Winter Term at Malory Towers (6 page)

‘Poor little mouse,' giggled Freddie. ‘Fancy having to face the wrath of Olive! I say, June, he will be able to breathe inside the desk, won't he?'

‘Of course,' answered June. ‘He won't be in there for long, and I shall return him to his cage as soon as I can.'

‘Shall we tell the others?' asked Freddie.

‘Yes, let's,' said June. ‘But we had better do it when Sylvia is not about. I don't think that they went in much for jokes and tricks at her old school, for, in spite of her jolly, hearty attitude, she doesn't have much of a sense of humour. And we certainly don't want her warning Olive of what's in store for her!'

Freddie nodded and said, ‘You're absolutely right about Sylvia. I told her one of my best jokes the other day, and when I had finished she simply looked puzzled. It was quite obvious that she didn't understand it at all. A waste of a perfectly good joke, I thought!'

‘Well, when Sylvia has been in the fourth form for a while, perhaps her sense of humour will come to the fore,' said June.

‘I don't see how it can fail to,' said Freddie. ‘Not once Sylvia realises what fun it is to play tricks and share jokes. That's one of the good things about laughter—it's infectious!'

‘Well, one person certainly won't be laughing tomorrow,' said June, with a touch of malice. ‘And that will be dear Olive!'

The fourth formers were in a great state of excitement as they went into Miss Tallant's class the next morning. Everyone but Sylvia—and Olive herself, of course—knew about the trick, and Olive looked puzzled as a few sly glances came her way.

All the mice in the biology room were quite tame, and the one that June had picked up didn't seem to mind being handled at all. He liked it in Olive's desk as well, for there was plenty of room to run around, and lots of interesting things for him to sniff at. ‘Quiet, everyone!' hissed Felicity, who was standing by the door. ‘Miss Tallant is coming.'

The girls stood up politely as the mistress swept into the room. As usual, she was wearing one of the fussy, frilly blouses that she was so fond of, and a pair of earrings with enormous pink stones in them hung from her ears.

Bonnie, playing up to Miss Tallant for all she was worth, said admiringly, ‘Oh, what a lovely blouse, Miss Tallant! You do look so pretty.'

‘Why, thank you, Bonnie,' said the mistress, preening a little, while the fourth formers grinned at one another. ‘Good morning, girls. Sit down, and we will continue with
the play that we began reading the other day. Get your books out, please.'

The fourth formers watched with bated breath as Olive lifted the lid of her desk. But the little white mouse was hiding behind her pencil case, and the girl closed the lid again, without even realising that he was there.

‘Never mind,' whispered June to Freddie, Felicity and Susan. ‘Olive will have to open her desk again later to put the book away. She's certain to spot the mouse then.'

But the mouse had ideas of his own, and had no intention of waiting until the end of the lesson to make his appearance!

After about ten minutes, he grew rather bored with his new surroundings, and, feeling lonely, decided that he would like to go back to his friends. But how was he to get out? The mouse scuttled into a corner, the sound he made startling Olive very much indeed. What on earth could it be, she wondered? It seemed to be coming from underneath her ink-well. Cautiously, Olive removed the ink-well from its hole in the lid of the desk and the mouse, seeing daylight, stuck his head up through the hole.

Olive's expression of terror was quite comical. For a second she could only sit there, frozen in horror, then she let out a blood-curdling scream, jumping up so hastily that she knocked her chair over.

Miss Tallant, who had been listening intently as Lucy read out part of the play, jumped violently and cried, ‘Olive! How dare you disturb the class in this way? Whatever is the matter with you?'

Her eyes wide with horror and her hand trembling, Olive pointed at her desk and stammered, ‘A m-mouse! In my d-desk!'

The little mouse had been quite as frightened of Olive as she had been of him, particularly when she screamed so loudly, and he had swiftly retreated back through the hole, into the safety of the desk. He moved so quickly that even Sylvia, who sat next to Olive and turned her head sharply as the girl screamed, hadn't spotted him.

As for Miss Tallant, she didn't quite know what to think. On the one hand, she sincerely hoped that there wasn't a mouse in the desk, for she didn't like them any better than Olive did. But if, on the other hand, there was no mouse, that would mean that Olive was playing a trick, for no other purpose than to disrupt the class.

June, seeing the uncertainty on the mistress's face, was quick to take advantage of it.

‘I'll take a look, if you like, Miss Tallant,' she offered, standing up. ‘I'm not afraid of mice, and if there is one in Olive's desk I shall be able to remove it.'

The mistress had made up her mind that she didn't like June at all, after learning that her peculiar performance in class the other day had been a joke, but she felt extremely grateful to her now, and said in a relieved tone, ‘Thank you, June. Please do so at once.'

June strode up to Olive's desk, saying, ‘Better stand aside, Olive, just in case he makes a dash for it. You don't want him running up your leg.'

Olive certainly didn't want that, and she hastily stepped
into the aisle, moving towards the back of the room. June opened the desk, and immediately spotted the poor little mouse, cowering in a corner. Standing with her back to Olive, so that the girl couldn't see what she was doing, she swiftly picked up the tiny creature, slipping it into the deep pocket of her skirt. If only he didn't poke his head out and give the game away! But the mouse, quite worn out by his adventure, rather liked the warmth and softness of June's pocket and decided to settle down there for a nap!

Some of the others had seen what June had done, though, and were now struggling to contain their laughter! This became extremely difficult for them when the wicked June began rummaging violently in Olive's desk for the mouse, scattering books, pencils and all kinds of belongings over the floor. At last she straightened up and, facing Miss Tallant, said solemnly, ‘There is most definitely no mouse in Olive's desk.'

‘There is!' cried Olive. ‘I saw it, I tell you.'

Miss Tallant, feeling bolder now that June had assured her there was no mouse, moved towards Olive's desk and peered in. Of course, there was nothing to be seen, and Miss Tallant pursed her lips, turning to Olive.

‘Pick up your belongings from the floor at once,' she said coldly. ‘And put them back in your desk.'

The mistress looked and sounded so angry that Olive didn't dare to argue. But as the girl turned away, her eye caught June's and she saw the glint of malice there. Suddenly she realised the truth. June was responsible for the mouse being in her desk. And June must have
removed it. But where was the creature now? Olive's eyes fell on the suspicious-looking bulge in June's pocket, and she thought that she saw a slight movement. So that was it, she thought, her eyes narrowing. June had somehow managed to slip the mouse into her pocket. Olive opened her mouth to tell Miss Tallant what had happened, but June hissed, under her breath, ‘If you sneak it will be the worse for you.'

She sounded so menacing that Olive felt quite alarmed. Sneaks were not looked upon favourably at any school, she knew that. And there was no point in making her life at Malory Towers any more difficult than it already was. So Olive shut her mouth, said nothing and turned to the task of putting her things back in her desk.

June, meanwhile, went back to her place, winking at the others, who grinned back at her. ‘Olive!' snapped Miss Tallant. ‘Come and see me when you have finished your lunch.'

‘Yes, Miss Tallant,' said Olive bleakly. What a beastly school this was!

‘That was simply marvellous, June,' laughed Felicity, as the fourth formers made their way down the corridor after the lesson.

‘Yes, and now I had better get this little fellow back to his home,' said June, taking the mouse from her pocket and stroking him with one finger. ‘Unless, of course, you want to do it, Olive?'

Olive scowled, then, as June held the mouse out towards her, gave a squeal and ran off down the corridor,
the laughter of the fourth formers following her.

‘Serves her jolly well right!' said Nora. ‘Let's hope that she will think twice before laughing when one of us gets scolded now!'

Sylvia, who had watched in amazement as June produced the mouse from her pocket, said now, ‘So there was a mouse, after all! But why did June pretend that she couldn't find it? I don't understand.'

‘It was a trick, Sylvia,' explained Pam patiently. ‘To pay Olive back for all the times she has crowed over other people when they have got into trouble.'

‘Oh,' said Sylvia rather blankly. ‘I do hope that June is going to own up to Miss Tallant.'

‘Of course she's not, idiot,' said Freddie scornfully. ‘The whole idea was to teach Olive a lesson. And that is exactly what we have done!'

‘It seems rather mean to me,' said Sylvia, with a frown. ‘I really think…'

‘Sylvia, if you're thinking of sneaking to Miss Tallant, don't!' Susan warned her. ‘Because we don't take kindly to sneaks at Malory Towers, and if you aren't careful you might find that
you
become just as unpopular as Olive!'

‘I wouldn't dream of sneaking,' said Sylvia stiffly, her rosy complexion turning even redder. ‘I just think that June ought to be persuaded to own up. If I were head-girl—'

‘Well, you're not,' Felicity interrupted rudely. ‘Susan is, and she agrees that Olive needed to be taught a lesson.'

‘We
all
agreed,' said Susan, glaring at Sylvia. ‘Of course,
if you want to go against the whole form, that is quite up to you, Sylvia.'

But Sylvia didn't want to do anything of the sort. She so badly wanted to fit in at Malory Towers and make friends. At once she said, ‘Naturally, I shall go along with what the rest of the form decides. I don't like Olive any more than you do, you know, but I think that I would have chosen a different way of dealing with her. I'm not awfully fond of jokes and tricks, you see.'

‘How odd!' exclaimed Bonnie. ‘That's rather a shame, because we play quite a lot of them in our form. Well, June and Freddie do. Really super ones, too!'

Unsurprisingly, Sylvia didn't look terribly thrilled by this, but as the fourth formers had reached the dining-room by this time, she said no more.

The girl was unusually silent during the meal, lost in her own thoughts. Olive, too, was quiet and sullen, but then she usually was, so the others didn't take much notice of this. As soon as she had finished her meal, Olive left the table and went to find Miss Tallant, to discover what her punishment would be.

‘Well, if Miss Tallant gave me fifty lines just for laughing, she's certain to come down much harder on Olive,' said Nora, quite unable to keep the note of glee from her voice.

‘After all, she did disrupt the whole class.'

‘I think that what Olive did is worth two hundred lines at least,' said Bonnie, happily.

‘That ought to keep her busy while we are in the
common-room this evening, so she won't have time to make any of her spiteful remarks!'

But when the fourth formers gathered in the common-room that evening, it seemed that Miss Tallant had not punished Olive at all, for the girl sat down in an armchair and began reading a book.

Felicity nudged Susan and whispered, ‘I say, look at Olive. You don't think that she's going to be so silly as to ignore Miss Tallant's punishment, do you?'

Susan frowned at this and, raising her voice, called out, ‘Olive! Why aren't you doing the lines that Miss Tallant gave you as a punishment?'

‘She didn't give me any lines,' said the girl, sullenly.

‘Don't tell me that she let you off scot-free!' exclaimed Pam.

‘Olive, you had better not have sneaked on me,' said June sternly. ‘I warned you what would happen if you did.'

‘I haven't sneaked on you,' retorted Olive, glaring at June. ‘But Miss Tallant has given me another punishment, instead of lines.'

‘What is it?' asked Felicity. ‘Are you to go to bed early?'

‘No, I'm to do extra prep with Miss Tallant on Saturday morning,' said Olive gloomily. ‘Not that it's any of your business!'

This really was a horrid punishment, for the girls enjoyed having their weekends all to themselves. They were happy, jolly times where everyone could do as they pleased, whether they chose to play games, go horse-riding or simply sit around laughing and joking in the common
room. And next Saturday would be even more fun than usual, for the casting of the Christmas play was to take place that afternoon. But nobody felt in the slightest bit sorry for Olive, for all of the fourth formers thought that she had well and truly earned her punishment.

The girl ignored the grins of the fourth formers and went back to her book, though Felicity, who stole several glances at her, noticed that she didn't turn the pages at all. She's only pretending to be engrossed in her book, thought Felicity. I wonder what is going on in Olive's head? What a odd girl she is!

Most of the fourth formers were looking forward to the meeting on Saturday afternoon, and the rest of the week seemed to pass by very slowly indeed!

But, at last, it was Saturday, and June, looking out of the common-room window after breakfast, said, ‘It looks quite sunny for the time of year. Freddie, shall we take a walk along the cliffs in a little while?'

‘That would be super,' answered Freddie. ‘Would anyone else like to come?'

Amy and Bonnie, neither of whom cared for exercise and fresh air, both shook their heads, but several of the others agreed eagerly to the suggestion.

‘Lucy and I will join you,' said Julie. ‘But, of course, we will be on horseback.'

‘What about you, Olive?' asked June, in a deceptively sweet tone. ‘Would you like to come with us? Oh no, half a minute! I completely forgot—you have to do extra prep for Miss Tallant, don't you?'

Everyone laughed, and Olive scowled, before stalking angrily to the door and flouncing out. As the door slammed behind her, Felicity said, ‘Miss Tallant will keep her nose to the grindstone, all right, while we are all out enjoying the fresh air.'

‘It seems a jolly odd punishment to me, though,' said Bonnie, who had been looking thoughtful. ‘I know that Miss Tallant is not on duty this weekend, for she told me so herself. Yet she has chosen to give up part of her Saturday too, so that she can sit in the classroom with Olive.'

This seemed very strange indeed, for the girls knew how hard the mistresses worked, and how they treasured their free time.

‘I never thought of that!' exclaimed Lucy. ‘Fancy wanting to give up part of a weekend off to spend time with a sourpuss like Olive.'

‘Perhaps Miss Tallant has nothing better to do,' said June. ‘The mistresses sometimes go home to visit their family or friends when they have a weekend off. Miss Tallant might not have a family. And I'm quite sure that she can't have any friends. I don't think she's awfully popular with the mistresses here either.'