Last Term at Malory Towers Read online

  There was a splash as Amanda dived neatly in. In a

  moment she was by .Jo and had gripped her. 'Let go, lune!' she ordered. 'I'll manage her!'

  Jo clutched blindly at Amanda, who saw there was mly one thing to be done. She must bring Jo back to her ,enses immediately - and she could only do that by ■Jving her a sharp shock. Otherwise it wouid take ages to ^et the terrilied girl lo the edge of the pool.

  She raised her hand and slapped Jo very sharply on ihe right cheek. The slap echoed round the pool. Jo gasped and came to her senses at once, very angry indeed.

  That's right. Now you listen to me,' ordered Amanda, Jiarply. 'Don't clutch. I've got you all right. Lie still and i ll lake you to the edge.'

  It was only a few seconds before Amanda had got Jo :o the edge, and Moira and Darrell and Mary-Lou were hauling her up.

  lo collapsed. She wailed She howled 'I nearlv drowned. You hit me! I'll write to my lather and tell him ou pushed me in, you big bully!' she wailed. T feel iwful. I nearly drowned. Oh, my cheek does hurt where on slapped me!'

  'Don't be silly,' said Moira. 'You didn't nearly drown. You just lost control of yourself. You didn't even trv to wim though you've been having lessons!'

  'Amanda got you out all right,' said Mary-Lou, gently, seeing that Jo had been really frightened. 'She didn't know you couldn't swim or she wouldn't have pushed ou in.'

  'She's a bully,' wept Jo. 'I'll tell my lather.'

  -

  7**

  Tell him,' said Amanda. 'The only thing that's wrotig w it h you is that you're a little coward. I'll give you special < oaching too, if you like - I'll have you swimming like a iish in a couple of lessons!'

  That was the last thing Jo wanted. She dressed and, ■mil weeping and uttering threats, went back to the hoof. The others laughed.

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  lo got very little sympathy from anyone except a small iirst-former called Deirdre. Deirdre met her as she was oming up from the pool, still weeping.

  'Oh! What's the matter, .lo?' asked Deirdre, in distress. Have you hurt yourself?'

  'I've been practically drowned,' said Jo, more tears ■pringing out. That brute of an Amanda pushed me into die deep end, though she knew I couldn't swim. She ■■sapped me too - look! I shall tell my lather.'

  'Oh, I should,' said Deirdre, flattered at the way this second-former was talking to her, a first-former. Deirdre i ouldn't swim either, and she could quite well understand what iear Jo had felt when she had been pushed into the deep end of the pool. 'How wicked of manda. Nobody likes her and I'm not surprised.'

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  To sat down on a ledge of rock, hallway up the Jiff. She wiped her eyes with her hand. T don't feel well,' she said. 'I feel beastly. I'm sure I'm chock-full ■1 sea water. I shan't be able to eat anything at .ill today.'

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  This seemed dreadful to Jo, and almost as dreadful io Deirdre, who had a very good appetite. She ventured [o feel Jo's arm.

  You're shivering,' she ^aid. 'You'd better go in. Shall I letch Matron for you?'

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  'Oh goodness, no,' said Jo, at once. She had no more ;"ve for Matron than Matron had for Jo. Matron had too !'en seen through .Jo's pretences and evasions. One ot

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  them was a had headache on the afternoons when a long walk was prescribed!

  'Funny,' Matron had said. 'Long walk - headache. The two always go together with you, Jo. Well, you can take your headache on the long walk. It'll do it good!'

  So Jo certainly didn't want any attention from Matron on the morning when she had been 'practically drowned'. All Jo wanted was sympathy and a lot of it.

  But the only sympathy she got was from the little first-former, Deirdre. Everyone else laughed at her.

  'Practically drowned]' said Susan, scoffing. 'You just went under and got a mouthful of water, Jo.'

  'I'll hold you under for a lot longer if you really would like to know what being "practically drowned" is like,' offered June, when she had heard Jo's laments about six times.

  'Jo been practically drowned at least twelve times/ said Dawn. 'I can't think why she doesn't try and learn to swim. Then she wouldn't keep on getting "practically drowned"!'

  'I don't know why you're so mean to me,' said Jo, looking pathetic. 'Don't I share my sweets and cakes and everything with you? Didn't I tell you I'd just got twenty-five pounds from my aunt to spend on a birthday feast? You know we'll have a jolly good time on my money. Don't I always . . .?'

  'Be quiet,' said Felicity, crossly. 'Don't we all share our things with one another? You're not the only one!'

  'Yes, but I get so many more things,' said Jo. 'Look at that enormous cake I had last week - it lasted our table two days. And look at . . .'

  'Don't keep on pushing your riches down our throats!' said June, exasperated. And keep youi cakes and sweets to yourself in future. I don't want any. You keep on and on reminding us of them. Eat them all yourself!'

  Jo's eves tilled with tears. 'You're mean/ she said. 'You're all horrid. One ol these days I'll run away!'

  'Do,' said June. 'It would be too wonderful for words 10 wake up one morning and find your bed empty. What a relief!'

  Jo sniffed dolefully and went in search of Deirdre again. She knew Deirdre would be sympathetic. And so he was - especially when Jo produced a big box of > hocolates that had come the day before, and which, so tar, she hadn't shared with anyone.

  T shan't give the second-formers one single chocolate,' Jo declared. 'We'll have them all, Deirdre. Go 'in - take half the box back with you. And when my next cake comes I'll give you a quarter of it!'

  Deirdre had no mother to send her any cakes or sweets. She had only a father, who was at sea, and an old aunt who didn't realize that little girls liked parcels at boarding school. So she was very thrilled with the . hocolates indeed. They were magnificent ones too, as !o's always were.

  'My family never get anything but the best,' Jo said, she found that she could boast as much as she liked to Deirdre, who drank it all in. 'I wish you could see my bedroom ai home, Deirdre - it's all red and gold - and I've got a little bathroom of my own too, done in red and gold.'

  This was perfectly true. Jo's father was rolling in money. Jo once boasted that there wasn't anything her lather couldn't buy. June had enquired whether he had enough money to buy himself a few hundred Hs. Jo had never forgiven June for that. For the first time she had realized that her father's loud-voiced remarks were made all the worst? by the way he continually dropped hi*; Hs, and by his curious lapses in grammar.

  Amanda actually came after Jo one morning to ask her il she would like her to coach her in swimming. She had felt rather guilty about pushing Jo in, and had kicked herself for not finding out first if she could swim. Jo urned her back rudely on Amanda.

  No thanks,' she said curtly. 'It's a good thing lor vou

  I didn't write and tell my father. Anyway I wouldn't be put through what you're giving June lor anything in ihe world. No, thank you!'

  Sally was with Amanda. She swung Jo round by the shoulder. 'Now, just apologize to Amanda for your rudeness,' she said. 'Go on, quick!'

  'No,' said Jo, seeing the admiring Deirdre nearby.

  'Very wel
l,' said Sally, whipping out her little Punish¬ment Book. 'You can learn any piece ol poetry in your French poetry book, so long as it's not shorter than twenty lines. And say it to me before Wednesday next.'

  'I apologize,' said Jo, sulkily. French was not one of her best subjects.

  'Too late,' said Sally. 'The punishment stands. And take that scowl off your face.'

  'No. Hold it!' said Belinda's voice from the back, and out came her sketch-book. '!t isn't often I get such a nice fine fat scowl! Aha - see yourself, young Jo!'

  Jo gazed in anger at the caricature of herself - wickedly iike iter at her most bad-tempered. She turned on her heel and slouched off, Deirdre following her like a faithful little dog.

  'That kid wants taking in hand,' said Sally. 'I hear from Felicity that she gets parcels practically every day from home - really extravagant ones too. And the money she gets! If I catch her flinging it ihout I shall confiscate it or send her to Matron. Those lower-formers have got to stick to the rules where money is concerned. It isn't fair to the others, who only have a couple of pounds a term to spend. She's a pest, that kid.'

  The interest in Amanda's coaching of June soon died down. June stuck it, though sometimes with a bad grace. Amanda never praised - that was the worst ol her. She found fault dozens of times, but even when June really did produce an ace of a serve, Amanda's only comment would he, 'Well, it's pleasant to see a good serve at last!'

  Amanda herself soon proved lo everyone that she was tar and away the best in the school at tennis and swimming. She was put automatically into the first team ior swimming and diving and the first tennis team too. It A as a joy to watch her swim or play. Darrell never ceased ■i> marvel at the grace of her great hefty body on the .ennis-court or in the pool.

  Moira and Amanda had many .squabbles, especially over helping the younger ones. Moira was very good about this, but Amanda took no interest at all.

  'Tcssie's got to learn how to place her balls better,' she would say. Or, 'Lucy would be better il she stopped veiling about at swimming and practised a bit more, she'd be good then.'

  'Well - what about telling Tessie, and showing Lucy what she should do?' Moira would say. impatiently. 'You 'hvavs see what's wrong - but you never never want to put it right Except for June. She's the only one.'

  Amanda didn't answer. She didn't seem to be listening and this always annoyed Moira more than anything

  'That's right. Look away in the distance and think of the wonderful days when you'll win everything at the Olympic Games,' sneered Moira, going out of the room.

  Moira would have liked to he as good as Amanda was at games. They were her greatest interest, much to the 1 tench girl, Suzanne s, perpetual astonishment.

  'This Moira, this Amanda,' she said to Mam'zelle Dupont 'elles sont tres drdlesV

  'Speak in English, Suzanne,' Mam'zelle would say, severely 'How many times must I tell you this?'

  'Police?' said Suzanne.

  You beard me,' said Mam'zelle. 'Now - say what you said - in English, please.'

  This Moira, this Amanda - they -- are vairy piggy- hoo-learrr!' said Suzanne, earnestly

  Mam'zelle stared at her. 'H'Inn was that word?" she

  asked, astonished.

  'Piggy-hoo-learrrrrr!' repeated Snzanne. 'It is a true word, Mam'zelle Dupont. Darrell tiehed it me.'

  'Darrell taught you?' said Mam'zelle. 'Ah, I must ask her what it is.'

  It turned out to be 'peculiar', of course, and for some time after that everything odd was referred to as 'piggy- hoo-learrrrr'! Alicia took it upon herself to teach Suzanne a tew more words, which also astonished poor Mam'zelle very much.

  She taught the unsuspecting Suzanne such words as 'fiddlesticks!', 'piffle', and 'scrumplicious', which, of course, was a mixture of scrumptious and delicious.

  Suzanne liked the words very much, and used them whenever she could. She described Mam'zelle's new lace collar as 'scrumpleeeecious!' and amiably told her that in her opinion swimming was 'peefle' and 'vairy feedle- steecks' and didn't Mam'zelle agree with her?

  'What is this "peefle" and "feedlesteecks"?' Mam'zelle asked suspiciously. They are not words. Alicia, have you ever heard of them, tell me truly?'

  'Oh yes, Mam'zelle/ said Alicia, gazing innocently at Mam'zelle. She caught sight of a hair-pin coming out of Mam'zelle's bun, and the sight made her remember the wonderful magnet. Had June used it again? She must find out.

  'Peefle/ muttered Mam'zelle, feverishly searching through the dictionary for it. 'Peefle. He is not here, this peefle. Suzanne, take this dictionary and look through it carefully for me.'

  'Police?' said Suzanne, politely. Mam'zelle exploded.

  'Yes - look up your everlasting "police", too!' she cried. 'See what it means. One day they will be after you - the POLICE! Ah, you foolish girl. Never will you learn to spik the English as he should be spoke.'

  suyc{ — wel (a nice fittfe plot

  licia remembered to ask June about the magnet. June e.rinned at her, put her hand into the pocket of her navy-blue gym skirt and pulled out the neat, powerful :iitle magnet.

  Alicia took it. It was very heavy. She slid it along the icsk. A large pencil-sharpener appeared almost to leap through the air and fasten itself on the magnet. Then a .ompass came, and two or three paper-clips.

  We played me trick on Mam zeile Rougier again,' viid June. 'Harriet did it that time. We did it a bit diilerently, and it was just as funny.'

  'What happened?' asked Alicia.

  Well, the hair-pins came out again, of course,' said kmc, smiling broadly. 'And Harriet quickly took them off the magnet, and dropped them by the door when she went hack to her place. Mam'zelle Rougier felt her hair going down her back and put up her hand to see, of course. She umidn't find a single pin and looked absolutely horrified.

  'Then Felicity put up her hand and said she had seen Mime hair-pins down by the door, and were they Mam'zelle's by any chance?

  Mam'zelle simply couldn't understand how they had goi there. We offered all kinds of explanation. I said Mam'zelle must have dropped them coming in. Harriet viid she didn't think they could be Mam'zelle's, and how lucky il was that somebody else had dropped hair-pins in ·;; r classroom, and . . .'

  Mam'/elle Rougier will be smelling rats if you offer

  too many explanations,' said Alicia, with a laugh.

  i think she does smell a rat, actually,' said June. 'She keeps on and on putting up her hand to her hair to see if it's still up, and she fingers her hair-pins all day long to make sure they're still there! And she looks frightfully suspiciously at us now!'

  '1 wish f could see it played on Mam'zelle Dupont/ sighed Alicia. 'She's the one that would be the funniest.'

  'Yes. It's a pity sixth-formers are too high and mighty to play a little joke,' said June. '1 hope I'm not like that if ever I get into the sixth.'

  'You won't be much good if you aren't,' said Alicia. 'Well - it's a good trick. I'd like to have had it when I was in the second form, t think I'd have used it to more effect than you appear to have, though!'

  She went off. June looked after her. Now how would Alicia have used it to better effect? ft couldn't be done! June put the magnet back slowly into her pocket, her quick mind going over all that Alicia had said.

  She sought out Felicity and Sally, and the three of them put their heads together. Jo came into the room and saw them. She went over, all agog at once.

  'What's the secret? What's up?' she said.

  'Nothing,' said June.

  'You might tell me,' said Jo, offended. 'I do think you're mean. I'm always kept out of everything. I always share things. I'm planning to have a first-class feast next week. Look - f've got twenty-five pounds!'

  For about the fourth time that day she took the notes out of the pocket of her tunic to show the others. She did not dare to keep them in her drawer in case Matron found them and removed them.

  'We've seen them too many times already,' said Felicity, bored. 'What's your father going to send you
for your birthday? A Rolls-Royce? Or a string of race¬horses? Or will he be too mean for words and only send

  you a real pearl necklace?'

  Jo turned away angrily. How was it she never never could learn not to show off? Felicity wondered, Did she lake after her parents so closely that she had all their mannerisms and habits too?

  A most unfortunate thing happened to Jo just after she had left the common-room. The pocket of her tunic wore through - and it happened to be the one in which site kept her money! No doubt much pulling in and out of notes had weakened it. Anyway, it quietly frayed, and lo didn't know it.

  She wandered down the corridor, feeling the familiar sensation of being left out in the cold. What had those three been mumbling about? Why didn't they tell her? She determined to go and find Deirdre and talk against the second-formers once more. Deirdre was always a willing listener, and a more than willing sharer of Jo's many goodies.

  Matron came out of her room just as Jo had passed. She was most astonished to see a five pound note lying on the floor. She picked it up. It had fallen out of Jo's pocket, of course, and Jo hadn't noticed it. Matron stuffed it into her pocket and went on again. She came across a second five pound note, lying in the middle of the corridor. How very extraordinary!

  Matron became suspicious. Were they real notes - or was this somebody's joke? Were there bright eyes watching her pick them up? Matron glanced round, but there was no one to be seen at all. She looked at the notes. They certainly seemed genuine enough.

  She was really amazed when she came across the third one. It was just round the corner, and lay there, Happing a little in the draught of the corridor. Matron picked it up thoughtfully. Surely they couldn't belong to any of the girls? Nobody had so much at once!

  'Fifteen pounds.' she said to herself. 'Fifteen pounds -

  and not given in to me! And HOW did they come to be here, lying around like this?'

  The last two notes lay together in a corner of the corridor near the garden door. Matron pounced on them. 'Twenty-five now! Well, well, well - somebody very rich has been walking along here - but win cast away so much money?'