"Alright, Missy, let's take a look at these exam results of yours," Mr Wilson said.

"Do you have to?" Katie groaned, rolling her head back to stare at the sky.

"Yes. Come on." He wiped his hands on a napkin and gestured to Katie to find her results.

Katie groaned again and reached into the pocket of her blouse, pulling out the dark brown envelope and staring at it. Part of me was glad I wouldn't have to open mine in front of Mum and Dad. If I had failed, I didn't want them to be disappointed in me for not putting in the work that I would have had I been at home. Mrs Maddox had given me a copy of my results for a reason and I didn't want it to be because I had failed them, but I couldn't stop the thought from creeping in. We were only supposed to get out results in person if our parents had turned up.

"I'm sure you did fine," I said, smiling at Katie and watching her open the envelope. She paused before taking out the paper with her results.

"We'll see."

She reached into the envelope and pulled out a small rectangular piece of paper, flipping it over before she saw the numbers written on the page. I look at her and raised an eyebrow, nudging my head towards the sheet of paper and urging her to turn over the page. Charlie huffed and rolled his eyes, clearly not happy that Katie was taking her time when it came to reading her results. I didn't blame her. Exam results were a scary thing to receive.

After a few minutes of sitting with the piece of paper on the palm of her hand, Katie took the corner of it and slowly flipped it over. Her eyes scanned across the page, running down the length of it and returning to the top to read it again. Mr and Mrs Wilson exchanged glances, but said nothing, watching Katie's eyes dart back and forth across the paper. She turned to look at me and smiled, her eyes dancing in the sunlight.

"You're my favourite person!" She dropped the paper onto the blanket and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, squeezing me tightly. My stomach bubbled and my heart rate sped up. I could feel my face glowing red.

"Care to explain?" Mr Wilson said, eyeing Katie as she untangled her arms from around my neck and picked up the sheet of paper.

"I passed. With flying colours, I might add. I don't think I've ever seen a history mark that eye on any of my results." She turned to me. "Thank you. I wouldn't have passed if you hadn't tutored me."

"You sat the exam; I just made the studying a little easier." I shrugged.

"These are impressive marks, Katie. I'm proud of you," Mr Wilson said.

"Your turn. Come on, open them. I want to know why Mrs Maddox gave you a copy and is posting them home as well."

I looked at her and pulled a face, not wanting to show her my marks if they were as bad as my mind kept telling me they were. I had planned to open the results when no one else was around so I could find out why Mrs Maddox had given me a copy rather than just send them home. Although I wanted to find out my results, I'd rather speak to Dad on the telephone and find out that way then have to open them in such a public display.

Still, Katie had opened her results and it only seemed fair that I did the same even if I felt unsure about how well I might have done. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the envelope. It had been folded and creased after spending so much time in my dress pocket, so I smoothed it out and placed it on my lap, playing with the corner of the envelope. Katie gave me the same look I had given her, and I knew I couldn't prolong opening the results any more than I wanted to.

Katie watched me slide my thumb under the back of the envelope to untick it, opening it up and grabbing the piece of paper from within. I look a breath and turned it over, my eyes scanning over the ink and taking in just what was written on the page.

March Examination Results, 1953

Name: Felicity Grieves

Subject:                                        Score:

English                                            23/25

French                                             25/30

History                                              40/40

Mathematics                                   57/60

Music                                                     Pass

Science                                               58/60

Sewing                                                  Pass

I read through the paper again to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me, but no matter how many times I read it, the numbers didn't change. Katie looked at me and took the piece of paper from my hand, reading through it herself and turning to face me with the biggest smile I had ever seen.

"I don't think I've ever seen results that high from anyone. At least now we know why you got your own copy; you can have it framed and put on your nightstand." She laughed awkwardly.

"Ha-ha. I didn't think I did that well, especially in history."

"Can we do something else now? I'm bored!" Charlie complained. He reminded me a lot of the children I used to babysit rather than someone a year younger than me.

"We can play badminton," Helen suggested.

"So I can thrash you? Definitely," Katie said. "You're with me, Flick. Us two against them."

"I don't think that's a good idea, I'm no good at sport. We've discussed this."

"It'll be fun, I promise."

"Fine, but if I fall, I'm blaming you."

I tucked my results back into the envelope and shoved them into my pocket. Katie stood up and offered out her hands, nodding her head for me to take them. She pulled me to my feet whilst Mr Wilson handed Helen a badminton set that looked like it had appeared from thin air.

We followed Helen and Charlie to a spot on the ground just within the tree line where there were no other families. There was no net, but the set contained a long, thick piece of rope that we laid against the grass to use as a border between the two sides. The rackets were handed out and a quick coin toss decided that Charlie and Helen would serve the first time.

Helen stood across from me, the shuttle in her hand. She looked at me and scowled, glancing briefly towards Katie. I watched her swing the racket back and drop the shuttle, smacking it as hard as she could in my general direction. The shuttled shot towards me and I swung my racket in the general direction of it, hoping to smack it back towards her. It bounced off the rim of the racket and flew towards them, only just making it passed the line of rope.

She hit it back, aiming it more towards Katie and I watched her hit it back towards Charlie, creating a rally between the three of them as I stood off to the side and watched. They kept going for a little while longer before Charlie made the error of hitting the shuttle just off to the left. It careened towards me and once again I attempted to swing the racket widely in hopes of hitting it. This time I wasn't so lucky, and the shuttle dropped to the ground beside me.

Katie looked at me and bit her lip to keep from laughing. I stared down at the shuttle on the floor, silently cursing at it. It had been such a short distance away and yet I had missed it by quite a margin.

"I have to ask. How did you miss that? It was right next to you," Helen said, pulling the same face as Katie to keep from laughing.

"There's a hole in my racket," I mumbled, keeping my face as straight as I possibly could.

I pouted and beside me Katie burst out laughing, doubling over and clutching her stomach. She raised her head a little and continued laughing as if she was unable to stop. Every time she looked at me, she started laughing again and it came to the point when she wasn't even laughing any more, just gasping for air.

"It wasn't that funny," I said.

"Y-yes it w-was," Katie spluttered.

"Can we get on with the game now?" Charlie asked.

"O-one second." She took several deep breaths. "Alright, I'm good."

She refused to look at me when she picked up the shuttle and launched it across the rope to the others. This time, whenever the shuttle came anywhere near me, Katie would step in and smack it across before I even had the chance to realise what was happening. I spent a good two minutes or so just standing there with nothing to do since no one wanted to experience a repeat of the previous incident. When the shuttle finally hit the ground, after Helen didn't step back far enough to hit it, Mr Wilson called us over.

"Do you found want some lemonade?"

"Definitely," Katie called back.

Charlie gathered up the rope and we walked back to the picnic blanket. The badminton supplies were dropped, and we sat down. Mr Wilson handed out glasses filled to the brim with lemonade which I gratefully accepted and took a sip from. The liquid was cool and refreshing in the afternoon sun. Katie glanced at me and kept having to bite her lip to keep from laughing after my fail during the game.

We sat in silence and sipped on the lemonade, listening to the sounds of birds in the trees and the conversations from those around us. Most of those who had been playing games, Frisbee or cricket, had abandoned them in favour of sitting in the sun and talking amongst each other. The afternoon sun stood high in the sky, bathing us in warmth and allowing for a rather peaceful afternoon. For the first time in a while. I had nothing to worry about.

"Were your parents supposed to attend today, Flick?" Mrs Wilson asked after a little while.

"My mum and brother were supposed to come, but they had to work."

"Oh, that must have been disappointing."

"I saw it coming. It just means Mum had to post my birthday present rather than give it in person." I shrugged.

"Your birthday's coming up?" Katie asked, raising an eyebrow and tilting her head to the side.

"Next Saturday."

"And you just never mentioned it?"

"It never came up!"

Katie narrowed her eyes, chewing on the side of her cheek. The topic of birthdays had never come up in conversation and I certainly didn't feel the need to just blurt it out if it had no place. In truth, my birthday had never been all that important. Every year I would get a card and one present from my parents along with the occasional gift and card from other family members. It just became another day as far as I was concerned and nothing to worry all that much about.

She continued to glare at me as I sipped on my lemonade, trying to ignore her. I didn't see what all the fuss was about. Had Mum shown up to Parents Day, she would have known it was my birthday in a week's time. Me not telling her hardly seemed to be the biggest thing to have happened.

"Pardon me for interrupting, but there is someone who wished to meet you, Felicity," Mrs Maddox said from behind me. I turned and saw her standing with a dark-haired man dressed in a dark blue suit and tie.

"Ah, so this is our scholarship winner," he said. His eyes scanned my face, though I wasn't sure what he was looking for me.

"Felicity, this is Mr Havisham. He's our head of governors."

I exchanged a glance with Katie. "Nice to meet you, sir."

"I hear you did exceptionally well with your most recent set of results. Maddox hasn't seen results like that for as long as I have been a part of the Governors. I was hoping to meet your parents, but it seems as though they aren't here." He looked at the Wilson's.

"My mum couldn't make it."

"Perhaps next time. We've very proud to have you here at Maddox, you'll do us proud."

He smiled, turned on his heel and walked away without saying a word. Mrs Maddox watched him and pulled a face. Before she turned back to face us, I watched her rearrange her features so she looked normal, nod her head towards us and then follow him across the grounds.

"He doesn't seem so bad," I said to Katie.

"Hm. Victoria seems to think that him being head of Governors gives her the right to do whatever she wants. He's a doting Father, especially when it comes to Victoria. She can go running to him for anything and get away with just about anything. It's because of him that Victoria's ego is as big as the Eiffel tower."

"Katie," Mrs Wilson warned.

I knew Mr Havisham working at the school made things harder, but if he was willing to do anything for Victoria, then she was well and truly out of reach. I could tell Mrs Maddox everything, but nothing would be done because of who her father was. Victoria could do anything she wanted, and no one could stop her.

She was well and truly untouchable.

~~~

First Published - July 25th, 2020