by Jon Thorn
Jenny slumped down onto the seat with a sigh of relief. She took off her straw boater and pushed a stray strand of fair hair out of her eyes. It had been such a rush to get to the train and she had barely had time to say goodbye before it had puffed out of the station.
She had walked down the carriage looking for a seat but all the compartments had been full. Everyone seemed to be with their friends, catching up after the long summer break. Jenny was far from shy but even she baulked at the thought of having to introduce herself as the new girl. The compartment she had found at last had only one other occupant, a pretty auburn-haired girl dressed, as she was, in the uniform of Lilybrook Hall.
"Hello," Jenny smiled, holding out her hand, "I'm Jenny Downley. I'm new."
The other girl gave a warm smile as they shook hands.
"Hello, I'm Katherine Crichton-Stuart... which is a bit of a mouthful; most people call me Katie," she said. "And I'm new too."
"What year are you in?" Jenny asked her.
"Remove. How about you?"
Jenny grinned. "I'm in Remove too. It's a relief to find I'm not the only new girl in the year!"
"I don't know anyone else at Lilybrook so it would be good to have a friend," Katie replied.
"Where were you before?"
"I was educated at home, but then my governess was unwell and my parents thought it best I go to school rather than try to find a replacement for Miss Green. How about you?"
"I was at Reading Grammar, but my dad has just taken a job in the Far East, so it has to be boarding school for me, worst luck."
"You're not looking forward to it?"
Jenny shook her head. "I hated all the silly rules at Reading, but at least I could get away from the place at the end of the day. Lilybrook Hall is going to be ten times worse I reckon."
Katie nodded sympathetically. The thought of boarding school wasn't filling her with joy either. She had enjoyed such freedom at home and the thought of having to live a more regimented existence was not something she was looking forward to. She was well aware that she had a strong independent streak that might not go down well in a community that valued conformity.
"What do you think of the uniform?" Katie asked.
Jenny looked at her new friend. Like herself she was wearing a navy blue gymslip, opaque black stockings, a white shirt with a striped tie and a navy blazer.
"It's not too bad, though why we have to wear regulation navy knickers I don't know!"
They both giggled.
Their laughter was interrupted a moment later. The door of the compartment slid open. Two girls stood framed in the doorway. They both wore the Lilybrook Hall blazer but theirs were adorned with coloured braid at the cuffs and lapels. The taller of the two had long blonde hair tied back in a loose pony-tail. The other, a petite girl, had her dark brown hair in a stylish bob.
"It's good manners to stand when a prefect enters the room," the taller one remarked snootily.
Jenny quickly got to her feet, blushing with embarrassment. Katie remained seated, staring out of the window, deliberately ignoring the two visitors.
"I say, did you not hear what Isobel said?" the other prefect demanded.
"Are you talking to me?" Katie replied, turning to face her.
"Yes I am!"
"Well it's hardly good manners to burst in here and start demanding things when we don't know you from Adam," she said calmly. "I haven't the faintest idea who you are and whether you are prefects or not. And besides, we're not at school yet so I don't see why I should do anything you say."
Jenny stared at her in amazement. You just didn't answer back to a prefect like that!
The tall prefect had gone very red. She spoke through clenched teeth.
"For your information, I am Isobel Hathaway and this is Miranda Morrison, and we are both prefects."
"Bully for you," Katie replied nonchalantly.
Miranda stepped into the compartment and grabbed Katie's arm, hauling her to her feet.
"Don't you dare answer back like that!" she hissed.
Katie poked her tongue out. She wasn't normally rude but these two had managed to rile her with their swagger and their arrogance.
Isobel went even redder. She stepped forward and picked Katie's straw boater off her head.
"Let's see what your name is your horrid little girl," she snapped. She read the label on the inside of Katie's hat. A smile spread across her face.
"Oh I understand now," she said, a nasty sneer in her voice. "It's Lady Katie Crichton-Stuart. No wonder you didn't stand up when we came in - you're obviously far too grand for us!"
Katie said nothing.
Isobel turned to Jenny. "How about you? Are you a member of the aristocracy too?" she demanded.
Jenny shook her head. "No I'm not," she said simply.
Miranda picked up Jenny's hat. "Jenny Downley," she read. "Certain it's not Princess Jenny?"
"Quite certain," Jenny said quietly.
"So where were you both at school before we had the misfortune of taking you at Lilybrook Hall?" Isobel asked. "How about you, your ladyship?" she asked Katie.
"You can call me Katie if you like," Katie said, with a cheeky smile. "I don't insist on formal titles."
"Answer the question."
"Well, if you must know, I was educated at home by my governess."
"No surprise about that," Isobel said with a sneer. "And you?" she turned to Jenny.
"I... I was at school in Reading," Jenny said.
"Queen Anne's?" Isobel asked, referring to the boarding school in Caversham.
"N-no... Reading Grammar."
There was a snort of laughter from Miranda. "Oh that's priceless," she said. "The princess and the pauper!"
"Perhaps she's her ladyship's servant?" Isobel suggested.
"No I'm not, we've only just met," Jenny said desperately.
"Servant or not I think it's a pretty poor show when Lilybrook starts letting in grammar school girls. We must be getting desperate. It will certainly lower the tone," Miranda remarked
Isobel looked Jenny up and down. "I don't think 'Jenny' suits you," she said. "I think we'll call you 'Plebby' given your lower class origins."
Jenny bit her lip as the tears filled her eyes.
"Leave her alone," Katie said fiercely.
Miranda turned on her. "What's it got to do with you, Lady Muck? As Plebby here just told us - you two have only just met."
"It's got everything to do with me when you come in here and start being beastly," Katie said hotly.
"Beastly are we?" Isobel said softly. "Let me show you how beastly we can really be." She scooped up Jenny's hat from the seat and with one swift movement punched a hole through the crown. "Oh dear," she said, a satisfied smile on her face, "your hat seems to have had an accident, how sad." She threw the ruined boater back onto the seat.
Jenny stared in horror. Miranda just laughed.
"Lovely to have met you both," Isobel said smoothly, "but we must be off. I think there are some other new girls for us to see before we reach school."
The two prefects turned and headed out into the train corridor.
Jenny sank onto the seat and picked up her hat.
"What on earth am I going to do about this?" she asked.
Katie gave a little shrug. It was obvious that the hat was beyond repair. "I don't know. But I'm sure it will be alright when we get to school."
Jenny wasn't so sure. She knew what schools were like about dress regulations and smart appearance.
They were met off the train and organised onto coaches for the short journey from the station to school. It was the first time Jenny had seen Lilybrook Hall; the pictures in the prospectus hadn't shown much and there hadn't been time to arrange a visit. It all looked rather forbidding. The majority of the buildings were Victorian gothic in style, hardly a welcoming home from home.
Jenny and Katie stuck together, not quite sure what they were expected to do.
"I say, are you the two new girls in Remove?" A tall, pleasant looking prefect with wavy fair hair came walking towards them, a clipboard in her hand.
"Yes," Jenny replied, "I'm Jenny Downley..."
"And I'm Katie Crichton-Stuart," Katie chipped in.
"Excellent. I'm Sally Loveridge, and I'm the Head Girl. Welcome to Lilybrook Hall."
There was a nice warm tone in her voice and her smile was wide and genuine. Jenny and Katie liked her immediately.
"You're both in my house, Eastwood. So if you'd like to come with me I'll show you where your dorm is and introduce to Miss Baxter, our housemistress. Don't worry about your trunks, they'll be brought up to the house shortly."
They followed Sally towards the school. As they walked she told them about their boarding house.
"Eastwood is one of the four houses that are contained within the main school building. There are forty-two girls in the house, from all the year groups. It's a nice friendly house and everyone gets on really well. You'll eat breakfast and supper in house but have your lunch and dinner in the school dining room. Miss Baxter is fairly strict but if you're well-behaved and don't give her any cheek she's alright really. In the Remove you are in shared rooms rather than a big dorm. I've put you in together as you're both new; I hope that's alright?"
The girls grinned at each-other. "That will be lovely," Jenny said, "we only met on the train but we're already firm friends."
They went through the front entrance of the school and then down, what seemed like, a labyrinth of corridors. 'Eastwood' was inscribed on a large white door. Sally pushed it open and they entered an echoing tiled hallway with a set of stairs going up from the middle. Sally took them up to their dorm. It was a clean, plain room furnished with two narrow wardrobes, two desks, and two wardrobes. It didn't look especially comfortable but at least they would be together. Their two trunks had already arrived.
"Excellent, I believe there's tea and cake downstairs in Miss Baxter's sitting room and then you'll be free to unpack your things," Sally told them.
They went back downstairs.
"Hats on," Sally said in a whisper as they crossed the hallway.
Jenny' heart sank as she put her ruined boater on her head. She caught sight of herself in a mirror, it looked ridiculous, the broken crown sticking up at the top. Sally didn't notice. She gave a sharp knock on a door and then led them into the Housemistress's sitting room. There were half a dozen younger girls already there, all of them looking rather shy and overawed. Like Katie and Jenny these girls were new to the school - the youngest year group - the 'shells'.
An older woman was speaking to a small group but she turned to greet the new arrivals. She was tall and thin, her grey hair pulled back into a rather severe bun.
"Ah yes, you must be Crichton-Stuart and Downley. Now who's who?"
"I'm Katherine Crichton-Stuart miss," Katie introduced herself. "How do you do?"
"How do you do?" Miss Baxter shook her hand.
"How do you do, Miss?" Jenny said. "I'm Jennifer Downley."
Miss Baxter greeted her and shook Jenny's hand. Her eyes travelled upwards.
"You seem to have done something to your hat dear," she observed.
Jenny blushed. "I... I had an accident on the train."
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