Maddox Academy: Grievous Beginnings - Wattys 2022 Shortlister

Chapter Thirty-Eight - Don't Interrogate Friends

Mum had prepared a lot of food.

And when I say a lot of food, I mean a lot. It looked as though she had raided our entire house and put together enough sandwiches to feed an army, a small army, but an army, nonetheless. Why she had packed so much remained a mystery, or where it had even come from, but I was glad for it. To be honest, my parents just being able to turn up was a relief. They didn't even need the picnic as far as I was concerned.

We sat around the picnic blanket, tucking into the sandwiches and the lemonade that they had also brought. Katie and Jo seemed fascinated by Mum's job as a secretary and Dad had almost a million different questions as to what life at Maddox had been like. I left out everything to do with Victoria and instead told him all about the lessons, including being moved into the fifth-year history class.

"What does that mean for next year? If you have already studied the material for fifth-year?" Dad asked.

"No idea. They'll probably just put me back in with my year group and I'll spend the last half of the year going over exactly what I learnt this year. It was only the last few months anyway. I missed a fair amount."

"You know most of it, though. You were helping me out with Greece before you were in our lessons. I bet you already know the entire year's syllabus already," Katie said.

"Shh, don't reveal my secrets."

"Secrets? Oh, like how you can't play badminton?"

"That's not a secret." I raised my eyebrows at her.

"I know." Katie laughed. /

"How did you three meet, exactly? I didn't think the year groups mixed very often," Mum asked. I gave her a glare for asking such a question. She always used to mention how limited my friend circle was, I didn't see why she felt the need to question the fact that I had more than one friend.

"If I remember, I almost walked into them on my second day."

"Yes, yes you did. We were on our way down to Lacrosse practice when we met. None of us were paying attention," Jo added.

"That and they were the only people willing to say more than a few words to me. There's a lot of ego's here."

"Blondie?" Michael asked.

"Blondie," I confirmed.

I looked across the grass to Victoria who sat amongst her family and had also been joined by Dorothy and Louise, the entire group taking up a large area of the grounds. It surprised me just how different Victoria looked from her two older sisters and the younger sister who was running around like a headless chicken. Her sister's both had short hair, one covered it with a hat, and they were both following the youngest around whilst Victoria watched, looking less than impressed with the way they were behaving.

All siblings had their differences, even Michael and I both liked different things and acted differently, but from what I had heard, Victoria was nothing like her older sisters. Grace had told me that Emily, the second oldest, had been head girl during her time at Maddox and had been supportive of everyone. She had been an ear for anyone who might have needed it and never put anyone down. Katie's sister Helen had gone to Maddox with the eldest, also nothing like Victoria.

Even the youngest one seemed to be less like Victoria and more like a normal girl. I couldn't picture Victoria running around like that when she was a girl. In fact, I couldn't even picture Victoria being a girl, at least not in the usual sense. She reminded me of my Grandmother. Someone who seemed to have been born knowing the rules of being a lady, complete with a floor-length dress and mint humbugs in her purse.