Emma's Six

School Reunion

September 2006

I am waiting for Mr Finch, the new headmaster at Deffry Vale Comprehensive, to open his blue office door and let me in. All the office doors have the Deffry Vale crest on it, and the classroom doors, at least the ones I saw, have the names of classes on them. I am waiting for my new timetable. Why is he not opening the door?

As I wait, I open my new book. It is a biography on Jane Seymour. Even after all these years, I never lost interest in Henry VIII's wives. I never thought that Jane's life would be entertaining, but this biography is proving me wrong. What I initially thought about the queen was only scratching the surface. As I am getting into it, Mr Finch opens the door. I notice that he has dark brown hair with grey streaks and blue eyes. 'Emma. Sorry, am I disrupting something?'
'No, sir,' I say as I put my book away. 'Sorry, sir.'
'Nothing to apologise about, Emma. What were you reading?' He leads me into his office.
'I was reading about Jane Seymour, Henry VIII's third wife. The biography is proving that her life is more interesting than most historians think.' Mr Finch gestures me to sit down, and I sit on the chair opposite his desk.
'At least you are a student. Some people like to mess about, but that is not the case with Deffry Vale. We pride ourselves in taking the highest responsibility with our students' work and getting the highest grades.'
'Yes, since you became headmaster, grades improved drastically, that's why my mums wanted me to transfer.' Mr Finch smiles.
'Here is your timetable, and I included a map of the school to help you find your way.'
'Thank you, sir.' I stand up to leave. 'Have a nice day, sir.'
'You too, Emma.' I leave his office before glancing down at my timetable. I have history first, and I use my map to navigate through the vast school.

When I reach the classroom, I find I am the first student there, or I'm the last, and the lesson ended. The teacher smiles when I walk into class. 'Emma, you're early. Take a seat. We're learning about the six wives of Henry VIII.'
'That's great; I love learning about the six wives. I started researching about them when I was little.' The teacher smiles as she begins sorting out a book for me. 'I want you to write your name, year and teacher on here, okay?' I nod, and she points to an empty seat where I will sit for however long I'll be here.

The other students begin filing in, and she starts teaching the lesson. 'For your homework, I want you to complete a project on Henry VIII's wives. It can be in any format you like, a poster, a presentation, even a song if you think you can manage it.' I'm not musically talented, but I think I have an idea for a song. If I had many friends, I could ask some of them to help. As such, I am the new student with no friends, and will probably get labelled as a weirdo or a freak. I won't let that happen again.
'Does it have to be all of them, or can we focus on one of them?' A student asks.
'If you have a preferred wife, you can work on her. Otherwise, I would prefer you to work on all of them, Kenny.' I pull another book out of my bag, about Katherine of Aragon this time. I skip to the end to find out what I wanted when I find something that none of the other biographies talked about.

Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn married on the 18th May 1536. Few people attended, but those that did included Mary and Elizabeth, their daughters, and Emma Smith-White, their maid-of-honour. Emma would later become Queen of England and resurrect both women, Jane Seymour and Katheryn Howard.

Married? How is that possible? And why am I mentioned? It must be a coincidence, surely? Wait, I can resurrect people? The bell rings for lunch, and we go to the cafeteria. I will continue my research once I finished. If my name is in that biography, the other biographies on Anne Boleyn, Katherine of Aragon and Jane Seymour must mention it somewhere. I collect a tray, and the dinner ladies are serving chips, fish, beans, and crumble. I'm sure people will get bored of chips if the headmaster keeps serving them at meals. I sit on my own, close to a teacher, as I haven't made any friends yet. He has brown hair that sticks up all over the place, brown eyes and is wearing a brown striped suit with a tie.