Instalment 4 of The Blight of Beacon

end of Chapter 2 - Standing up to Elspeth

“You shouldn’t even be here, you needy brat,” she hissed. “Sponging off the money of the girls who really deserve to be at this school.”
Miranda reddened. “Perhaps I can’t afford to pay full fees for Oodles,” she said quietly. “But at least I don’t have to pay for my friends.”
Star and Mishka stopped giggling immediately and Elspeth’s nasty grin faded.
“You don’t even have any friends—” she started, but Miranda had won. The class seemed to have rallied behind her without moving an inch.
“All right, girls,” Mrs Huffington said, stepping closer to Miranda and Elspeth with a patient smile. “I’m sensing a little bit of hostility between you. Let’s use some listening skills. Miranda, why don’t you tell your side of things and Elspeth, you can use your listening skills. The we’ll swap over. Go on, Miranda – remembering to use “I” language to talk about your feelings, of course.”
Miranda didn’t want to speak, but she was still so angry at Elspeth that the words seemed to spill from her mouth of their own accord.
“I believe,” she said, “that Elspeth is a snobbish, pampered git who gets whatever she wants at Oodles because her mother is always ready to pull out her cheque-book.”
“And I believe,” Elspeth snapped, “that Miranda is a pathetic charity case who is dragging Oodles’ good name down into the mud!”
Mrs Huffington coughed uneasily into the silence that followed. None of the other girls could believe what was happening. They sat watching the scene in collective fascination.
“Well, both of your opinions are important, of course, but you could use slightly different language to express yourselves. You’re aiming for assertiveness. We don’t want to be aggressive now, do we?”
“What I meant, Mrs Huffington,” Elspeth simpered, “was that certain people without a decent family name shouldn’t be allowed to ruin to reputation of a fine school.”
“And what I meant,” scowled Miranda, “was that it seems some people can get through a good school without needing any actual intelligence, just because their parents have bucket loads of dosh!”
By this time, both girls were standing up, facing one another across Elspeth’s desk. Miranda, tingling with anger, looked longingly at Elspeth’s long, blonde plaits, wishing she could give one of them a good, hard yank. To her utter astonishment, Elspeth’s plaits suddenly stood straight out on either side of her head. As Miranda watched in stunned silence, the plaits came around to the front of Elspeth’s face and twisted together. As though held by an invisible hand, the twisted hair pulled sharply forward, dragging Elspeth across the desk and leaving her sprawling upside down, her legs flailing frantically and leaving her somewhat bulbous bottom in its bright floral knickers exposed for all the class to see. The class erupted in a burst of laughter as Miranda blinked at the sight in front of her, trying to decide exactly what it was she had just seen. Mrs Huffington looked similarly bewildered. Elspeth clambered up off her desk and glared at Miranda.
“Did you see?” she spat at Mrs Huffington. “Did you see what she did? She pulled me over the desk by my hair!”
Mrs Huffington looked as though that was not precisely what she had seen, but she did not say so. Instead, she attempted to gather her wits and looked sternly at both girls.
“I think it would be best if you both went to see Ms Lycaon immediately,” she said. “Katie, you can go too, since you started this hullabaloo.”
The Headmistress had her office door open, rather as though she had expected to see them. Elspeth marched in importantly after a brief rap on the door, followed by the frantically whispering Miranda and Katie.
“How did you do it?” Katie was asking Miranda urgently.
“I didn’t touch her!” Miranda hissed in reply. “You saw what happened! It was like magic.”
Katie continued to stare at her with deep distrust. Ms Lycaon cleared her throat and both girls looked at her instantly.
Even sitting down, Ms Lycaon was tall and awe-inspiring. Her eyes gleamed darkly under bushy eyebrows that nearly met in the middle. Her great mane of dark grey hair was swept elegantly away from her face, and when she smiled, something about her teeth made you feel uneasy.
“Well, girls,” she was saying in her deep, gravelly voice. “Somehow I don’t think Mrs Huffington has sent you here so I can congratulate you on your excellent behaviour in class…”
“She wanted me to come and tell you that Miranda pulled me over the desk by my plaits!” announced Elspeth.
“I didn’t touch her!” shouted Miranda. “Clumsy ox must have fallen.”
“Liar!” hissed Elspeth.
“It’s true, Ms Lycaon,” Miranda insisted desperately.
Ms Lycaon looked from one to the other in the deepest reflective silence. Finally, she glanced across at Katie.
“What did you see, Miss Pickerwick?” she asked.
“It was strange,” Katie told her earnestly. “Elspeth was pulled over her desk, but I promise you that Miranda did not touch her, Ms Lycaon.”
Ms Lycaon was silent for some moments more.
“Hmm, inconclusive. To be safe, I think I’d better put you all in detention.”
Elspeth’s mouth fell open.
“Detention?” she repeated, disgusted. “I really don’t think that’s fair, Ms Ly—”
“What a pity, Miss Richman-Snood. However, detention it is. This afternoon, straight after school. Forty-five minutes should do it.”
Elspeth brightened. “I’m so sorry, Miss,” she said gleefully. “I have a ballet lesson this afternoon at three-fifteen.”
“Well, tomorrow will do just as well for you, Elspeth,” Ms Lycaon assured her with a toothy smile. “Back to class now, all of you.”
“Typical,” muttered Elspeth on the way back to the classroom. “I should have expected you leeches to stick up for each other. You both know I didn’t fall.”
“Don’t blame me if you can’t stand up properly without Star and Mishka propping you up on either side,” retorted Miranda, still seething.
“You wait, Miranda Crundle,” Elspeth whispered at the classroom door. “I’ll get you.”
Miranda sighed. Katie’s face was as unconcerned as ever. She had no idea of the battle she kept fuelling. Miranda, however, could only foresee Elspeth’s nastiness for the rest of their Oodles career.
At least some of the other girls in the class seemed friendlier all of a sudden. Felicity shot Miranda a quick smile, and Ellie winked and promised, “We will go for an icecream tomorrow,” before Mrs Huffington’s class was over. Nobody actually came right out and congratulated her, but Miranda enjoyed the status of a semi-hero for the rest of that day. She was even able to go to detention with a tolerably cheerful outlook.
She sent word to David, waiting as usual at the gate, that she and Katie would be late. They did their homework during detention and Miranda felt that, on the whole, the punishment was well worth showing Elspeth up in front of the class. She did not, however, feel that it would be a particularly clever way to deal with Elspeth in future. The recollection of Elspeth’s narrow eyes as she’d said “I’ll get you” was still fresh in Miranda’s mind.
After detention, she and Katie sauntered across the car park, looking about for David. It was sprinkling lightly and the sky was dark, although it was still quite early.
“Looks like a storm is coming on,” observed Miranda as they stopped to wait on the verge.
David emerged from Lizzie’s Lunches, walking towards them with his long black coat and laceless boots flapping.
“I hear you got detention,” he called with a grin. “Not like our well-behaved little Miss Miranda, is it?”
“That poxy Elspeth Richman-Snood started it,” Miranda told him, and he snorted in disgust.
“That whole family needs hanging out to dry,” he claimed. “It’s about to rain, so I phoned Dad to pick us up. Want to kick a football around the common till he gets here?”
Miranda shrugged and glanced at Katie. Katie did not appear to have heard David. She was peering hard across the road. Miranda followed her gaze to a woman who had just climbed out of a sleek, silver car in the school car park. She was a squat figure, with a square body and an oddly heavy look about her. She was very plain, with dull, mousey hair and an unpleasant face, and she was clothed in brown tweed from head to toe. When she looked up Miranda saw the abnormal potato shape of the woman’s nose. It sat on her otherwise bland face, rather like a hunched rock climber clinging to a cliff. By now, Katie seemed to be trying in vain to hide behind Miranda.
“Wallow!” she whispered, her eyes wide with horror.
“Wallow? In what?” asked Miranda.
But now the woman appeared to have spotted Katie too. She perked up like a cat that had seen a small furry animal – standing stock still and gazing unblinkingly at Katie. A moment later, she was striding towards them. There was a menacing look on her face, and Katie lost no more time.“It’s Wendyn Wallow!” she exclaimed in terror. “Run!”

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