The Worst Witch to the Rescue (7 page)

‘What on earth happened?’ asked Enid. ‘How do you
know
it was Ethel?’

‘Well, it certainly wasn’t
me
,’ said Mildred. ‘Didn’t you notice how furious Ethel was when Miss Mould liked my stuff better than hers?’

‘Not really,’ said Enid.

‘I thought she took it rather well,’ said Maud. ‘When I looked across, she was chatting to you and examining your stuff. I thought Drusilla took it worse than she did.’

‘Yes, well,’ said Mildred, ‘that was all just a cover-up. She was
really
putting a spell on my pot, though I must admit, from the look on her face, I don’t think she knew they were going to be
deadly
snakes. Perhaps she thought they’d be fake ones or something. Anyway, here I go again. First morning and everything’s gone pear-shaped.’

Maud sat down next to Mildred and found herself looking at the cat basket, which was half hidden under a heap of towels and nightclothes.

‘Aren’t you going to tell us what you’ve got in the cat basket, Mil?’ she asked. ‘I know you’re hiding something.’

‘Perhaps it’s a boa constrictor!’ laughed Enid. ‘Sorry, Mil, I know you didn’t do it – just a joke.’

‘If I tell you what it is,’ said Mildred, ‘you mustn’t tell anyone else.’

‘Promise,’ said Maud and Enid together.

Mildred pulled the basket out and put it on to the bed.

‘OK,’ she said. ‘It’s a tortoise.’

tortoise!’ exclaimed Maud. ‘Why on earth have you brought a tortoise to school?’

‘H.B. will have a brainstorm if she sees it,’ said Enid. ‘You
know
we can’t have any other pets except the cats.’

‘And bats, if any are roosting in the room,’ Maud reminded them, ‘but that’s
it
. Bats and cats. End of story.’

Mildred opened the wire door of the cat basket and brought out the surprise occupant, a sleeping tortoise. All they could see was the brown shell and the cave-like holes at the front and back
where it had retracted itself.

‘He won’t be any trouble,’ explained Mildred. ‘He can trundle about in my room during the day when I’m at lessons and he only eats fruit and vegetables, so I can sneak stuff from the dining hall. Now they’ve all gone mad on healthy school dinners there’s a bowl of fruit and salad stuff on every table and there’s always loads left. He’s called Speedy.’

‘Oh,
Mildred
!’ said Maud wearily. ‘Why do you always set yourself up for disaster? Something’s
bound
to happen with a tortoise – A TORTOISE, for heaven’s sake!’

‘And
we
believe you about the snakes, Milly,’ said Enid. ‘But H.B. won’t and there’s no way you can prove it was Ethel, especially as she was being nice.’

‘
Pretending
to be nice!’ Mildred corrected.

‘Pretending to be nice then,’ agreed Enid, ‘but that scream wasn’t put on. Ethel sounded as freaked out as everyone else.’

‘Only because she didn’t realize the snakes were going to be quite so horrible,’ grumbled Mildred.

‘
Look
, Mil,’ said Maud, beginning to sound faintly irritated. ‘We’re just going round in circles here.
We
believe you. OK? You don’t have to prove anything to us – we’re your best friends – but keep your head down now and perhaps H.B. will relent on her pottery ban when she sees your super-duper holiday project.’

‘What made you want a tortoise in the first place?’ asked Enid. ‘They don’t
do
much and you’ve never said anything about tortoises before.’

‘I can’t tell you yet,’ said Mildred, ‘but I promise I’ll tell you very soon.’

‘Is it to do with the holiday project?’ asked Maud.

‘
Sort of
,’ said Mildred with a secret smile.

Mildred put Speedy back into the basket as he was still fast asleep and the three friends set off to the dining hall.

Lunch was supposed to be chicken and vegetable pie, but the pastry was like concrete (Mildred actually bent her knife trying to cut it) and there was only a small puddle of gravy inside after all the hard work of hacking through like a mining operation.

To make matters worse, the story of the rattlesnake incident had spread through the school like wildfire and everyone was calling out rude remarks and making jokes at Mildred’s expense. She tried to laugh it off good-naturedly at first, but after a while her eyes filled with tears.

‘Glad to ssssee you ssssurvived, Mildred,’ hissed Drusilla as she passed by, carrying pudding for herself and Ethel.

‘Don’t take any notice,’ said Maud soothingly.

‘Anyway, it’s nearly time to reveal your holiday project,’ said Enid. ‘That’ll show everyone.’

‘Hey, Mildred!’ called Ethel from the next table. ‘Ssssyrup ssssponge and cusssstard for afterssss!’

Mildred got up and pushed back her chair. ‘I’ll see you later,’ she said to Maud and Enid. ‘I can’t stand any
more of this.’

Blushing furiously, she hurried through the gauntlet of laughter, back to the peace of her room. Speedy was still fast asleep, so Mildred laid some carrot sticks and celery in the cat basket in front of him in case he woke up feeling hungry. Then she picked up the blue folder containing the precious holiday project and sat on the edge of her bed, holding it against her chest, feeling tempted to have one last look.
She had been so worried she might mislay a page or, worse, put the whole thing down somewhere and lose it completely that she hadn’t opened the folder since she had packed it ready to take to school.

Maud and Enid knocked at her door.

‘Come on, Mil!’ said Maud cheerily. ‘Time for your big moment. Potions with H.B. and the best holiday project in the world.’

‘Well, perhaps not in the
world
,’ said Mildred, smiling.

‘Don’t start being modest
now
,’ said Enid. ‘We’re expecting to be greatly impressed.’

‘Greatly impressed you certainly will be,’ said Mildred. ‘Come on, let’s go and make H.B.’s day!’