Read Online Fairies and Felicitations (Scholars and Sorcery) by Eleanor Beresford - Free Book Online

 
    Matron sniffs again. “Would you like to ask Miss Carroll her reasoning?”
    “Oh, no, of course not.” Cecily smiles, with as much grace as she can muster.
    Esther and I glance at each other. Perhaps, I think, it means I’ll be paired with Esther. It’s not a bad thought, except I suppose that it will be awkward sharing with a girl I know would prefer to be with Cecily. Even so it won’t be so bad, I catch myself thinking, for once not to be the one on the outside. It’s a petty thought and I’m a little ashamed of myself for it. Still, there it is.
    “Frances is sharing with the new girl, Rosalind Hastings,” Matron said cheerfully. “I suppose Miss Carol thought new girls need someone with more experience to help them settle in. On that note, Charley’s study.” Matron is the only member of staff who calls me Charley, and I love her for it. ”You’re sharing with the other new girl, Diana Struthers.”
    Esther snorts with laughter, and then represses it, glancing quickly around at the lower form girls who are apparently patiently waiting, but are watching us with great interest. “And I, may I ask?”
    “You’re with Valerie Lincoln,” Matron says, just as pleasantly as if she doesn’t know exactly how Esther will feel about it. Matron always does know things, somehow. She smiles serenely, and ticks something off on her list. “Cecily, Miss Carroll wants to see you directly you’re settled in.”  
    Cecily and I manage to thank Matron and get Esther away somehow without her bursting. Once we’re out of the San., Esther marches us straight into an empty classroom, and turns on us, blazing.
    “Well! The gang split up, by all that’s merciful! What is this, some new scheme of Miss Carroll’s to force us to make new chums? It’s not going to work, if so. Valerie Lincoln, of all the shattering news.”
    Cecily frowns warningly at her. “You’ll have to play nice, Esther. It won’t look good for the House if Val spends the year in tears.”
    “It wouldn’t be a problem if she wasn’t such a soppy, water-logged. . .”
    “That’s enough of that!” Cecily is clearly in prefect mode already. “You’ll just have to watch your tongue and try and make the best of it. We all will,” she adds, a little dismally.
    Esther hoists herself up onto a desk and lets her legs swing, her flames dimming a little. “It’s worse for you, my poor pet. Do you think even little Frances got to the point where she couldn’t stand her precious cousin Gladys?”
    “I said that’s quite enough, Essie. Gladys isn’t so bad when you get to know her,” Cecily says, although she doesn’t quite sound convinced. “She’s a little hard to get on with, sometimes.”
    “She’s a domineering beast.”
    “Esther!” Esther subsides a little, one slender leg kicking out like pendulum. Cecily doesn’t snap often, but when she does, people tend to shut up. “I think it might be. . . well, perhaps Gladys is going to be a Senior Prefect this year, and Miss Carroll wants us to work together.” Cecily leaves unspoken that, if that’s so, she is almost definitely going to be Head Girl. Gladys is the only other obvious candidate. She’s clever and good at games and well-organised, and the only score against her is that the younger girls fear her bullying and dictatorial streak as much as they worship Cecily.
    “Gladys as a Senior Pre. is going to be a catastrophe, simply cataclysmic.” Esther seems to be starting to see the funny side of things. “Gladys has no patience at all with the little ones.”
    “And you do?” I flash a grin at her, taking a seat on another desk.
    She grins back. To give her her due, Esther rarely takes offence, and her temper never lasts all that long. “Point taken. I’m not precisely prefect material. Although I’ve never yet let a fireball off to sizzle the eyebrows of some poor kid who failed to block a goal, you must admit. Actually,” Esther goes on slowly, “thinking it