2 May 2012
It was the day Jack had hoped would never come. He was sitting on his bed stroking Hamish his dog behind the ear. Hamish was a friendly Great Dane and his very special friend. Lia his sister had a tortoise shell cat called Kipper.
He was going to his new school Trenaghan High and the thing that really annoyed Jack was the fact that none of his friends were going to Trenaghan. He was also annoyed that he was going to have to board there because the school was in Cornwall.
Lia was helping Dad get her trunk into the car, while Mum was preparing sandwiches for Lia, Dad and Jack to eat on the way down to Kings Cross Station.
“Come on Jack!” came the sound of Lia’s voice shouting up the stairs, “Dad's put my trunk in the car and is becoming very impatient with you.”
“OK, OK! Keep your wig on. I’ll be down in a second!” Jack retorted.
Jack came down with his ‘GOODIE BOX’ for the tea at school in one hand and in the other his trunk which he was deliberately banging against every step, as he came down.
“You could’ve done that last night, like Lia did, instead of leaving it till this morning.” Dad sighed, “You get in and I’ll put your trunk in for you.”
They were finally on the road.
Jack was in a mood, so nobody was speaking to him, and Lia was talking nineteen-to-the-dozen about how Jack would love Trenaghan, once he’d been there a few days.
Jack sighed inwardly and thought ‘I bet I won’t’, and tuned Lia’s droning voice out of his mind.
On the way to Kings Cross Station they stopped to pick up Lia’s best friend at Trenaghan called Lisa Burton.
They arrived at Kings Cross Station at 1:30p.m., where the school train was waiting for the students.
“Who on the Earth is she?” Jack asked, pointing to a rather nice looking woman with auburn hair, shining blue eyes and spectacularly white teeth.
“Jack, don’t be so rude!” Lia snapped.
“Who is she and what does she teach?” Jack asked again.
“That’s….” Lia began.
“Lia, Lisa nice to see you both. I’d better mark you on the list before I forget.” Miss Potts said.
“Who’s this boy with you both?” asked Miss Potts.
“This is my brother Jack.” Lia answered.
“Well, nice to meet you Jack, I hope you work hard?” said Miss Potts.
And before he could even say anything, “Oh I’m sure he will, he has a good brain when he can be bothered to use it!” answered Lia.
“Good!” said Miss Potts, “Jack, I’m Miss Potts and I am going to be your form mistress this year.” explained Miss Potts “I teach English and I am also House Mistress of Lily Croft House."
“Lia and Lisa, could you please show the Form 1 students to their carriage?” asked Miss Potts.
The train set off at last. Bumping and rocking about. All the Form 1 students were talking and laughing, except Jack, when all of a sudden a blond haired boy and a red haired girl came over to talk to him.
“Hi, can we sit with you?”, the girl asked, “Oh sorry, how rude of us. I’m Samantha (Sammie) Blake and this is Charlie Cook. What’s yours?”, Sammie inquired.
“Oh, mines Jack Richie”, Jack told them.
Charlie suddenly spoke up “Hang on, your sister’s a Rocker Prefect of Form 6. We’ve been told that she became one in Form 2. And that she was the first student in her year and also in about 60 years to have been made one so young."
“Yep you heard correct” laughed Jack “You two got any siblings here?”
“I have” Sammie grinned “Mark Tyler, Form 4 and he’s the only Rocker Prefect of his year. Mark’s got our Dad’s surname and I have our Mum’s."
“I wish I had a sibling, but nope I don’t, although my Mum and Dad were here once. When I got the letter to say that I’d been accepted; well they were so chuffed they wouldn’t stop dancing round the kitchen table doing a sort of Indian dance” Charlie explained.
Suddenly a 17 year old boy came into the Form 1 carriage and calmly spoke over the babble “Could you please all change into your uniform for we will be arriving soon.”
When they arrived at Honey Mead Station they were taken by coach up to the school.
“Jack, look to your left, do you see it on the cliff” Charlie exclaimed in his ear.
They finally reached the yard and from there were ushered into the Dining Hall, where the house tables were situated. Those in House Group Cliffort sat together and so on.
Suddenly, out of nowhere Max Zurch shouted “Lia, where’s your brother, Jack, tell him to sign up for all the sports trials this week.”
“Max” boomed Mr Kenninghall “Hold your tongue for once. Oh, hang on, I must have forgotten over the summer, that you of all people can’t hold your tongue at the best of times.”
Then suddenly, the Dining Hall was ringing with the sound of laughter, and then again the sound of the Mr Kenninghall’s voice “I have only got one word to say to you lot and that is, BEGIN” he boomed.
The feast ended and all the students trooped up to their dormitories.
The Form 1 students were shown to their dorms by their House Captains.
Jack, Charlie and Sammie were all in Lily Croft House. Jack was in the same House as his sister Lia and Sammie was in the same House as her brother Mark Tyler.
The boys and girls each had separate dorms and were not allowed in each others dormitories.
Jack woke with a start as he heard the sound of a bell ringing. He sat up and looked around to see everyone in the dormitory sitting up in bed as well and looking extremely tired.
A boy came in wearing a Yellow Prefect Badge, a Silver Rocker Prefect Badge and a White Year Prefect Badge on his blazer and he also wore the Lily Croft House tie which was Yellow with Silver stripes on it.
“Hi, I’m Chad Roberts of Lily Croft House, which is the Yellow House. This year we really want to win the House Cup. Lia Richie is the other Form 6 Prefect of Lily Croft House as well as a Rocker Prefect. There are also two Form 7 Prefects of Lily Croft House called Chad Phillips and Amanda Fox Our House Captains are Louise Lock and Jamie Lee” Chad explained to them all, “Now come on, get dressed and then I’ll take you all down to breakfast."
Out in the corridor Charlie and Jack met Sammie who looked as bright as a button which was more than could be said for Charlie and Jack whose minds were still in bed.
“Hey Lia, do you know which House your brother's in?" Chad called to her over the heads of the chattering Form 1 students, who were now blocking the corridor for all those older students who had had breakfast and were coming upstairs to get ready for the first day back.
“To be truthful with you, I do, he’s standing just behind you, so I’m guessing he’s got to be in Lily Croft House” Lia answered sarcastically.
That morning they got their timetables from Miss Potts. MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY Maths (Mr Wilkins) Geography (Mr Kenninghall) History (Miss Laykie) Latin (Mrs Kettle-Bourough) Religious Education (Miss Jenkins) French (Mamzelle Juno) ART (Miss Pyrus) French (Monsieur Graymer) Geography (Mr Kenninghall) Physical Education (Miss Roberts) English (Miss Potts) Physical Education (Mr Lancus) Maths (Mr Wilkins) English (Miss Potts) History (Miss Laykie) PREP PREP PREP PREP PREP Maths Geography History Latin R.E. French ART French Geography P.E. English P.E. Maths English History
Their first lesson that day was Maths with Mr Wilkins. Jack and Charlie were told to be quiet four times and Sammie sat by the window where she could see the gardeners at work when class got too dull.
Sammie should have been sat at the front because she had A.D.D. (Attention Deficit Disorder) which meant that she found it hard to concentrate, but when she could she got out of it.
At lunch Jack sat with Charlie and Sammie. They had just started eating their meal when the boy called Max, who had shouted to Jack’s sister the night before in the Dining Hall, came over and said “Hope you’ve put your name down for all the sports trials. The school needs someone like you on the hockey team.”
Jack turned around, a bit baffled by what he’d just heard. Max then continued talking, saying “Sammie and Charlie, you’d also better sign up as well. We need a really strong team this year, especially for Form 1. Last years' Form 1 was disastrous. Lost every match they played. We were bottom of the league thanks to them whereas usually we come top.”
They were in PREP that evening and Jack was sitting next to Max, who Lia had finally introduced him to when she asked how his first day was going.
Miss Potts was in the PREP ROOM that evening and she came in to find the students all shouting over each other. She immediately called for silence which came almost instantly.
Then she said calmly “Sit. Now I’m going to put you all in assigned seats….”
There was a loud crash from outside the room, which sounded like textbooks crashing to the ground. A cry of “Owwww” followed, and Miss Potts went out to investigate.
When she came back in she was followed by a boy who had a Silver Rocker Prefect Badge on his blazer. The boy winked at Sammie and Jack guessed that that must be Sammie’s brother. ‘What was his name now? Oh yes, I remember, Mark Tyler.’
“Now where was I“, Miss Potts continued “Oh yes, seats. Yes. You will all be assigned seats which I will put you in now.”
Max bent his head down a little and whispered in Jack’s ear “We’ve never had a seating plan before in the PREP ROOM. I bet you that it’s been made up for all those who can’t stop talking, have A.D.D or A.D.H.D and just normally misbehave.”
“Are you done conferring with Jack, Max, because if you are I’ll get on and start putting you all in your seats” said Miss Potts exasperated.
Max looked at the ground smiling “Sorry” he mumbled.
“Max don’t you dare smile or think it’s funny because I’ve just about had as much as I can take of you to last me a life time and it’s only the first day. You were talking all the way through English and I don’t need you giving Master Richie here any of your bad habits.” Miss Potts sighed.
“Sorry.” Max mumbled again.
Miss Potts
Jack Richie at Trenaghan High • Opuss № I