We spent ten minutes rounding up the rest of the fifth years.

Katie took me from room to room until she had successfully gathered all the fifth years and instructed them to meet us in their dormitory. A few of them exchanged glances with one another, but none of them said anything. They all agreed to meet us in the dormitory within five minutes to discuss something, although Katie didn't tell them it was to do with Victoria.

The fifth-year dormitory was on the other side of the school to my own, but up a similar flight of twisting stairs and laid out the exact same way. Eight beds lined the walls with a large window that looked out onto the grounds at the far end of the room. Dressers marked the corners and each bed had its own table beside it covered in small trinkets like photographs or hairbrushes.

Unlike my dormitory, theirs was a mess. Drawers lay open with clothes dangling out of them and screwed up uniforms and towels had been dumped on top of their trunks. They didn't appear as bothered by the state of their room as Victoria did about ours. She made sure our beds were made, everything had been put away and that nothing stayed out of place for too long. I preferred the mess of the fifth-year dormitory over my own.

"What's all this about Katie? I was studying," Grace said. She threw herself down on one of the beds.

"You were trying to see how many pencils you could throw into a pot," one of the other girls said.

"Same thing."

"This is important," Katie said. "It seems that Victoria Havisham is trying to bring back the old initiation tasks."

"The girl who knows every rule in the rule book, breaking one of the rules? If that's not the definition of hypocrisy I don't know what is," Grace said.

"How do you know?" someone asked.

"She tried to get Flick to jump into the pool last night, knowing full well she can't swim."

I felt fifteen pairs of eyes turn to look at me and quickly directed my attention to the floor. Katie gave my hand a light squeeze, she had refused to let go of it since we left to collect the fifth years. All I wanted to do was forget the events of the previous night, to put them behind me and pretend they hadn't happened. Now, two separate year groups knew what Victoria had tried to do and that made it harder to ignore.

Katie was only trying to help, I knew that, and I would forever grateful that she was trying, but I didn't want to make it such a big deal. Somehow, having more people know about it only made the threat of Victoria that much larger. She had acted the previous night under the belief that I wouldn't tell anyone; no one would believe me either. If she were to find out that the entire fifth year knew, I would be in trouble.

"I knew she was a witch, but that is something else entirely."

"I'm with Betty. Evil takes many forms, but little Vicky is something else. Why haven't you told Mrs Maddox?" Grace directed the question that me.

"She won't believe me. The whole of the year was with her and they're hardly going to turn around and agree with me. No one else was there," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"Then what do we do? If she thinks she got away with it, she'll try again. Vicky is nothing if not persistent."

"I'll talk to Mrs Leverton, see if I can convince her to lock the pool at night. It might not help, though. As you said, she's persistent."

"Give me a few days, I can write to Emily. She might have some idea on how to deal with her darling sister. You should tell Mrs Maddox, though. Even if she doesn't believe you, at least she'll know if Vicky tries again."

Grace looked at me, her hands placed in her lap and a small slither of hair laying in front of her face. She may have sounded confident, but her eyes told a different story. There was fear behind them, an unknowing as to just what Victoria may have been capable of if she had already tried to throw me in the pool. Despite that, telling Mrs Maddox was out of the question as far as I was concerned, even if they thought otherwise.

I had dealt with far worse people than Victoria at my last school, but they only tended to be bad if you got on the wrong side of them. Victoria had hated me since I first arrived – although I didn't know why – so dealing with her would be far harder. I did not, however, want to turn into a snitch because of her. It would put a target on my back.

"No. I can deal with Victoria without running to Mrs Maddox whenever she says something. Besides, I made a promise that I would at least try here, going to Mrs Maddox would break that," I said.

"Probably for the best, her dad's the head of our Governors. Makes it a little more complicated," someone else said.

"I didn't know that." I looked at Katie.

"If Flick doesn't want to go to Mrs Maddox, she doesn't have to. It just means that we'll have to keep an eye on Victoria ourselves," Katie said. I felt grateful for her defending my actions.

With that, the lunch bell rang from somewhere in the school and the fifth years clamoured off in search of food. I hung back with Katie, listening to the rain outside and picking at my fingernails. After a few seconds, we both left the dormitory and started down the stairs towards the dining hall. When we made it to the second-floor staircase, I lingered at the top for only a little while.

"Come on, I'm hungry."

"I think I'll just go back to work," I said.

"Are you sure? You shouldn't work on an empty stomach and you need to eat something."

"I'm sure. I'll see you when you're finished."

Katie said nothing but simply watched me head up the stairs to the third floor and disappear from her line of sight. I walked the short distance down the hallway to the head girl office and settled myself on the sofa with my work on my lap. Drips of rain ran down the window, but the room was silent. My stomach grumbled.

Victoria being the daughter of someone so important in the running of the school made everything so much more complicated. How could I ever get her off my back if she had her dad so close by? She was untouchable.

I turned my attention to my work and started to drum my fingers lightly on the paper in front of me. The words didn't seem to make sense anymore, but at least I was out of Victoria's glare and I wouldn't have to deal with anyone asking questions or prodding me to talk to Mrs Maddox. From my pocket, I pulled out a couple of the coins Mum had given me for telephone calls home. In the week since I had arrived, I had yet to make one, but I needed to talk to Dad more than ever.

My dad always knew what to say to make me feel better. He had been the person who had encouraged my academic study, even if I had been unsure about it myself. Dad believed in me more than I believed in myself. I didn't want to let him down, but after the confrontation with Victoria the night before, I started to think that letting him down would be the only way to get through it. I needed to speak to him.

After tucking the coins back into my pocket and vowing to phone home before supper, I returned to my work. The words seemed to make more sense now that I had a plan to telephone home. I dived straight back into my book and underlined any important information or scribbled down any thoughts that came to mind. By the time Katie returned, I had covered three pages in writing.

"Here. I managed to sneak these out of the dining hall." Katie handed me a napkin and sat beside me. I unfolded the napkin to reveal a selection of sandwiches.

"Thank you."

"Forgive me if this sounds forward, but earlier you said that you had made a promise to at least try during your time here. What did you mean by that?" She paused. "You don't have to answer that, Mum says I'm too nosey for my own good sometimes."

"No, you're fine." I smiled at her. "My dad was the reason I took the exams and applied for the scholarship in the first place. I hated the idea, but he wouldn't have it and said that this place would be better for me than my old school. He said I would only have to do this term and if I didn't like it here, I didn't have to come back."

"Why agree? Why not tell him you didn't want to come here?"

"I wanted to tell him. Except Dad is the reason why I even had the skill to pass those exams. He was wounded in France in 1944 and was evacuated back to England. Every penny we had went on his recovery and he spent two years in military hospitals recovering. During that time, he would help me with my reading and spelling and encouraged me to pursue my academics. He got me my first Roman history book when I was six."

"Your dad would be proud of you regardless of whether you stuck the term out or not. Besides, it's not your fault Victoria is a walking incarnation of evil."

I laughed. "Perhaps not. Still, getting in trouble with Mrs Maddox and her having to telephone home to tell him I slapped Victoria, had I followed through on the urge, would have broken my promise."

Katie didn't say anything. She pulled a small, loose thread from the hem of her dress and wrapped it around her finger. I turned my attention to the napkin of sandwiches, picking one up and tearing a piece off before placing it into my mouth. Outside, the wind rippled through the trees and sent several sticks flying at the windowpane with a loud clatter.

Somewhere in the school, a burst of shrieking laughter echoed through the halls and penetrated through the closed door. The sound of footsteps running up the stairs joined the cacophony of noises that already filled the school. I grabbed my pencil and chewed on the end of it, mulling over the thoughts that had started to swirl around my head. I wanted Katie to say something, but she didn't.

I hadn't wanted to tell anyone about Dad and his injury during the war as it was none of their business. My family life had always been private and as far as I concerned, no one else needed to know about Dad and the life we led back in London. I also didn't want anyone to think I had been given the scholarship out of pity, because of what had happened to my dad. Victoria would no doubt find a way to use it against me.

Despite that, I didn't mind telling Katie. Even though I had known her less than a week, she had been a friend in a place where I didn't think I would have any. She didn't care that most of my clothes came from my cousin, or if I only have two school dresses because we couldn't afford to buy a third. She had been willing to take a chance on me. I trusted Katie.

"Thank you for telling me. About your dad, I mean. It can't be easy being this far away from him," she said after a few more minutes.

"It's not. He won't be able to make it to family day, but Mum and Michael should be, she said they would try."

"I hope they do; I'd like to meet them."

She smiled at me, the same smile that reached her eyes and felt warm and comforting. Without saying another word, she turned her attention back to her work, but my eyes lingered on her a moment more before I too went back to work. The sandwiches sat between us with me occasionally tearing a piece off and continuing with the scribbling and underlining of the notes.

We didn't speak to one another for the rest of the evening, sitting in a comfortable silence as we both worked. When the supper bell rang, we tided up and made the walk down to the dining hall where the cook had prepared a Saturday treat – Shepherds Pie with chocolate cake for dessert. The weather brightened up during supper, not that it made much difference to our day, but a feeling of warmth spread through me when the sun broke through the clouds and burst through the window.

Once supper was done, Katie and I went our separate ways. She wanted to pay a visit to Jo who had spent the day in the infirmary with a cold whilst I walked to the grand staircase and a telephone that sat to the right of it. I fished the coins out of my pocket and fed them into the box, dialling the number and speaking to the operator. It took a few seconds before the telephone in our living room was answered.

"Hello?" Dad's voice came from the telephone.

"Dad? It's me."

"Flick, sweetheart! I was wondering when you were going to telephone."

"Sorry, it's been busy here. A lot of work too."

"How are you finding it? Have you made any friends?"

"It's going well, I think." I bit my tongue from making any comments about Victoria. "And yes, two from the year above me. They're nice." An image of Katie flashed in my head.

"I'm glad. How are your classes? Not too challenging, I hope." Dad chuckled slightly and I could hear the creaking of his armchair as he moved.

"They're good. My history teacher is proud of me, although the same can't be said for sewing."

"A skill that seems to have passed you by." He cleared his throat. "I'm pleased you're finding your feet there, Flick. I know how hard it was for you to agree to attend for the term, but you appear to have taken it all in your stride. I'm proud of you."

"I know you are."

"These friends of yours, a year older you say? What are they like?"

"They're nice. I've been helping Katie with her history work and they've both been helping me settle in."

"They sound like really nice girls. Your mother will be sorry she missed you, she's is working late tonight."

"I'll try to telephone during the week."

"She'd like that." He paused. "I'll let you get on; I expect you have a lot of work to be getting on with. I'm glad you called, Flick."

"Me too."

"Goodbye, sweetheart."

"Bye, dad."

With that, we both hung up and I put the telephone down. I stood staring at the telephone for a little while longer, wishing the conversation could have been that much longer between us. Although it had only been a week since I had last spoken to Dad, I missed him more than ever and a telephone call didn't help bridge the gap that had started to form. A call would only go so far. I sighed to myself, stuffed the leftover coins into my pocket and headed back to the dormitory to return my project and make a start in my Prep.

At the back of my mind, I couldn't shake the moment of Katie smiling at me in the head girl room. It made me feel warm and comfortable and at home. With Katie as a friend, I hoped my time at Maddox wouldn't be as bad as I first thought.

~~~

First Published - June 18th, 2020