Maddox Academy: Grievous Beginnings - Wattys 2022 Shortlister

Chapter Twenty-Six - Pocketbooks Are Full Of Secrets

I couldn't shake the thought from my mind.

Everywhere I went it seemed to follow me and I couldn't even look at Katie without it rushing to the forefront of my mint and being the only thing I could think of. It became impossible for me to focus on anything, and that's saying something since my attention span had always been bad. With that and the added pressure of the project presentations, it felt as though I spent most of my time spinning the bracelet around my wrist rather than doing work.

My right wrist had been aching continuously and showed no sign of letting up. Katie had suggested I go and speak to Miss Jones after she caught me flexing it, but I knew it wouldn't have done anything. Mum used to get an ache in her shoulder when she got stressed and I figured this was the same thing, it just happened to coincide with an injury. All I had to do was find a way to clear my head and it would stop. I hoped.

Michael's notebook had come in handy a lot more than he would probably ever know. I spent one Friday evening scribbling away in the book, writing down everything that went through my head. By the time I felt some semblance of calm, I had filed almost four pages with nothing but incoherent rambling. Some of it related to my feelings for Katie whilst some were just history facts that I couldn't shake. Both facts I would use in my project and those that were now obsolete continued to swirl around my head. I hoped writing them down would get them out.

"What are you doing?" Emma asked, dropping her bag onto the pool and pulling out an empty ink bottle.

"Writing," I said.

"Anything of interest?"

"Not really."

I continued to scribble in the book, knowing she was watching me from her bed. Since her decision to back Victoria in her second accusation against me, I hadn't spoken to her and I hadn't trusted her with anything. The last thing I wanted was to say something to her and have her go speeding off to Victoria to tell her everything I had said so she could use it against me. Perhaps it was just me being paranoid, but I didn't want anything to do with Victoria, and the included everyone I shared a dormitory with.

"Did I do something?" She dropped herself down on the bed.

"Other than agreeing with Victoria and going along her lies? Nothing. Nothing at all."

She sighed. "I never actually agreed with her, I didn't say anything, Mrs Maddox just assumed. The same with Rose and Barbara. I wanted to tell her the truth. We all did, but Victoria has this way of getting inside people's heads."

"So you'd rather get into trouble then Victoria turn against you?" I closed the notebook and threw it to the end of my bed.

"It's not like that, Felicity. I already have a mark against my name as far as Mrs Maddox is concerned, one more and I'm up before the expulsion panel and out of here. Victoria has something against all of us, that's mine. They don't need me like they need you. You know, the bed you took belonged to a girl called Jane who got on the wrong side of Victoria. Within two days, she was gone."

The dormitory fell silent except for the birds outside. Emma looked at me, her face unreadable. I swung my legs over the side of my bed. Outside, I could hear the girls on the grounds giggling and laughing amongst each other in the afternoon sun. Somewhere out there was Victoria, no doubt lounging on the grass with Dorothy and Louise. If Victoria had something on all of them, I started to wonder if they were really her friends.

"They only go along with it because she has something on them?" I asked.

"Yes. She has this pocketbook she keeps in her blazer pocket. No one has tried to take it from her, so we don't know what's in there. For all we know, it's empty."