Fun and Games at Malory Towers

  The tennis team were standing in the driveway, waiting for the coaches that would take them and the spectators to Summerfield Hall. The players looked very smart indeed in their spotless white dresses, and when the orchestra came out, wearing their summer uniforms, June exclaimed, ‘Gosh, I wish Miss Grayling could see us now! Don’t we all look neat and tidy!’

  Miss Grayling did see the girls, for she came out to offer a few words of encouragement, accompanied by Miss James and Mam’zelle Dupont.

  ‘I shall be very proud of you all if you win,’ she said, with her lovely smile. ‘But I shall still be proud of you if you lose, for I know that you will do your very best, and that is what is important.’

  ‘Ah, yes,’ said Mam’zelle, beaming at the assembled girls. ‘And how smart you all look, is it not so, Miss James?’

  ‘Yes, indeed,’ said Miss James, with a smile. ‘And now I see that your coaches are coming, so we will leave you to it. Good luck, everyone!’

  As the three mistresses made their way back inside, Millicent suddenly gave a groan and cried, ‘Oh my gosh!’

  ‘What is it?’ said Gillian, looking at her in alarm, for the girl was as white as a sheet.

  ‘Oh, Millicent, don’t say that you are ill! How is the orchestra to manage without a conductor?’

  ‘I’m not ill,’ said Millicent in a queer, tight little voice. ‘I’ve just realised that I have forgotten to book a coach for the orchestra.’

  ‘Millicent, please tell me that you are joking,’ said Pam, dismayed. ‘How on earth could you have forgotten something as important as that?’

  ‘I was so wrapped up in rehearsing, and getting the music right, that it went completely out of my head,’ said the girl in a hollow tone. ‘Well, that’s it, I’m afraid. We can’t enter the competition and that’s all there is to it.’

  Millicent could almost feel the wave of disappointment that washed over the girls. She felt bitterly disappointed too, and very angry with herself. How could she have been so stupid?

  But June, who had overheard, said, ‘Wait a minute! Millicent, we have two coaches – one for the team and one for the girls who were coming to watch. It means that we will have to leave the spectators behind, but why don’t you take our second coach?’

  ‘June, would you really do that for us?’ said Millicent, hardly daring to believe that she had heard the girl correctly.

  ‘Yes,’ said June. ‘Your competition is in the next town to our tennis tournament, so the driver will only have to go a little farther. Now buck up, and get your instruments on board.’

  The girls who had been hoping to watch the tennis were disappointed at having their day out spoiled, of course, but they took it well, and stood aside to let the orchestra get on. Gillian was going with them, for Delia felt quite sick with nerves and had insisted that she would not be able to perform unless her friend came along too.

  ‘I felt quite relieved when Millicent said that she hadn’t booked the coach,’ Delia confided to Gillian, as they took their seats. ‘For it meant that I wouldn’t have to sing. Now I feel sick again.’

  ‘You’ll be fine,’ said Gillian, giving her arm a squeeze. ‘I mean to try and get a seat in the front row when the competition starts, so if your nerves get the better of you, you can look at me, and pretend that you are singing just for me.’

  But the big town hall where the competition was taking place was packed, and Gillian had to settle for a seat near the back.

  ‘Oh dear,’ she thought. ‘I do hope that Delia will be all right.’

  Of course, Delia wasn’t the only member of the orchestra who felt nervous, for several of them could almost hear their knees knocking as they waited backstage for their turn to come. Millicent too was very anxious, but she hid it well, knowing that it was her job to try and have a calming influence on the others.

  The competition began, and Gillian, in the audience, watched as one orchestra after another performed. Some of them were very good indeed, some not so good. But none of them had a singer, and Gillian felt sure that, if her friend could only hold her nerve, her voice would win the competition for Malory Towers.

  At last it was their turn, and Gillian felt her heart beat a little faster as Millicent led the girls on to the stage. Each girl carried one of the colourful little pennants that Bonnie had made, and as they took their places they hung them from the music stands.

  Then the performance began, and it went very well indeed, the audience enjoying it enormously. Then came the violin solo and Delia, who had been standing in the shadows, walked to the front of the stage. She glanced swiftly along the front row for a glimpse of Gillian, but, of course, she couldn’t see her. As luck would have it, though, there was a man in the front row who looked very like her own, dear father, and Delia decided that, if her nerves overcame her, she would pretend to be singing for him.

  But, once again, as soon as she began to sing, the sick, fluttery feeling in her stomach vanished, and Delia gave a marvellous performance. When she had finished, the audience clapped for so long that it was several minutes before the rest of the orchestra could continue playing the rest of the piece. But Millicent didn’t mind the hold-up at all, for the spontaneous burst of applause proved just how well Delia had done.

  And the whole orchestra received a standing ovation, once they had stopped playing. Gillian, of course, clapped louder than anyone, feeling absolutely delighted, for none of the other orchestras had got one. Malory Towers had won, she was certain of it!

  18

  A wonderful end to the term

  Meanwhile, things were also going well for the tennis team.

  The juniors had only lost one of their matches, while Felicity and Susan had scored a comfortable victory over their opponents in the doubles.

  Freddie, too, had played her heart out, and the others had cheered until they were hoarse when she narrowly beat her opponent.

  ‘Well done, Freddie!’ yelled June, clapping her on the back as she came off the court. ‘I doubt if Gillian herself could have played better.’

  And now it was the final match, with June playing the captain of Summerfield Hall.

  The two were very evenly matched, for although the Summerfield girl was much bigger than June and had a very powerful serve, she was less agile.

  The opposing captain won the first set, and June the second. The two girls were equal in the third set, when disaster struck. June, running forward to return her opponent’s service, stumbled and fell heavily, twisting her ankle. The Summerfield games mistress dashed on to the court as June gave a little cry of pain, and administered first aid.

  ‘Well, it’s certainly not broken,’ she said, after gently feeling the ankle. ‘Probably just a bad sprain. Hard luck on you, though. I’m afraid that the match will have to be abandoned.’

  But June wasn’t standing for that!

  ‘No,’ she said firmly, getting gingerly to her feet. ‘I intend to play on.’

  ‘Well, you’ve plenty of pluck, I’ll say that for you,’ said the games mistress. ‘Very well, but if that ankle is causing you too much pain, for heaven’s sake say so, before you do any more damage!’

  June’s ankle was very painful indeed, but she was determined to see the match through. And she did, with gritted teeth, but as she could only hobble it was quite impossible for her to return some of her opponent’s shots, and she lost.

  ‘Never mind, old thing,’ said Felicity, in the changing-room afterwards. ‘Miss Grayling will still be proud of you, for you played your very best.’

  ‘The funny thing is that I don’t mind,’ said June, sounding most surprised. ‘It really is queer, for you know how I hate to lose at anything. You, Susan and Freddie all played splendidly, and so did the lower school. So in spite of my wretched ankle, we have won the tournament and that seems to be all that matters.’

  ‘June, I do believe that you’ve found that team spirit we knew was hiding inside you somewhere!’ said Susan.

  ‘Do you know,
I think you’re right!’ said June, much struck. ‘Fancy that! Although I suppose, as I’m games captain, team spirit is quite a good thing to have.’

  ‘I would say it was essential,’ said Felicity. ‘Now come along, for we have to be presented with the cup, then we had better get you back to Malory Towers so that Matron can take a look at your ankle and bandage it up.’

  The kitchen staff at Malory Towers, aware that today was a very special occasion, had prepared an extra-delicious tea. Julie and Lucy, walking past the dining-room, glanced in, their eyes lighting up as they saw all the good things being laid out by the staff.

  ‘Fruit cake, chocolate cake, sandwiches of every kind – and my goodness, those scones look delicious,’ said Julie.

  ‘Well, I daresay that both the tennis team and the orchestra will be jolly hungry when they arrive back,’ said Lucy. ‘I do hope that they have good news and this turns out to be a celebration tea.’

  The tennis team arrived back first, June and Freddie holding the cup aloft between them, and a rousing cheer went up as they entered the common-room.

  ‘Jolly good show!’ cried Nora. ‘Do sit down and tell us all about it.’

  The two girls were glad to put the big cup down on the table, for it was very heavy, and June hobbled towards the nearest armchair.

  ‘What on earth has happened to you, June?’ asked Bonnie.

  ‘Sprained my ankle,’ said June, with a grimace. ‘I suppose I should go and see Matron, but let us tell you all about the tennis tournament first.’

  Matron, however, had other ideas, and a few minutes later she appeared in the doorway of the common-room, saying in her brisk way, ‘June, I hear that you’ve hurt your ankle. Come with me at once, please.’

  ‘Bad news travels fast,’ said Felicity. ‘How did you hear about it, Matron?’

  ‘The games mistress at Summerfield telephoned to tell Miss Grayling about it,’ answered Matron. ‘She thought you might need a bandage, and from the looks of it she was right, for your ankle is swelling already.’

  ‘But, Matron, I was just about to tell the girls about our marvellous victory,’ protested June.

  ‘Ah yes, I heard that you had won the tournament as well,’ said Matron, her face creasing into a smile as she looked at the big cup standing on the table. ‘Congratulations!’

  ‘Thank you,’ said June. ‘Matron, I’ll be along in ten minutes or so, when I’ve had a chat with the others.’

  ‘You will come now,’ said Matron, in a tone that warned June she would be unwise to argue. ‘You might be a fifth former, but when it comes to your health I still know best.’

  Grumbling a little, June limped along behind Matron, leaving Felicity, Susan and Freddie to tell the fifth formers all about the tennis tournament. Matron did her work very thoroughly indeed, and by the time June got back to the common-room, the orchestra had returned.

  Another cup stood next to the one that the tennis team had won, and the beaming smiles on the faces of Millicent, Gillian, Delia and Pam told their own story.

  ‘Everyone played splendidly,’ Millicent was saying, as June walked in. ‘And as for Delia, she sang magnificently.’

  ‘A double celebration!’ said June, patting Millicent on the back. ‘How marvellous!’

  Just then the bell went for tea, and, as the girls made their way downstairs, Gillian said to Delia, ‘I’m awfully proud of you, you know.’

  ‘Thanks,’ said Delia, turning pink. ‘I’m rather proud of you, too.’

  ‘Me?’ said Gillian, with a laugh. ‘But I haven’t done anything!’

  ‘Oh yes, you have,’ said Delia. ‘For one thing, you gave me the confidence to sing in front of people. And I really think that you have been an absolute brick today. You should have been taking part in the tennis and the competition, and you ended up doing neither. But you haven’t complained once.’

  ‘Well, I’m not all that sorry, to be honest,’ said Gillian. ‘I was thinking the other day, you see, about my sleepwalking. Do you remember telling me that I was saying, “Where is it?”’

  Delia nodded, and Gillian went on, ‘Well, I think that what I was searching for was my sense of fun. As soon as I started practising in earnest, all of the fun went out of tennis and music for me, and they became a chore. I shall never let that happen again.’

  And Gillian never did. As the term drew to a close, she occasionally partnered one of the others at tennis, or played a dance tune on her violin in the common-room, but only for amusement.

  Millicent, too, seemed like a different person now that the competition was over. The girl was much less intense, and joined in the others’ fun and conversations without looking as if her mind was elsewhere.

  ‘My music will always be important to me,’ she said one day, when Nora commented on this. ‘But I’m going to make time for other things too. I’m going to try and have a break from it until I go back to the academy next term.’

  ‘Oh, are you leaving us?’ said Felicity, surprised.

  ‘Yes, I only found out myself this morning,’ said Millicent. ‘My father is going back to work in France, so Mother and I are going with him, and I shall be going back to the academy.’

  ‘We shall miss you,’ said Pam, who liked this new, carefree Millicent much better than the old one.

  ‘Well, I shall miss all of you,’ said Millicent, genuine regret in her tone. ‘And dear old Malory Towers. I have learned a lot here, mostly about myself.’

  ‘Yes, not all of the lessons Malory Towers has to teach can be learned in the classroom,’ said Susan.

  ‘My goodness, you do sound wise and learned,’ said June. ‘Just as a fifth former should. Though I must say, it’s about time.’

  Unfortunately, Susan then ruined the effect by throwing a cushion at June, who promptly threw it back, only to hit Bonnie instead. She retaliated at once, and soon most of the form was involved in a very undignified cushion fight.

  No one heard the door open, or saw Miss James peep in. The mistress retreated at once, extremely startled. Well, really! The fifth formers were always so good and well-behaved in class, and always set such a good example to the younger ones. Who would have guessed that they chose to spend their free time in such an unseemly manner?

  But Miss James’s lips twitched as she walked away. They might be near the top of the school, but they were still young girls after all, and entitled to let off a little steam.

  At last it was the last day of term, and as the fifth formers packed, Delia was called to Miss Grayling’s office.

  The others were a little concerned, Gillian in particular looking very anxious and pacing up and down the dormitory.

  ‘I say, Gillian, you’ll wear the carpet out if you keep doing that,’ said Freddie. ‘Do calm down. I’m sure it can’t be bad news for Delia.’

  It wasn’t, for the girl looked the picture of happiness when she returned to the dormitory.

  ‘Guess what?’ she said excitedly. ‘My father is coming home on leave today, for a whole month! He is on his way here now to collect me.’

  ‘That’s simply wonderful,’ said Pam. ‘I’m so pleased for you, Delia.’

  ‘Yes, you won’t have to spend all of your hols with your horrid aunt and cousins now,’ said Nora.

  ‘She won’t have to spend any time with them,’ said Gillian happily, giving her friend a hug. ‘Delia is coming to stay with us for the rest of the hols.’

  ‘Delia, promise me that you will keep up with your singing when I am gone,’ said Millicent, who was busily going round writing down everyone’s names and addresses, and making promises to keep in touch.

  ‘I shall,’ said Delia. ‘It gives me such pleasure.’

  ‘And it gives everyone else pleasure too,’ said Felicity. ‘What a marvellous gift to have.’

  At last the fifth formers were all packed, and they made their way down to the big hall, with their night cases.

  ‘What a racket!’ said Bonnie, screwing up her face as they reached the
bottom of the stairs.

  Indeed it was! Girls yelled, mistresses shouted as they tried to keep order, the parents who had arrived early looked bewildered, and everyone kept tripping over the bags and cases that were lying around everywhere.

  Mam’zelle Dupont was much in evidence, for she always liked to say goodbye to all the girls, and she beamed when she saw two of her favourites, Nora and Bonnie, coming down the stairs.

  ‘Ah, mes petites!’ she cried, putting an arm around each of them. ‘You have come to say goodbye to your old Mam’zelle. Soon you will be gone from Malory Towers. Soon you will be at home with your loving parents. Soon you will have forgotten all about your school, and the mistresses. Soon – ’

  ‘Mam’zelle, we will be back before you know it,’ said Nora, a little alarmed. Dear old Mam’zelle took these farewells so very seriously, and at the moment she looked as if she might burst into tears.

  Bonnie, noticing that the mistress’s eyes looked suspiciously moist, pulled her handkerchief from her pocket, and something else flew out at the same time, landing at Mam’zelle’s feet. That wretched brooch!

  Mam’zelle, who had a great liking for ornate jewellery, spotted it at once and stooped to pick it up.

  ‘Ah, how exquisite!’ she said, holding it in her hand. ‘Bonnie, you must take great care of it, for I am sure that it must be a family heirloom.’

  ‘Oh no, just a piece of costume jewellery,’ said Bonnie. ‘As a matter of fact, I’ve never worn it, for I don’t care for it very much.’

  ‘But it is so pretty!’ said Mam’zelle, looking at Bonnie as if she was quite mad. ‘How can you dislike it?’

  ‘Just bad taste on my part, I expect,’ said Bonnie, her eyes dancing. ‘I know, Mam’zelle! Since you like it so much, why don’t you keep it? You can wear it in the holidays and it will remind you of us girls.’

  Mam’zelle cheered up enormously at this, thanking Bonnie profusely. Then she gave each girl a hug, in turn, before pinning the brooch to her blouse and going off to display it proudly to the other mistresses.

  ‘Well done, Bonnie,’ said Nora. ‘You managed to stop Mam’zelle from becoming too sentimental.’