Read Online First Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton - Free Book Online Page B

French, and can take the leading parts. That would be so nice! I cannot think any of the old girls would mind that!”
    They wouldn't! The less learning they had to do, the better! The new girls smiled in a sickly fashion. They thought Mam'zelle Rougier's little jokes were feeble.
    “Now, first we will see who took the chief parts in last term's play,” said Mam'zelle. “You, Alicia, what part did you play?”
    Alicia didn't hear, so she didn't answer. Betty nudged her. “What part did you take in last term's play?” she said, loudly.
    “Oh! Sorry, Mam'zelle, I didn't catch what you said,” said Alicia. “I took the part of the shepherd.”
    “I thought that was in the term before,” said Mam'zelle. Alicia again couldn't catch what she said. Betty repeated it loudly. “MAM'ZELLE SAID SHE THOUGHT THAT WAS IN THE TERM BEFORE,” said Betty.
    Mam'zelle was astonished. Why should Betty repeat everything she said like that? Then suddenly she remembered something Mam'zelle Dupont had told her about Alicia— ah, yes, the bad naughty girl! She had pretended to be deaf, hadn't she—and here she was again, playing the same trick on Mam'zelle Rougier.
    “Ah non, non!” said Mam'zelle Rougier to herself angrily. “It is too much! I will not have it.”
    “Alicia,” she said, patting the little bun at the back of her head, “you are a funny girl and you do funny things, n'est-ce pas? But I also, I am funny and I do funny things. I would like you to write out for me in French, fifty times in your best handwriting, “I must not be deaf in Mam'zelle Rougier's class.”“
    “What did you say, Mam'zelle?” asked Alicia, having caught her own name at the beginning, but very little else. “I couldn't quite hear.”
    “Ah, cette méchante fille! ” cried Mam'zelle, losing her temper as suddenly as she always did. “Alicia écoutez bien! Listen well! You shall write me out “I must not be deaf in Mam'zelle Rougier's class” ONE HUNDRED TIMES!”

    “But you said fifty just now,” said Betty, indignantly.
    “And you too, you shall write out “I must not interrupt,” one hundred times!” stormed Mam'zelle. The class was silent. They knew Mam'zelle Rougier in this mood. She would be handing out a thousand lines soon to somebody. She was the most irritable teacher in the whole school.
    Betty whispered to Alicia as soon as Mam'zelle was writing something on the board, but, seeing that poor Alicia couldn't hear her whisper, she scribbled a message on a bit of paper.
    “You've got to write out a hundred lines for M. For goodness' sake don't say you can't hear anything else, or you'll get a thousand! She's in a real paddy!”
    Alicia nodded. And whenever Mam'zelle asked her if she had heard what was said, she answered politely, “Yes, thank you, Mam'zelle,” hoping she would be forgiven for the story!
    Miss Potts came for the next lesson. Mam'zelle stopped and spoke to her, with a gleam in her eye. “Alas, Miss Potts, one of your girls, Alicia, has again got a deafness in her ear. It is sad, is it not? Such a young and healthy girl!”
    With this parting shot Mam'zelle Rougier disappeared. Miss Potts looked at Alicia coldly.
    “I shouldn't have thought that even you were foolish enough to try the same trick twice, Alicia,” she said. Poor Alicia! She didn't hear what Miss Potts said, but gazed at her enquiringly.
    “You can leave your desk and come to one of the front ones,” said Miss Potts. “Jean, change places with Alicia, please. You can change over the contents of your desk later.”
    Jean stood up, very pleased to think that she would leave the front row, which was always under Miss Potts’ eye, and go to one of the much-sought-after back rows. It was easy to whisper in the back row, and easy to play tricks or pass notes there. Alicia didn't move because she really hadn't heard. There was suddenly a curious buzzing noise in her ears.
    “You've got to move, idiot!” said Betty in a loud whisper. “Go