm sure she will be,' Alice-Miranda assured her friend.

‘But what if I don't like her?' Jacinta pushed a stringy piece of bacon around her plate.

‘Of course you'll like her,' Alice-Miranda said.

‘I'm not like you, Alice-Miranda. I just can't
like
everyone. It's not in my nature. And maybe I'm not always the easiest person to get on with either,' Jacinta admitted.

‘Come on, Jacinta – I haven't seen you throw a tantrum in, what, at least a month now?' Millie suppressed a giggle.

‘Millie,' Alice-Miranda chided.

‘I have been trying hard to be better.' Jacinta looked serious. ‘I thought I was pretty well behaved in the holidays, wasn't I?'

‘Of course you were. Stop worrying, Jacinta,' Alice-Miranda soothed. ‘I'm sure Sloane's lovely and I'm positive you'll be great friends in no time.'

But Jacinta was not yet convinced. ‘You'd better be right.'

The girls finished breakfast, cleared their plates and charged outside into the crisp morning air. Charles Weatherly, the school's head gardener, was tending to the newly planted roses in the quadrangle.

‘Hello Mr Charles.' Alice-Miranda ran and gave him an unexpected hug.

‘Well, hello to you too, my girl.' Charlie's cornflower-blue eyes twinkled. ‘It's been rather quiet around here these past two weeks.'

‘I can see you've been busy. The garden looks lovely,' Alice-Miranda replied. ‘Mr Greening sends his regards.'

Charlie nodded. ‘He's a good fellow. I'd best be off, lass. Mrs Derby's after some roses for Miss Grimm's study. These are just about perfect.'

‘Yes, they're lovely.' Alice-Miranda nodded at the bunch of iceberg blooms in Charlie's hand. Just at that moment she remembered that she had promised to organise that special treat for Mrs Howard's afternoon tea. Alice-Miranda ran back to Millie and Jacinta and informed them that she was going to see Mrs Smith before the bell.

‘Oh, drats,' Millie scowled. ‘I've left my pencil case back at the house. I've got English first up after assembly so I'd better go and get it.'

‘I'll come with you,' said Jacinta. ‘Anyway, I want to see if my room mate has arrived.'

‘See you later then.' Alice-Miranda waved goodbye to her friends and strode across the quadrangle to the kitchen door.

‘Hello Mrs Smith!' Alice-Miranda called as she entered the room. In the cavernous space with its rows of stainless steel benches, Mrs Smith was checking through the luncheon menu. She promptly
put the paper down and turned with outstretched arms to give her tiny visitor a warm hug.

‘Hello there, young lady. How are you this fine morning?'

‘Very well,' Alice-Miranda nodded. ‘Thank you for breakfast. It was delicious.'

‘My pleasure, dear,' Mrs Smith replied. ‘Now, to what do I owe this early visit?'

‘I'm on a special mission.' Alice-Miranda climbed up onto the kitchen stool to sit opposite the cook.

‘Oh dear – should I be worried?' Mrs Smith frowned. ‘It doesn't involve any spontaneous trips does it, this plan of yours?'

‘No, not at all. It's just that last night the girls on our corridor had a midnight meeting …'

‘Midnight! My dear girl you'll be asleep in your arithmetic,' Mrs Smith scowled.

‘Well, except that it wasn't midnight at all. It was only nine o'clock and it's a first night tradition, but then Madeline decided that she would tell us a story about a witch in the woods and the girls got a bit scared, and then a branch scraped against the window and everyone squealed, and Mrs Howard came running and she was a bit cross, especially with Jacinta, but I asked her not to be because it was all
our faults, and then I said that I would ask if you could fix something special for her afternoon tea,' Alice-Miranda babbled.

‘Slow down, young lady.' Mrs Smith shook her head. ‘So you've come to see if I might make her an apple cinnamon bun?'

‘However did you know?' Alice-Miranda asked.

‘My dear, everyone knows that's Howie's favourite. And it just so happens …' Mrs Smith stood up and walked to the other side of the kitchen, returning with a tea-towel covered tray. ‘Ta-da!' She pulled the cloth away to reveal the most magnificent apple cinnamon bun Alice-Miranda had ever seen.

‘Perfect.' Alice-Miranda grinned and clapped her hands together.

‘Now, what was that you were saying about a witch in the woods?' Mrs Smith asked.

‘Just a silly story, that's all,' Alice-Miranda replied. ‘There's no such thing as witches.'

‘No, of course not.' Mrs Smith shook her head. She knew Alice-Miranda was right but Doreen Smith had heard the same story – about a witch in the woods – before. And although she knew better, she wasn't entirely convinced that there wasn't a grain of truth in there somewhere.

‘All right, young lady. Housemistress pacification seems to be taken care of so you'd better be off to class,' Mrs Smith instructed.

‘Thanks, Mrs Smith – you're the best!' Alice-Miranda hopped down off her stool and scampered out into the sunshine.

Meanwhile, Millie and Jacinta had made their way back to Grimthorpe House, where Millie quickly retrieved her missing pencil case.

As they walked down the hallway, a shrill voice coming from inside Jacinta's room caught their attention.

‘Look, Sloane, look at this. Isn't that Ambrosia Headlington-Bear? She must be your room mate's mother. Imagine always being in magazines and newspapers. She's like royalty. You'd better make friends with her daughter – you never know what
you might get us all invited to.'

Millie and Jacinta stood outside. Millie pressed her ear up against the door while Jacinta leaned down to peer through the keyhole.

‘Ooh, and make sure you introduce her to your brother as soon as you can. They might get married.'

Jacinta's eyes almost popped out of her head. ‘Married! What are they talking about?'

‘And look at this, Mummy,' a young voice added. ‘All those beautiful dresses and we're the same size. I'm sure she won't notice if one or two go missing.'

‘What are they doing in there?' Millie whispered, straining to hear.

‘Planning a wedding and raiding my wardrobe, by the sound of it.' Jacinta's face was getting redder by the second. ‘Right, that's it.'

Jacinta flung open the door, ready to pounce. Millie almost fell over and just managed to steady herself. Sloane and her mother spun around.

‘What are you doing?' Jacinta demanded. ‘Are you looking through my things?'

Sloane slammed the wardrobe door shut and kicked a dress under the nearest bed.

‘No, of course not,' the young girl replied. ‘I'm just moving in.'

‘You must be Sloane Sykes.' Millie marched forward to stand beside Jacinta.

‘Yes, and you are?' the girl asked, arching her eyebrows.

‘I'm Millie and this is Jacinta. She's your room mate – the one whose things you were just ferreting through.'

‘Ahem.' The woman cleared her throat.

‘And you must be Mrs Sykes.' Millie's lips drew tightly together in a straight line.

‘Yes, but you can call me September,' the woman replied, crossing her arms over her ample chest and striking what seemed to be a modelling pose.

‘Did Mrs Howard let you in here?' Jacinta asked.

‘Yes, she told us to make ourselves at home and so we were just unpacking, weren't we, darling.' Mrs Sykes pointed at the suitcase still lying closed on the bed.

‘Yes, Mummy.' Sloane smiled at her mother like a piranha in a goldfish bowl.

September Sykes wore skyscraping gold heels and a metallic blue dress so tight and short she
must have been vacuum-packed into it. Her waist-length platinum hair bounced in loose curls and her make-up appeared to have been applied with the aid of a cake decorator's spatula.

Sloane Sykes, in a crisp new uniform, was shorter, thinner and wore only slightly less make-up which, on an eleven-year-old, was more than a little disturbing.

‘And what's
your
surname, Millie?' September smiled, revealing a set of dazzlingly white teeth.

‘McLoughlin-McTavish-McNoughton-McGill,' Millie replied.

‘Oooh, that sounds important,' September cooed.

‘No, not at all,' Millie frowned.

Mrs Howard appeared in the doorway, with Mrs Derby, the headmistress's secretary, in tow.

‘Millicent and Jacinta, what are you doing back here? You know you're not allowed to return to the house after breakfast,' Mrs Howard chided.

‘Sorry, Howie,' Millie apologised. ‘I forgot my pencil case.'

‘And it was just as well we came back, seeing as you've left these two in here alone going through my things,' Jacinta snarled.

‘Jacinta Headlington-Bear, mind your manners. That's no way to treat your new room mate.' Mrs Howard spun around to face Sloane and her mother, and then turned back to the girls.

‘But it's true,' Millie nodded.

Mrs Howard's eyes widened in disbelief. ‘You two can apologise, please. NOW!'

Millie and Jacinta scowled. With heads bent towards the floor they both muttered a half-hearted ‘sorry'.

‘That's not like you at all, Millicent. You, on the other hand, Jacinta – well, I hope we're not heading back to the bad old days,' Mrs Howard tutted. ‘I'm sure the girls will make it up to you, Sloane.'

‘Don't fuss, Mrs Howard,' September grinned. ‘Jacinta and Sloane are bound to become best friends. Or rather, BFFs – isn't that what you girls call them these days?'

Jacinta rolled her eyes.

‘Yes, well, her manners had better improve by this afternoon. Now, off you go, you two. Lessons are about to start and you don't want to be late on your first day. Mrs Derby will bring Sloane over in a little while, once she's had a chance to get properly settled.' Mrs Howard's forehead wrinkled
like pintucking on a blouse and she gave Millie and Jacinta one of her best ever death stares.

The girls marched off. Not a word was spoken until they reached the safety of the veranda.

‘What was that?' Jacinta demanded. ‘Who is that woman? And that girl – I've never seen anyone her age with make-up like that!'

‘Don't worry, Jacinta.' Millie put her hand on her friend's shoulder. ‘I wouldn't want to be in her shoes when Miss Grimm and Miss Reedy spot her. She'll be wiping that mascara off in no time.'

‘But she's awful, and I don't see why I have to be in the same room as her.' A fat tear wobbled in the corner of Jacinta's eye.

‘It's all right,' Millie replied. ‘She's probably just nervous about being at boarding school.'

Millie couldn't believe their bad luck. Alethea Goldsworthy had left big shoes to fill when it came to being the school bully. But if the few moments that Millie had spent with her were anything to go by, Sloane Sykes, it seemed, had very big feet.