Maddox Academy: Grievous Beginnings - Wattys 2022 Shortlister

Chapter Ten - Money Cannot Buy Class

I awoke the next morning to Katie's spare dress at the end of my bed.

Miss Jones had banned me from going running the previous day and I knew Katie must have slipped in to leave it for me before she went to Lacrosse practice. My mind had already started to move a mile a minute without the run. I gathered up the dress and an extra pair of socks, pushed my blankets off my legs and crossed to the bathroom. I changed into Katie's dress, somewhat pleased that it fit me, albeit a little bit on the shoulders. My shoes had been dried overnight so I simply put them back on.

My mind went to the night before as I lightly brushed my fingers over my dress to smooth it out. Even as I fell asleep, my mind had stayed on how I had felt with Katie. The way my stomach fluttered as though I had swallowed a million butterflies, how my heart seemed to speed up every time our fingers touched. I didn't understand what it had meant or why it had happened. It had never happened before, with anyone. It was an unknown.

I shook my head and my fingers through my hair, attempting to smooth it out but it still stuck out in different angles. My hairbrush was still in the dormitory so I would have to contend with trying to get it to flatten out until I could brush it. Miss Jones returned not long after I had stepped out of the bathroom and set about putting the bed to rights. She watched me fold down the corners and smooth the blanket exactly as the other beds had been.

"From the way you're dressed, I'm assuming I cannot talk you out of having another day here? Just in case?" she said.

"No. I don't like missing class, Besides, I'm fine." I knotted my hands in front of me to try and contain my energy.

"Hm, you seem alright I suppose, and your temperature was normal last night. If a little on the cold side."

"I'm a lizard."

She laughed. "If you say so. I need to wake the other fourth years, so you are welcome to accompany me to the dormitory to run a brush through your hair and collect whatever books you need."

Miss Jones turned to the cupboard beside the door and pulled out a set of keys on a hoop which she attached to her belt. I gathered up my bag along with the schoolwork I had completed the night before, tucking them inside and throwing my bag onto my shoulder. With the keys on her belt, I followed Miss Jones out of the door and back through the dark corridor.

We stepped out into the entranceway and I had to blink a few times to allow my eyes to adjust to the sunlight that streamed in through the stained glass window. The sunlight created a kaleidoscope of colour across the main staircase. Patches of red, green and yellow danced across the staircase, they seemed to ripple like water. It reminded me of the church we used to go to where I would spend the entire sermon watching the light dance through the glass rather than pay attention. My mind wandered too much for church.

That it didn't make all that much sense to me. It was a little contradictory.

I followed Miss Jones up the stairs, pulling my attention away from the colour that filled the entranceway. We walked down the hall and up the second set of stairs to the dormitory where Miss Jones started the arduous task of waking everyone up. In my few weeks at Maddox, I had learnt that no one liked being woken up in the morning and they would often spend two or three minutes complaining. Even Victoria despised the early morning wakeups.

With Miss Jones setting about waking everyone up, I walked down the length of the beds to my own and ran my brush through my hair. Since I hadn't combed it out after falling into the pool, my hair was pretty much made of knots and tangles and it took a lot of force to smooth it out. I secured it into a plait with the ribbon just as the other girls started to stir.