Between Friends at Malory Towers Chapter 9
Title: Between Friends at Malory Towers Chapter 9
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.
With Betty’s arrival, of course, the days that had so dragged for Alicia began to slip by very quickly. And how lovely it was to laze about and not worry when the next bell might ring, or the next mistress appear around a corner! They were free to do as they pleased, and they made the most of it - days filled with swimming and tennis, walking to the village and scavenging blackberry thickets on the way home. Now only a week remained until the start of the new term, and much as she loved Malory Towers, Alicia mourned the end of the summer hols.
‘If only it could last just a bit longer,’ she thought as she set off down the lane with Betty late one morning.
The pair were headed to Langford Hollow for yet another picnic, having spent a fair portion of the summer there. With its funny little grove and deep pool, it was a peaceful spot away from the eyes of parents and older brothers - and pestiferous younger cousins!
‘There's June,’ grinned Betty, as they passed the Johns' far paddock.
Alicia looked and a satisfied smile broke over her face. Yes, there was June alright! Running the loop of the paddock as she had every morning for much of the holidays. In the shadows of a tree, Alicia could make out the shape of her eldest brother, Sam. Even at that distance she was sure she could make out the smirk on his face. He looked up and spotted the girls then, raising a hand in greeting as they passed.
In fact, June was running laps as punishment for cheeking Sam. Neither Alicia nor Betty knew exactly what had been said, but Sam was very angry with the younger girl. He had given her the choice between a spanking - ‘With her own hairbrush too!’ Alicia crowed to Betty - and running laps of the paddock. It seemed June had not hesitated in choosing the latter.
Alicia said, ‘Serves the little beast right. She idolises Sam - it will do her the world of good to be put in her place by him.’
‘I’ll say!’ agreed Betty. She hefted the picnic basket in her hand and laughed. ‘I could have kissed him when he told us about it!’
Something in Alicia prickled at that, ever so slightly. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but reminded her uncannily of a burr caught in her blouse. She might have pondered over it, but the opportunity to tease her friend proved too great a distraction, even against the cold slip and churn of her stomach.
She said playfully, ‘Oh, yes?’ and looked sideways at Betty. ‘Well, don't hold back on my account, please.’
Betty laughed aloud and glanced back at her friend. Alicia caught dark eyes gleaming at her behind the unruly fringe, but at once they were gone again. Betty looked back at the road.
‘If you imagine,’ the girl began, ‘even for an instant that I truly wish to kiss your brother, then you are quite, quite mad!’ There was a pause as Betty shifted the picnic basket again. ‘And besides, I shouldn't ever want to kiss anyone besides you, idiot.’
With that, Betty glanced up at Alicia again, eyes still gleaming, mouth curved in a wicked grin.
Alicia knew that look very well. It meant that Betty was waiting for her to get angry or flustered. On the occasions she found herself face-to-face with Miss Potts in the North Tower dining room, her friend looked the exactly the same way. And Miss Potts was always very angry!
But Alicia didn't feel angry at all. In fact, had she still been aware of the uncomfortable prickle, she would have noticed its swift departure. In its place was another feeling - almost like a sudden giddiness. It made Alicia feel strange and happy all at once.
They walked in silence for a bit after that. Betty pushed her hair from her eyes, but it was no good - her fringe simply wouldn't lie any other way. Alicia reached across to help, only to suddenly become very aware of her own hand. It seemed silly then, leaning across and touching the other girl's hair - and yet she wanted to so much.
‘Idiot,’ she scolded herself, dropping her arm rather abruptly. ‘You've done it hundreds of times before - done much more than smooth her hair!’
Alicia thought of the way she pushed Betty's fringe back from her face when they kissed. Sometimes, when she held Betty's face tightly, her fingers would curl into the soft hair at the nape of the girl’s neck. It was a nice feeling, she decided, with a rush of affection. Light and smooth against her skin.
When had she first noticed that? She couldn’t say, but then, the kisses had changed over the past few months. The realisation struck Alicia so profoundly now that she wondered she hadn't seen it before, and yet she hadn’t, somehow.
Before, she hadn't gripped Betty tightly around the shoulders and neck. She hadn't fumbled with hands that were utterly useless with either too many, or too few, fingers. Alicia felt the familiar impatience wash over her as she called to mind those moments.
‘Like some awful heavy-handed hobbledehoy,’ she thought, annoyed. ‘Anyone should think I hadn't a shred of dexterity at all!’
Alicia was not a clumsy girl, but she often found that however she wished to hold Betty - whatever perfect embrace her quick mind conjured staring out of the window during prep - simply would not work in practice. Her arms would be too long or Betty's shoulders too high or there would be some other frustration. And so she was reduced to pulling Betty close and holding her as tightly as she could whilst their mouths met.
Sometimes Alicia wondered where the kisses came from, really. She knew how they had started, of course. Alicia had a fine memory, and anyway, events such as that afternoon would be difficult even for Irene to forget! But each kiss since that time seemed another small step towards Something. What the Something might be, however, was another matter entirely.
The girl tossed her head, irritated. She didn't like feeling uncertain about things - she wasn't used to it. Her quick, clever mind saw reason and solutions where others missed them. To not be able to do the same now about Betty struck her as quite ridiculous.
She didn't know why her friend had first leaned across and kissed her that day. It had been quite unexpected, and yet didn’t feel as strange as it ought. At first, she thought it must simply be a lark - another of Betty’s mad jokes - but the look on her friend’s face afterwards didn’t quite allow that to be true. Nor did the pleased sound she made when Alicia stopped gaping and roughly pushed their lips together a second time.
And why had she done that? Plainly, Betty had meant to kiss her, and though Alicia would have been perfectly entitled to recoil or cry out, she hadn’t done either. Hadn’t wanted to, in fact. The only thing Alicia could recall was a rather pressing need to show her friend that it was alright. She wasn’t cross or anything silly that that. It could happen again, if Betty felt so inclined, and she had wanted to make sure the girl understood that because then it very likely would happen again…
And then Alicia very nearly stumbled. Well, gosh, she had thought that, hadn’t she?
Not just a lark, not something wicked and surprisingly nice, but more than that - something wanted. Her mind seemed to tick with a new and sudden clarity about the thing, and she thought very hard on it.
For no matter how much she adored the absolute wickedness of their secret, their disregard for anybody else, at the time that hadn’t occurred to her at all! Nor had she acted simply to match her daredevil friend, to see the look on her face when Alicia caught her unawares - and yet she recalled wanting to see Betty’s face quite badly.
The thought of Betty sprawled across her lap, brown tunic crumpled, made her feel warm and giddy somehow. She liked seeing Betty’s playful grin from the next desk in classes, knowing what was on the girl’s mind. She liked the way Betty coloured under her gaze, and that she could do that to Betty in a way no-one else could. All of it added to the joyous - and utterly maddening! - feeling that had been quietly building for some time now. In fact, lately she might have said that Betty were always on her mind, if not for the fact her stomach always reacted first.
‘As though I were almost nervous at seeing Betty,’ she thought. ‘And I'm not - not even a bit!’
It had always struck Alicia as quite absurd that anyone could be afraid of her friend.
‘She can scare the kids all right when she wants to,’ the girl thought affectionately, unaware of the smile pulling at her lips. ‘But so should any good fourth - no, fifth-former. How on earth can an older girl command any respect when she's as soppy as the first-formers?’
Alicia thought of Gwen and Mary-Lou and sneered inwardly. They were scared of Betty and Alicia too, in their own ways. Gwen openly feared and despised them for their unpredictable behaviour, but Mary-Lou was little better.
‘Oh, she's improved,’ the girl allowed briefly, ‘but she still tiptoes around like we might snap her up at any moment. Fancy being such a timid little thing!’
Alicia could not imagine being so meek as Mary-Lou, and was glad of it. She would rather be too hard than too soft. Though it was her worst failing - her absolute hardness - the years at Malory Towers had taught Alicia some valuable lessons too. Her illness during the School Cert had shown her more than anything how it was to be weak and slow.
‘Absolutely horrifying!’ she thought, remembering her alarm at finding the exams difficult. The experience left her with considerably more patience for others - but not enough for someone as insufferable as Gwendoline Mary.
And Betty was so unlike all of them! Darrell and Sally and Irene were jolly company, but Alicia always looked forward to seeing Betty. She looked forward to the first sleepy smile at prayers in the morning. She was always glad to see her friend's shadow as she waited by the North Tower stairs - and she grinned in pure delight whenever Betty appeared beside her unexpectedly in the halls or tennis courts or anywhere.
Alicia felt her head swim, just for a second. It was close to the feeling she had experienced shortly before fainting, though with one remarkable difference. As horrified as she had been then, fearing her brains had abandoned her, she now felt equally thrilled at the mere thought of Betty. It was only with the greatest effort that she was able to stop herself from grinning like an idiot all day.
They turned off the main road then, and started down the little path towards Langford Hollow. It wasn’t long before they reached the large hawthorn that hid the entrance to the grove, and slipped easily past it.
At once, Betty set down the heavy basket and stretched with a loud ‘Ah!’ She kicked off her sandals and rushed into the pool, and Alicia quickly did the same. The cool water felt heavenly around their hot, dusty legs. How terrible to think that in a week, their fun at Langford Hollow would be far behind them!
‘Golly, I shall miss this,’ Betty remarked, wading further in.
‘Yes. I hate the thought of pigging it in the swimming pool with the others next week,’ Alicia said, but her eyes were sparkling. Nobody could honestly be disappointed with the splendid rock pool at Malory Towers!
Betty waded further still until her frock began to float in the water. Alicia laughed and came a few steps after her, grabbing her friend’s hand.
‘Look out, idiot! You’ll be sopping in a minute.’
But Betty didn’t look in the least worried. Instead she smirked and quick as a flash pulled Alicia forward into the water. Alicia let out a yell as cold water washed around her neck. The edge of the pool may have been shallow and warm, but the middle was quite icy!
She dragged herself upright, wiping her eyes, to the sound of Betty’s delighted giggles. The girl was clutching her stomach, and for all her fooling, remained considerably drier than her victim.
Alicia changed that immediately as she caught Betty from behind and dragged her backwards into the water.
Once their laughter subsided, they found it quite pleasant floating that way. The grove was peaceful and still, the silence broken only by the occasional bird or chirruping insect. It occurred to Alicia that they would need to hang their clothes up shortly, else they would be damp on the walk home. Somehow, though, that seemed of lesser importance than drifting through the water with Betty’s head on her stomach. She could feel the weight of it as she breathed in and out, slightly too hard for comfort. The sun made its way from behind the trees, and shone lazily across the pond. The more she thought about how they would need to break apart soon and get out of the water, the more Alicia didn’t want to.
‘How absolutely rotten,’ she thought, skimming her hand under the surface, ‘that the things you ought to do are never the things you wish to.’
She was about to articulate this to Betty when the other girl spoke.
‘Been awfully good not to have June under our feet. Tell you the truth, I quite thought we’d do nothing else but tell her to buzz off all hols.’
‘Mmm,’ Alicia replied, thinking how glad she was about that. ‘Amazing how the little beast is stand-offish as anything, but always wants to tag along.’
‘Well, but she hasn’t this time,’ Betty said, returning to her point.
‘Are you complaining?’ Alicia asked. She grinned, remembering the look on Betty’s face when her mother had announced June’s arrival.
Betty shook her head - Alicia felt the movement of it against her. ‘Not at all. If she were here, I couldn’t do this, could I?’
And with that, Betty rolled off Alicia, pulled her close and wrapped two arms about her waist. The feel of Betty’s body - wet and soft and fitting perfectly with her own - made the air puff suddenly from Alicia’s lungs, sent a little tingle from her throat to her stomach. She held Betty as tightly as she could, not kissing, but close - closer than they had ever been. It was probably rather awkward, just standing that way, but Alicia found she didn’t care. All she could do was hold Betty tight, curves pressing, and concentrate on breathing normally.
That is, until she realised Betty was trembling. Alicia drew back, frowning.
‘What’s the matter - cold already?’ she asked.
Betty’s hair was slick against her head, the unruly fringe swept back at last; it made her look strange, unfamiliar, almost. She shook her head slightly, still holding firm to Alicia’s waist.
‘Not a bit,’ she replied. Her voice was queerly light.
The girl raised her eyes to meet Alicia’s, and there was something in them that made her stomach flop over uncomfortably then. More than simply the spark of daring she was so used to. Betty’s eyes seemed darker than normal, but, golly, it was the uncertainty in them that shocked her. The way Betty’s eyes searched her own as though she were looking for something there.
Alicia hadn’t a clue what her eyes might be telling Betty at that moment.
All at once, the part of Alicia that had allowed her to explain away the kissing and hugging and butterflies in her stomach dissolved to nothing. She suddenly felt very convinced that Betty’s thoughts were not so far from her own - that she was struggling to understand all the same things. Hardly surprising, when they were so alike, but shocking too in its own way. Because if they were both wondering the same thing, well, it meant there was something to wonder about, didn’t it? They stared at one another, both quite still, and Alicia more aware of Betty’s hands on her waist than anything in the world.
‘I…’ Alicia began, and then fell silent once more. The urge to speak rose inside her, but not what she might say. She bit her lip, not at all sure what she wanted to do. Only two things seemed certain then - she cared more for Betty than she knew how to say, and she wanted Betty to know it.
Fortunately, she was saved from some mortifying, first-formerish confession. The other girl reached up and very gently pressed her cool pink lips to Alicia’s. It was impossibly soft - uncharacteristically soft, even - that motion against her mouth. Beyond the lips, Betty’s tongue was warm, wet, and insistently, maddeningly slow. Sparks tingled down through her stomach again; the sensation was warm and delicious and terrifying, and she found herself pulling Betty as close as she was able, trying to stop her legs shaking at the feel of the other girl against her.
She wasn’t aware of having moved her hips until she felt Betty pressing back. Her stomach tightened, and her breath hitched into the kiss. She felt so terribly good then, even as some other part of her brain registered a dull sense of alarm at the action. She could feel herself growing flushed, and…
The rushes slapped loudly on the bank. Both girls sprang apart, lurching around in the water to face their intruder, and then Alicia saw - with relief so thick she could taste it - that they were still alone. No-one had seen them. It had simply been a moorhen or vole or something moving in the undergrowth.
Abruptly, Betty began to wade towards the shore. Alicia stood in the shallows for a minute, willing the jelly from her legs.
‘We’d better hang these things up,’ Betty called over her shoulder. Alicia nodded, and started after her at last.
They hung their wet dresses across the branches of the hawthorn, and rolled out the rug in relative silence.
In the twinkling of an eye, everything had changed. The slippery, nebulous feelings that had lurked for some time became no more comprehensible to Alicia, but she knew they were there now - they existed, and Betty had them too. She wasn’t simply feeling fanciful or out of sorts. Something had happened inside her, and she didn’t know what to do about it.
She felt unaccountably queer now, wearing only her bathers.
Neither spoke very much as they laid out the picnic either. Instead, it seemed to Alicia to be a conversation of glances. She would feel Betty’s eyes upon her, and would glance up only to catch them darting away again. And as she stared at Betty, trying to grapple with the unsettling feeling in her stomach, Betty would make to look up again, and Alicia would suddenly find the boiled eggs fascinating. On and on it went until Alicia wanted to scream at the absurdity of it.
It was absurd. Idiotically, ridiculously absurd.
Betty was her friend, and she refused to tip-toe around her like a frightened kid. So, with greater effort than ought to have been required, she stretched her trembling arms, and then leaned back on the tartan square.
‘Do you know, I’m in rather a difficult spot just now,’ she said, tone light and conversational.
Betty looked up, and perhaps she was startled by the sudden attempt at normalcy, but her mouth hung open for a moment before she replied with an, ‘Oh, yes?’
Alicia nodded lazily. ‘Yes, I can’t seem to stop staring at my friend. Can’t think why.’
Their gazes met, openly, easily, like they always did, and suddenly everything was alright again. Betty’s eyes gleamed behind the fringe, and Alicia just managed to stop the delight rising in her throat and choking her completely.
Betty grinned. ‘You don’t say! Could it be that your friend is extraordinarily beautiful?’
Alicia swatted at her with a stray sandal. ‘You are an ass,’ she said, but her laughter gave her away.
They tucked into the picnic then - tongue sandwiches and tomatoes and boiled eggs - setting aside the paper-wrapped cake and small pot of jam for their tea. Alicia had the idea to cool their lemonade in a shaded part of the pool, but the afternoon was very dry, and in the end, neither had the patience for it. They drank it as it was, warm and cloyingly sticky, and laughed at the faces they pulled. And then Alicia did sink the half-empty bottle in the muddy shallows, declaring that it was to stay there until tea!
Eventually, they could eat no more, and flopped lazily back onto the rug. From there it wasn’t such a great leap for Alicia to rest her head against Betty’s thigh, for her to lean into warm, tanned skin and ignore the hint of bone digging at her neck.
‘Don’t fall asleep, will you,’ Betty murmured. ‘Frightful bore.’
Alicia stifled a yawn. ‘I won’t.’
Something messed through her hair, and then Alicia felt the curious scrape of bitten-down nails, of soft, rounded fingertips against her cheek.
‘It’ll be harder in the fifth,’ she thought, and the idea, startling and unbidden, was enough to edge away the sleep. Quite suddenly, long months stretched before her, filled with darning and extra prep and hardly ever seeing her friend. The cold prickle from earlier crept back. For all her teasing of Darrell in the common room, it was now Alicia who found herself wondering, for the very first time in her life, whether she would enjoy next term at Malory Towers at all!
END CHAPTER NINE
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.
With Betty’s arrival, of course, the days that had so dragged for Alicia began to slip by very quickly. And how lovely it was to laze about and not worry when the next bell might ring, or the next mistress appear around a corner! They were free to do as they pleased, and they made the most of it - days filled with swimming and tennis, walking to the village and scavenging blackberry thickets on the way home. Now only a week remained until the start of the new term, and much as she loved Malory Towers, Alicia mourned the end of the summer hols.
‘If only it could last just a bit longer,’ she thought as she set off down the lane with Betty late one morning.
The pair were headed to Langford Hollow for yet another picnic, having spent a fair portion of the summer there. With its funny little grove and deep pool, it was a peaceful spot away from the eyes of parents and older brothers - and pestiferous younger cousins!
‘There's June,’ grinned Betty, as they passed the Johns' far paddock.
Alicia looked and a satisfied smile broke over her face. Yes, there was June alright! Running the loop of the paddock as she had every morning for much of the holidays. In the shadows of a tree, Alicia could make out the shape of her eldest brother, Sam. Even at that distance she was sure she could make out the smirk on his face. He looked up and spotted the girls then, raising a hand in greeting as they passed.
In fact, June was running laps as punishment for cheeking Sam. Neither Alicia nor Betty knew exactly what had been said, but Sam was very angry with the younger girl. He had given her the choice between a spanking - ‘With her own hairbrush too!’ Alicia crowed to Betty - and running laps of the paddock. It seemed June had not hesitated in choosing the latter.
Alicia said, ‘Serves the little beast right. She idolises Sam - it will do her the world of good to be put in her place by him.’
‘I’ll say!’ agreed Betty. She hefted the picnic basket in her hand and laughed. ‘I could have kissed him when he told us about it!’
Something in Alicia prickled at that, ever so slightly. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but reminded her uncannily of a burr caught in her blouse. She might have pondered over it, but the opportunity to tease her friend proved too great a distraction, even against the cold slip and churn of her stomach.
She said playfully, ‘Oh, yes?’ and looked sideways at Betty. ‘Well, don't hold back on my account, please.’
Betty laughed aloud and glanced back at her friend. Alicia caught dark eyes gleaming at her behind the unruly fringe, but at once they were gone again. Betty looked back at the road.
‘If you imagine,’ the girl began, ‘even for an instant that I truly wish to kiss your brother, then you are quite, quite mad!’ There was a pause as Betty shifted the picnic basket again. ‘And besides, I shouldn't ever want to kiss anyone besides you, idiot.’
With that, Betty glanced up at Alicia again, eyes still gleaming, mouth curved in a wicked grin.
Alicia knew that look very well. It meant that Betty was waiting for her to get angry or flustered. On the occasions she found herself face-to-face with Miss Potts in the North Tower dining room, her friend looked the exactly the same way. And Miss Potts was always very angry!
But Alicia didn't feel angry at all. In fact, had she still been aware of the uncomfortable prickle, she would have noticed its swift departure. In its place was another feeling - almost like a sudden giddiness. It made Alicia feel strange and happy all at once.
They walked in silence for a bit after that. Betty pushed her hair from her eyes, but it was no good - her fringe simply wouldn't lie any other way. Alicia reached across to help, only to suddenly become very aware of her own hand. It seemed silly then, leaning across and touching the other girl's hair - and yet she wanted to so much.
‘Idiot,’ she scolded herself, dropping her arm rather abruptly. ‘You've done it hundreds of times before - done much more than smooth her hair!’
Alicia thought of the way she pushed Betty's fringe back from her face when they kissed. Sometimes, when she held Betty's face tightly, her fingers would curl into the soft hair at the nape of the girl’s neck. It was a nice feeling, she decided, with a rush of affection. Light and smooth against her skin.
When had she first noticed that? She couldn’t say, but then, the kisses had changed over the past few months. The realisation struck Alicia so profoundly now that she wondered she hadn't seen it before, and yet she hadn’t, somehow.
Before, she hadn't gripped Betty tightly around the shoulders and neck. She hadn't fumbled with hands that were utterly useless with either too many, or too few, fingers. Alicia felt the familiar impatience wash over her as she called to mind those moments.
‘Like some awful heavy-handed hobbledehoy,’ she thought, annoyed. ‘Anyone should think I hadn't a shred of dexterity at all!’
Alicia was not a clumsy girl, but she often found that however she wished to hold Betty - whatever perfect embrace her quick mind conjured staring out of the window during prep - simply would not work in practice. Her arms would be too long or Betty's shoulders too high or there would be some other frustration. And so she was reduced to pulling Betty close and holding her as tightly as she could whilst their mouths met.
Sometimes Alicia wondered where the kisses came from, really. She knew how they had started, of course. Alicia had a fine memory, and anyway, events such as that afternoon would be difficult even for Irene to forget! But each kiss since that time seemed another small step towards Something. What the Something might be, however, was another matter entirely.
The girl tossed her head, irritated. She didn't like feeling uncertain about things - she wasn't used to it. Her quick, clever mind saw reason and solutions where others missed them. To not be able to do the same now about Betty struck her as quite ridiculous.
She didn't know why her friend had first leaned across and kissed her that day. It had been quite unexpected, and yet didn’t feel as strange as it ought. At first, she thought it must simply be a lark - another of Betty’s mad jokes - but the look on her friend’s face afterwards didn’t quite allow that to be true. Nor did the pleased sound she made when Alicia stopped gaping and roughly pushed their lips together a second time.
And why had she done that? Plainly, Betty had meant to kiss her, and though Alicia would have been perfectly entitled to recoil or cry out, she hadn’t done either. Hadn’t wanted to, in fact. The only thing Alicia could recall was a rather pressing need to show her friend that it was alright. She wasn’t cross or anything silly that that. It could happen again, if Betty felt so inclined, and she had wanted to make sure the girl understood that because then it very likely would happen again…
And then Alicia very nearly stumbled. Well, gosh, she had thought that, hadn’t she?
Not just a lark, not something wicked and surprisingly nice, but more than that - something wanted. Her mind seemed to tick with a new and sudden clarity about the thing, and she thought very hard on it.
For no matter how much she adored the absolute wickedness of their secret, their disregard for anybody else, at the time that hadn’t occurred to her at all! Nor had she acted simply to match her daredevil friend, to see the look on her face when Alicia caught her unawares - and yet she recalled wanting to see Betty’s face quite badly.
The thought of Betty sprawled across her lap, brown tunic crumpled, made her feel warm and giddy somehow. She liked seeing Betty’s playful grin from the next desk in classes, knowing what was on the girl’s mind. She liked the way Betty coloured under her gaze, and that she could do that to Betty in a way no-one else could. All of it added to the joyous - and utterly maddening! - feeling that had been quietly building for some time now. In fact, lately she might have said that Betty were always on her mind, if not for the fact her stomach always reacted first.
‘As though I were almost nervous at seeing Betty,’ she thought. ‘And I'm not - not even a bit!’
It had always struck Alicia as quite absurd that anyone could be afraid of her friend.
‘She can scare the kids all right when she wants to,’ the girl thought affectionately, unaware of the smile pulling at her lips. ‘But so should any good fourth - no, fifth-former. How on earth can an older girl command any respect when she's as soppy as the first-formers?’
Alicia thought of Gwen and Mary-Lou and sneered inwardly. They were scared of Betty and Alicia too, in their own ways. Gwen openly feared and despised them for their unpredictable behaviour, but Mary-Lou was little better.
‘Oh, she's improved,’ the girl allowed briefly, ‘but she still tiptoes around like we might snap her up at any moment. Fancy being such a timid little thing!’
Alicia could not imagine being so meek as Mary-Lou, and was glad of it. She would rather be too hard than too soft. Though it was her worst failing - her absolute hardness - the years at Malory Towers had taught Alicia some valuable lessons too. Her illness during the School Cert had shown her more than anything how it was to be weak and slow.
‘Absolutely horrifying!’ she thought, remembering her alarm at finding the exams difficult. The experience left her with considerably more patience for others - but not enough for someone as insufferable as Gwendoline Mary.
And Betty was so unlike all of them! Darrell and Sally and Irene were jolly company, but Alicia always looked forward to seeing Betty. She looked forward to the first sleepy smile at prayers in the morning. She was always glad to see her friend's shadow as she waited by the North Tower stairs - and she grinned in pure delight whenever Betty appeared beside her unexpectedly in the halls or tennis courts or anywhere.
Alicia felt her head swim, just for a second. It was close to the feeling she had experienced shortly before fainting, though with one remarkable difference. As horrified as she had been then, fearing her brains had abandoned her, she now felt equally thrilled at the mere thought of Betty. It was only with the greatest effort that she was able to stop herself from grinning like an idiot all day.
They turned off the main road then, and started down the little path towards Langford Hollow. It wasn’t long before they reached the large hawthorn that hid the entrance to the grove, and slipped easily past it.
At once, Betty set down the heavy basket and stretched with a loud ‘Ah!’ She kicked off her sandals and rushed into the pool, and Alicia quickly did the same. The cool water felt heavenly around their hot, dusty legs. How terrible to think that in a week, their fun at Langford Hollow would be far behind them!
‘Golly, I shall miss this,’ Betty remarked, wading further in.
‘Yes. I hate the thought of pigging it in the swimming pool with the others next week,’ Alicia said, but her eyes were sparkling. Nobody could honestly be disappointed with the splendid rock pool at Malory Towers!
Betty waded further still until her frock began to float in the water. Alicia laughed and came a few steps after her, grabbing her friend’s hand.
‘Look out, idiot! You’ll be sopping in a minute.’
But Betty didn’t look in the least worried. Instead she smirked and quick as a flash pulled Alicia forward into the water. Alicia let out a yell as cold water washed around her neck. The edge of the pool may have been shallow and warm, but the middle was quite icy!
She dragged herself upright, wiping her eyes, to the sound of Betty’s delighted giggles. The girl was clutching her stomach, and for all her fooling, remained considerably drier than her victim.
Alicia changed that immediately as she caught Betty from behind and dragged her backwards into the water.
Once their laughter subsided, they found it quite pleasant floating that way. The grove was peaceful and still, the silence broken only by the occasional bird or chirruping insect. It occurred to Alicia that they would need to hang their clothes up shortly, else they would be damp on the walk home. Somehow, though, that seemed of lesser importance than drifting through the water with Betty’s head on her stomach. She could feel the weight of it as she breathed in and out, slightly too hard for comfort. The sun made its way from behind the trees, and shone lazily across the pond. The more she thought about how they would need to break apart soon and get out of the water, the more Alicia didn’t want to.
‘How absolutely rotten,’ she thought, skimming her hand under the surface, ‘that the things you ought to do are never the things you wish to.’
She was about to articulate this to Betty when the other girl spoke.
‘Been awfully good not to have June under our feet. Tell you the truth, I quite thought we’d do nothing else but tell her to buzz off all hols.’
‘Mmm,’ Alicia replied, thinking how glad she was about that. ‘Amazing how the little beast is stand-offish as anything, but always wants to tag along.’
‘Well, but she hasn’t this time,’ Betty said, returning to her point.
‘Are you complaining?’ Alicia asked. She grinned, remembering the look on Betty’s face when her mother had announced June’s arrival.
Betty shook her head - Alicia felt the movement of it against her. ‘Not at all. If she were here, I couldn’t do this, could I?’
And with that, Betty rolled off Alicia, pulled her close and wrapped two arms about her waist. The feel of Betty’s body - wet and soft and fitting perfectly with her own - made the air puff suddenly from Alicia’s lungs, sent a little tingle from her throat to her stomach. She held Betty as tightly as she could, not kissing, but close - closer than they had ever been. It was probably rather awkward, just standing that way, but Alicia found she didn’t care. All she could do was hold Betty tight, curves pressing, and concentrate on breathing normally.
That is, until she realised Betty was trembling. Alicia drew back, frowning.
‘What’s the matter - cold already?’ she asked.
Betty’s hair was slick against her head, the unruly fringe swept back at last; it made her look strange, unfamiliar, almost. She shook her head slightly, still holding firm to Alicia’s waist.
‘Not a bit,’ she replied. Her voice was queerly light.
The girl raised her eyes to meet Alicia’s, and there was something in them that made her stomach flop over uncomfortably then. More than simply the spark of daring she was so used to. Betty’s eyes seemed darker than normal, but, golly, it was the uncertainty in them that shocked her. The way Betty’s eyes searched her own as though she were looking for something there.
Alicia hadn’t a clue what her eyes might be telling Betty at that moment.
All at once, the part of Alicia that had allowed her to explain away the kissing and hugging and butterflies in her stomach dissolved to nothing. She suddenly felt very convinced that Betty’s thoughts were not so far from her own - that she was struggling to understand all the same things. Hardly surprising, when they were so alike, but shocking too in its own way. Because if they were both wondering the same thing, well, it meant there was something to wonder about, didn’t it? They stared at one another, both quite still, and Alicia more aware of Betty’s hands on her waist than anything in the world.
‘I…’ Alicia began, and then fell silent once more. The urge to speak rose inside her, but not what she might say. She bit her lip, not at all sure what she wanted to do. Only two things seemed certain then - she cared more for Betty than she knew how to say, and she wanted Betty to know it.
Fortunately, she was saved from some mortifying, first-formerish confession. The other girl reached up and very gently pressed her cool pink lips to Alicia’s. It was impossibly soft - uncharacteristically soft, even - that motion against her mouth. Beyond the lips, Betty’s tongue was warm, wet, and insistently, maddeningly slow. Sparks tingled down through her stomach again; the sensation was warm and delicious and terrifying, and she found herself pulling Betty as close as she was able, trying to stop her legs shaking at the feel of the other girl against her.
She wasn’t aware of having moved her hips until she felt Betty pressing back. Her stomach tightened, and her breath hitched into the kiss. She felt so terribly good then, even as some other part of her brain registered a dull sense of alarm at the action. She could feel herself growing flushed, and…
The rushes slapped loudly on the bank. Both girls sprang apart, lurching around in the water to face their intruder, and then Alicia saw - with relief so thick she could taste it - that they were still alone. No-one had seen them. It had simply been a moorhen or vole or something moving in the undergrowth.
Abruptly, Betty began to wade towards the shore. Alicia stood in the shallows for a minute, willing the jelly from her legs.
‘We’d better hang these things up,’ Betty called over her shoulder. Alicia nodded, and started after her at last.
They hung their wet dresses across the branches of the hawthorn, and rolled out the rug in relative silence.
In the twinkling of an eye, everything had changed. The slippery, nebulous feelings that had lurked for some time became no more comprehensible to Alicia, but she knew they were there now - they existed, and Betty had them too. She wasn’t simply feeling fanciful or out of sorts. Something had happened inside her, and she didn’t know what to do about it.
She felt unaccountably queer now, wearing only her bathers.
Neither spoke very much as they laid out the picnic either. Instead, it seemed to Alicia to be a conversation of glances. She would feel Betty’s eyes upon her, and would glance up only to catch them darting away again. And as she stared at Betty, trying to grapple with the unsettling feeling in her stomach, Betty would make to look up again, and Alicia would suddenly find the boiled eggs fascinating. On and on it went until Alicia wanted to scream at the absurdity of it.
It was absurd. Idiotically, ridiculously absurd.
Betty was her friend, and she refused to tip-toe around her like a frightened kid. So, with greater effort than ought to have been required, she stretched her trembling arms, and then leaned back on the tartan square.
‘Do you know, I’m in rather a difficult spot just now,’ she said, tone light and conversational.
Betty looked up, and perhaps she was startled by the sudden attempt at normalcy, but her mouth hung open for a moment before she replied with an, ‘Oh, yes?’
Alicia nodded lazily. ‘Yes, I can’t seem to stop staring at my friend. Can’t think why.’
Their gazes met, openly, easily, like they always did, and suddenly everything was alright again. Betty’s eyes gleamed behind the fringe, and Alicia just managed to stop the delight rising in her throat and choking her completely.
Betty grinned. ‘You don’t say! Could it be that your friend is extraordinarily beautiful?’
Alicia swatted at her with a stray sandal. ‘You are an ass,’ she said, but her laughter gave her away.
They tucked into the picnic then - tongue sandwiches and tomatoes and boiled eggs - setting aside the paper-wrapped cake and small pot of jam for their tea. Alicia had the idea to cool their lemonade in a shaded part of the pool, but the afternoon was very dry, and in the end, neither had the patience for it. They drank it as it was, warm and cloyingly sticky, and laughed at the faces they pulled. And then Alicia did sink the half-empty bottle in the muddy shallows, declaring that it was to stay there until tea!
Eventually, they could eat no more, and flopped lazily back onto the rug. From there it wasn’t such a great leap for Alicia to rest her head against Betty’s thigh, for her to lean into warm, tanned skin and ignore the hint of bone digging at her neck.
‘Don’t fall asleep, will you,’ Betty murmured. ‘Frightful bore.’
Alicia stifled a yawn. ‘I won’t.’
Something messed through her hair, and then Alicia felt the curious scrape of bitten-down nails, of soft, rounded fingertips against her cheek.
‘It’ll be harder in the fifth,’ she thought, and the idea, startling and unbidden, was enough to edge away the sleep. Quite suddenly, long months stretched before her, filled with darning and extra prep and hardly ever seeing her friend. The cold prickle from earlier crept back. For all her teasing of Darrell in the common room, it was now Alicia who found herself wondering, for the very first time in her life, whether she would enjoy next term at Malory Towers at all!
END CHAPTER NINE