First Term at Malory Towers (2 page)

“Does each Tower have its own schoolrooms?” asked Darrell. Alicia shook her head.

“Oh, no! All the girls from each of the four Tower houses go to the same classrooms. There are about sixty girls in each house. Pamela is head of ours. There she is over there!”

Pamela was a tall, quiet girl, who had got into the carriage with another girl about her own age. They seemed very friendly with Miss Potts, and were eagerly discussing with her the happenings planned for the term.

Alicia, another girl called Tessie, Sally and Darrell chattered too. Gwendoline sat in her corner and looked gloomy. Nobody paid her any attention at all, and she wasn't used to that!

She gave a little sob, and looked at the others out of the corner of her eye. Sharp Alicia saw the look and grinned. “Just putting it on!” she whispered to Darrell. “People who really do feel miserable always turn away and hide it somehow. Don't take any notice of our darling Gwendoline.”

Poor Gwendoline! If she had only known it, Alicia's lack of sympathy was the best thing for her. She had always had far too much of it, and life at Malory Towers was not going to be easy for her.

“Cheer up, Gwendoline,” said Miss Potts, in a cheerful tone, and immediately turned to talk to the big girls again.

“I feel sick,” announced Gwendoline at last, quite determined to be in the limelight and get sympathy somehow.

“You don't look it,” said the downright Alicia. “Does she, Miss Potts? I always go green when I feel sick.”

Gwendoline wished she could really be sick! That would serve this sharp-tongued girl right. She leaned back against the back of the seat, and murmured faintly. “I really do feel sick! Oh, dear, what shall I do?”

“Here, wait a bit—I've got a paper bag,” said Alicia, and fished a big one out of her bag. “I've got a brother who's always sick in a car, so Mother takes paper bags with her wherever she goes, for Sam. I always think it's funny to see him stick his nose in it, poor Sam like a horse with a nose-bag!”

Nobody could help laughing at Alicia's story. Gwendoline didn't, of course, but looked angry. That horrid girl, poking fun at her again. She wasn't going to like her at all.

After that Gwendoline sat quiet, and made no further attempt to get the attention of the others. She was afraid of what Alicia might say next.

But Darrell looked at Alicia with amusement and liking. How she would like her for a friend! What fun they could have together!

IT was a long journey to Malory Towers, but as there was a dining car on the train, and the girls took it in turns to go and have their midday meal, that made a good break. They had tea on the train too. At first all the girls were gay and chattery, but as the day wore on they fell silent. Some of them slept. It was such a long journey!

It was exciting to reach the station for Malory Towers. The school lay a mile or two away, and there were big motor coaches standing outside the station to take the girls to the school.

“Come on,” said Alicia, clutching hold of Darrell's arm. “If we're quick we can get one of the front seats in a coach, beside the driver. Hurry! Got your bag?”

“I'll come too,” said Gwendoline. But the others were gone long before she had collected her belongings. They climbed up into front seats. The other girls came out in twos and threes, and the station's one and only porter helped the drivers to load the many trunks on to the coaches.

“Can we see Malory Towers from here?” asked Darrell, looking all round.

“No. I'll tell you when we can. There's a corner where we suddenly get a glimpse of it,” said Alicia.

“Yes. It's lovely to get that sudden view of it,” said Pamela, the quiet head-girl of North Tower, who had got into the coach just behind Alicia and Darrell. Her eyes shone as she spoke. “I think Malory Towers shows at its best when we come to that corner, especially if the sun is behind it.”

Darrell could feel the warmth in Pamela's voice as she spoke of the school she loved. She looked at her and liked her.

Pamela saw her look and laughed. “You're lucky, Darrell,” she said. “You're just beginning at Malory Towers! You've got terms and terms before you. I'm just ending. Another term or two, and I shan't be coming to Malory Towers any more—except as an old girl. You make the most of it while you can.”

“I shall,” said Darrell, and stared ahead, waiting for her first glimpse of the school she was to go to for at least six years.

They rounded a corner. Alicia nudged her arm. “There you are, look! Over there, on that hill! The sea is behind, far down the cliff, but you can't see that, of course.”

Darrell looked. She saw a big, square-looking building of soft grey stone standing high up on a hill. The hill was really a cliff, that fell steeply down to the sea. At each end of the gracious building stood rounded towers. Darrell could glimpse two other towers behind as well, making four in all. North Tower, South, East and West.

The windows shone. The green creeper that covered parts of the wall climbed almost to the roof in places. It looked like an old-time castle.

“My school!” thought Darrell, and a little warm feeling came into her heart. “It's fine. How lucky I am to be having Malory Towers as my school-home for so many years. I shall love it.”

“Do you like it?” asked Alicia, impatiently.

“Yes. Very much,” said Darrell. “But I shall never never know my way about it! It's so big.”

“Oh, I'll soon show you,” said Alicia. “It's surprising how quickly you get to know your way round.”

The coach turned another corner and Malory Towers was lost to sight. It came into view again, nearer still, round the next corner, and it wasn't very long before all the coaches roared up to the flight of steps that led to the great front door.

“It's just like a castle entrance!” said Darrell.

“Yes,” said Gwendoline, unexpectedly, from behind them. “I shall feel like a fairy princess, going up those steps!” She tossed her loose golden hair back over her shoulders.

“You would!” said Alicia, scornfully. “But you'll soon get ideas like that out of your head when Potty gets going on you.”

Darrell got down and was immediately lost in a crowd of girls, all swarming up the steps. She looked round for Alicia, but she seemed to have disappeared. So up the steps went Darrell, clutching her small bag and racket, feeling rather lost and lonely in the chattering crowd of girls. She felt in quite a panic without the friendly Alicia!

After that things were rather a blur. Darrell didn't know where to go and she didn't know what to do. She looked vainly for Alicia, or Pamela, the head-girl. Was she supposed to go straight to North Tower? Everyone seemed to know exactly what to do and where to go, except poor Darrell!

Then she saw Miss Potts, and felt a wave of relief. She went up to her, and Miss Potts looked down, smiling.

“Hallo! Feeling lost? Where's that rascal of an Alicia? She ought to look after you. All North Tower girls are to go there and unpack their night-bags. Matron is waiting for you all.”

Darrell had no idea which way to go for North Tower, so she stood by Miss Potts, waiting. Alicia soon appeared again, accompanied by a crowd of girls.

“Hallo!” she said to Darrell.” I lost you. These are all girls in our form, but I won't tell you their names just now. You'll only get muddled. Some are North Tower girls, but some belong to the other houses. Come on, let's go to North Tower and see Matron. Where's darling Gwendoline?”

“Alicia,” said Miss Potts, her voice stern, but her eyes twinkling. “Give Gwendoline a chance!”

“And Sally Hope? Where's she?” said Alicia. “Come on, Sally. All right, Miss Potts, I'll take them along to North Tower, and nurse them a bit!”

Sally, Gwendoline and Darrell followed Alicia. They were in a big hall, that had doors leading off on either side, and a wide staircase curving upwards.

“The assembly hall, the gyms, the lab, the art-rooms, and the needlework room are all on this side,” said Alicia. “Come on, we'll cross the Court to get to our tower.”

Darrell wondered what the Court was. She soon found out. Malory Towers was built round a large oblong space, called the Court. Alicia took her and the others out of a door opposite the entrance they had come in by, and there lay the Court surrounded on all sides by the buildings.

“What a lovely place!” said Darrell. “What's that sunk piece in the middle?”

She pointed to a great circle of green grass sunk a good way below the level of the Court. Round the sloping sides of the circle were stone seats. It looked like an open-air circus ring, the ring sunk low, and the stone seats rising upwards around it, Darrell thought.

“That's where we act plays in the summer,” said Alicia. “The players perform in the ring, and the audience sit round on those stone seats. We have good fun.”

Round the sunk circle, on the level, was a beautifully set out garden, with roses and all kinds of flowers planted there. Green lawns, not yet cut by the gardeners, were set between the beds.

“It's warm and sheltered in the Court,” said Darrell.

“It's too hot in the summer,” said Alicia, steering them all across the Court to the opposite side. “But you should see it in the Easter term! When we come back, in January, leaving our own homes in frost and maybe snow, we find snowdrops and aconites and primroses blooming in all the beds here, in the sheltered Court. It's gorgeous. Well, look at the tulips coming out here already, and it's only April!”

At each end of the hollow oblong of buildings was a tower. Alicia was making for North Tower. It was exactly like the other three. Darrell looked at it. It was four storeys high. Alicia stopped short just outside.

“On the ground floor there's our dining-hall, our common rooms, where we go when we're not in class, and the kitchens. On the second floor are the dormies, where we sleep—dormitories, you know. On the third floor are more dormies. On the top floor are the bedrooms of the staff, and the box rooms for our luggage.”

“And each house is the same, I suppose?” said Darrell, and she looked up at her tower. I wish I slept right at the top there, in the tower itself. What a lovely view I'd have!”

Girls were going in and out of the open door at the bottom of North Tower. “Buck up!” they called to Alicia. “Supper's in a few minutes” time—something good by the smell of it!”

“We always get a jolly good supper the day we arrive,” said Alicia. “After that—not so good! Cocoa and biscuits, something like that. Come on, let's find Matron.”

Each of the Tower houses had its own matron, responsible for the girls' health and well-being. The matron of North Tower was a plump, bustling woman, dressed in starched apron and print frock, very neat and spotless.

Alicia took the new girls to her. “Three more for you to dose and scold and ran after!” said Alicia, with a grin.

Darrell looked at Matron, frowning over the long lists in her hand. Her hair was neatly tucked under a pretty cap, tied in a bow under her chin. She looked so spotless that Darrell began to feel very dirty and untidy. She felt a little scared of Matron, and hoped she wouldn't make her take nasty medicine too often.

Then Matron looked up and smiled, and at once Darrell's fears fell away. She couldn't be afraid of a person who smiled like that, with her eyes and her mouth and even her nose too!

“Now let me see—you're Darrell Rivers,” said Matron, ticking off her name on a list. “Got your health certificate with you? Give it to me, please. And you're Sally Hope.”

“No, I'm Gwendoline Mary Lacey,” said Gwendoline.

“And don't forget the Mary,” said Alicia, pertly. “Dear Gwendoline Mary.”

“That's enough, Alicia,” said Matron, ticking away down her list. “You're as bad as your mother used to be. No, worse, I think.”

Alicia grinned. “Mother came to Malory Towers when she was a girl,” she told the others. “She was in North Tower too, and Matron had her for years. She sent you her best love, Matron. She says she wishes she could send all my brothers to you too. She's sure you're the only person who can manage them.”

“If they're anything like you, I'm very glad they're not here,” said Matron. “One of the Johns family at a time is quite enough for me. Your mother put some grey hairs into my head, and you've certainly done your bit in adding a few more.”

She smiled again. She had a wise, kindly face, and any girl who fell ill felt safe in Matron's care. But woe betide any pretender, or any lazy girl or careless one! Then Matron's smile snapped off, her face closed up, and her eyes glinted dangerously!

A big gong boomed through North Tower. “Supper,” said Matron. “Unpack your things afterwards, Alicia. Your train was late and you must all be very tired. All first-formers are to go to bed immediately after supper tonight.”

“Oh, Matron!” began Alicia, groaning. “Can't we just have ten minutes after...”

“I said
immediately
, Alicia,” said Matron. “Go along now. Wash your hands quickly and go down. Hurry!”

And in five minutes time Alicia and the others were sitting down, enjoying a good supper. They were hungry. Darrell looked round at the tables. She was sure she would never know all the girls in her house! And she was sure she would never dare to join in their laugh and chatter either.