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

Olive didn’t dare to argue. But as the girl turned away, her eye caught June’s and she saw the glint of malice there. Suddenly she realised the truth. June was responsible for the mouse being in her desk. And June must haveremoved it. But where was the creature now? Olive’s eyes fell on the suspicious-looking bulge in June’s pocket, and she thought that she saw a slight movement. So that was it, she thought, her eyes narrowing. June had somehow managed to slip the mouse into her pocket. Olive opened her mouth to tell Miss Tallant what had happened, but June hissed, under her breath, ‘If you sneak it will be the worse for you.’
    She sounded so menacing that Olive felt quite alarmed. Sneaks were not looked upon favourably at any school, she knew that. And there was no point in making her life at Malory Towers any more difficult than it already was. So Olive shut her mouth, said nothing and turned to the task of putting her things back in her desk.
    June, meanwhile, went back to her place, winking at the others, who grinned back at her. ‘Olive!’ snapped Miss Tallant. ‘Come and see me when you have finished your lunch.’
    â€˜Yes, Miss Tallant,’ said Olive bleakly. What a beastly school this was!
    â€˜That was simply marvellous, June,’ laughed Felicity, as the fourth formers made their way down the corridor after the lesson.
    â€˜Yes, and now I had better get this little fellow back to his home,’ said June, taking the mouse from her pocket and stroking him with one finger. ‘Unless, of course, you want to do it, Olive?’
    Olive scowled, then, as June held the mouse out towards her, gave a squeal and ran off down the corridor,the laughter of the fourth formers following her.
    â€˜Serves her jolly well right!’ said Nora. ‘Let’s hope that she will think twice before laughing when one of us gets scolded now!’
    Sylvia, who had watched in amazement as June produced the mouse from her pocket, said now, ‘So there was a mouse, after all! But why did June pretend that she couldn’t find it? I don’t understand.’
    â€˜It was a trick, Sylvia,’ explained Pam patiently. ‘To pay Olive back for all the times she has crowed over other people when they have got into trouble.’
    â€˜Oh,’ said Sylvia rather blankly. ‘I do hope that June is going to own up to Miss Tallant.’
    â€˜Of course she’s not, idiot,’ said Freddie scornfully. ‘The whole idea was to teach Olive a lesson. And that is exactly what we have done!’
    â€˜It seems rather mean to me,’ said Sylvia, with a frown. ‘I really think…’
    â€˜Sylvia, if you’re thinking of sneaking to Miss Tallant, don’t!’ Susan warned her. ‘Because we don’t take kindly to sneaks at Malory Towers, and if you aren’t careful you might find that you become just as unpopular as Olive!’
    â€˜I wouldn’t dream of sneaking,’ said Sylvia stiffly, her rosy complexion turning even redder. ‘I just think that June ought to be persuaded to own up. If I were head-girl—’
    â€˜Well, you’re not,’ Felicity interrupted rudely. ‘Susan is, and she agrees that Olive needed to be taught a lesson.’
    â€˜We all agreed,’ said Susan, glaring at Sylvia. ‘Of course,if you want to go against the whole form, that is quite up to you, Sylvia.’
    But Sylvia didn’t want to do anything of the sort. She so badly wanted to fit in at Malory Towers and make friends. At once she said, ‘Naturally, I shall go along with what the rest of the form decides. I don’t like Olive any more than you do, you know, but I think that I would have chosen a different way of dealing with her. I’m not awfully fond of jokes and tricks, you see.’
    â€˜How odd!’ exclaimed Bonnie. ‘That’s rather a shame, because we play quite a lot of them in