Panic

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

            “Wendy, wake up,” Theodora said.

            I rolled over and looked up at the small girl standing over me.  “Already?” I asked.

            “Yes, breakfast is served at nine and it’s nearly half past eight,” Theodora said, pulling my bedcovers back.  “Come on, we have to go.”

            I swung my feet out of bed and stood up.  Celina had already picked out a yellow morning gown with a high lace collar and white ribbon accents.  “Here,” she said, handing it to me along with my shift.  “Put that on, quickly.”

            “No corset?” I asked.

            “No, I meant put the shift on quickly, goosey,” Celina said.  She, of course, already looked immaculate in a light green morning gown with matching green cloth flowers all over it.  I obeyed, quickly putting the shift on, and Celina laced up my corset, much looser than it had been the night before.  “You don’t need to look beautiful,” Celina said, “you just need to have decent posture.”

            “Thanks,” I said with a grin. 

            “Come on,” Celina said.  “We’ve still got to do your hair.”

            Twenty minutes later, Celina deemed me ready to go to breakfast.  Together, the ten girls from our dormitory walked down the staircase and travelled to the morning room.  The morning room was peach coloured, with flowered wallpaper and a long, glossy wooden table.  Celina explained that we always took breakfast with the rest of the school in the morning room.  Theodora led me to my place at the table, and I sat down. 

            “We’re always the first dormitory here in the morning,” Celina said in a hushed voice.  “Blair insists.”

            “It’s nine o’ clock,” I said.  “Certainly the other girls can’t be that far behind.”

            “Breakfast actually starts at nine fifteen,” Celina said.  “But Blair tells all of us that it starts at nine.  She thinks it’s good to be early.”

            I raised an eyebrow.  “That sounds like a very Blair-ly way of thinking,” I responded.

            We only had to wait a few minutes before the other girls arrived.  Last night at dinner, I hadn’t really been paying attention to the other students, but it appeared that there were quite a few of them.  Some girls were older than I, and some were younger.  One girl dressed in blue caught my eye.  She had brown curls, and brown eyes.   She couldn’t have been older than twelve.  She saw me looking at her, and gave a small wave.  I waved back and smiled.  She smiled back, dimples showing. 

            Miss Primrose entered, and all the girls stood.  Celina wacked my arm as she stood, and I hastily stood up with the other girls.  “Good morning ladies,” Miss Primrose said.

            “Good morning Miss Primrose,” all the girls around me chorused. 

            “Please, be seated,” Miss Primrose said, and we all sat down. Miss Primrose rang a small silver bell, and several girls older than I entered the room, carrying plates of food.  A place was set in front of me, and I turned around to look into the face of the maid who had put it there.  She had a timid sort of face, but had very comely grey eyes.  “Thank you,” I said.

            She bobbed her head, and continued to serve the other girls.  Celina leaned over.  “You know you don’t have to thank the servants, don’t you?”