Between Friends at Malory Towers Chapter 5
Title: Between Friends at Malory Towers Chapter 5
Series: Enid Blyton's Malory Towers
Rating: M-15
Summary: Alicia and Betty have always been ready with a sharp word for Gwen. But one warm summer evening, their jibes start a malicious chain of events no-one could have expected.
June stared, unable to move. Somehow she couldn't quite take in what she was seeing. At once, her worries about Felicity Rivers and being sent to Coventry and finding Sam flew out of her head. All that remained was the horror of the scene in front of her.
The only time June had ever seen kissing, proper kissing, was once at the cinema, and she had looked away then in embarrassment until it was over. Now she really ought to look away because this wasn't a film, it was real, and it was terribly wrong. Even brash, don’t-carish June knew that! Yet somehow all she could do was stare, her mind completely blank and her heart beating as fast as she had ever known it.
She didn't know what she should do, which was almost more frightening than seeing Betty kiss Alicia. After all, June always knew what to do, even when it turned out to be quite the wrong thing. She was used to feeling sure of herself and cock-a-hoop. Whatever would the other first formers say if they could see June now, mute and trembling?
That thought brought June to life again. She wasn't like those babies who couldn't decide whether to have honey or marmalade on toast. Of course she knew what to do! She would stop that Betty Hill kissing Alicia immediately. Alicia would never speak to Betty again and the girl would have to leave Malory Towers in disgrace. The initial shock fading now, June found she quite liked that thought. How dreadful for Alicia to lose her special friend, not to mention the humiliation of why! That would properly pay her back for going to Hilda last term. June's hand flew to the window to set this chain of events in motion, and then she saw the second thing that day that turned her legs to jelly.
Alicia was all but hidden in the long grass, but her hand, reaching up behind Betty's shoulders and pulling her down close, was quite clear to June. It happened in an instant, and then Betty disappeared as well. Only their heads, horribly close together, were still visible. June shrank back from the window and sat down hard on the bed. She suddenly felt as though she had swallowed a lump of coal. Betty kissed Alicia, and Alicia let her. Alicia kissed her back. Alicia liked being kissed by Betty.
No! June didn't want to think about that anymore. If she did, she might honestly open the window and shout something terrible at both of them. Shaken as she felt right now, she knew that would be a bad mistake.
How could they? Was it a joke? Just a bit of a lark? Even that thought made June feel hot and angry. This was the worst thing - unquestionably the worst thing - that she had ever seen Alicia do, and yet June knew that she couldn’t tell anybody. Nobody must find out. It was rather different than if she had looked out and seen Alicia helping herself to one of Cook’s cakes from the windowsill. That would be no trouble at all!
‘I’d just go downstairs and say, “How kind of Cook to bake an extra cake especially for Alicia and Betty,”’ she thought. Just then, she wished very heartily that she had seen that instead.
June didn’t sneak openly, but she was very good at getting her cousin into trouble all the same. Her aunt may have given her a long look, but it would be worth it to hear Alicia being ticked off. No, this time she couldn’t do that. That was the one thing June did know with absolute certainty. Alicia was doing something so dreadful, so serious, that June had no idea what would happen if anybody did find out.
With that in mind, once again she was in the position of not knowing what she should do. It was a grown-up problem, she realised with a start. That’s what made it so difficult. If she had seen a mere kiss on the cheeks, or even a brush of the lips, she could have dismissed it as soppiness. It would’ve been something to make a sly remark about and watch their faces burn, but it wasn’t like that at all. Alicia and Betty were doing grown-up things that they oughtn’t be doing even with boys, let alone with each other!
June stood and walked to the door, being very careful not to look out of the window as she went.
Downstairs, she found her aunt in the drawing room writing a letter. She looked up as June came in, and smiled pleasantly.
‘Settled in, dear? If you’re hungry, I daresay Cook has some biscuits she can give you with a cup of tea.’
‘No, it’s all right,’ June said shortly. She sat in one of the armchairs and began fiddling with a cushion tassel.
Mrs Johns put down her pen and looked at June. There was something not quite right about her. She was quiet and seemed lost in thought, which was not at all like her. If June went quiet, it usually meant she was sulking about something. Was it possible she resented her aunt’s advice about making friends at school? It was more than likely with June, but seeing her now, Mrs Johns felt that wasn’t it. She didn’t seem sulky, just preoccupied.
‘Well - if you’ve nothing else to do, perhaps you’ll do something for me,’ Mrs Johns said, picking up her pen again. June looked up, her eyes narrowing, and her aunt had to stifle a laugh. Yes, there was the sulky expression she knew so well! Perhaps that’s all it was after all.
‘Go and ask Molly for the flower basket - she’ll know which one I mean. You’ll find a little pair of secateurs in it. You know how to cut flowers, don’t you? Good! Then cut a bunch for the table - something gay and colourful. There’s plenty to choose from in the garden.’
June didn’t want to go into the garden and pick flowers. In fact, she didn’t want to go anywhere remotely near Alicia and Betty just then - and going outside counted as nearer! Still, she couldn’t very well say that to her aunt. She would think June was just being a silly first former, running scared of the older girls.
‘When that’s not it at all,’ thought June furiously. ‘I’ve just never been more appalled to be her cousin!’
But June kept these thoughts to herself, not even showing a hint of it on her face beyond the slightly petulant expression she already wore. She got the basket with the secateurs and went out into the garden.
The Johns’ garden was really very fine. June found herself surrounded by riotous colour on all sides. Roses bloomed heavily in the summer heat. Bells of white campanula trailed over the wooden fence. Daisies and lupins jostled for space, and the air hummed with the sound of bees. Everything about her was peaceful. The sun warmed June’s back, calming her in a way that few things could. She decided to take her time choosing the flowers.
There was no sign of Alicia or Betty, which eased her mood as well. June wanted to forget the image of the two girls kissing as quickly as possible, and found that she couldn’t. She would only just will it away and think of something else when it flittered into her head again. How absolutely aggravating! Eventually June gave up trying to put the scene out of her mind, and instead allowed herself to mull over it.
Any other person might have begun to doubt what they had seen, but not June. Once she made her mind up about things, it simply didn’t occur to her that she might be wrong. So she didn’t spend her time in the garden wondering whether there was some other way to explain Alicia and Betty’s behaviour. Her excellent memory replayed the scene to her over and over, and left no room for ambiguity. It wasn’t an innocent kiss between friends, she was certain of it. There had been something very urgent about the way Alicia pulled Betty towards her - on top of her! June scowled furiously, and attacked a small rose bush with the secateurs. Buds and full blooms alike fell as she tried to stop the heat rising in her face.
June had seen soppiness before, of course. In fact, she had half-wondered if Felicity was going to be like that in the beginning. She had been very impressed by June, even going against her precious Darrell to stay friends. The older girl hadn’t thought June was a suitable friend at all, but Felicity defended her then. June remembered the peculiar swelling feeling she had in her chest whenever Felicity reported back after one of these conversations. The memory of it was so at odds with what followed that it seemed almost unreal now.
It had been rather nice, she thought grudgingly, having a special friend - someone to save her a seat or share bits of gossip with. In the month leading up to her first term, June had thought a great deal about what sort of friend she wanted - and then she met Felicity. She was quite different from the joking, fearless girl June had in mind, but she was a jolly sort all the same, and thought June was the most fun person she had ever met. June completely forgot all about her ideal friend. Felicity Rivers listened to her stories, agreed with her opinions, and however red she might turn at some of June’s cutting remarks, always stifled a giggle. She didn’t have many funny or interesting stories of her own to share, as far as June could tell, but that didn’t matter. June had more than enough to make up for Felicity’s deficit - and she preferred speaking to listening anyway.
Their friendship had ended before June could discover whether Felicity was silly about her or not. The girl had run off to colourless little Susan - and June couldn’t imagine anyone being silly about her!
She walked to the flowerbed nearest the kitchen window. At once the scent of something sweet wafted out to her, and she noticed for the first time how hungry she was. It would be lunchtime soon, but the thought that she could not escape Alicia and Betty at the table somehow dampened her enthusiasm.
Was June the sort of person that other girls were silly about? This new thought struck her profoundly, making her tip the basket. Half of what she had gathered spilled out onto the lawn. Oh, dash it! June was fed up with flowers. She clicked the secateurs shut and sat down where she was. She had never actually considered that there were types of girls that one might be soppy over, and types that one wouldn’t, but somewhere at the back of her mind was a half-formed consciousness of the fact. It was true that some people were always at the centre of things. June was one of these - and she did like the extra attention, even when it earned her the wrath of her mistresses.
She picked at the grass around her. If June and Felicity had stayed friends, would Felicity have tried to kiss June? Perhaps not now, but at some unknown point in a year or two? June could hardly believe she was thinking it. Without her meaning it to, the image of Felicity pulling her close, as Alicia had Betty, stole into her mind. The girl flamed and shook her head violently as if she might dispel it. She suddenly felt furious again.
‘This is all Alicia’s fault!’ June raged, roughly scraping the crushed flowers back into the basket. Half of the stems she had cut too short, and wouldn’t be suitable for an arrangement anyway. She threw them away angrily, but they were light and floated gently to the ground, doing nothing to ease her temper. At that moment, she dearly wished for a lacrosse ball that she could throw very hard at Alicia’s head!
Alicia was the one doing terrible things. She ought to be feeling queer and uncomfortable, not June! Why, June didn’t have so much as a close friend, so she wasn’t even remotely in danger of following in her cousin’s footsteps. Yet somehow this thought simply made her feel more irritable.
Was Betty the sort that girls were soppy about? June frowned and pulled at a piece of loose weave in the basket. Was it Alicia who had gone soppy over Betty, had kissed her first? Seeing the pair together, June somehow didn’t believe it was their first kiss, even if she did know nothing about that sort of thing. It was simply a feeling she got, instinct rather than fact - the facts being rather too scarce in this case.
Alicia and Betty were very alike. June could have listed their flaws until she was quite hoarse, but curiously, soppiness would not have been among them. Perhaps that was why she knew it was more than a bit of starry-eyed sentimentality.
A burst of laughter interrupted her thoughts. Deep male laughter and then voices.
Sam and the others!
June was so relieved that she quite forgot the telling off Sam had given her last hols. She wanted to whoop. At last - someone exciting and fun! They would save her from the horrifying merry-go-round of thoughts in her head. She could spend her time playing badminton and cards with them, and forget all about Alicia and whatever she was up to.
The girl rushed over to the group as they came through the gate. The three boys greeted her warmly and clapped her on the back. June grinned as they teased her about being taller and prettier now she that was at public school.
‘Don’t be idiotic,’ June retorted, but nothing could hide the look of delight on her face.
‘Time for lunch,’ declared Roger, sniffing the air. ‘I say, that smells marvellous. I think I shall skip the main today and have two helpings of pudding instead.’
June opened her mouth to tease him when another unexpected voice rang out from behind.
‘Have you been doing that all term? Dear me, we shall have to widen all the doors for you before much longer!’
There were shouts of laughter. Alicia’s dark eyes sparkled as Roger turned good-naturedly towards her and stuck out his tongue. Nobody minded a jibe or two when it was holidays and gloriously sunny.
All around June bubbled laughter and amicable chatter, but she couldn’t bring herself to join in now. Alicia had spoilt it.
‘Just like she spoils everything,’ June thought angrily. She couldn’t stop a scowl coming to her face, though nobody noticed. June scowled so often and with so little reason, it was too much bother for the others to remark upon it!
She watched Alicia and Betty walking together. Everything about them looked quite normal. They were talking happily about something that June couldn’t catch - with the boys booming around her - but it was clearly not intimate. Alicia cackled at something Betty had said and clapped her friend on the shoulder. June held her breath, but the gesture was no different than if anybody else had done it. The hand slid away again without hesitation. Seeing them walking and talking so casually, June would never have guessed what they had done that morning.
Suddenly she realised that she was staring at the pair of them, and that Alicia’s eyes had slid across to meet her own. The older girl looked amused as she waited to hear what June had to say.
Well, she wouldn’t speak to either of them! June turned away and hurried inside. As far as she was concerned, lunch was long past due.
END CHAPTER FIVE
Series: Enid Blyton's Malory Towers
Rating: M-15
Summary: Alicia and Betty have always been ready with a sharp word for Gwen. But one warm summer evening, their jibes start a malicious chain of events no-one could have expected.
June stared, unable to move. Somehow she couldn't quite take in what she was seeing. At once, her worries about Felicity Rivers and being sent to Coventry and finding Sam flew out of her head. All that remained was the horror of the scene in front of her.
The only time June had ever seen kissing, proper kissing, was once at the cinema, and she had looked away then in embarrassment until it was over. Now she really ought to look away because this wasn't a film, it was real, and it was terribly wrong. Even brash, don’t-carish June knew that! Yet somehow all she could do was stare, her mind completely blank and her heart beating as fast as she had ever known it.
She didn't know what she should do, which was almost more frightening than seeing Betty kiss Alicia. After all, June always knew what to do, even when it turned out to be quite the wrong thing. She was used to feeling sure of herself and cock-a-hoop. Whatever would the other first formers say if they could see June now, mute and trembling?
That thought brought June to life again. She wasn't like those babies who couldn't decide whether to have honey or marmalade on toast. Of course she knew what to do! She would stop that Betty Hill kissing Alicia immediately. Alicia would never speak to Betty again and the girl would have to leave Malory Towers in disgrace. The initial shock fading now, June found she quite liked that thought. How dreadful for Alicia to lose her special friend, not to mention the humiliation of why! That would properly pay her back for going to Hilda last term. June's hand flew to the window to set this chain of events in motion, and then she saw the second thing that day that turned her legs to jelly.
Alicia was all but hidden in the long grass, but her hand, reaching up behind Betty's shoulders and pulling her down close, was quite clear to June. It happened in an instant, and then Betty disappeared as well. Only their heads, horribly close together, were still visible. June shrank back from the window and sat down hard on the bed. She suddenly felt as though she had swallowed a lump of coal. Betty kissed Alicia, and Alicia let her. Alicia kissed her back. Alicia liked being kissed by Betty.
No! June didn't want to think about that anymore. If she did, she might honestly open the window and shout something terrible at both of them. Shaken as she felt right now, she knew that would be a bad mistake.
How could they? Was it a joke? Just a bit of a lark? Even that thought made June feel hot and angry. This was the worst thing - unquestionably the worst thing - that she had ever seen Alicia do, and yet June knew that she couldn’t tell anybody. Nobody must find out. It was rather different than if she had looked out and seen Alicia helping herself to one of Cook’s cakes from the windowsill. That would be no trouble at all!
‘I’d just go downstairs and say, “How kind of Cook to bake an extra cake especially for Alicia and Betty,”’ she thought. Just then, she wished very heartily that she had seen that instead.
June didn’t sneak openly, but she was very good at getting her cousin into trouble all the same. Her aunt may have given her a long look, but it would be worth it to hear Alicia being ticked off. No, this time she couldn’t do that. That was the one thing June did know with absolute certainty. Alicia was doing something so dreadful, so serious, that June had no idea what would happen if anybody did find out.
With that in mind, once again she was in the position of not knowing what she should do. It was a grown-up problem, she realised with a start. That’s what made it so difficult. If she had seen a mere kiss on the cheeks, or even a brush of the lips, she could have dismissed it as soppiness. It would’ve been something to make a sly remark about and watch their faces burn, but it wasn’t like that at all. Alicia and Betty were doing grown-up things that they oughtn’t be doing even with boys, let alone with each other!
June stood and walked to the door, being very careful not to look out of the window as she went.
Downstairs, she found her aunt in the drawing room writing a letter. She looked up as June came in, and smiled pleasantly.
‘Settled in, dear? If you’re hungry, I daresay Cook has some biscuits she can give you with a cup of tea.’
‘No, it’s all right,’ June said shortly. She sat in one of the armchairs and began fiddling with a cushion tassel.
Mrs Johns put down her pen and looked at June. There was something not quite right about her. She was quiet and seemed lost in thought, which was not at all like her. If June went quiet, it usually meant she was sulking about something. Was it possible she resented her aunt’s advice about making friends at school? It was more than likely with June, but seeing her now, Mrs Johns felt that wasn’t it. She didn’t seem sulky, just preoccupied.
‘Well - if you’ve nothing else to do, perhaps you’ll do something for me,’ Mrs Johns said, picking up her pen again. June looked up, her eyes narrowing, and her aunt had to stifle a laugh. Yes, there was the sulky expression she knew so well! Perhaps that’s all it was after all.
‘Go and ask Molly for the flower basket - she’ll know which one I mean. You’ll find a little pair of secateurs in it. You know how to cut flowers, don’t you? Good! Then cut a bunch for the table - something gay and colourful. There’s plenty to choose from in the garden.’
June didn’t want to go into the garden and pick flowers. In fact, she didn’t want to go anywhere remotely near Alicia and Betty just then - and going outside counted as nearer! Still, she couldn’t very well say that to her aunt. She would think June was just being a silly first former, running scared of the older girls.
‘When that’s not it at all,’ thought June furiously. ‘I’ve just never been more appalled to be her cousin!’
But June kept these thoughts to herself, not even showing a hint of it on her face beyond the slightly petulant expression she already wore. She got the basket with the secateurs and went out into the garden.
The Johns’ garden was really very fine. June found herself surrounded by riotous colour on all sides. Roses bloomed heavily in the summer heat. Bells of white campanula trailed over the wooden fence. Daisies and lupins jostled for space, and the air hummed with the sound of bees. Everything about her was peaceful. The sun warmed June’s back, calming her in a way that few things could. She decided to take her time choosing the flowers.
There was no sign of Alicia or Betty, which eased her mood as well. June wanted to forget the image of the two girls kissing as quickly as possible, and found that she couldn’t. She would only just will it away and think of something else when it flittered into her head again. How absolutely aggravating! Eventually June gave up trying to put the scene out of her mind, and instead allowed herself to mull over it.
Any other person might have begun to doubt what they had seen, but not June. Once she made her mind up about things, it simply didn’t occur to her that she might be wrong. So she didn’t spend her time in the garden wondering whether there was some other way to explain Alicia and Betty’s behaviour. Her excellent memory replayed the scene to her over and over, and left no room for ambiguity. It wasn’t an innocent kiss between friends, she was certain of it. There had been something very urgent about the way Alicia pulled Betty towards her - on top of her! June scowled furiously, and attacked a small rose bush with the secateurs. Buds and full blooms alike fell as she tried to stop the heat rising in her face.
June had seen soppiness before, of course. In fact, she had half-wondered if Felicity was going to be like that in the beginning. She had been very impressed by June, even going against her precious Darrell to stay friends. The older girl hadn’t thought June was a suitable friend at all, but Felicity defended her then. June remembered the peculiar swelling feeling she had in her chest whenever Felicity reported back after one of these conversations. The memory of it was so at odds with what followed that it seemed almost unreal now.
It had been rather nice, she thought grudgingly, having a special friend - someone to save her a seat or share bits of gossip with. In the month leading up to her first term, June had thought a great deal about what sort of friend she wanted - and then she met Felicity. She was quite different from the joking, fearless girl June had in mind, but she was a jolly sort all the same, and thought June was the most fun person she had ever met. June completely forgot all about her ideal friend. Felicity Rivers listened to her stories, agreed with her opinions, and however red she might turn at some of June’s cutting remarks, always stifled a giggle. She didn’t have many funny or interesting stories of her own to share, as far as June could tell, but that didn’t matter. June had more than enough to make up for Felicity’s deficit - and she preferred speaking to listening anyway.
Their friendship had ended before June could discover whether Felicity was silly about her or not. The girl had run off to colourless little Susan - and June couldn’t imagine anyone being silly about her!
She walked to the flowerbed nearest the kitchen window. At once the scent of something sweet wafted out to her, and she noticed for the first time how hungry she was. It would be lunchtime soon, but the thought that she could not escape Alicia and Betty at the table somehow dampened her enthusiasm.
Was June the sort of person that other girls were silly about? This new thought struck her profoundly, making her tip the basket. Half of what she had gathered spilled out onto the lawn. Oh, dash it! June was fed up with flowers. She clicked the secateurs shut and sat down where she was. She had never actually considered that there were types of girls that one might be soppy over, and types that one wouldn’t, but somewhere at the back of her mind was a half-formed consciousness of the fact. It was true that some people were always at the centre of things. June was one of these - and she did like the extra attention, even when it earned her the wrath of her mistresses.
She picked at the grass around her. If June and Felicity had stayed friends, would Felicity have tried to kiss June? Perhaps not now, but at some unknown point in a year or two? June could hardly believe she was thinking it. Without her meaning it to, the image of Felicity pulling her close, as Alicia had Betty, stole into her mind. The girl flamed and shook her head violently as if she might dispel it. She suddenly felt furious again.
‘This is all Alicia’s fault!’ June raged, roughly scraping the crushed flowers back into the basket. Half of the stems she had cut too short, and wouldn’t be suitable for an arrangement anyway. She threw them away angrily, but they were light and floated gently to the ground, doing nothing to ease her temper. At that moment, she dearly wished for a lacrosse ball that she could throw very hard at Alicia’s head!
Alicia was the one doing terrible things. She ought to be feeling queer and uncomfortable, not June! Why, June didn’t have so much as a close friend, so she wasn’t even remotely in danger of following in her cousin’s footsteps. Yet somehow this thought simply made her feel more irritable.
Was Betty the sort that girls were soppy about? June frowned and pulled at a piece of loose weave in the basket. Was it Alicia who had gone soppy over Betty, had kissed her first? Seeing the pair together, June somehow didn’t believe it was their first kiss, even if she did know nothing about that sort of thing. It was simply a feeling she got, instinct rather than fact - the facts being rather too scarce in this case.
Alicia and Betty were very alike. June could have listed their flaws until she was quite hoarse, but curiously, soppiness would not have been among them. Perhaps that was why she knew it was more than a bit of starry-eyed sentimentality.
A burst of laughter interrupted her thoughts. Deep male laughter and then voices.
Sam and the others!
June was so relieved that she quite forgot the telling off Sam had given her last hols. She wanted to whoop. At last - someone exciting and fun! They would save her from the horrifying merry-go-round of thoughts in her head. She could spend her time playing badminton and cards with them, and forget all about Alicia and whatever she was up to.
The girl rushed over to the group as they came through the gate. The three boys greeted her warmly and clapped her on the back. June grinned as they teased her about being taller and prettier now she that was at public school.
‘Don’t be idiotic,’ June retorted, but nothing could hide the look of delight on her face.
‘Time for lunch,’ declared Roger, sniffing the air. ‘I say, that smells marvellous. I think I shall skip the main today and have two helpings of pudding instead.’
June opened her mouth to tease him when another unexpected voice rang out from behind.
‘Have you been doing that all term? Dear me, we shall have to widen all the doors for you before much longer!’
There were shouts of laughter. Alicia’s dark eyes sparkled as Roger turned good-naturedly towards her and stuck out his tongue. Nobody minded a jibe or two when it was holidays and gloriously sunny.
All around June bubbled laughter and amicable chatter, but she couldn’t bring herself to join in now. Alicia had spoilt it.
‘Just like she spoils everything,’ June thought angrily. She couldn’t stop a scowl coming to her face, though nobody noticed. June scowled so often and with so little reason, it was too much bother for the others to remark upon it!
She watched Alicia and Betty walking together. Everything about them looked quite normal. They were talking happily about something that June couldn’t catch - with the boys booming around her - but it was clearly not intimate. Alicia cackled at something Betty had said and clapped her friend on the shoulder. June held her breath, but the gesture was no different than if anybody else had done it. The hand slid away again without hesitation. Seeing them walking and talking so casually, June would never have guessed what they had done that morning.
Suddenly she realised that she was staring at the pair of them, and that Alicia’s eyes had slid across to meet her own. The older girl looked amused as she waited to hear what June had to say.
Well, she wouldn’t speak to either of them! June turned away and hurried inside. As far as she was concerned, lunch was long past due.
END CHAPTER FIVE