Chapter 1: Off To Malory Towers

Chapter 1

Off To Malory Towers

“Mummy, do you think I will like Malory Towers as much as you did?” Henry Fielders asked her mother, Darrell Rivers.  

“I know you’ll love it. If Bill and Clarrissa are still there, tell them I miss them,” Mrs Fielders answered. 

“ Who’s Bill and Clarrisa?” Henry asked. “ The three are ladies who run a riding school not far from Malory Towers. If you want directions, you can ask Miss Peters, the third form mistress,” Mrs Fielders replied.

 “ I guess it’s time for you to go, Henry,” Mr Fielders answered sadly as he walked into the room.Just then, Henry’s little sister Jane walked into the room. She was only eight, so Henry had to wait four more years until her sister could go to Malory Towers.

 “ Henry, please say hallo to Miss Potts, and Matron. I can’t wait-” Mrs Fielders paused.          “Darrell, Matron should have retired already. She is probably awfully old, so you can’t expect her to be still in Malory Towers, for you told me your friend Alicia’s mother went to Malory Towers too. Don’t think as if it were the good old days,” Mr Fielders said. The family hopped into the car and drove to Malory Towers.

“We’re here, Henry,” Mr Fielders called out to Henry and Jane. Henry woke immediately as Mrs Fielders spotted a few parents dropping their children off. Mrs Fielders got out of the car and ran to hug two of her friends. 

“ Sally! Alicia! ” Mrs Fielders ran to her friends. Henry looked at each and every one of her mother’s friends.

“ Henry! Come over here!” Mrs Fielders shouted to Henry. Henry got out of the car and ran to Mrs Fielders. “ This is my daughter, Henry.” Mrs Fielders said to her friends.                      “Heavens! Isn’t Henry a boy’s name?” a lady said. She was sharp-tongued Alicia.

 “ You haven’t changed a bit, Alicia. Her real name is Henrietta, but we all call her Henry,” Mrs Fielders said. 

“Does she have a temper like you, Darrell?” Alicia asked again.

 “ I hope she doesn’t, so my daughter can be peaceful, and not like when you flung across the room,” added a lady, Sally Hope, who was Mrs Fielder’s friend. 

“ Sally, please don’t say that! I don’t want to give any, not a single idea on what I did, for she has got a temper,” Mrs Fielders said. 

“ Henry dear, you’d better go to hand your health certificates in, or you'll have to be quarantined,” Mrs Fielders said politely.

 “ Yes, Alice shall go too, for everyone has to give their health certificates to Matron,” Sally  agreed. Out from a car came a young girl with  jet black hair and dark brown eyes. She looked just like her mother.

 “ My Jennifer would also be delighted to see you, Henry,” said another one of Henry’s mother’s friends, Alicia. Out came from another car a girl that looked just like her mother! Like mother, like daughter!Jennifer looked mischievous and bold, and Henry knew she would have lots of fun with her friends. Just then an expensive car pulled into the driveway. A rich woman stepped out and Henry heard the ladies gasp.  

“Why, isn’t that Gwendoline Mary! And a daughter that is just like her!” Henry heard her mother’s friend Alicia say . Well, what was wrong with that lady? There came behind her a haughty girl, screaming.

“ WHY DID YOU HAVE TO SEND ME TO BOARDING SCHOOL, MUMMY? I LOVED IT AT HOME, AND I AM NOT LEAVING IT FOR THIS-THIS HAUGHTY SCHOOL!” the girl screamed. Haughty school? Why in the world would Malory Towers be a haughty school?  

“Charlotte dear, your father insisted you go to boarding school, for I have been here too. I have told your father I also didn’t want you to go as well. But for any whatsoever reason, your father disagreed with me and you have to go to boarding school,” the lady said.  

“WELL THEN! I’M NOT GOING!” Charlotte retorted stubbornly. Then the rich lady turned to the little girls. 

“As you can see here, my daughter is very stubborn. I do not want any one of you becoming like her, for she is setting  the wrong example,” she said, like a sixth former.

 “And why do you say about your daughter setting the wrong example, dear Gwendoline Mary Lacey, when you  have been stubborn yourself, like when you refused to put away your brush in the first form?” said the lady Alicia. The lady Gwendoline scowled as  the sound of horses trotting came by. Mrs Fielders turned around with delight.

 “Bill! Clarrissa! Are these your daughters?” Mrs Fielders crouched down to look at two  girls. One was a brunette girl with curls at the back while the other had blonde hair, all tied up together. 

“Yes, this is my daughter Agnes, and that’s Clarrissa’s daughter Angela,” replied a lady whose name was Bill, short for Wilhelmina. 

“ We’d better go, mummy, or we’ll be late!” Henry told her mother. 

“Of course, Angela and Agnes will come along too.” the other lady Clarrissa agreed.

 “All the girls should go, and I’m sure I will miss them all,” said the  lady Sally. The girls left the mothers with their mother conversation, walking to the school, with Angela and Agnes on horseback. 

“I’m Mary-Ann Turnbaugh, and my mother, well her name is similar to mine, her name is-” “Mary-Lou, I know that, since my mother told me all about the other ladies, well that time girls.”

“Who’s next?” Jennifer had  interrupted Mary-Ann’s explanation. Mary-Ann did not mind, for she was a warm hearted girl, humble and sensible. 

“I am Charlotte  Olivia  Labought. My mother’s name is Gwendoline. I live in a massive house, and I have sixty-three dolls, and six dollhouses that mother ordered from Paris. They all come in massive boxes, and my governess Miss Sunday helped me open them.” Charlotte’s voice was rather high pitched, and Charlotte held her head high. 

“I am Henry, short for Henrietta, and my mother’s name is Darrell Rivers. She has been one of Malory Towers’ greatest successes, but I don’t mean to boast. My full name is Henrietta Ella Fielders,” Henry said.  It was Jennifer’s turn next. 

“I am Jennifer Carol Floyster. My mother was the trick girl in the whole of the form, and she, well, works in the police department. I reckoned we will play some fancy tricks, of course to start with Mamzelle Dupont, and not Mamzelle Rougier, for my mother told me that Mamzelle Dupont is a jolly good one, while Mamzelle Rougier is strict, although my Aunt June has played a jolly good trick on her, with vanishing cream. I hope we can do a trick as good as that, next person!”Jennifer said. 

Alice, Agnes and Angela had their turns of speaking, then they soon arrived at Malory Towers. 

“ We need to put our horses up in the stables, if you’ll please,” Agnes said warmly as she and Angela made their horses gallop to the stables. 

“ We’d better go hand in our health certificates to Matron, or we’ll be quarantined,” Henry said. The young girls walked to Matron and handed in their health certificates.

 “It’s wonderful seeing you all again, and I feel as if Darrell and her friends are back! Now scoot! Or you’ll be late for tea,” Matron had remarked when Henry and her friends had come to pass their health certificates to Matron. 

“I already love Malory Towers, even though I’ve only been here for a few hours!” Henry cried as the girls ate biscuits during tea time. The other girls felt the same about that, all but Charlotte felt angry at her father. She had not actually requested to come, but her father had insisted she come, so she wouldn’t get too spoilt. He had said that her mother Gwendoline was spoilt enough, and he wouldn't want his dear daughter getting even more spoilt. 

“Well, I personally think that Malory Towers will just be a waste of money, and I’d rather be taught by my wonderful Miss Autumn, rather than to be taught by many teachers. I don’t like Malory Towers!” Charlotte said in front of all the girls in the form.

 “Say whatever you want, Lottie Labought! We all like Malory Towers more than you do!” Jennifer shouted back at her. 

“Humph!” Charlotte huffed as if she didn’t care. 

“ I certainly am stuffed. I wonder how I’ll eat supper tonight, for my mother told me the first and last suppers are always the best,” Henry said after eating many cookies.

“ Well you’d better stop eating those cookies, or you won’t have the appetite to eat the  most delicious supper in all of the term!” Jennifer warned. Henry smiled. She had most certainly found a friend. 

Suddenly the bell rang and students left the dining hall. Henry and her friends, too, left the dining hall. The girls hurried to their new dormitory, left their bags, and went to bathe. “Who’s hogging all the water?!” Charlotte shouted as she was getting less water.

 “Sorry Lottie! I need water to bathe!” Jennifer shouted back.

 “Lottie? Her name was Charlotte! Now all the girls would start calling her Lottie! She certainly had  to find a friend quickly, or she would have no one to support her anytime the other girls called her Lottie!” Charlotte thought. Just then, her towels dropped from the handle and onto the floor. She gasped. Now what was she going to dry herself with?  Does anyone have a spare towel?” she asked, almost screaming. 

“No!” shouted all the other girls back in unison. “What a beastly school Malory Towers is!” Charlotte thought. She turned off the water and wore her clothes. Dripping wet, she walked outside of the stall. 

“Why, Lottie, how come you’re dripping wet?” Jennifer asked, faking. 

“Don’t fake!” Charlotte retorted angrily.

“ Leave her alone, Jennifer,” Henry hissed quietly to Jennifer. Jennifer ran off with Henry, and Charlotte scowled. 

“Beastly things!” she murmured quietly to herself. 

Meanwhile, Jennifer and Henry were off to the common room with all the other girls. There was Mary-Ann, Angela, Agnes and Alice. They took a seat. 

“Where is Charlotte?” Mary-Ann asked timidly. 

“Still bathing, I suppose,”Jennifer replied.

 “ Gee, I wonder who will be head of the form?” a girl named Ashley wondered out loud in her American voice. She was from America, and was determined to get a good education at Malory Towers. “I hope it’s me. I am so- so wunnerful!” she said in her shrewd voice. “Who’d want you, Ashley Pools,  as head of the form? We’d probably turn into maids and servants with you!” Jennifer said. Henry could not say no to that, for that was true. Ashley was always boasting about her wealthy American home, and thought as though everyone was her servant. 

“You take that back, Jennifer Floyster! If I become head of the form, you will wash my shoes and socks twice as many as everyone washes. Do I make myself clear?” Ashley shot back at Jennifer. Her voice suddenly became sharp and bossy. 

“Say whatever you want! If I become head of the form, you will do my French and Maths prep for me!” Jennifer yelled. 

“Please, everyone, stop!” another girl named Blair said. She was a  rather responsible girl, and wanted everyone to be in peace.

Miss Potts had been walking by, and heard all the commotion. She burst into the first form common room, and stopped the protesting. 

“What is all this nonsense? I heard Jennifer say that she will make Ashley do her French prep and Math prep if she becomes head of the form, and I heard Ashley say that if she becomes head of the form, Jennifer will be washing twice as many as socks and shoes as everyone else, did you say that, Jennifer and Ashley?” Miss Potts lowered her head towards Jennifer’s and Ashley’s. The girls had no choice to agree. “I will have to give you both a suitable punishment. For Jennifer, I will give you extra Maths prep, and ask Mamzelle to give you extra French prep. For you, Ashley, you shall wash my shoes and socks, as well as yours. Do I make myself clear girls?” Miss Potts asked. 

“Yes Potty,” Jennifer answered. 

“ Yes Miss Potts,” Ashley answered. “Good,” Miss Potts answered. Miss Potts left the room and Jennifer groaned. 

“It was your fault!You started it! You-” yelled Ashley in anger. “Let’s leave now,” Henry whispered.

“Now what? That Ashley Pools is the worst!” Jennifer complained to Henry in the dormitory. 

“Just ignore her. Maybe she’s trying to fit in. It probably is weird starting English school after staying in America since she was born,” Henry said gently, brushing Jennifer’s hair. Jennifer frowned. “She’s not new, Henry. She’s  Henry put Jennifer’s brush away and brushed her own hair. “We’d better get ready for supper. Or there'll be no more good food,” Henry said to Jennifer. Jennifer smiled. She took her friend’s hand and headed to the dining room. They chatted merily as they walked to the dining room. “Do you have any siblings?” Jennifer asked Henry. “I have a sister,” Henry replied. “I have two brothers: John and James.Henry smiled. The two friends linked arms and headed to the dining room.