The School of Adventure

by Beecharmer

Summary:

This is in the All Change Universe, but I have tried to make it reasonably clear what is going on so that people who haven't been part of the All Change madness as it went along can perhaps start here and just check back in the first story as and when they want to do so. Again was written as short chunks with readers controlling some of the story direction, so some moments don’t make sense to me either, best thing is to just roll with it!

I am not very good at seeing characters in a straight light, so while there will be nothing explicit, there will be gay relationships in this story. A lot. Nothing dodgy though.

So let the madness begin !! This is starting a few weeks before the last scenes of All Change.

I am going to do a Jilly Cooper and put a character list on the first page but this may give slight spoilers, though not too many hopefully.

Chapter 1

A brief introduction : -

The Triplets (mainly Len) have started a school at Kirren Bay. Their main students so far are children of young adventurers, and relations such as Felix and Felicity Maynard, Kevin and Kester Russell and Len's own step children, John and Josie Kirren (also twins)

The school is set up for both mainstream education and also alternative approaches to keep the young adventurers interested. It is also to have an emphasis on skills for escaping adventurous situations.

There are a lot of characters from the original
Chalet school, as well as many from Enid Blyton.

There are also some characters who I have made up, so if you are struggling to guess the crossover, check with me, as there may well not be one!

The timing of this story is approx 1963 to 1964

———— - —-

DON’T NEED TO READ BELOW UNLESSS YOU GET CONFUSED BY THE MASSES OF CHARACTERS!

IF HAVEN’T READ ALL CHANGE THEN CHARACTER SUMMARIES BELOW SHOULD TELL ALL NEEDED, THOUGH MAY GET SOME SPOILERS.

Character list and Summary for All Change madness and The School of Adventure

I do know the storyline of All Change was a bit bananas, even I look back and go eh?? on occasion. Therefore I thought this might be useful if I do mention past situations in the new drabbles, since the characters are often based on other children's stories.

Also it is quite fun writing and reading the summaries I think, reminds me at least of having people giving me the characters that they remembered loving as a child, and the challenge I set myself to fit them all in!

Therefore if you don't want spoilers for School of Adventure etc bear that in mind if you read now then come back for a re read later - this may change over time.

KIRRENS

Ge (George) Kirren : Partnered with Len. Is parent to John and Josie Kirren. Approx 33 at time of new school. Character originally from Famous Five. Ge has history with quite a lot of characters due to a busy couple of years as a teenager !

First experience with Kathy Ferrars, who is a couple of years older, and was a prefect at George's school. They were only together about a term, but remained good friends after that.

First relationship was Dinah Mannering / Trent, lasted a few terms, but they drifted apart once George left school. They are now very good friends and always look out for each other.

First love was Gypsy Jo, who was also from Famous Five series. Jo was in love with George, but found out about her and Dinah, and on the rebound ended up in a brief relationship with Dick Kirren.

Jo ended up pregnant with the twins, Dick didn't believe the twins were his and denied any involvement, while George knew Jo wouldn't lie about this. George ended up split from her family for some time because of this. Jo later died, when the twins were about 3 and Ge has been their sole parent since then, other than more recent minor involvement from Dick.

Ge also had a brief no strings attached fling with Tom Gay, a few years before meeting Len.

Finally, Ge ends up with Len Maynard. They decide to start the new School as Len is having to travel so far to work, also the farm is struggling to make ends meet.

John and Josie Kirren : Ge's children, as explained above. Josie is very spirited, and still gets jealous of Len getting Ge's attention sometimes. John is calmer and gets on with Len better than Josie does. They are good friends with Felix and Felicity Maynard, and Kevin and Kester Russell. Also consider Anne's children as their cousins, and are good friends with the eldest Gerry Seymour.

Dick / Richie Kirren : First love Gypsy Jo, then later partnered with and engaged to Margot Maynard. Famous Actor and provided support and finance for the new school. Cousin of Ge Kirren, brother to Anne and Julian.

Julian Kirren : Originally Famous Five, brother of Dick and Anne, cousin of Ge. Drawing and Art Master at the new school. No partner as yet.

Anne Seymour (Nee Kirren) : Anne married Guy Seymour, who is a minor character from Famous Five. He is an archaologist, so they end up travelling around the world a lot. She has three children, Gerry, Sam and Rosie, who are students at the new school.

Gerry Seymour : Anne's son, aged about 13 at start of new school. Highly imaginative, used to travelling around with his father's work. Great friends with John and Josie Kirren.

Sam Seymour : Anne's second son. Aged about 9 at start of new school. Good at Codes and Puzzles.

Rosie Seymour : Anne's daughter. Aged about 8 at start of the school. Tomboy, great friends with Maggie Arnold. Sees Ge and Lucy Ann as like Aunts to her, Julian and Dick as Uncles.

Fanny Kirren : Ge's mother (Aunt Fanny in the Famous Five books) and considers herself John and Josie's grandmother. Has had to care for Ge's father Quentin through progressive dementia.

MAYNARDS

Len Maynard : Partnered with Ge Kirren, they get together a few years after Len leaving school. Len is step parent to twins John and Josie Kirren. Teaches Languages. In school had crush on Prunella, though didn't realise till later that that was what it was. Approx 24 at start of new school.

Con Maynard : Partnered with Ted Grantley. They got together aged about 17 ish, and have been together ever since. Con writes and teaches English and sometimes History part time to support herself. Approx 24 at start of new school.

Margot Maynard : Initially together with Reg Entwhistle, then split up with him and is now engaged to Richie / Dick Kirren, of Famous Five. Margot is training to be a doctor. Margot is also incredibly annoying to write as she almost never does what I planned for her. Approx 24 at the start of the new school.

Felix and Felicity Maynard. Pupils of the new school. Are great friends with John and Josie Kirren, and Kevin and Kester Russell. Approx 13 at the start of the new school.

Jack and Joey Maynard. Parents of the Triplets plus many other children, from The Chalet School Series. Not a big part of this story.

Ted Grantley : Although not an official Maynard, she has spent so much time with them, and been with Con so long that she is part of the family. Teaches languages.

Ruey Richardson : Teaches PE at the new school.

Madge Russell : Started the Chalet School, sister to Joey Maynard, Aunt to the Triplets Len, Con and Margot.

Kevin and Kester Russell. Madge's twins, full of energy, about 13 at start of ISAY School. Kevin is the more energetic, and loves animals. They have been very ill and unhappy at their previous school, which is one reason for allowing them to join the new school. They are also great friends with John and Josie Kirren, and Felix and Felicity. They all band together where possible and pretend on occassion to be triplets.

 

TRENT/MANNERING AND ARNOLD FAMILIES

Dinah Trent (nee Mannering) : Partnered with Tom Gay.

Initially from Enid Blyton's Adventure Series. Sister to Phillip Mannering, adopted sIster to Jack and Lucy Ann Trent. Daughter of Allie Mannering / Cunningham, Step daughter of Bill Cunningham.

First relationship with George Kirren, at school. They drift apart after Ge leaves school.

On / off relationship for couple of years with Nora Arnold, who choses Prince Paul instead and marries him.

No serious relationship after that until meets Tom Gay.

Is a doctor at a nearby hospital, and trained at the same place as Daisy Venables.

Jack Trent : Lucy Ann's brother, adopted brother to Phillip and Dinah. Ornithologist. Has parrot called Kiki. Close friends with Ge Kirren, lives nearby.

Phillip Mannering : Dinah's brother, Adopted brother to Jack and Lucy Ann. Zoologist.

Lucy Ann Arnold (nee Trent)

Sister to Jack, adopted sIster to Phillip and Dinah. Married to Mike Arnold (from Enid Blyton's secret series.) Two children, Maggie and ?

Lucy Ann is a martial arts expert and is house mistress at the new school.

Mike Arnold : From Enid Blyton's secret series. Brother to Nora and Peggy, adopted brother to Jack Arnold. Loves to fly airoplanes. Was caught as a 16 year old apparently breaking and entering when attempting to stop some criminal activity, so ended up with a criminal record which has hampered his career prospects and initially gave him a bad boy reputation. Is now housemaster at the new school.

Maggie Arnold : Mike and Lucy Ann's daughter. About 10. Close friend of Rosie and Sam Seymour.

Peggy Trottville (nee Arnold) Mike and Nora's brother, from Secret series. Married to Frederick (Fatty) Trottville from Enid Blyton's Five Find Outers Mystery series. Has a son Jenks.

Freddie (Fatty) Trottville : Married to Peggy Arnold. Works for secret service and has passed on his self confidence to his son Jenks.

Jenks Trottville: Son of Peggy and Freddie Trottville. Very proud of his father, tends to be over confident. Aged about 9 at beginning of new school.

Nora Baronia (nee Arnold) : Married to King Paul of Baronia, who grew up spending most of his holidays with the Arnolds. Nora had an on off relationship with Dinah but does love Paul. Has a son Alonysius, who is known as Lony.

Lony Baronia : New pupil to the school. Has body guards Ranni and Pilescu around him most of the time.

Sam Harbottle.

Sam is a chemistry teacher, with a passion for his subject and other aspects of science. This is his first school post, and he was recomended to the School by Roddie Richardson. He is about 22 at the start of the new school. He is eccentric but good at teaching. He is also on the literal side in conversations, and has a tendancy to get distracted. There is a possibility that old friends of Beecharmer might well recognise a certain amount of the author in aspects of Sam...

Anton Biddle

Antony Biddle - relative of Cornelia Flower. American, comes from eccentric family who are boxing missionaries and have pet alligators in the house. Based on the family Biddle in Disney's "The Happiest Millionaire" but isn't any particular character from the film.

Sally Tall hockey mad girl from the closed school. Fourteen and a half at start of ISAY School.

Jane Girl from the closed school. Fourteen at start lf ISAY school. Has a clear voice.

Nancy and Kathy : Heads of the new School. Kathy is about 33 at start of the school, Nancy about 45. In this universe Nancy has had a brief rationship in the past with Nell Wilson, and they are now just good friends. Kathy went to school with Ge Kirren and had a brief relationshio with Ge when they were both around 16/17, before Ge got together with Dinah. The older Platz staff knew about Nancy and Kathy, but the newer ones didn't, meaning that they were constantly having to hide. Len and Con asked Nancy and Kathy's advice about coming out to their parents.

Nell Wilson - The Platz became too severe in winter for her with her old injuries. Is in her mid fifties in School of

Charlie (Con) Stewert /Mackenzie. - Jock has died, her children grown up and she is back in UK and teaches History. In her mid fifties.

Amy Stevens - Divorced, poet living at commune nearby, two children. Rather lost track of Amy's story but she is there !!

Tom Gay - with Dinah Trent, had brief fling with Clem Barrass, and then Ge Kirren. Teaches Woodwork and Latin in the new school. Made to stop her work with boys due to people finding out and not being willing to lie about her relationship with Dinah. Best friends with Bride Bettany.

Bride Bettany - lives near to the farm, looks out for her young cousins.

Tony Barrass - With Mary Lou Trelawny. They kept the relationship a secret to begin with as worried people would see them as being too close in relationship since he lived with the family.

Mary Lou Trelawny - with Tony Barras. See above ! Looks out for the Triplets and finds out about Reg and Margot quite early on.

Reg Entwhistle - Loved Margot and ended up breaking off engagement to Len in order to be with Margot. Became quite restrictive and refused to realise Margot's changing feelings.

Chapter 2

Joey Maynard looked around her at the piles of belongings. An excited Felix and Felicity were collecting possessions, and trying to convince her that the list given by the school ought to be seen as guidelines rather than rules.

Well experienced in this with all of her children, Joey was successfully ignoring this, and was reading the list again while absently removing forbidden items as they magically turned up under those already packed.

----------

Note attached to List

 

Dearest Mamma,

I know that you have packed for school plenty of times before, but there are some differences, so I have enclosed the packing list for Felix and Felicity.

Things are going well here, we have all of the building work done, and the new staff are all starting to move in and get to know each other.

It really is starting to look like a school! We have a gymnasium now, and even some trampolines. We are having to keep them locked up however, since they were expensive, and there is apparently a trend for gym equipment theft at present.

I have enclosed our prospectus, just because I wanted to show you. It is starting to make it feel very real, now that we are so close to the start of term. I do hope that this works !

I will write more later, things are a bit hectic at present. Send our love to everyone there, and let Steve know that he owes me a letter.

Love,

Len

------------

Joey put the prospectus aside for now, intent on a deeper read later. She concentrated on the list.

Extra Equipment list.

All items must be clearly marked with name or initials.

One pair boxing gloves, clearly marked. Gloves can be provided, however wherever possible we would prefer students to bring their own.

Strong rope, clearly marked, of a size to be wrapped around waist, strong enough to hold weight of student, ideally between 15 and 25 feet.

Pocket knife with initials clearly marked. Ideally with integral tin opener.

Own tinopener, clearly marked, if not present in pocket knife.

Rubber soled shoes 3 pairs, clearly marked.

Sailing oilskins / suitable attire. Life jackets will be provided, however if student has their own, they may bring them, clearly marked.

Rug x 2, clearly marked. Ideally thick enough to be used for all and any purpose. As a guide to size - needs to be able to cover a bed made from Heather.

Guide / Scout uniform and associated Equipment, clearly marked.

Other equipment as required will be provided by the school.

-----------

 

" Most of this is pretty straightforward," she said to the twins, at the same time reaching out to Felix's case and removing the huge book of jokes and tricks he was trying to hide in his clothes.

"The main thing we need to arrange is some boxing gloves for you Felicity. Felix, can you go and find the ones that you and your brothers have grown out of, and we can try some on.

Felix ran off, chortling to himself at the idea of Felicity in boxing gloves. His twin wasn't looking thrilled at the idea at all, and tried to convince her mother not to pack any.

" Mamma, do I really need them? I want to be a dancer, I don't want to be a boxer. Why can't it just be the boys that box?"

Joey sighed. "We've been through this before, and I am not starting this now. You asked to go to Len's school, so whether you like the idea or not you will be doing boxing training. The new Scripture teacher is going to use it as part of your scripture lessons and for general fitness. You know that they won't expect you to fight. You will be learning dance too, as an extra, so just try some of those on, and stop fussing. "

She turned her concentration back to the packing, while Felix and Felicity started trying on the gloves. Felicity started to cheer up at the fun of playing mock fighting with Felix, since her dancing ability actually gave her an advantage in the sparring.

——

Madge Russell was at the same time looking at the equipment list for Kevin and Kester. The two of them were having a fight over which of them owned a particularly sharp pocket knife, and were paying absolutely no attention to her or the packing.

She moved two new climbing ropes to the extra equipment pile, while slightly wondering quite what type of school her niece was planning to run.

However, as she looked at the boys having a scuffle over the knife, she was sure that it was the right thing to do. They had been very ill and not totally happy at their previous school. Since finding out that they were to go to school with their great friends John and Josie Kirren, they had perked up remarkably well.

John and Josie were like cousins to the boys, since they were Len's stepchildren, and similar in age. They lived with Len and their mother at Kirren Farm, which had recently been converted to house the school. The three sets of twins had become inseparable at family gatherings and were a real sight to see, with fair Felix and Felicity, dark John and Josie and then the mixture that was Kevin and Kester. They frequently tried to convince people that they were actually two sets of triplets, often with great success.

Madge looked back at the list and solved the twin's argument by declaring that they both needed new pocket knives anyway, since their current ones did not have a tin opener and were rather the worse for wear.

They went off in great excitement, dreaming of huge complicated knives with every option known to man. Madge breathed a sigh of relief to have some peace and quiet and continued checking that everything was clearly marked.

--------------

Back in Switzerland, Joey had finally finished packing. A pair of Felix's old gloves had fitted Felicity, and everything was clearly marked. As she made her way downstairs with the unwanted boxing gloves balanced precariously in her arms, the doorbell rang, and she went to answer it.

" Hilda! How lovely to see you." she said. " To what do we owe this honour?"

Hilda Annersley stepped into the house and retrieved one of the pairs of boxing gloves from the floor behind Joey.

" I was just wondering if you had heard from
Nell. It seems she is going to go ahead with the idea of working at this new school" said Hilda.

Joey looked quickly up at her friend's face. Hilda never showed her emotions much, but today her face looked troubled and there was a tiny frown on her brow.

Joey led Hilda to the salon and headed off to the kitchen to arrange some tea. Hilda sat, lost in her own thoughts. She noticed a copy of the new school's prospectus on the table in front of her, and began to read.

------------
Prospectus

Island School for Adventurous Youth

Contents

1. Introduction to the School

2. Why chose the I.S.A.Y for your child?

3. A view around the school.

4. Our location and Extra activities available

5. Non curricular activities

6. Meet our staff.

7. Arranging to visit.

8. Dealing with security issues.

9. Fees and administrative details.

------------

1. An introduction to the School

The mainstream school system is not always suitable for all students. The founders of the I.S.A.Y school have a mission to provide a rounded education in both academic skills and practical skills.

Specific skills and mentoring for children with a tendency to adventures is a key focus for the school.

2. Why chose the I.S.A.Y for your child?

The school provides all aspects of the standard curriculum. In addition to this, specialist instructors are available to focus your child in whatever direction most suits them.

The small size of the school allows us to give each child individual attention. Where conventional teaching methods are not engaging a child, the staff will arrange a personal schedule to help that child achieve their full potential.

Our location on a working farm allows for fresh home grown food. There is ample opportunity for physical exercise both around the ground and in the local bay. A nearby Island is associated with the school founders, and therefore can provide a safe base for sailing and other outdoor activities.

3. A view around the school

The school is separated into single sex houses, with individual cubicles for each student.

We have a fully equipped gymnasium with trampolines and full selection of safety equipment.

4. Our location and Extra activities available

The School is located in Kirren Bay, as part of a working farm.

The location of the school means that climbing, sailing and general adventure skills can be easily encorporated into the curriculum. The location also makes privacy for famous adventurous youth easier to achieve.

5. Non curricular activities

We are lucky enough to be able to provide expert teaching in all adventuring skills.

Examples

Noted Zoologists Dr Phillip Mannering will be providing lessons in animal identification and care.

Dr Jack Trent will be available for lessons on ornithology.

Lucy Ann Arnold (nee Trent) will be providing general self defense and Martial Arts instruction.

-------------

At this point Joey returned with the tea, so Hilda put the prospectus down.

The two old friends sat in comfortable silence for a while before Hilda began to speak, in an uncharacteristically hesitant voice.

"The school is looking good" she began, waving her hand towards the prospectus."

Joey nodded and waited to see if Hilda said any more. But her friend seemed oddly slow to come to the point, and left the conversation to Joey. She showed Hilda some photos of the school, and some plans that Len had sent. Joey was very keen on the plan, and was soon enthusiastically describing the work that had been done to convert the farm.

"It's a small start" she said. "But so was the Chalet, and look how that has grown. "

She began telling Hilda about the plans, and how proud she was of her daughters for taking such a big step. Hilda listened and made agreeing noises. Finally Joey judged that Hilda might be getting ready to speak, and left a stepping stone gap in the stream of chatter.

Hilda took the chance.

"Do you think Nell really will go to work there? " she asked. "I mean, do you really think it is a good idea?"

Joey looked at her in suprise. Since Joey had suggested the idea to Nell in the first place, it was surely obvious that she approved. She looked at Hilda, and noticed that she was unusually tense.

" Well... I think she will be in good company ... and she really is having problems with the physical demands of living up here, Hilda" Joey began, paused and then continued.

"We've been friends for too long to hide things from each other, Hilda. Something's worrying you - what is it ?"

Hilda was silent for a while. Joey looked at her, and decided to take a 'stab in the dark'.

"You're going to miss her." she stated bluntly

Hilda nodded slowly.

" I think I just always assumed that we'd retire together. That she would always be nearby" she said.

Joey waited for more and then decided that in order to help her friend, she had to ask a question that had been one of the subjects for Platz gossip for years.

"Hilda" she began, then almost lost her nerve, as she thought about how personal a question it was. She carried on, however, since she didn't know how to help without the information.

" Are you, or I guess, were you... Nell and you, were you..?"

Joey stopped, for once unable to continue.
Hilda was quiet, clearly thinking how to answer. Joey sat quietly, a little embarrassed to have asked the question.

Finally Hilda replied. "No, or at least ... not on my side. I ..." she began, then paused and looked at Joey. She seemed to make a decision.

"If you must know, although it really isn't anyone's business, the school is really more interesting to me than ... Well than any sort of relationship." she replied.

"I know that everyone expects that I ought to prefer the idea of a life with a nice male doctor - or a nice female teacher!" she continued, and Joey laughed along with her. "But I'm perfectly happy as I am. I'm busy and free to do as I wish, and I hope that I am making a difference to some of these girl's lives. So Nell and I are just very good friends. Nothing more, especially on my side."

Joey read between the lines, and thought that this sounded very like there was, or had been some attraction on Nell's side, but after the glare accompanying the ' It isn't anyone's business,' she decided to probe no further in that direction, at least with Hilda.

Hilda sat in silence for a short while. There were so many young new staff now, having a friend close to her own age was something she would miss. Nell was good company.

"Nell and I have been friends and collegues a very long time, Joey. " she said. " I'm used to her being around. We may be no more than friends, but I will miss her."

Joey considered her friend. She understood, but she also knew that the situation as it stood could no longer continue.

" Hilda, I don't know how to answer. I think that Nell would miss you hugely too. But ... she really is struggling here in the winters. She isn't a type to sit back and wait for thaw. She overdoes it, then causes herself problems. Then she gets frustrated. Jack has been quite worried about her. "

Hilda was quiet. She knew that Joey was right. As well as Nell's own personal situation, there was the fact that St Mildreds was getting too small to really justify a seperate headship. There were fewer people sending girls to finishing school, and more girls going straight to university.

They spoke on general matters a little longer, and then Hilda made her goodbyes and went back to the school. As she walked through the rose garden she realised that this new school did make sense for Nell.

For all that Hilda had made it very clear that there would never be more than friendship between them, she wondered sometimes whether Nell properly realised this and understood. She didn't question any more, which was a relief, but it was always at the back of Hilda's mind that Nell might misconstrue something, and hope for more.

Hilda made her decision. It would be hard, and she would miss Nell. But there were many reasons that this new school would be good for her friend.

When Nell came to ask her advice, she couldn't quite tell her to just go ahead and do it. So she told her to go and see the school, with a slight hope that Nell might decide it wasn't for her.

However, when Nell returned, full of the possibilities of the new venture, Hilda kept her worries to herself, and was enthusiastic about it all. She concentrated on her work, and didn't brood.

After all, Nell was still around, although far away. She hadn't died, and there would just be another reason to visit England.

Joey, in true ' butter-in' style, went out of her way to spend time with Hilda, and encouraged others of the original staff to visit more. Hilda had to laugh to herself at this, you could hardly replace a friendship lasting several decades with short visits from other friends, but she appreciated the thought behind the action, and enjoyed seeing old friends again.

Chapter 3

Anne Seymour, nee Kirren, stood in the kitchen with the equipment list in one hand and a spanner in the other.

Her eldest son Gerry came rushing in, on the way out to the garden. He stopped at this unusual sight.

" Er... Can I help mother? " he asked, eyes fixed on the spanner.

" Mmm? " said Anne, looking up from the equipment list. She saw her son's face, and followed his eyeline to the spanner. "Oh! I was trying to work out what size of pocket knife Rosie would need..." she said, waving the spanner in the air.

Gerry reached out and removed the spanner from her. " Wouldn't a real pocket knife be easier?" he asked.

Anne grimaced at her son. "Yes it would, but all of you boys carry your knives with you, and I'm not going chasing around trying to find you, Sam or your father. "

Gerry grinned and rummaged in his pocket. " There you go mother!" he said, handing her his pocket knife. "Anything else that I can help with while I am here? "

She frowned at the list again and gave a sigh of exasperation. " Yes, the first thing is, do you know where I have put my glasses? I keep misreading this list, I really am going to have to carry them with me now. "

Gerry looked around the kitchen and spied the offending articles on the mantlepiece.

" There you go!" he said. "Anything else?"

She looked through the sheets of paper and separated the packing list from the prospectus.

"I think the rest of it is all things that you tend to have with you anyway. Rosie can have some of my old boxing gloves for now. Even though we were all meant to learn as part of the self defense course, I have to admit that I didn't really use them much. Lucy Ann was always a lot better at things like that than me."

Gerry grinned at the idea of his mother even wearing boxing gloves, and picked up the prospectus pages.

Gerry laughed, as he read the staff list.

"It seems funny seeing Aunt Len and Uncle Julian as being our teachers!" he said. " I can't see Uncle Julian telling anyone off!"

Anne started to laugh at this.

" Oh, he will manage, don't you worry! You have only seen him in besotted uncle mode. My brother is VERY good at keeping order!"

Gerry didn't argue, although he couldn't quite believe it of his uncle. Anne saw his expression.

" You will have to behave yourself with them, you know" she warned. "And with Lucy-Ann, Mike and Aunt Ge. I know that they are like family to you in the holidays, but in school hours they are in charge of you, and they won't treat you any differently to other students."

Gerry laughed and put his hands up in defense.

"Message recieved! I'll be good ! "

Anne smiled and shooed him away, so that she could get on with the packing. He left the kitchen, grabbing a handful of biscuits from the jar while his mother's back was turned.

-----------------------------------------------------

Page 6 of I.S.A.Y prospectus.

6 . Meet our staff

Headmistresses :

Miss K. Ferrars (Geography & Maths)
Miss N. Wilmot. (Physics & Maths)

House Mistress :

Mrs L-A Arnold ( Also Domestic Science & Martial Arts)

House Master :

Mr M Arnold ( Also Aviation skills & Agriculture)

Language Department ( Many other staff also trilingual) :

Miss M.H Maynard ( All options)

Miss T. Grantley ( French, Italian and Spanish)

Miss T Gay ( Latin, also Woodwork)

Sciences and Maths

Mr S Harbottle (Chemistry)

Miss H Wilson ( Biology)

Miss N Wilmot ( Physics and Maths)

MIss P Peters (Head of Maths)

Miss K Ferrars (Geography & Maths)

English & History

Ms A. Stevens ( English)

Mrs Fiona Black ( History)

Miss M.C Maynard (English & History) Part Time

Other departments

Miss I. Johnson (Music)

Mr J Kirren (Art and Drawing )

Mr A Biddle ( Religious instruction and PT)

Miss R Richardson (PT)

Miss G Kirren (Sailing, Climbing, Survival skills & Agriculture)

 

Visiting lecturers

Dr P Mannering, (Zoology and survival skills)

Dr J Trent, (Ornithology and survival skills)

Mr F Trottville (Investigative skills)

Miss B Morris (Drawing and Sketching)

Miss R Fry ( Identifying Antiques and CollectableS)

Mr R Kirren ( Drama and survival skills.)

---------------------

Gerry headed out from the kitchen, following a narrow path between overgrown garden plants. His mother had been too busy to do anything with the garden in this latest house, so the place had been allowed to continue in it's wild state.

He had heard her say to his father, that as soon as she tidied any of the gardens in a house he would be called away to another dig, probably in a hot, uncomfortable country, so she wasn't going to bother this time. She had become quite superstitious about this garden in fact, since she was tired of moving, and wanted to stay here in France for a while.

So in a move quite unlike the naturally tidy Anne, she didn't tidy or organise it, and the garden was allowed to remain in its natural state.

Gerry quite liked it that way, he could feel a little like a jungle explorer as he made his way through.

He waved his arm in a regular motion as he macheted his way through the undergrowth. He then traversed the mighty Amazon river at the bottom of the garden, held onto an imaginary creeper and jumped across the ditch, sorry, valley, and landed safely in the field behind the house.

Now the terrain was becoming more difficult, and he had to battle through the long grass, with the risk of bring attacked by lions or hyenas at every turn.

Finally he reached a small dense group of trees in the middle of the field.

He looked around him, then gave three short whistles and a long one. A matching reply was given, and a rope with knots to help with climbing dropped directly in front of him.

" Hey! " he exclaimed. " Watch yourself there! That was nearly on my head!"

The reply was muffled, but sounded suspiciously like " Might improve your brain"

Gerry sped up the rope and threw a glare at the occupants, a girl of about 9, and boy of around 10. His brother and sister grinned at him.

" I heard that, you cheeky little girl" he said, with all the dignity of his own 13 years.

" That's good then, was worrying you were getting old and deaf, need a hearing aid" was the cool reply.

Gerry refrained from the retaliation this deserved, since the tree house was none too steady, so they had made a 'No fighting' rule in there. Rosie, his sister, made the most of this, counting on the fact that both boys would forget to retaliate once they were back on the ground.

Their brother Sam groaned at the repetativeness of the situation. " Honestly Ger, you fall into that one every time, at least give me a chance to listen to something new!"

Gerry ignored them both and simply produced the biscuits.

" Supply raid completed." he said. "Sorry was a while, mother needed some help with the packing. You are getting a pocket knife of your own Rosie, by the way"

Rosie beamed. She had been considered too young before, and Anne still harboured secret hopes that her youngest might become a little more interested in cooking and flowers and more feminine pursuits. So Rosie's pleas for a decent knife had been ignored.

Sam put his book down and reached for a biscuit.

" It sounds a strange school this, to need pocket knives and Boxing Gloves for the girls. Doesn't seem quite right, somehow. They might hurt themselves. "

Gerry intervened quickly, as he saw the warning signs of Rosie thinking about launching herself at Sam to show him just who was the tougher, which really would tip the three of them out of the tree.

"Well any school started by Aunt Ge and Aunt Len isn't going to treat girls different to boys now is it, if you think about it!" he said.
" Now where were we in our plans ? Have you seen any enemies attacking? Do we need to prepare to repel boarders? Captain on deck, look lively there!"

In an instant the treehouse was, to the three of them at least, the deck of of a ship, looking out for pirates on all sides.

School was forgotten for now. There was still too much summer left to worry about such things.

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Chapter 4

Kirren Farm, soon to be the Island School.

Len lay rigid in the bed, trying hard not to fidget. Ge lay beside her, slightly snoring, and Timmy was breathing heavily in his basket in the corner of the room.

Len didn't want to wake Ge, after all she had had a hard few weeks organising all of the building works, on top of keeping the farm running.

But Len's brain just wouldn't let her sleep. There was only a week to go until the school opened. Lists of equipment, school fees paid and unpaid, costs of the farm conversion and staff and pupil lists whirled around her head. She was almost thinking that she would just give up and go downstairs, but she had done that the past few nights, and it didn't solve anything.

Ge stirred, and opened her eyes. An instinct in her told her that the younger woman was not asleep, and a fine knowledge of Len from the past few years together meant that she had a fair idea why she might be awake at this time.

Len felt Ge shuffle her body towards her, then relaxed as she felt a drowsy arm around her, a familiar body resting behind her, and a soft kiss on the back of her neck.

" What's up love, can't sleep ?" mumbled Ge into Len's neck, still part asleep herself.

" It's nothing, just brain a bit busy, sorry Ge, didn't mean to wake you" replied Len, linking her fingers into Ge's hand resting in front of her, and pulling her slightly closer to her. It was soothing to be held this way.

They dozed slightly, but Len's worries wouldn't quite go away, and her tension transmitted through her body to Ge. Ge woke up gradually and realised how worried Len was. She had a brief moment where she contemplated moving the cuddle to something she knew would relax them both, but as she thought about the past few weeks she decided that would only be a temporary solution. Enjoyable, and likely to help them sleep, but not an answer. She held Len tighter to her and said

" Come on love, you aren't going to sleep now. You need to talk it out. "

Len agreed. She wasn't getting anywhere with trying to work out her worries herself.

" I feel as though I need some exercise too, fancy an early morning walk?"

Timmy looked up at the word " walk" and looked hopeful.

Ge looked towards the window. It was at that at point before the dawn, with enough light to see but not enough to be easily seen by others. They had often found this a good time to go out, when they needed to sort out issues between themselves without the twins over hearing. Or sometimes they just wanted the luxury of going for a walk and holding hands, or walking arm in arm.

They got ready quickly and quietly. On the way out they each automatically glanced into a twin's bedroom's to check that they were alright.

John was sprawled out over his bed, a comic resting by his hand, about to drop to the floor. Len resisted the urge to go in and rescue it, it didn't look like one of his favourite ones, and if it did get damaged he would perhaps be more careful next time. He wasn't a hugely deep sleeper, and she didn't want to wake him by going in the room.

Ge looked in on Josie, and to begin with could hardly see her. Then a curled up ball of bedclothes near the end of the bed made a slight sigh and gentle snore, and Josie came into focus through the gloom. She was gripping her toy rabbit fiercely to her, and had a frown on her face even in sleeping.

Ge made a mental note to take some time out to talk to her daughter, all the recent change had been hard on her. Josie and Len generally got on well, but the 13 year old still went through spates of being jealous of losing Ge's attention. Josie associated the school with Len, despite the fact that one of the reasons for it was to provide a safe and decent education for the twins. Ge had been very distracted by the school conversion recently, and the tense way the girl was sleeping confirmed that some time alone together was needed.

But for now, she left the girl to sleep and followed Len downstairs. They wrapped up warm and headed out onto the moors.

With a brief look around to make sure that no one was in sight, Ge slipped her hand into Len's and they began to talk as they wandered. They instinctively dropped hands when they heard the sound of voices, but it was only some of the early morning fisherman making their way to the beach. They had all seen "Master George", as some of them still called Ge, grow up, and they accepted her and Len in a way that many newer people to the village could not.

They linked hands again and walked and talked for a long time. Gradually the light began to increase, and they found themselves moving towards the cliffs, to see the dawn. They settled down on a seat at the top of the cliff.

Len looked around, but there was no one in sight. She let her head rest on Ge's shoulder and they sat in companionable silence for a while before heading back to the farm.

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Chapter 5

Con swam gradually into consciousness. Ted wasn't beside her, though the bed was still warm, so must have been there until recently.

She raised her head slightly and caught sight of a shadow at the window, then concentrated and squinted a bit to see that it was Ted, holding the curtain open and looking out of the window.

As Con watched, she was struck by how precious that silhouette was to her. If you took each individual feature, puckish face, dark thick eyebrows, unfashionably short hair, you could well call the face plain, or worse.

But to Con the parts made up the person, and so every detail was a perfect one.

Ted turned around to see Con watching her, and grinned.

" Hello!" she said, as she headed back over to slip in beside Con. " What is that look all about?"

Con traced her finger gently along the strong outline of the face in front of her.

" Just looking, enjoying having this space to ourselves. " she said. "What were you looking at so intently outside? "

Ted snuggled closer.

" I heard a noise, but it's just Len and Ge going for a walk." she said, and Con nodded in understanding.

" Good." Con said. " Len is worrying too much, she takes too much onto her shoulders. Hopefully Ge will calm her down a bit"

" They looked as if they were holding hands, so at least it doesn't seem like they have been arguing again" said Ted, moving the covers out of the way to fit her body in against Con's, both of them enjoying the gentle contact. They chatted for a while, then came back around to Len and Ge's night time walk.

" It's good for them to have some time together" Con said, suppressing a smile as Ted clearly began to have other ideas for this cuddle "Especially as Len is so busy with the school plans. I think we ought to take John and Josie out somewhere later, give Len and Ge some more time to themselves"

Ted was by this time otherwise occupied, so simply made an agreeing noise. Con laughed and decided that they may as well make the most of this free time before the school started. They didn't have to get up today, but soon early mornings would be the norm.

------------------------

A while later, they went downstairs to the main kitchen. The two new school masters were sitting at the table, obviously dressed to go out training. The chemistry teacher, Sam Harbottle, had three cups of tea in front of him, and he seemed to be intent upon checking the colour of each in minute detail.

"Experiment" said the other man, in answer to their quizzical glances. " Something to do with when the milk goes in and how hot the water is. I'm afraid he lost me after the first equation."

Ted and Con grinned. The new school staff were gradually getting used to Sam Harbottle. He was an intense and unintentionally comical young man, with an absolute adoration for chemistry and physics. This was his first teaching post, so he was by nature of being an experiment for the school.

He looked up and gave them a vague greeting.

"Yes, you see, the colour is all wrong, for a good cup of tea. I'm sorry Anton, but your method doesn't work as well as the traditional method. It takes longer too. Inefficient. "

Anton Biddle, the new RE and PE teacher, smiled at this and said to Ted and Con in a stage whisper.

" I only asked for a cup of tea... For goodness sake don't let him get started on the biscuits. !"

They all laughed, including Sam, and conversation moved on to other topics.

When Len and Ge returned, they were most surprised to find them all awake and having breakfast, including the twins, who had heard the fun and come down to join in.

John and Josie looked up from their cereals with a question in their eyes, but noticeably relaxed when they saw Len and Ge were still unconsciously holding hands. Even though Josie could get jealous of Len, they still both knew that Ge had been far happier since Len had come to live with them a few years earlier.

The twin's birth mother had died while they were still very young, and they were only just beginning to get to know their father, Dick Kirren. Although they called her their aunt to avoid questions from nosy people, Ge was their complete parent, mother, father, aunt all rolled in to one.

It had only been a relatively short time that they had been sharing the farmhouse, and it was strange to the little family to have all of these people around. It was fun at the moment, but John and Josie were slightly glad that they would be living in the school in term time. Having all of these adults about was quite tiring. They did TALK so.

The twins finished their food and left on their own pursuits, and Len and Ge dissapeared off to their own quarters to get properly ready.

Anton and Sam made their excuses and left for a run along the cliff top. Anton was determined that Sam should be fitter than he was, and had drafted him in as assistant with his boxing lessons. Therefore the two of them could often be found doing various forms of circuit training, often joined by Margot, Dick and Ruey when they were at the farm, and even Ted when Con was completely away with her characters.

However today Con was properly awake, and wanting to get some shopping done. Since the twins appeared to be quite happy and Len and Ge weren't likely to surface now for a while, they decided to just go themselves.

Finally, the kitchen was again empty.

Timmy, Ge's dog, wandered in and settled himself down by the stove. He knew where all of the members of his pack were, and he was getting a little old for chasing about with the twins. He began to doze in the warmth, always with one ear open in case he was needed.

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Chapter 6

Still at Kirren Farm, ISAY School

Nancy Wilmot opened her eyes and stated at the ceiling. It seemed very early, but she could tell that she wasn't going to be able sleep anymore that night.

She turned her head slightly and saw Kathy was still fast asleep. She smiled at the way she had curled herself up in a ball with just her head peeping out of the covers.

'This was what makes the scariness of suddenly being joint head of a new school worthwhile', she thought. It was still a lovely novelty to be able to wake up next to Kathy, knowing that no one outside the door of their flat would be disapproving, or almost worse - curious and overfriendly, wanting a gay friend as a status symbol of unconventionality.

Nancy slipped out from under the covers and went to take advantage of the other bonus about their little flatlet - the kitchen.

She wasn't particularly interesting in cooking, but she adored the fact of being able to stay in the privacy of their own space, and make a cup of tea, or a sandwich. For someone who had spent most of their adult life living in one room and having communal meals in the school dining room, this was a real luxury to ne standing making a cup of tea in her pajamas.

She took her tea into the living room of the flatlet and sat down with her feet up to drink it. Today the new term started, and all of the things that had seemed far enough away not to be worth worrying about had started creeping into her brain.

Len was one worry. She had worked so hard setting up the school, and had been leading the meetings so far, simply because she had the facts needed, and was a born leader. However once term started, Len would need to take more of a back seat, otherwise there would be a real conflict with having too many bosses.

Nancy wasn't too worried about this, having seen Len grow up. She was taking charge now because she thought she had to, and Nancy was confident that they coukd work out any issues between them.

It was Nell that Nancy was a little more worried about. She had not been expecting the news that Nell would be joining them. While they were good friends outside of work, Nell had always been Nancy's senior. Now the roles were reversed, and Nancy wasn't sure how well Nell would take to the situation.

Nancy frowned as she thought about the rest of her staff. They were all enthusiatic, but the level of experience wasn't high, and she could quite well see Con, Irene and Belinda turning up to the wrong classes or forgetting to go altogether if they got distracted by their muses.

That was another worry. Con really didn't want to work full time, but Fiona, who had been going to be their history teacher, had suddenly had to change her plans to be with her husband, and had only been able to let them know the previous day.

Nancy sat back in the chair and shut her eyes, trying to relax. After all, in only a few hours they would be starting the term. She had to try to calm down and cross all these bridges when she came to them.

Kathy, who had woken and discovered the empty bed beside her, paused in the doorway, looking at Nancy and had a shrewd idea what was going through the older woman's head.

" Come back to bed, love" she said, shocking Nancy upright at the unexpected noise.

" Morning, Head of ISAY school!" responded Nancy breezily, trying to hide her worries within her customary good humour.

"Morning, and you can't fool me. I know that look, Nancy. You are worrying about Con, Nell, Irene, Belinda, Sam..."

Nancy smiled initially at how well Kathy knew her then put her face in her hands at the last name.

"Oh Help!" she said from behind her hands, " I hadn't even got around to worrying about Sam yet... Do you know, I asked him for some sample lesson plans, and he just looked at me and said that he could give me the actual lesson plans, but he didn't have any sample ones! If it was anyone else I would have taken it as a joke or bit of cheek, but with him..."

Kathy laughed. " Yes, he's being deadly serious isn't he! That explains yesterday though - he came to me with a pile of papers, saying that he had worked out the core subjects of his lesson plans, cross referenced them with his typical plan length, then taken a random sample. He wanted to know if that was suitable to present to you ! "

Nancy grinned in spite of herself.

" He is funny. I had only asked to make sure that he actually HAD lesson plans!"

They smiled at the eagerness of their inexperienced new teacher.

" Back to the point of this concersation" said Kathy, as she headed out of tje living room " Come back to bed, you have worried yourself round in circles about all of this, you need to try to relax about it all."

Nancy started to get up.

" I'll come back to bed," she said " But I don't think I will be able to sleep "

" Who said anything about sleeping" came back the voice floating from the other room.

Nancy laughed and went to join Kathy. She kept forgetting that she wasn't alone in all of this, and this sort of freedom to be together, even if it was only to cuddle, was a very good reason for putting up with a few worries.

-------

Chapter 7

Kevin opened his eyes and true to form was instantly awake.

"Kester ! Kester, it's morning,we are going to the new school!" he said gleefully.

Kevin grumbled slightly in his sleep and turned over, pushing his head into the pillow. Kevin remedied this by jumping off his own bed and onto the end of Kester's

"Come on! Get up, we are going to John and Josie's house, come on"

Kester growled a reply and tipped his brother off the bed before settling back down.

" We are going to SCHOOL, Kevin, it might be there, the other cousins might be going too, but it is still school. We will probably be getting up early for months, even there. So let me sleep." he muttered, half into his pillow, clearly having no plans to move just yet.

Kevin gave up for now and went rushing through his washing and dressing, half tumbling down the stairs in his excitement, and missing the last few steps completely.

In the dining room Madge heard the thump of him landing in the hallway and smiled.

"Stand by to repel boarders !" she said to Jem. "Or, if I am hearing correctly, boardER. Kevin must have left Kester to sleep for once."

Jem smiled and put his letters down to turn and see the excited boy come in. The rwins had been so ill recently that any sign of their previous boundless energy was very welcome.

"Morning Mum, Morning Dad!" piped Kevin, launching himself on each in turn, then sitting down at the table, looking suprised to see it empty. "Where is the food?"

His parents laughed at his expression.

"It isn't ready yet" Madge said, leaning over to smooth down his ruffled hair and fold his collar over. "You are an hour earlier than normal Kevin, that is why!"

Kevin looked put out, as if he had slightly expected that breakfast would appear as soon as he did. He didn't stay quiet for long however, and was soon asking permission to go and "Help" in the kitchen. Thinking that the chance of his help being useful in this state was low, Madge suggested instead that he go and feed the horses in the field at the bottom of their garden. Kevin, who loved all animals, was thrilled with this idea and barely paused to excuse himself from the table before running to get some carrots from the kitchen and run down the garden.

As his son zoomed off, Jem looked over at Madge with a smile. "The farmer moved the horses yesterday, said that field wasn't secure enough."

She smiled back.

"I know that, but obviously he doesn't remember. By the time he has run down there and found out they are gone it will be a more civilised time for breakfast."

He laughed, and passed her some of the letters addressed to her.

"Very clever. I do hope the girls know what they are taking on, accepting our two little livewires!"

A short while later Kester made an appearance, just in time to eat, followed shortly by Kevin, back from his errand and full of the news of the horses having been moved.

---------------

They had to drive to the station, and by the time the trunks had been loaded onto the roof and everyone crammed inside, Kevin had managed to infect Kester with his excitement. The two of them were singing every scout song that they could think of, in various silly voices. Madge exchanged a look with Jem, and turned herself round to the back seat.

"Now boys....Boys... BOYS!" she said, finally grabbing their attention. "I'm glad you are so happy about all this, but you do have to remember that this is still school. You must behave yourselves, and you must remember that your cousins are not family while you are there. They are to be Miss Maynard to both of you in termtime, remember that"

They nodded, not noticably subdued. Madge looked at them, then turned back to resettle in her seat again. She had tried, it was up to Len and Con now.

At the station they waited for the train, the boys bouncing on the balls of their feet while they peered down the track for any sign of the engine.

Finally it was here, and there was Con, stepping out of the carriage onto the platform and then waving to her aunt and uncle.

"Come on boys, room in here for all of us" she said cheerfully as she guestured into the train. Kevin and Kester went in, automatically saying "Thanks Con" to her as they passed.

Madge was about to remostrate with them when she felt Jem's hand on her arm. In the space left by her not speaking, Con addressed the matter herself.

"I'll take the fact that you hadn't entered the train into account, and let you get away with that one" she said to the embarrassed boys. " But from now on, it's Miss Maynard, no exceptions, otherwise there will be dire consequences for your pocket money!"

They apologised to 'Miss Maynard' and she laughed and entered the carriage herself.

The train moved off and Madge and Jem were left on the platform waving after their boys, happy that they would be well looked after

Chapter 8

Summary:

A little bit wearing, introducing so many characters here, but necessary. Just go with the flow if it is a bit confusing, most of them won't be present except as supporting characters anyway!

Inside the carriage, Kevin and Kester sat side by side on bench seat, looking curiously at the other occupants. Besides Con, there were two boys and a girl, who they quickly recognized as being part of Ge's family, having played "Secret Agent Twins" with them in the past at the farm. They flashed the elder boy, Gerry a grin, as being similar in age to themselves, and ignored the younger two as being too young for their notice.

They turned their attention to the train's other occupant, a slightly chubby boy of about 9. They were going to ignore him too, but he stuck his hand out in front of him, and introduced himself rather pompously.

"Name's Trottville" he said self importantly. "Jenks Trottville, nice to meet you. I assume you are going to the ISAY school aswell?"

Kevin and Kester were not quite sure how to respond. At their previous school a youngster pushing himself forward like this would have led to him being squashed quite quickly and firmly. However, with Con there, they weren't quite sure what to say. Jenks took the matter of how to reply out of their hands however by not seeming to need a reply.

"My father is Frederick Trottville, I am sure you will have heard of him, he was famous as a young detective, and is now a very big cheese in the secret service. He will be giving some of the lessons, I can introduce you if you would like? Always good to get contacts you know, especially with people like father, who can pull all sorts of strings."

Gerry took pity on the twins and came to tje rescue.

"Give them a chance Jenks, you chatter on too much for your own good sometimes. Kevin and Kester have only just got on the train."

He was used to Jenks Trottville, since the boy's mother Peggy was part of his mother's group of friends. They hadn't spent much time together, since the Seymours were rarely in England for long, but Gerry knew that it would take a ten ton truck to squash the highly confident boy. Having also come from a more conventional boys school, he knew what might be running through Kevin and Kester's minds about cheek, and they didn't need to start the term with a row, especially as it would have absolutely no effect on Jenk's behaviour.

He changed the subject skillfully, and gave Sam a meaningful look to keep Jenks under control if he could. Sam understood the look but groaned inwardly if he was to have to watch out for Jenks at school. He just never seemed to realise that people didn't think him as amazing as he did himself.

Con sat in the corner with a book, apparently oblivious, but smiling inside at the way the youngsters were working out their heirarchy between themselves.

---------------

Back at Kirren Farm, the first arrival of the day was creating quite a stir. Alonysius, Prince of Baronia arrived in a large silver and blue automobile, part of a convoy of three. He was accompanied by his parents, King Paul and Queen Nora, who greeted Lucy Ann and Mike enthusiatically, while slightly ignoring the rest of the staff.

In the car with Alonysius, who was mlre commonly known as Lony, were two giants of men, with huge beards and a fairly fearsome appearance. Ranni and Pilescu were their names, and they were to sleep in rooms either side of Lony, to protect him, as they had done his father for years.

No sooner had the cars and Royal party left than the rest of the pupils arrived, one set after another.

Finally, everyone was there. Nancy and Kathy stood before them, in the barn converted to gym and assembly hall. As Nancy began the beginning of term address, Kathy surveyed the young faces. A tiny collection, compared to the Chalet School, mostly 13 or younger, but somehow still seeming quite daunting as they stood before them. As Nancy finished, Kathie stood forward to take her turn, waiting for quiet, to ensure that her words would be easily heard.

"Many of you already know each other, but not all. Please, all of you, make sure that you make everyone welcome, and try to watch out for each other." she said, among other things, "We are probably going to be different to your previous experience of school, and we are a small group, so we all need to get along if we can"

She paused for a moment, then continued.

"The first difference for some of you is that we expect you to call each other by your first name not your surname. There are too many people from the same families, and many of you already know each other by your first names anyway. We will officially be using first names here. Now you must all be hungry, so if you will follow Miss Grantley, she will show you where you are to eat. Welcome all of you to the ISAY school !"

Chapter 9

Summary:

I can't remember giving Lucy Ann's children names in All Change, or what sex they were but apologies if so, this is now the way it is !

Ted raised her hand to indicate that she was Miss Grantley, and strode off out of the assembley hall. The new pupils followed her, looking around them curiously as they went.

They entered a long room, with tables and chairs all along one side. The tables were laid with colourful crockery and glassware, which made the room seem cosy and inviting.

After the meal, they were told to place their dirty plates and glasses on a table to one side, and to wait by the door once finished.

Ted Grantley reappeared, and gained their attention. She was oblivious to the looks between some of the girls at the sight of her in shirt and smart slacks rather than a skirt, but Felicity noticed some of the girls whispering to each other and giggling, and frowned at their rudeness. Ted waited for quiet and then indicated that they were to follow her again.

They were heading along a boxed in walkway between the barns and outbuildings converted to schoolrooms and the Hall, and the boarding houses.

As the little group reached the end of the passage, Ted paused and indicated to the mass of pupils to stop too

"Boys to the left, girls to the right" she began.

"Wonder which way she thinks she should go," said a voice from the mass of pupils, whispered, but clearly audible, as everyone had stopped chattering to listen to Ted's instructions. Ted stopped for a moment and swept the crowd, not sure who had said it, or how to respond. Felix and Felicity both had faces like thunder and were also looking around to see who had spoken. Ted decided she was best to ignore it.

"Boys, head off down this corridor, Mr Arnold and Mr Harbottle will be in your part of the boarding house to show you where to put your things. Girls, follow me." said Ted.

They separated themselves off and the boys left to find their quarters. Felix and Felicity gave each other significant looks. They hadn't been able to tell from the whisper who had spoken, nor whether it was a boy or a girl, but both were determined to find out. The Maynard family was very protective of it's members, and Ted had been a fixture in their lifes for so long that the twins considered her as family without thought.

--------------

Gerry and Sam Seymour winked at their little sister, and set off with the group of boys to their quarters.

Rosie Seymour had a few moments feeling a little upset at being separated from her brothers so quickly, but soon she was too busy following Ted and looking forward to seeing her own boarding house, to worry about things. Mrs Arnold, the house mistress was there to greet them, and Rosie had known her all her life, since her mother and Lucy Ann Arnold were great friends.

"Right girls, each of you has your own room, which is probably a bit different to your other schools. Your name is on the card to the left of the door. Please all find your rooms now, and then you will go to the trunk room in pairs to collect your belongings." said Lucy Ann, her green eyes sparkling with amusement at seeing the girls all dying to know what their rooms looked like and trying not to push forward to see.

There were far more girls than boys at present, since a local school had closed suddenly the previous month. Many of the parents had chosen to send their daughters to this new venture, having been recomended to do so by Bill and Clarissa, owners of a nearby riding stables.

The school that had closed had focussed heavily on sports, and many of the girls already had horses boarding with the stables. The parents had been glad to have a recomendation at such short notice, and the ISAY school had been glad to have so many new students already, although it had been quite a scramble getting enough facilites together to support the extra girls.

Rosie was moved forward by the mass of girls, and to begin with couldn't find her name. She reached the end of the row of mini rooms, made by wooden partitions marking off several small spaces within the larger room. She gulped and turned around again to see if she could find it now that more people were inside their cubicle rooms. She began to worry that there wan't room for her, or perhaps that she was to be separated off as a junior, since she was much younger than many of the girls here.

Finally, just as she was beginning to feel she would never find it, her name swam into focus in front of her, and she found her room.

--------------

It was a neat little space. There was a comfortable looking bed against one wall, with a chair on wheels placed under the small window. On the opposite wall was a wardrobe, with a chest of drawers beside it. Rosie frowned as she looked at a strange looking contraption on the wall next to her bed. In a rush, she realised that this folded down and slotted into the bedframe to make a desk when the bed was not being used. The wheels on the chair now made a lot more sense, so that it could be moved in front of the desk.

On the opposite wall to the bed, there was a set of shelves, with a small lockable cupboard at the bottom. On the shelves there were already piles of exercise books in every colour, and the bottom shelf was labelled "Textbooks", although as yet it was empty. Rosie was most intrigued at this, as it certainly looked as though they would be working in here as well as sleeping.

She looked up, and saw that the wall only went part of the way up, there was a gap above and a small one at the bottom of the partition. She supposed that this was to let air flow around the room, or for some similar reason, but it was quite nice to be able to hear the movements of the girls either side, and know she wasn't totally alone.

Eventually, she heard her name being called, along with one of the girls that she didn't know. They left the room and went along a small passage, to find a room filled with trunks, and busy with people. She was reaasured to see Ge Kirren, who was like an Aunt to her, as this was all quite overwhelming.

Ge gave the small girl a matey grin, before handing her a wicker tray and telling her to start unpacking her indoor clothes onto the tray. She had to leave her other equipment for now, except for the rope, penknife and rubber soled shoes. She discovered that these had an allocated shelf and a set of hooks on the side of the book case, and she was advised to make sure she always put them back there at night.

Once the girls had unpacked their belongings, and put them away, they were told to return to the trunk room to collect their outdoor clothes, boxing gloves and other sports equipment. These were to live in a cloakroom to be found just behind the dormitory roooms. Bizarrely this was to be called a "Splashery". Rosie couldn't work out why, and resolved to ask Gerry if he knew. She hadn't been to many schools yet, being only just nine. He was quite good about explaining things, for an older brother.

Once everything had been put away, she returned to her room to await further instructions. Now that things were less frantic, she could pay more attention to ger immediate neighbours. She was pleased to find that Lucy Ann's daughter Maggie was on one side, and Ge's daughter Josie was in the cubicle opposite, so she was near people she already knew. On her left was a girl that she didn't recognise, but who smiled shyly at her and seemed friendly enough.

Once everyone had finished their unpacking, Lucy Ann appeared again and asked them to follow her. She took them back to the main school buildings, and into a large room filled with comfy chairs and book cases.

"This is the common room" said Lucy Ann. "At the moment you are all together, boys and girls, juniors and seniors. This room is for resting and relaxing out of school hours. Prep will be done in your rooms, with doors open, for as long as you can be trusted to work like that. There is a separate prep room for any who misbehave, and it isn't anything like as comfortable, so be warned! Meals will be taken in the dining room, which is through these double doors here."

As she spoke, Lucy Ann opened the double doors to the dining room, and then indicated to them that they were all to settle down in the common room until called one at a time to see the heads and learn in which form they were to be placed.

Rosie settled down in a soft chair with Maggie next to her. This seemed a nice place so far, and it was good to know that she wouldn't be having to keep apart from Gerry and Sam all the time. She sat back and listened to Maggie excitedly telling her about her holidays, keeping an eye out for the arrival of her brothers all of the time.

Chapter 10

Meanwhile, Gerry and Sam had followed the crowd over to the boys' quarters.

Standing at the doorway was Mike Arnold, their honorary uncle, and a rather vague looking man that Gerry took to be Mr Harbottle.

Gerry gave Uncle Mike a matey grin as they passed, which Mike initially replied to in kind, then frowned. Gerry reminded himself again that he had to be careful. So many of the staff were familiar from family gatherings that it was hard to remember that he was at school.

He was most impressed with the room set up, and lost no time in checking how the desk worked, and trying to work out if it was possible to leave the desk up and sleep in the gap underneath. The idea appealled to him as being like his imagined view of life on a submarine, in tiny bunks.

However it proved impossible to do, so he put the desk top back up against the wall and went out to the corridor to see what was to happen next.

Out in the corridor formed between the room cubicles, Uncle Mike - no, he must remember - Mr Arnold, had gone to the trunk room, leaving instructions to the man Gerry assumed must be Sam Harbottle, to pair the boys up to go and unpack.

Gerry was pleased to see that he wasn't far from John Kirren, nor from Kevin and Kester Russell. Felix Maynard was nowhere to be seen, which was unusual, as the three sets of twins all tended to lump together as a group when possible.

Even as Gerry noticed his absence, Fekix suddenly appeared from one of the cubicles. He nodded to the other boys there.

"Doesn't look like there are many of us, compared to the girls" said Felix, slightly shortly. "Been looking round trying to see who said that about Ted. They are going to be sorry when I find them, I'll tell you that."

Gerry looked at the fierce face before him. He had actually seen who had made the comment, although he didn't recognize them, and it had been one of the girls. He started to say as much, then stopped himself. Felix was looking very angry, and if he admitted knowing who had said it then he and Felicity were sure to make an issue of knowing who it was, and telling them what they thought of rudeness to their nearly sister.

Gerry liked Ted, and hadn't been impressed with the comment. But he had grown up with his Aunt Ge as an example of a non standard woman, just as Felix had had Ted and Tom around since he was young. Gerry knew that many of his friends from his old school used to snigger or comment at his aunt in family pictures. His mother Anne had once stopped him losing a good friend through anger at them not understanding. She said she hoped things would get better, but he shouldn't blame them completely.

This was something so out of their range of experience, and that was scary to many people. He was more help to Aunt Ge by making people understand than by starting wars with them. Gerry hadn't really believed her at the time, but now he saw Felix looking so angry, he remembered those words and kept quiet.

"All done un packing are you?" came the voice of Mr Harbottle, as he came up towards the little group.

" Er... No Sa.. Er .. Sir, nobody has gone yet" replied John Kirren, suporessing a smile at the vagueness of the chemistry teacher.

"Ah then. So are you going to go?" asked Sam Harbottle, looking at them quizzically.

John Kirren contemplated telling Mr Harbottle that he was supposed to tell them what to do, not ask, but experience with Sam Harbottle made him decide it was simpler just to go.

"Come on then Felix," he said, grabbing his nearly cousin by the arm and steering him towards the trunk room. It would get the ball rolling, and maybe distract Felix from his quest. Gerry nodded to him he passed and a look of understanding passed between them.

"Ok chaps, pair off, and wait for Felix and John to come back, we shouldn't have to wait too long" said Gerry, marshalling the boys into pairs and going to stand next to his brother in readiness.

--------------

The unpacking finished, the boys ended up in the common room, and sat waiting to go and see the heads.

Felix made a beeline for Felicity and they conferred, but it looked as though they had no luck in finding out who it was, so Gerry and John relaxed a little and settled themselves down beside Josie, Maggie and Rosie.

"Had a good hols?" Gerry asked John. The two were great friends, tending to steer their little group into safer waters when the more impetuous among them looked to be heading for trouble.

"Not bad thanks, lot of building going on here obviously." said John, with an eye to Josie. "Been a bit of a change, but looking good now. How about you?"

"Not too bad. No real adventures, which was a bit boring, but kept mother happy - she does her best in adventures, but she does prefer a quiet life really," said Gerry. "Have you fixed the treehouse?"

They chatted on for a bit longer, then Gerry heard his name called. He got up, checked ge looked presentable and went through the door marked "School offices"

He knocked on the door to the head's study, and found himself in front of two women who looked vaguely familiar, but weren't part of hus extended family. Gerry heaved an internal sigh of relief at this, since he was going to find it hard enough keeping family and school separate as it was, without the heads being relations too.

The taller of the two was welcoming him, and suggesting that he sat down, so he did so. Most of the talk was the usual first day waffle, so Gerry's attention wandered slightly, until a slightly more unusual part began.

"If you have any problems, it is important to speak to someone" the second head, Miss Ferrars, was saying.

"We know that you can't help falling into adventures, but most of the staff here are the same, so it isn't like your previous school where perhaps you felt you had to act alone. If something happens that needs investigating, we ask all of you to Stop, Think, and Talk - i.e tell one of the adults. If they think you are the most suitable people to carry on, they will let you do so, but don't just dissappear off at any time, is that understood?"

Gerry nodded, slightly bemused by this. He rarely had adventures in term time, so this seemed unecessary. He was to learn later from Felicity that most adventures for Chalet School girls happened during school hours, which made more sense of the lecture he was being given.

At present however, he was given his timetable and was shocked to find out that he was to be a prefect, being one of the oldest in the school. As the school was so small, the decision had been made to try a school council rather than Head Girl and Head Boy, with four senior prefects to keep order within the council.

Gerry was amazed to find that he and John Kirren were to be the senior prefects for the boys, while Josie Kirren and one of the girls from the school that had closed were to represent the girls.

This hadn't been an easy decision, although John and Gerry had been obvious choices, the board had debated long and hard about the choice within the girls. The final decision about Josie had been made since she was just the only real leader candidate among the elder girls.

Len and Ge were proud of her, just wary of her temper and had reservations about appearing to have favourites. But the rest of the staff had been unanimous. Until the school was large enough to have a head boy and girl, and proper prefect structure, this was the way it was to go.

Gerry took his badge with pride, and was glad he had listened to his instincts earlier. It would be hard enough to keep people in order, starting the term with the Maynard twins on the warpath would have been an added worry.

He thanked Miss Ferrars and Miss Wilmot, and went out to the common room to share the news.

Chapter 11: Chapter 11 - End of the First Day

It was the end of the first day. All of the pupils had seen the Heads, everyone was unpacked, and finally they were all in their cubicles, if not all yet asleep.

In the staff room, people were gradually gathering to compare notes, congratulate themselves on surviving, and have a well earned hot drink.

Ted was dozing in the big armchair in the corner, occasionally waking to try to pretend she had been alert and awake the whole time.

Lucy Ann and Mike had already retired to bed, sure that there would be homesick or overexcited students to deal with before the night was through.

The rest were scattered around the room, talking quietly or preparing To Do lists for tomorrow. Kathy and Nancy arrived last, having been discussing their interviews with the students already between themselves.

As they arrived, Con looked towards Ted and contemplated waking her. But she had to be really tired to sleep like this, so she decided to leave her unless this informal gathering turned into an official staff meeting.

Kathy looked at Nancy, who nodded.

"Well done everyone" Kathy began. "It has been a busy day, but we have made it through so far!"

There were smiles and nods of agreement, many of the old hands glad that she had added the "so far". From past experience in schools, tempting fate by saying everything was ok was a sure way to lead to disaster.

Nell Wilson sat at one side, quite enjoying being in a staff room without having to be aware of making sure she supported Hilda or kept an eye out for issues with younger staff. Not that she was unaware of these things anyway. She instinctively knew that Irene and Belinda would need watching to keep on track, a few days with them had shown that they made Con Maynard seem focused and consistant. Sam Harbottle was ... just Sam, there wasn't a way to describe him. The others she judged would settle in well and she could work well with them.

Despite being aware of these things, it was relaxing to know that she didn't HAVE to do anything about them unless she chose or was asked to intervene. Nancy and Kathy were capable and perceptive, and Nell trusted them to know what needed attention.

So Nell was relaxed and enjoying herself, having a good chat with Penny Parker, the head of Maths.

---------------

Just after the heads arrived, Mike popped his head around the door and said "Len, someone to see you"

She was surprised, but assumed that it was an anxious parent or something similar, and simply made her excuses and went over to the farmhouse.

Her guest turned as Len entered the room and let out a gasp.

"Len! I can't believe it! How grown up you are !" the woman exclaimed.

Len mentally ran through the list of possible extended family or friends of family, but couldn't for a moment think where this lady fitted. As she moved onto people further afield, she realised who it was, and a huge smile crossed her face.

"What a lovely surprise !" she said, "Have you come to wish us luck?"

"Well," said the woman, "I have, but I also heard that you were looking for a history mistress, and I wondered if I would do?"

Len was only too glad to have a solution for the problem, and someone from the Chalet School extended family. She welcomed her and suggested that they go to join the other staff and give them the good news.

----------------------

 

Len threw open the staff room door breezily, and introduced the newcomer in a manner eerily reminiscent of her mother to those who knew her.

"We have a saviour! Or rather a History Mistress. I think you will know at least some of the people here?" she exclaimed.

Nell looked up from her conversation with Penny and the blood drained from her face. Standing in the doorway was Con Stewert... No, Con Mackenzie, why was it still so hard to remember her married name?

Nell knew full well why it was hard to remember Con's married name. For the same reason that Con, known more commonly as Charlie, went white herself as she took in Nell's presence in the staff room.

Nancy, as one of the few people present who had some idea of the possible history between the two, mentally cursed Len's impetuous announcement. Apart from anything else, she ought not to be making decisions like that by herself now anyway.

Nancy admitted to herself that she and Kathy would almost certainly have been glad to take Charlie on, it solved the problem beautifully. However with a little of the background that she had suspected between her and Nell, at very least they could have warned Nell. And Charlie too, she mentally added, as she took in the new arrival's shocked face.

------------------

Nancy stepped forward, with Kathie just a step behind.

"Welcome to ISAY School, Miss Stew... Con" she said. "We have met, but I don't expect you to remember. I'm Nancy Wilmot, and this is my co-head Kathy Ferrars."

Charlie smiled, glad for the oportunity to take her eyes away from Nell.

"Lovely to meet you Nancy, and Kathy too of course." She said "We have met before, but not for a long time, I agree. It's Con Mackensie now. Although since my namesake goddaughter is here" she continued, with a grin at Con, " I had better go back to my nickname - Charlie"

Kathy came forward. "Lovely to meet you, Charlie" she said. She had a vague sense that there was some undercurrent going on, and had a fair idea herself about Nell and Con/Charlie, from unofficial Chalet School history (aka Staff room gossip)

"Lets leave introductions for now, plenty of time for that later " Kathy said, indicating to Charlie to sit down.

After a little chat, a message passed wordlessly between Nancy and Kathy. Kathy began calling staff over to introduce them and generally distracting people by talking to Charlie, while Nancy made her way accross to Nell, bending to whisper in her ear. Nell nodded.

Shortly after, she left the room, before she would have had to greet Charlie officially, making a vague statement about checking supplies for tomorrow and then early bed. Penny Parker looked after her in slight surprise, and then looked thoughtfully at the new arrival.

---------------

Nancy and Kathy made their own excuses, and left the room as well a little while later. They made their way to Nell's flat and knocked on the door.

"We didn't know, Nell " was the first thing that Nancy said as the door opened. "I'm going to be having words with your goddaughter about all this. She should have consulted us. Can we come in?"

Nell nodded, unusually subdued for her.

"It's fine, really. It's all a long time ago, I was just ... Suprised." she said, as they came in. "She was a great teacher... IS a great teacher I guess, since I think she went back to it once the children were old enough. She will fit in well and it solves a problem. It was just...a suprise, thats all."

They talked a little more, then Kathy and Nancy left. It was too late to talk to Len that night, it would have to wait until tomorrow.

"Don't be too hard on her Nancy," said Nell in passing. "She needs to realise the boundaries better, I do agree. But she is more fragile than she seems. A few words will go a long way with Len"

Nancy was still quite angry, so didn't promise anything, merely nodded, said goodnight and started to head towards their own flat. Kathy however waited a moment, then said quietly that she would have a word with Nancy, not to worry. Nell smiled at her and said Goodnight.

Kathy knew she could calm Nancy down, though she understood her irritation. However she had had Len in her form several times, and knew her far better than Nancy did. Nancy did have a tendancy to see Joey in Len and forget that she was not in reality as confident and forceful as Joey could be on occasion, nor as much of a meddler. Len really wanted a quiet life if she could have it, and had been under a lot of tension in the set up of the school.

------------

Penny Parker paused for a moment outside Nell's door. Her new friend had looked terrible when the new history mistress had arrived. Penny didn't want to seem nosy, but she wanted to show that she was there for a shoulder to cry on if necessary. She thought for a moment, then nipped back to her own flat, returning with a bottle of wine.

"I thought perhaps you might want to talk a bit more" she said as Nell opened the door. "First day of school and ... Everything."

Nell looked at her. She wasn't naturally one to talk, but she already felt comfortable with Penny, they were glad to have someone else of similar age to talk to, with such a young teaching staff around. She hadn't wanted to get into too much detail with Nancy and Kathy, after all they knew too many of the people involved. However it would be good to talk, get some of the confused thoughts in her head in order.

So she smiled and nodded and let Penny in to the flat.

-------------

Charlie was about to head back to her hotel when Con Maynard, who was quite excited to have her godmother there, suggested that she and Ted show Charlie her new flat before she left. It had been prepared for Fiona, so Charlie would be able to move in the following day if she wanted.

They had shown her all of the rooms, and started to go back along the corridor towards the front door. Charlie had noticed that all of the flats had small cards by the door showing who lived in there.

As they passed the T.Grantley/C.Maybard card, she suggested that they need not show her all the way out. A yawning Ted was happy to agree, and Con was not much less tired, although she needed a little more persuasion to be such a bad hostess.

---------

After they had gone in, Charlie strode off as if heading to the door, then swung around and quietly walked back along the staff corridor.

She had seen Nell's face, which she was sure had mirrored her own shock, and felt that they needed to talk. She really had had no idea that Nell had left the Chalet School, since it had been a last minute decision on Nell's part.

As she turned the corner, scanning the names for Wilson, she stopped still. At the end of the corridor, Nell was standing in a doorway, talking to the woman introduced to Charlie as the Head of Maths. A bottle of wine was in her hand, and as Charlie watched, the two women went into the flat together and closed the door.

Charlie left in confusion, unsure whether to be glad or sad. If Nell was in a relationship then perhaps it wouldn't be as awkward as Charlie had been thinking it might. She did want to take this job, they seemed a nice team.

She tried to think rationally aboit it all. However she had been knocked off balance slightly by the whole situation. She almost didn't want to acknowledge the feelings that seeing Nell had brought back. Did Nell's unavailability make the situation better or worse?

---------------------

Charlie didn't sleep well that night, but by morning had decided she ought to give it a chance.

After all, it had been over 20 years ago. Nell was in her past, a bit of history only a few knew of, that she was sure would shock her family if they did find out.

Jock had known, and a part of her wished again that he was here to talk to about things. They had been very good friends, she and Jock, as well as husband and wife.

Perhaps after all this time Nell and she would be able to be friends again, at least. That would be better than nothing.

---------------

Chapter 12

The following day the school began in earnest. The children did small tests in each subject to make sure that they were in the right groups, and a few of them were moved up or down, but in general the class arrangements had worked out well.

Charlie had arrived in the morning and fallen into the routine of the school almost as if she had always been there. She actually felt a bit as if this made things harder. She could tell that this environment was going to suit her well, that the unconventional team was a good one. If she decided that she couldn't be around Nell then leaving would be that bit harder.

She tried to ignore the situation, but she couldn't help but be aware of where Nell was whenever they were in the same room. The white hair and familiar shape just mean that her old friend stood out from everyone around her, as if Charlie's brain saw everyone else in soft focus and Nell in sharp colour.

Nell for her part was trying hard to keep concentrating on work and not think about where Charlie was, what she was doing, wondering what she was thinking.

Penny's advice the night before had been a great help. Although the large amount of wine drunk after that had unfortunately slightly dulled Nell's resolution to "Be friendly and level, see what Charlie does or says before worrying" slightly.

What Charlie's arrival HAD done for Nell was make her realise that finally she really did see Hilda just as a friend. She had known for years that nothing was possible between them, that Hilda just wasn't interested in a relationship, with her or anyone. But a little part of her had kept hanging on, taking the part of a relationship that their close friendship provided, trying to fool herself into feeling that that was enough.

But the way her whole mind and body had just switched onto "Where is Charlie" radar had brought back to Nell all the other parts of being together that she had almost forgotten about.

She realised, from the fact that Hilda truely seemed further back in her mind than she had ever been, that she was fully over Hilda, had been for years. It had just been habit, familiarity of the situation that had kept her holding on so long.

Was Con likely to be interested though? She had always been the mover in their relationship before, Nell hadn't even realised that her feelings for Hilda existed until Con had pointed it out, and finally refused to be what she saw as second best in Nell's mind.

So it hadn't been a good break up. It hadn't been a gradual decision, agreed on both sides. Nell had been angry, in denial, Charlie had been cold and resolved. Jock had come along, and Nell could still remember the pain of hearing that he and Charlie were engaged.

She sat in the staff room now in her break, tried and failed to stop the memories from flooding over her.

The escape from Austria had caused a brief respite, a return to being together, Charlie realising through her fear of Nell not surviving, that she still cared for Nell more than Jock.

They had had a blissful few months, nearly a year, living together in a cottage while they waited for the school to reopen. Nell had been attentive, loving and focused on making it work. Hilda hadn't really factored in Nell's mind at that time. She felt that she had moved on, was ready for a proper relationship with Charlie, thinking of it just as a crush on Hilda.

But Charlie had known at the back of her mind, that Hilda's absence was part of their security. She didn't break it off with Jock. After all he was overseas, no likelyhood of return for some time.

She waited to see how Nell acted once they were back at the school, how she behaved around Hilda.

Nell realised now that that was what Charlie had been doing. At the time, Nell had come to read it that she was just waiting for Jock's return, that Nell was a pleasant distraction in the meantime. Charlie mentioning Jock in a letter to Joey had been a final straw. They had fought over what it meant, Charlie saying that she had to keep appearances, Nell that she ought to break it off officially, commit to her instead.

They had argued fiercely, both trying to be heard but not listening to the other. A second break up, just as they returned to work at the school. Charlie's mood had been black, noticable even to the girls. They put it down to missing Jock, as did most of the staff, and neither Nell or Charlie said anything to change that perception.

Nell closed her eyes briefly as she remembered that time. Jock's sudden return, and then all at once Charlie was gone.

Hilda had been a great support. They had become closer friends, an almost relationship. Nell had let herself fall back to old habits of indulging in her crush on Hilda.

Now it all seemed so long ago, her and Con being a couple. She knew from her own reaction that the feelings were still there, maybe Con might feel the same? But they had left on such bad terms. Con was straight now. Nell had to stop thinking about the past.

--------------------

Penny for her part watched the two of them, and wondered. Nell had been so sure that Charlie was straight now, that there was no chance. But Penny had caught a few looks at Nell from Charlie, and they looked far more like furtive glances at a crush than irritated looks at an old love.

She was surprised to get some strange looks herself from Charlie, almost speculative. She caught one look from Nell to her and back again, and started to have some idea of the possible issue.

Being a forthright decisive person, she decided to tackle this head on. She rose from her seat next to Nell and walked across to Charlie.

"I thought I would introduce myself properly. I'm Penny Parker, Maths. We didn't get a chance to get to know one another yesterday." she said, sticking her hand out to shake.

Charlie said hello, shook her hand and then motioned to the chair next to her. She was intrigued by this development. She kept her features under control as Penny mentioned her partner Pollie several times, clumsily dropping in how long she and Pollie had been together and saying how she hoped for them to meet, once Pollie was able to spend some time away from her writing.

The bell for end of break rang and they all went off to their next lesson. Charlie's mind was a whirl. So it looked as though Nell and this Penny person were not an item, at least not officially. Who knew what went on unofficially, after all she had definitely seen Penny go into Nell's flat with the wine. But perhaps, just perhaps they were just talking then.

That didn't mean that Nell would be interested, of course. But... Charlie suddenly caught Nell looking at her, then looking away in a hurry.

Who knows, Charlie thought. Nell didn't seem unfriendly, and she wasn't with Penny after all. It might be possible. At least to be good friends again. That would be nice, thought Charlie. That would be nice.

Chapter 13

Len meanwhile had been mortified at Nancy and Kathy asking her in to their study for a 'quiet word'.

They didn't feel that they could tell her about the situation between Nell and Charlie, but they did talk very seriously about how important it was to check in with them first and to try to let them take charge more.

Kathy's prediction had been correct. Len had been far from happy with all of the responsibilities that she had taken on to herself. Nancy had started off quite cold and angry, but she had been shocked to see Len blinking back tears as the young woman tried over and over to apologise and explain. She realised quite soon how right Kathy had been about the difference between Len and Joey.

However, Len was on the edge and this conversation was just the final straw. Once the tears had started, she just couldn't stop them. Finally the storm passed and she felt a bit better, but hugely drained, and embarrassed to have broken down like that in front of her old mistresses and current head mistresses. She insisted that she was fine, but neither Kathy or Nancy was convinced.

Kathy was watching Len's pale face, and realising herself quite how much pressure Len had been under. She suggested to Len that she stayed in the study for a moment, and left the room. Nancy started a fire, and got Len to move and sit by it, distracting her by asking about her first day and how well she felt the classes had been arranged.

Out in the corridor, Kathy was walking purposefully to find Ge when she remembered all at once that she had taken the boat out over to the nearby fishing port to get some supplies. She hesitated briefly, then turned back around and headed off to the staff room.

Once there, she located Nell, and asked her to come with her. As they walked, Kathy explained the situation, and that she felt Len had obviously been burying the strain of it all for some time. Nell nodded.

"She's far more like Jack than Joey. Takes things to heart and thinks that she has to be strong for everyone, no matter what." Nell said, and Kathy agreed.

"Since Ge was away, I was going to get Con, but then I remembered how close you and Len are, and this felt like it might be more something you could help with." said Kathy. Nell nodded, and pushed the door to the study open. Nancy glanced up, then looked confused.

"Ge isn't here" Nell said shortly. Len seemed to wake up at the familiar voice. Nell looked at her, and decided that this could well be the best thing for Len, she had been looking strained and tired for a while. Len was suprised and then relieved to be enveloped in the sort of protective hug her Godmother Nell had stopped giving her once she was an adult, but it was familiar and reassuring. It wasn't the same as Ge holding her, but in its difference it made her feel it was alright occasionally to be a child, to be the one who needed looking after.

Nell nodded to the other two and they left the room. Kathy was glad to see that Len seemed to be in good hands, and turned to Nancy, then was shocked to see her looking angry. She so rarely saw her partner look at her like that, that she automatically looked over her shoulder, before realising yes, it really was her that Nancy was looking at with that look. She wasn't sure whether to ask what was wrong or not.

Nancy remained ominously silent until they reached their flat, Kathy had made them some tea and they were sitting down. Then, all of a sudden, she began.

"Why did you go and get Nell?" Nancy stormed "If Ge wasn't here, we could have coped, we are heads here, not Nell. Now she is in our study, doing our job. What were you thinking?"

Kathy was at a loss. She had brought Nell along as a near relation, the next best option to Ge. It hadn't even occured to her to think of Nell as a head any more. Before she could even think how to answer Nancy, she was shocked even further by Nancy grabbing her coat and leaving the flat.

Kathy looked after her, mouth wide open. She paused just a moment, then ran out after Nancy. But she couldn't see which way she had gone.

As she chose one direction, she was slowed by a furious Ge, looking for the two of them and demanding to know how they dared to put an extra strain on Len. She waited for Ge to finish, then explained.

"She had put us in a really awkward situation Ge, we had to say something. Really, you have to believe us, we were gentle, but we think it must just have been the final straw. I do think that she will be better for it, she has been putting too much pressure on herself."

Ge was still angry, but she could see that Kathy was probably right. She had been worried about Len breaking down for a while. She had this absurd concern about not adding to Ge's own worries, and Ge was actually grateful for this opportunity to make Len step back a bit. She decided it was more important to get back to Len, try to get her to take an early night. She noddded curtly and left.

Kathy, who hadn't wanted to let anyone know about Nancy's sudden departure, grabbed the moment while no one was near and hurried off.

By this time however, she had no idea where Nancy might be. She searched everywhere she could think of, then returned to their rooms, hoping that she might be there.

But the flat was empty, and no sign that Nancy had been back there.

Chapter 14

Kathy decided that the only thing she could do right now was wait and see if Nancy came back soon. If she didn't... Well she would, there was no point thinking about what to do if she didn't.

-------------

Nell handed Len over to Ge, and told her to get Len rested and that she thought it might have done a lot of good, getting Len to step back a bit. Ge was too angry that Len had been upset to really listen, but she gave a curt nod and Nell wisely left her to it.

She was about to head back to the staffroom when it occurred to her that she ought to report back to Nancy and Kathy as heads. She wasn't used to having to report back to anybody, except the Chalet School board, so it was a strange feeling to remember she ought to do so, if only for the sake of politeness.

A glance in the staff room on the way past confirmed her suspicions that they were not there. Since she had just been in their study, she guessed that they might be in their flat now, so directed herself towards the staff quarters.

She didn't rush, mentally planning a snack of some kind after this quick visit to Nancy and Kathy. After all this was only a minor matter, a mere formality to report back.

So when Kathy opened the door looking terrible, Nell was quite suprised. She was even more suprised to see that Nancy wasn't there, although Kathy loyally refused to say why.

Nell walked away from the flat, completely confused. As she passed one of the windows, she saw a tiny glow of a cigarette out in the darkness. There was a small level area made between two walls, and an extension below with a flat roof. Her first thought was one of the students, then she rembered the young general age of the school pupils and hoped it wasn't that likely. She then made out the familiar shape of Nancy Wilmot leaning against the wall. Something was going on with thise two.With Nell to think was to act, and she heaved the window open and stepped out onto the roof herself.

Nancy looked around, then turned away. Nell was surprised, they had been good friends for years, had been more than good friends in fact, when Nancy first came to Switzerland.

"What's up Nancy?" she asked, settling herself upwind of the smoke. For a while Nancy didn't reply.

"Suppose she sent you out to find me? Ask your advice how to deal with me?" came the reply eventually through the darkness, in tones most unlike Nancy.

Nell began to grasp the problem. She was brisk in her reply.

"No of course she didn't. Kathy is far too loyal for that, she didn't even say you had had an argument. I have just been to your flat to report in to you two as heads about Len, only to find the two of you apart when you don't have to be, which rarely happens. I'm assuming from how awful Kathy looks and that you are out here sulking, that you have had an arguement?"

Nancy bristled at the 'sulking' but then the fact of Kathy looking terrible sank in, and she hated that idea. Also under Bill's business like manner, and the mention of her reporting to them 'as heads', she started to feel she might have over reacted a bit.

Bill knew Nancy well, and could tell that she was finally listening properly.

"I don't know why you and Kathy are fighting, that is your between the two of you. But I can guess, since you seemed fine before she came to get me about Len. You were annoyed at her getting me? "

Nancy nodded, only visible by the movement of the little red glow.

"Why?". Nell asked. Nancy muttered something about 'could have coped on our own' and Nell finally saw the issue.

"You could, but think about it this way Nancy. If something had upset you and we couldn't get Kathy to you, who would Hilda or I get."

Nancy looked at her in confusion. "Hilary", she said finally. Nell agreed. "We would have found someone you were close to, soneone who could help, and who wasn't your boss"

"Now, think this last bit over" she said as she stood up properly and went back to the window. "Why do you think Kathy went to get me? Because it wasn't because I used to be a head."

Nancy felt very foolish. If she had thought it through, Nell was Len's godmother, and had been strongly involved in her upbringing. She had been so touchy about Nell being an ex head that she had jumped to the wrong conclusion.

She stayed out there a little longer, then went back in to Kathy, finding her cycling between being happy Nancy was back, and angry at her leaving like that, and not trusting Kathy's judgement. Nancy listened, then apologised and explained. It had been a long day, and it would start again early the next morning. They retired to bed to finish talking, and fell asleep soon after.

------------/-

Over in the farmhouse, Len slept in Ge's arms, exhausted with her unusual show of emotion. Having reached this point of breakdown however, she slept better that night than she had for months and woke without a headache for the first time in almist a year.

Ge wanted her to stay in bed the bext day, but Len had also woken up to the realisation that she really didn't have to take everyone's worries on board.

She had also realised that John and Josie being over in the dormitories meant that they she and Ge were quite alone for once in the farmhouse. She loved the twins, but they were another of her worries, and knowing that they were now part of the school and hopefully protected from bullies did take another source of stress away. She swiftly proved to Ge that she was back to her old self, and they both began the day with a far more relaxed and positive attitude than they had for a while.

"I'm not missing today for anything!" Len said cheerfull as she dressed. "I'm dying to see how they all react!" Ge laughed, and agreed.

The school so far had been a pretty standard boarding school. Today was the first day where the name "Young Adventurers" would be earned by the students. She was quite intrigued to see how the girls from the nearby school that had closed would react, not to mention the glee at the days activities that she expected from most of the second generation adventurers. Her own relations were still seeing this as "Just another school, though less starchy than most" she was sure, having overheard the phrase from one of them yesterday. It would be fun to see whether they still thought that by the emd of the day!

-----------------

The next morning dawned bright and clear. In the dormitories the students were still enough enthralled with the novelty of the school to be up early, and they began the rush of washing and getting ready.

Rosie Seymour looked at the timetable pinned to her noticeboard. Today was Saturday, school proper didn't start till Monday. All that the time table said for the day was "Adventure skills" and under that a reminder to have ropes, penknives and tinopeners with them, wear their toughest clothing and to wear their rubber soled shoes.

She got ready in a whirl of excitement, and had to be sent back by Lucy Ann for coming out with one rubber soled shoe and one slipper on. Finally Rosie was ready, and eager to find out what they would be doing that day.

Chapter 15

Summary:

As a reminder, Rosie is Anne Kirren's daughter, treated like a neice by Ge and Len. Maggie is Lucy Ann and Mike Arnold's daughter, Jenks is Fatty Trottville and Peggy Arnold's son, so Lucy Ann's nephew. Sally is one I have made up, as will all of the new girls be unless I say otherwise!

The dining room was full of noise, just barely kept to an acceptable level. The staff were on the lookout for any over excitement, ready to threaten exclusion from the day's activities if behaviour was bad.

What most of them hadn't really counted on, was the reaction of some of the girls from the nearby school that had closed. They were dismissive of the idea of learning "adventure skills" and were used to far more rigid social rules at school. A few of them were beginning to bunch together against some of the young adventurers. It was going to prove to be quite an interesting mix.

Ted did have to quickly nip out of the room to regain her composure after witnessing one exchange.

Josie and John were on a table with Rosie Seymour, Maggie Arnold and some of the new girls. The likely nature of the day's activities had been the main topic of conversation. Several of the new girls were thrilled at the idea that they would be doing mixed physical and mental activities, being Guides themselves.

However a couple of the other new girls were unimpressed.

"I don't see the point. At our school we used Saturdays for extra games practice. I really don't see the point of a lot of knot tying and flag waving. Silly games for children." said one girl, with a toss of her pony tail.

Another agreed "I think we ought to be able to have a choice. I'm sure my parents don't realise all these activities are being given priority over important things like hockey. As Sally said, it's alright for children, but we really need to be practicing more, otherwise how will our sports teams win matches? Doesn't your aunt know that we are not all just children here? " she said, addressing the twins.

It was obvious that they, from their vantage point of fourteen and a half, were underestimating John and Josie's age, and trying to put them in their place. It was also quite obvious that after being bullied for years at a local school, over far more important things than being younger or liking adventure skills, Josie considered them small fry, barely worth a reaction.

"Oh, I think it will be more than knot tying and flag waving," she replied calmly. "And after all, this is an adventure school. Not your typical school for average people, only interested in sports. Can't quite see where hockey would be a lot of use in an adventure really! "

She looked about to continue, tempted to add some choice words on how boring organised sports were, perhaps pretend that they wouldn't be having matches at all with other schools to scare the very narrow minded girls.

However John knew the warning signs, and gave her a brief kick under the table. She subsided, and merely gave them a beautific smile. This confused the girls, for they were expecting a fierce reaction from her to defend her aunt's school, which they could then have been patronising about. There was nothing much they could do with reasoned comment and a smile.

John grinned at his sister and passed some rolls down the table. Rosie and Maggie had been watching the exchange in silence. All of a sudden, Rosie spoke.

"You could trip a criminal up, I suppose. With a hockey stick" she said thoughtfully. "But we usually do that with a branch or bit of rope attached to a tree anyway. Also it would be a bit difficult carrying a hockey stick around. Be good though if you already had it with you I suppose."

The new girls, particularly the hair flipping Sally, stared at her in bemusement. They clearly didn't expect people as young as her to join in, let alone be so calmly discussing ways to trip adults up. Maggie noticed this, and joined in with a twinkle in her eye.

"Ah but, the rope is more useful, then you have something to tie them up with. I suppose you could hit them over the head with a hockeys stick... But the courts aren't too keen on hearing about hitting people on the head. One of my cousins nearly got charged with assault and battery himself. It's safer just to trip them up and hit them with your hands or feet."

The girls were looking around them, clearly waiting for someone to laugh at such a far fetched conversation from two little girls. But to their suprise, many of the students nearby were agreeing, and joining in with stories about how they usually dealt with criminals chasing them.

It was this point that Ted had to nip outside, for their faces were a picture. They had obviously not read the prospectus, for they were torn between intrigue at these apparent adventures and disbelief that children like these could really be telling the truth.

Finally the meal was over, and the school lined up outside.

Ge stood in front of them, with Julian, Lucy Ann and Mike ranged just behind her.

"First thing we need to do, is get an idea of your abilities. To do this, we have prepared a treasure hunt, with various tasks along the way." she began, then paused to give them a moment to express their excitment. After a minute she gave a sign for silence and continued.

"Can those with prior experience in adventures PLEASE NOTE - None of the tasks today involve mock criminals or other reasons to attack a human being at this stage. If you think that you notice a real crime or suspicious event, come to one of us FIRST. Do not attempt suspect catching or tracking without first logging in with a senior adventurer. Is that clear?"

There was a straggled "Yes" from the crowd, and they awaited further instructions.

Ge continued. "For today, we also do not wish you to stay just in your established adventure groups. We have mixed you up so that each team has a few experienced adventurers and some with less experience. The first stage is individual however."

Lucy Ann stepped forward and took over the next stage of instructions.

"The group lists are on the notice board in the common room. However, we have locked the school doors, and we will all be watching the front while doing some general fitness circuit training. You will each go to a checkpoint around the side of the school individually. You will then need to find a way to enter the school, without being seen by any of us at the front, and without breaking any property."

She paused for a minute and looked fiercely at her own relatives in particular. "Did you all hear that? Maggie? Jenks? Are you listening? WITHOUT breaking anything."

They nodded, with flaming cheeks at being singled out on this way. She carried on.

"There will be a member of staff in the hall, you do not need to hide from them, please go to them to collect your badge and also explain to them your route.You will then rejoin the group with your team badge, and continue with the general fitness training"

The group was then set to some martial arts exercises and general circuit training, while each student went off to attempt entry. When they returned, they were kept apart from the others so that no messages could be passed.

Rosie was really worried. She had always had adventures with her brothers or cousins there. They had generally worked out the entry plans, and lifted her up to high places. She was excited to be given a chance to prove herself, but very unsure if she would manage it.

It was her turn at last. She hurried around the side of the school to her starting point, and was met by one of the teachers she didn't yet know. Miss Wilson, she thought her name was. It was quite confusing having a Miss Wilmot and a Miss Wilson. But this wasn't one of the heads, so Rosie was pretty sure that it was Miss Wilson.

Her name was noted down and a timer started. Rosie hurried off, settling first in a bush nearby to try to assess the scene. She saw straight away a route in via a tree branch near an upstairs window, but knew she was too small to get up the tree without help. She scanned the lower floor, initially without result. Suddenly she noticed a small window ajar at about the right place to be one of the bathrooms, oh what did they call them? Splasheries, that's it.

The window was barely open, looked to be on a latch. She needed to investigate further. Instinctively she found a way to edge nearer without being visible from the school windows, or the group at the front. For all that she doubted her abilities, the real adventure experience she had made her take that task far more seriously than many of the students would. When the people you were hiding from were really likely to attack or capture you, speed was not of the essence, evading detection was far more critical.

Finally she was below the window. She saw a catch holding it part way open, and realised she needed some kind of lever. She was about to go back to find a stick when she remembered her new pocket knife. She was loath to use it, after all it was nice and shiny. However she could see that she need only use the short screwdriver blade, and she would have enough leverage to open the catch.

She slipped in through the window, and stood for a moment in the splashery, listening. As she did so, she carefully cleaned the prized pocket knife on her shirt and admired it's shininess, before replacing it in her pocket.

She was sure for a moment that she could hear someone nearby, but had to keep moving, so cautiously went to the door and slipped out to make her way to the school.

Con Maynard stepped out from one of the cubicles, and went and reset the window catch for the next student. She was amazed at the resourcefulness of the students, having had several of the smaller ones enter that way. Rosie's serious face as she had cleaned her knife had nearly made Con give away her position, with a stifled giggle at how seriously the little girl was taking everything. It was a good sign though, even she with limited adventure experience could tell the students who already had met bad people in the world. They had a watchful eye on everything, much more so than general students of the same age.

Rosie slipped through the corridors and reached the hall. She had done it ! Even without her brothers to help! She took her badge proudly, though she was a little sad to see that she wasn't in a group with Maggie or one of her brothers. Felix Maynard was in her group however, and he had always been kind when they met. She didn't know if he would remember her, but it was nice to know that there would be at least one friendly face.

She was let out from a side door, and went to join the gradually increasing group of students with badges. Gerry grinned at her proudly, and Sam gave her a thumbs up, at seeing that she had succeeded, and she thought she would burst with pride.

Finally all had made an attempt, and most had succeeded. Those who had not managed to make an entry within 15 minutes were let in, shown a route they could have used, and given their badges, with strict instructions not to tell anyone that that happened, so as far as everyone was concerned they had all managed it. Those few who hadn't were not inclined to pass on the help they had, once they realised from the excited chatter around them, that they were in a minority.

Now they arranged themselves into their groups, and Rosie was thrilled when Felix gave her a smile and clearly remembered who she was. She was a little less thrilled to have hockey fan Sally in the group, but the girl was tall and strong, so maybe she would be useful.

Sally on her part had been surprised at how much fun she had had so far. She had managed to get herself in via the tree and window combination that Rosie had noticed, and had also enjoyed the circuit training.

She had been amazed at some of the martial arts skills shown by some of the students, little Maggie particularly. She felt quite out of breath after some of the exercises, but being so keen on sports, she could already see how this general training in increased fitness would help her hockey skills. She awaited the next task with interest, and even forgot her own dignified advanced age for a moment in the general chatter about their activities so far.

The next task was the treasure hunt. They all had a different route, and the group with Rosie, Felix and Sally were to start on the beach, so they hurried off there.

On the beach, Rosie was glad to see her aunt Len, and gave her a little wave, which was greeted with a smile. Felix grinned at his sister too, but didn't say anything, awaiting instructions respectfully.

Len held out an envelope to them. Inside were several lines of print on slips of paper, and the instructions.

"There are three recipes here, for food, medications or polishes. Between you, work out which lines belong to which recipe, and what the recipes are trying to show you what to make. Once you have managed this, give the answers to your supervisor who will mark it. If you have managed a high enough score, you will be given the directions to your next checkpoint. If you haven't, you will be sent back to keep trying until you do." Sally read out, and Rosie's heart dropped.

They settled down on the sand and began rearranging the slips. Felix had his mother's quickness with reading and puzzles, and was quickly leading the way in how they arranged the slips. Sally was helpful here as well, since she had paid attention in home economics classes, and correctly identified the recipes. The whole group joined in however, with friendly arguments as to what order things went in.

Finally they had all agreed, and Len had marked it. They set off to their next checkpoint, in the caves, all chattering together.

In the entrance to the caves, they quietened, as an unfamiliar man came towards them out of the shadows. It wasn't until a small shadow detached from his shoulder and told them to "Wipe their nose" and "Blow their feet" that Rosie recognised Maggie's uncle Jack Trent.

He grinned at them and made them line up behind a rope spread across a cave entrance. They were told to look carefully in the cave, and then go back out to the beach and write down what they had seen. They were to make a joint list of at least 20 points of interest within the cave, and then return for marking.

They all stared fiercely into the gloomy cave, and then went to sit out on the beach to make their list. It was surprisingly difficult, since they had mainly all noticed the same things. This was where Rosie came into her own, for she had her archaeologist father's eye for detail. She was able to add an old cigarette end, a dropped piece of jigsaw puzzle, a footprint in the sand and a small toy Dr Who figure balanced up in a dark corner to the list.

They went back in, and Jack marked their list and then turned on an oil lamp so they could see the cave. They were amazed at how many things they had missed, even with managing to get 27 correct.

He gave them their next checkpoint position, and they hurried off, chattering away. This was fun, and they couldn't wait to see what they would be doing next.

Chapter 16

Back at the house, her brother Gerry was in a group with nearly all new girls from the closed school. He also had with him Jenks Trottville, a fact which brought a groan from Gerry, swiftly disguised as a cough.

Jenks was a nice enough boy, but thoroughly spoiled, and had a huge view of his own self importance. He came up to Gerry now and started chattering away, fully oblivious to the age and status difference between them.

"I say, this is rather good, didn't think we would be doing all this, I managed that first task very easily, would have been more fun if we could have used disguises though" he said, even as he held out his hand to the girls in their group to shake theirs. They were mainly much older than him, and looled rather bemused by him at present.

Gerry introduced himself to the girls too, and they all set off to the first checkpoint. The oldest of the girls, named Jane, stepped up to walk beside him.

"Any idea what we will have to do?" she asked, walking uncomfortably close to him. He shook his head and moved slightly further away. She smiled at him as they walked, and he went red under her gaze. He was glad when they reached his Uncle Julian at their checkpoint under some trees. Julian Kirren waited for the group to arrive, and then gave each of them a piece of paper.

"On here is a reminder of morse code along with a message" he said. "Your first task is to sit back to back with another member of the group, and pass the message between you using only tapping.

Gerry listened to the instructions, and then looked to see how the team ought to be paired off. He was completely thrown off course however, by the fact that three of the new girls instantly volunteered to sit back to back with him.

He went red and was stuck for how to answer. Julian watched this with amusement, but eventually took pity on his nephew and stepped in, arranged them into pairs, and subtly setting Gerry up with Jenks Trottville. He was initially hugely grateful, then wondered whether this was actually a good thing or not, since Jenks was so full of energy that he bubbled with movement all the time, and kept digging an elbow into Gerry's side.

Jenks waa also was convinced that he already knew morse code well enough not to use the guide sheet, which then led to some interesting words for Gerry to try to decipher.

After he had been told things like :-

"THE PURCEL IS AT THE FIRM, BE CAREFUL THERE IS A POLLIE MAN WITCHING" a few times, with Jenks insisting that it was his translation that was at fault, Gerry was ready to throttle the boy.

Julian finally took pity on him, since the other pairs in their group were finished with correct answers. He noted the taps Jenks was making, and confirmed that it was him at fault. They were allowed to move on, Jenks not noticably squashed, but Gerry seething inside.

Julian gave them their next checkpoint, which was over by the farmhouse. They were met there by Miss Grantley, who set them the simple sounding task of collecting items from as many letters of the alphabet as they could.

They quickly found easy letters, like a leaf for L, Stone for S. They had a real problem with some letters however,and even debated about what to call the items, with a North / South divide beginning to form and both sides convinced they were right.

Finally they had enough items to move on to the next stage. They were sent off into the trees of the nearby wood, where initially there appeared to be no supervisor about. They were all wondering whether to return to the edge of the wood and start again, when they were hailed cheerily from above.

Looking up, they were amazed to see the Religious Education teacher, Anton Biddle, sitting in the crook of a tree branch. Having been at traditional schools where the religious education was often done in quite a dry way, and where ministers or priests were very separate from tje students, they all were impressed to see him joining in so wholeheartedly like this.

"Your next task is to get the cards from these trees, then translate the messages on them." said Anton, swinging his feet as he talked. Jenks was almost at the first branch of a tree when Anton continued. "You will be timed for the whole task from the moment any one of you touches a tree to climb."

Gerry made an long arm and grabbed Jenks just in time, hauling him back to stand beside him. Anton grinned and continued.

"You also need to decide who does what. The people who climb the trees can't translate, and vice versa."

Gerry automatically began to assume that he ought to take command. He mentally allocated himself, Jenks and one of the girls who seemed strongest to go up the trees, silently wishing he could leave the irrepressible Jenks up there.

However, as he took a breath to say this, one of the girls spoke up first.

"So we need to work out who is best at Codes, and who fastest at climbing" she said, looking around the group. "I'm not bad at codes, who is confident in climbing?"

Gerry paused, then realised the sense in what she said. They needed to think not just about who might be physically fastest, but who was going to get the codes sorted fastest aswell. He wasn't bad at either, so he waited to see how the group identified before choosing. He assumed that he would be a tree climber, that the girls would mainly prefer to stay on the ground.

Jenks wanted to climb a tree, boasting about how fast he was sure that he could do it. Gerry was very tempted to let him, to race him to the target to show the younger boy who was better. But much as he wanted Jenks to burn off some energy climbing, the youngster was his father Freddie all over, and sickeningly bright. Gerry knew from family chatter that he was exceptionally good at puzzles and codes.

"Jenks ought to be a code breaker" he put in, and the girl looked at him questioningly and nodded.

The group fell quite easily into climbers and code breakers after that, and Gerry found himself to his surprise allocated to be a code breaker. He hoped that he wouldn't make too poor a showing, his brother Sam was the code whizz in their family, so Gerry tended to let him do that in adventures.

He was impressed to see how quickly and nimbly the girls went up the trees, and how keen they were to do it. He had tended to find girls other than those in his family weren't keen on this type of thing unless they were obvious tomboys.

It was a nice surprise to find that even girls without adventurous families were willing to muck in just as well as boys. 'If not better sometimes! ' he thought, as a deceptively fragile looking girl zipped up the tree like a monkey and was back handing him the first card almost in the next instant. He gave her a grin and settled to the code.

------------------------------------

Sea der rfo sal ete ikl ehe stm ees yik ell ote ikl dor wso dec oot, teb yhe tto n'we beb lao tte sis rgr ans lat int.

------------------------------------
He was thankful that it seemed to be a pretty easy one and he was able to pass an answer back to the girl, who nipped up Anton's tree in a flash to hand it in, before swinging over to another tree for the next card.

"Well done, fastest team so far" said Anton, as they were pointed to their next checkpoint. Jenks had proved very helpful, being able almost to look at the code and read it like print. Gerry mentally forgave him for the delay earlier, although he did make a note to himself to make sure the younger boy learnt morse properly - he knew it wouldn't take Jenks long, but he wouldn't do it while he thought he already knew the code.

Their next route was along the cliff path and back to school buildings. This was the first time really that Gerry had had time to look around him. He was pleased to see his brother Sam on the beach below, intent upon his team's task, and get a wave from Rosie as her group passed them on the way to the tree task.

The chemistry teacher was their next supervisor, Mr Harbottle. Gerry resisted a groan as he saw him standing by a trestle table looking vaguely at some nearby gulls. Even this early in the term, Sam Harbottle had begun to be noticed among the students for his unusual manner and thought processes, and Gerry was a little aprehensive about what state the instructions might be by the time they exited Mr Harbottle's mouth.

Notes:

Apologies - I wrote the fact that it was an easy code when it was, then decided to make it harder, possibly a bit too hard !! The slightly easier version is below if anyone wants to know :-)

 

Seaderr fo salet eikl ehest mees yikell ot eikl dorw sodec oot, teb yhet ton'w eb ebla ot tesisr granslatint.

Chapter 17

Thankfully the organisers had already thought about this, and had chosen a task with a basis in chemistry. They had also typed out the entire instructions so that he could not mangle them too much.

Mr Harbottle greeted them and pointed towards a tray with lemon juice, a candle and matches, and various small bottles.

"Invisible inks, great fun!" he said, then stood looking at them.

As they looked back with varying degrees of frustration on their faces, he gathered that they wanted more information.

"Yes, of course - instructions!" he said, pointing them to the card taped to the table. They crowded round the card, and Gerry read it out.

----------------------------
INVISIBLE INKS TASK

In front of you are several ways to both create invisible messages and to read them.

You have 15 minutes after you press down the timer to experiment and share between you any knowledge you have about inks or how to find messages.

You can then ask Mr Harbottle three questions if you need to, and he has 15 minutes to answer.

After that time, please tell Mr Harbottle to give you each an envelope. There should be one each.

Start the timer again and you have 15 minutes to reveal the message, and to write your own answer in your own choice of invisible ink

-----------------------------------------

They set to the first part, and Gerry was glad again for Jenks and his obsession with detective skills. It would have been more helpful if Jenks had been a bit less excitable and a bit better at explaining, but it looked at least as if Jenks would be likely to be able to do the task, as would at least two of the others.

Gerry was familiar with some of the methods, but a little shaky on the contents of the little bottles. The team worked out three questions to ask and the girls suggested Jane to be the one to ask Mr Harbottle, as she had the clearest voice.

With a certain amount of trepidation. Jane asked the question. But this was where the forethought of the organisers became even more evident. Because the questions were about his subject, Sam Harbottle was able to give hugely enthusiastic, and surprisingly clear answers.

Gerry was amazed at the end of the 15 minutes to find that not only did he know what the chemicals were, but he actually understood how Acids and Bases reacted, which was something his previous chemistry teacher had despaired of ever getting into his head.

The task following was then surprisingly easy, and the team went off to the next task chattering happily about how they could use their new knowledge to pass messages between them.

---------------

In their office, Nancy and Kathy watched in amusement. Sam Harbottle had proven already that with a bit of guidance he would be a born teacher, and it was great to see that he seemed likely to justify the risk they had taken with him.

"I'm quite jealous of all these students, these tasks are much more fun than anything I ever did at school" laughed Kathy, as she returned to their joint desk to get on with more paperwork.

"Yes, I was a little doubtful about some of the tasks, but they look to be having a great time !" said Nancy, joining Kathy and looking in distaste at her pile of pupil reports, then longingly out of the window.

"Which is no bad thing, looking at how little some of them seem willing, or perhaps able, to concentrate" replied Kathy, as she picked up Maggie Arnold's file and started to work through it.

They had received information on all of the pupils from their previous schools, and in some cases direct from parents. They were now matching up this information with the reports from the tester lessons that the students had done so far.

Several of the adventurous parents had been quite open about the fact that so far their children were not seeming to be academically inclined. They were intelligent enough, but trying to get them to focus on school work was going to be a challenge.

This was where Kathy and Nancy were glad for the input from their rather varied staff. They were used to the reasonably high academic standard of the Chalet School, and to fixed structures such as the prefect system. It was going to be an interesting challenge to get the young adventurers to learn, and having older Adventurers around for advice was to prove invaluable.

Collating all of the information and working out a plan for each child was a time consuming job for Kathy and Nancy. However, far from being put off by this extra work, the very novelty of it all was making them feel excited about teaching again, in a way that neither of them had really felt for years.

Kathy looked over at Nancy, and smiled fondly to see her torn between wanting to do the reports and to go and see how things were going on outside.

She gave her attention to her own paperwork for ten minutes more, then casually suggested that they ought really to support the staff. The speed that Nancy agreed, put the papers in a drawer and had her coat on told Kathy that she had judged her co head's thoughts correctly. With a chuckle she followed Nancy out and went around to each of the stations to see how things were going.

Nell Wilson greeted them cheerily from her own station, which was now a task involving removing a key from a bunch without rattling the other keys too much. As soon as Nell heard a loud enough rattle she would take the keys away, and they had to start again.

"I knew you couldn't resist for long" she laughed. "Going to have a go?"

Kathy wasn't sure initially, wondering if this was an appropriate thing for heads to do. But in the end, this wasn't a traditional school, and it was also a small one where the heads were very much part of the teaching staff. Seeing them joining in might make some of the more authority-shy students see them as approachable.

So Kathy smiled and joined in. Nancy had had no such doubts, being very keen to try the task. The group of pupils doing their task looked curiously at the two Heads, most of them used to less hands on approach from their senior masters and mistresses.

The next station that Nancy and Kathy visited was being run by Ruey Richardson and Charlie Stewart. It was an obstacle course, and was wearing even the most energetic of the students out, wriggling under things, climbing over others and sprinting between obstacles.

Here Nancy and Kathy decided not to join in, but had a great time cheering on the pupils as they raced to the finish.

Moving on, they were amazed to see the next group sitting frantically leaving through French/English dictionaries.

"What do they have to do?" Kathy whispered to Con Maynard, who was supervising.

"Two things. Just now they were listening to a recorded conversation in French, and they had 5 minutes to work out between them what they thought was being said before the next conversation was played." Con said quietly.

"Now they have moved on to part two. They had to dig out a container from the sand, which has messages written in French. They have to work out what the message says. At the moment they can use dictionaries. Later in the year we will gradually set tasks without the books.

Nancy and Kathy were impressed. The students were still treating this as a game, barely realising that they were learning. They stored this fact up for later use, since they could foresee a difficult time with some of the more eccentric and hyperactive students about the policy of language days.

---------

By the time Nancy and Kathy had been around all of the stations, the young adventurers were all finished and most of them were one big grin as they shared notes on what they had been doing.

It had been an excellent way to get to know the students, and the staff had had a great day as well. All in all it had been a success.

The whole school went to bed tired out but generally happily so. The school was beginning to become a group, although it would take some time and a few dramas and shocks before they could feel they were established, at least today the process had begun well .

Chapter 18

It had been decided early on that the Chalet School principle of gentle Sundays would be continued. As Amy Stevens said, that was always one of the things she remembered most from school. That and playing paper dolls with Robin.

The students were a mixed group, mainly C of E or Catholic, with a fair amount having no fixed denomination at all. The adventurers tended often to have parents who believed in doing the right thing, but were not regular church goers, whereas the relatives of Chalet School members were shocked at the very idea of not being either Protestant or Catholic. The girls from the closed school were all C of E, but had not had much emphasis on religion bar compulsory church service on Sunday.

The students were to have another surprise at how the school was to deal with this issue, but that came later. At the moment it was dawn, and most of the school was fast asleep.

It was too early in theory to get up, but Josie Kirren was too full of energy to sleep any more. Used to getting up when she wanted, and going anywhere on the farm, she dressed quickly in jeans and a warm sweater and slipped out and headed down to the beach.

In Len and Ge's bedroom, Timmy raised his head from his paws and gave a slight whine. Ge was instantly awake, years of experience telling her that Timmy was worried about something.

She got up carefully, trying not to wake Len, and went over to the window, just in time to see a familiar little body with dark curls turn onto the beach path. Her instant reaction was to relax and step back from the window.

Josie knew the tides, and was fully used to wandering all around at all hours. Ge began to return to the warm bed before it occurred to her that Josie quite possibly had just dressed and left. That was fine for a trusted child at home, but ought not to be done at school.

Ge thought for a moment, before calling Timmy to her and dressing quickly. She made her way to the beach and smiled to see Josie doing sprints up and down the sand. The girl had to get rid of her energy somehow, and they had devised this plan when she was quite small.

Ge settled herself on a rock and waited for Josie to notice her. Finally, on a turn to return, her daughter saw her and flashed her a smile, before putting on a final spurt. She stopped just before the rock, and rested her hand on it to steady herself.

"Hello Josie Girl" said Ge, moving up to let Josie sit beside her. "Got the fidgets?"

Josie nodded, then added. "Not now though. Running did the job, though I didn't go as fast as my best time."

Ge sat with her daughter for a moment, almost rebelling internally at what she had to tell Josie. It was the girl's home, why shouldn't she keep to her habits? But there were too many wild spirits at the school to let one do what others ought not to do.

"Josie, just wanted to check - did you ask anyone if you could come down here?"

Josie looked at her as if she were mad. Ask to come down to the beach? She had been free of checks like that for several years. Why on earth would Ge expect her to ask permission now. She said as much, getting that angry glint in her eye that Ge recognised as so similar to her natural mother.

Ge chose her words carefully. "I don't expect you to ask in the holidays, and I know that to you it must seem a stupid rule."
Josie nodded agreement to this.

"But while you are at school you do have to think of the others. I trust you and John, you know the coast, and you know how to look after yourselves. But if we let you go anytime, but not the others, that will look like you are getting special treatment."

Josie was still looking mutinous, so Ge fished around for a better way to explain. Len was so much better at knowing which social rules were important, and which not.

Ge was naturally inclined to tell Josie not to worry, just make sure she didn't get caught. But she had a feeling that she WOULD get caught, Lucy Ann and Mike were very alert people, and probably already knew she was out of bed.

"Do you remember at your old school, the headteacher had two sons in the school?" she began. Josie nodded, still with that slight frown to her face. "Well you were really annoyed, weren't you, that they never seemed to get detention, despite behaving far worse than you or John?"

Josie looked out to sea, beginning to understand where Ge was going.

"If we let everyone go where they like, when they like, we can't keep everyone safe. Now I can talk to Lucy Ann - I mean Mrs Arnold, sorry. I'm sure she will let you go somewhere in early mornings. We can work something out with you, no one wants a fidgety Josie about!" Ge finished, glad to see a ghost of a smile on Josie's face. "But perhaps not down here by yourself. Ok?"

Josie fiddled with her shirt edge. This was something about living at school that she hadn't thought about. She almost wanted to say she would come home, just go to lessons. But the day before had been fun, as had the whispered conversations in the dormitory last night.

"Can I still walk Timmy?" she said suddenly. Ge laughed and pulled her into a hug.

"As long as you come and check," she said, then added quickly "And NOT when you are supposed to be in a lesson !"

Josie giggled. "Deal" she said, and they shook hands in mock seriousness then both grinned at each other.

They slipped off the rock and wandered back up to the school. Josie hesitated for a moment when it came time for Ge to go into the farm house and her to go into the school. But she squared her shoulders, gave Timmy one last scratch around the ears, punched Ge gently on the arm and sped off indoors before she changed her mind.

Ge stood there a little longer. She knew it was for the best. Josie wasn't far away after all. But somehow, a little selfish part of her had wanted Josie to chose to stay at home a little longer.

It just seemed such a short time since they had been chubby little toddlers, holding on tight to her with grubby little paws. Timmy rubbed his head against her leg and she smiled down at him.

"Come on then Tim" she said. "Let's go and wake that sleepyhead Len shall we?"

--------

Chapter 19

Summary:

This is a difficult one. It is Sunday, and I wanted an example of a Sunday, in the tradition of the CS books. I just wanted to say that I hope I neither offend nor irritate anyone with this post.

I have looked into many different aspects of faith, and the central principles of most seem good and usually very similar. The CS books are very Christian in content, from memory there is rarely a mention of religion in the Enid Blyton books. I have therefore taken my view of what the adventurers might have thought about the situation.

I generally have a lot of respect for anyone who knows what they believe in and stick to it. But as will probably show up in the post, I do take exception to people who just repeat by rote without thinking and only go to church simply because it is the "done" thing to do, but then don't properly follow any of the principles in their daily lives. If you include religion in anything there is a chance of offending or irritating someone, so I hope that this does neither. If it does, then I apologise, as I don't want to do so. I hope that it is non specific enough not to upset anyone.

The pupils chattered their way through breakfast, and lined up expectantly in hall. Nancy stood in front of them and waited for silence before smiling at them all and wishing them good morning.

"The practicing Christians among you will be heading off to the village shortly. Those of you who are Church of England or Protestant will be attending the local church, and Father Percy has Catholic services alternate weeks in the village hall. Those of you who are non practicing will have the choice of either option, or a service held here by Mr Biddle. As yet none of your parents have chosen to exclude you from religious services, and none of you are over 16, so you all must chose one. You can chose each week which you attend, but you must attend something."

She paused and consulted a list before her.

"We have spoken with all of your parents, and they have all agreed that on the alternating weeks, Catholics may chose between private Bible study and Mr Biddle's Scripture class service. Protestants can also chose Mr Biddle's service over the Church one alternating weeks as long as their parents have agreed."

The student set up a murmur at this. They weren't used to the idea of a choice like this, and the novelty of a service with Mr Biddle attracted many of them. Mindful of this, there was no choice given that week, and the practicing Christians left for the village shortly after.

Gerry, Rosie and Sam were to stay behind, as were John and Josie. Lucy Ann and Mike's children Maggie and Peter were also non practicing. As Ge had said when discussing the options for religious education, the adventurers had all wriggled their way through boring church services and been put off by dry rules and restrictions. It was no suprise that they didn't want their children put off in the same way. Only a few of the other students stayed, most being either Protestant, C of E, or Catholic.

The little group watched the others go off to the village in a mass. A couple of them felt slightly left out, since it was a nice day for a walk, and they liked the idea of a trip out of the grounds, even if it was to church.

John and Josie ought to have had some idea of what was to come, but even they were mentally planning the rest of their day, seeing the service as something to be suffered through.

Anton Biddle arrived in the hall and grinned at them.

"First thing is to change." he said. "Go and get into your circuit training gear. You will need your boxing gloves too."

The students stared at him, then hurried off to do as he said. Once back at the hall he stood in front of them and spoke for a few minutes. He told them that he didn't expect any more of them than they try to think about the words they were saying.

This hadn't really occurred to them, always having just repeated the Collect for the day at school, or been concentrating on sitting quietly while others read it.

He set them to some warm up exercises, then began. The Collect and Epistle were the ones they nearly always had at the beginning of the school year being for the Sunday closest to September 7th.

They listened and repeated dutifully, and then prepared to have to go on to the next bit. However he stopped.

"Now who thought about what they were saying?" he said.

He then proceeded to break down each part and make them say it along with beginners boxing moves. The exercise woke their brains up, and the repetition meant they had to know what had been said.

He repeated this through the whole service, keeping them moving the whole time, but not letting them away with rote repetition. They began to get a glimmer of what he was trying to show them, which was that within the readings, prayers and phrases that normally bored them there were actually helpful advice for guidance.

They had repeated elements like the Lord's prayer for years. But now they were expected to think about what they were saying. Like the fact that if they wanted forgiveness they had to be willing to forgive others.

He set them to some different repeated moves, then surprised them by starting to sing the hymn along with the moves. On the second turn around, he got them to join in. Again, used to tortured voices droning hymns, the adventurers were surprised to find themselves enjoying this.

He stopped them for a quick breather, then to their surprise got them to wind down with the collect they had warmed up with. This time they had started to listen. They took away more of the words and more of the message. They began to think.

Nell Wilson watched the whole process, having opted to stay for this service rather than attend the one in the village. She had been rather doubtful about this system, and wanted to be able to guide any Catholic pupils or their parents about which would be more suitable, bible study or this.

Although the words of the collect were unfamiliar, she knew that the Prayer content was similar enough to not be an issue when no option of Mass was available. This method of preaching was intriguing however. She was impressed with the way he had broken down the prayers, explained the meaning behind them, then made the students repeat them along with their exercises.

The service over, they were sent to change back into their Sunday clothes. They had a lot to talk about, and Nell realised as she saw even the more hyperactive of them settle in the common room to read, that this system would be likely over time to filter out those who needed physical exercise to be able to be calm the rest of the day.

-------------

Once the whole school was together again, the students were introduced to the craft cupboard, and told they could sit and read, get started on a project or go into the hall and exercise if they needed to do so.

Tom Gay was at the handicraft cupboard, and several of the staff were also ready to help in their preferred areas of expertise.

All in all, it was a busy, but gentle day. The pupils went to sleep that night relaxed mentally and physically, ready to start the week.

Chapter 20

Monday morning was the first real school day. The pupils were excited, many of the staff slightly nervous. This was the first major post for several of them, even those with experience had not necessarily been the sole member of staff in their department, as they were now, and few of them had experience in teaching boys.

In the staff room there was a near battle between Con Maynard and Sam Harbottle over access to the kettle. It was so unlike the normally placid Con that the whole room stopped what they were doing to watch open mouthed.

Sam had been daydreaming, apparently unmoved by the nerves around him. He was very slowly making tea for himself and Anton Biddle, using his own analysed method for best brewing.

Con was fighting away some lines of a sonnet, determined that she wouldn't lose concentration so early in the term. She was far and away the most nervous of the whole staff. She had barely slept that night, and was still not really registering that Charlie's presence took away some of her responsibilities.

They had also overslept, so had been rushed out of the flat by Ted without her usual morning cup of coffee.The day would be a busy one, and she knew she would never win her battle with the words floating in her brain if she didn't wake herself up with some coffee soon.

Con had already snapped at Len, Tom and even Lucy Ann. They had wisely not responded and kept out of her way, accepting Ted's apologies, while Con stalked off under her most uncharacteristic black cloud.

The time was ticking on, and Con had visions of being unable to get this cup of coffee before her lessons. So when Sam stood in front of the kettle and began very slowly leveling off teaspoons of sugar and measuring out milk hugely precisely, Con was ready to blow.

She was beyond thinking rationally about how much time she actually had, and as Sam carefully tipped just a little more milk into his mini measuring jug, and looked seriously at the measuring gauge, she was seeing hours tick past before she could get to the kettle.

"Do you HAVE to do it that way?" she asked eventually, through gritted teeth. Sam looked up in surprise.

"Why no, I don't" he said seriously. "Do you have another method that is better? We could do an experiment to test the different methods if you wish?"

Con was just fixated now on getting to her coffee, but knew Sam well enough to wish that she had just kept quiet about things. Her fears were justified as Sam looked at his measured amounts of sugar and milk and was clearly pondering what stage he had reached and whether to start again.

Nell Wilson, Ted and Len all began to rise out of their seats, all seeing the rare danger signs of the Maynard temper on Con's face.

Just as Con was ready to empty the sugar bowl over Sam's head, intervention came from an unexpected source. Charlie came over to her goddaughter and pointed her to a chair.

"Coffee is it, Con? Strong, black?" she said firmly. "Sit down, we have some time, and I want to talk to you about whether you need cover any of the history at all now that I am here. Sam, move over here while you measure if you please."

Con sat down, some of her anger dissipating at this brisk treatment, and the reminder that she no longer had to do both history and English now her godmother was there. She also became awake enough to realise that there was still plenty of time before she had to leave.

As Charlie waited for the coffee to brew, Ted came over to her and gave a quick muttered word of thanks, before sitting down carefully next to Con, still a little expecting a snap. The relaxation of Con's body into slightly closer contact with Ted removed that worry, and Ted breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing that Con had begun to calm down, Charlie delivered the coffee to Con and merely suggested they meet that evening to sort out the timetable. She then left Con sitting quietly with Ted and went to sit in the main group of staff.

"Very impressive" said Len "How did you know how to handle her though? She so rarely explodes we were all caught on the hop, too far away to get there in time!"

Charlie smiled. "Well I may not have been physically around to be her godmother, but Joey has kept me informed all the way along. Con seems to be one who holds it all in, then vents when pressure builds up too high. Usually with her sleepwalking, I assume, but in this case with near "death by teaspoon" for Sam."

They all laughed, but Len persisted, asking how she had known Con's mood so quickly on this occasion, not having seen her for so long.

"I also knew both Joey and Jack for quite a while, if you remember! " Charlie said with a grin. "I recognised the signs on her face, and happened to be near enough to do something about it. Perhaps I was less influenced by the fact that Con doesn't usually blow up than you all were. That's all."

"Sam was being quite infuriating though."
said the games mistress, Ruey Richardson. The group stopped chatting for a minute to watch him, now seeming to be checking mentally the best path to Anton with a cup in either hand, apparently oblivious to the situation he had caused.

Anton sighed. "I have yet to get a hot cup of tea" he said. "But he goes to such effort to get it, and he is so nervous I don't like to say"

Ruey swiveled to look at him. "Nervous?" she said incredulously. "He seems the calmest of the lot of us!"

Anton smiled. "'Not everyone shows nerves the same way" was all he said, as Sam finally made it to them with the teas, decided they were not perfect enough, so set off again to make two new cups.

---------------

Ted saw Con off to her first English lesson of the day, and then hurried to her own French lesson. She sped into the classroom, and greeted her class, who were mainly the older students today. The youngest were Felix and Felicity, at 13, the rest mainly a few years older.

Used to talking French and German almost from birth, the twins were streets ahead of their peers in terms of conversation, but struggled a little in terms of written French. The decision had been made to try them in this older class and see how they fared.

Ted strode to the blackboard and started writing some words up. She then grilled them all thoroughly in the meanings of them and the tenses to use for different situations.

As the class drew to a close she gave them their prep, bade them a friendly farewell and went on to the next group.

Felix and Felicity packed up their books to return to their normal form. The others were staying put, so had a few moments to chat.

"You would think she would dress properly in school hours" came Jane's clear voice. "Does she want to be a man, do you think? She certainly won't get one looking like that"

The Maynard twins spun round furiously and shot over to the side of the class where the older girls were gossiping. They stood in front of Jane and fiercely asked her to repeat what she had just said.

Jane had no problem with repeating what she saw as a perfectly reasonable comment. In her experience women wore skirts or dresses except for specific tasks. She was honestly confused by Ted and slightly threatened.

"Anyway, what business is it of yours?" she said as she finished. "Keen on her are you?"

"She's our sister's ... " began Felicity, but Felix put his hand on her arm.

"She's a close friend of our family and has lived with us lots in holidays. She is like a sister to us." he stated, as he steered Felicity away. He reached the door and turned back with the type of parting shot only children can get away with.

"Oh, and speaking as a boy" he said sweetly. "Ted looks an awful lot better in her slacks than any of you would in a dress."

Had any of the staff been present he would have regretted this, for it was an extremely rude thing to say. However he was lucky and retribution failed to fall on him, which was probably a good thing, since Felicity was spoiling for a fight.

"Why did you stop me?" she said to him as they stalked off. "It isn't a secret is it, here? All the staff know they are together, and all of our gang know? I thought part of the point of this school was so they didn't have to hide?"

Felix was slightly more worldly than his twin, having been to school away from the protective world of the Chalet School.

He didn't know if Ted and Con's situation was a secret, but he was sure that they needed to be careful until told otherwise. Angry as he might be with Jane, he also knew that the extra girls from the closed school brought in badly needed full school fees. The school was too new to have a major row with parents this early in the term, and Jane might easily pass on anything she knew to her parents. He explained his reasoning to Felicity, as they hurried off to their form room.

Felicity was totally confused and upset, and did poorly in her next lesson, taught by Nell Wilson. Although unscientific, Felicity usually made a reasonable attempt at the tasks in Biology lessons, being interested in animals and the world around her. Nell noticed her lack of concentration, but just put it down to settling down in a new school.

-------

After lunch Felicity appeared to have made up her mind about something. She had a word with Felix, and the two of them set off in a determined way for the staff room.

At the door they met Ruey, and asked her very seriously if they could see Con.

"I'll go and find her," said Ruey. "But watch out you two, remember you really should call her Miss Maynard in school hours."

"Oh we do" the twins chorused. Felicity explained a little further. "We would call her that if this was in school, or if there were anyone other than you and us around, Ruey, we really would. But it's Con, our sister that we want to see, not Miss Maynard, our teacher, if that makes sense."

Ruey was an easygoing soul, so she merely laughed and nodded. "Fair enough," she said. "Wait here and I will go and find her."

"Thank you Miss Richardson!" chorused the twins with twinkles in their eyes. Ruey joined in the giggles at how strange it sounded, then went off into the staff room in search of Con.

Chapter 21

Con looked up in surprise at Ruey's message, but she stood up straight away and going out to the twins.

"Hello you two," she said, searching their faces for a clue as to why they wanted her 'As a sister' as Ruey had phrased it. "Anything wrong?"

The twins looked past her into the staff room. Ted was sitting near the entrance, and gave them a cheery smile before returning to her marking. They felt awkward talking there, and asked Con if they could go somewhere a bit more private. Con nodded, although now quite worried about whatever it was they wanted to talk about. Perhaps they wanted to leave?

They found an empty classroom and Con perched on a desk.

"Come on then" she said. "What is it?"

Now it came to it, Felicity felt suddenly shy. There hadn't been a big fuss about Ted and Con being an item, nor Len and Ge, since the twins had been quite young when it became family knowledge. They had just accepted it with the open mind of the young and not thought much about the details of the situation.

Felix and Felicity knew that Ted and Con were more than friends. That they shared a bed when they were at Freudesheim, and lived together now. Jack and Joey had been supportive, so the twins were too. But it still wasn't something that you wanted to be talking to your much older sister about. She stood there with cheeks burning, trying to work out what to say.

Felix took pity on his twin. He started off.
"There were some things said this morning by some of the new girls," he began. "About Ted. We don't want to say who, but ...well we were a bit upset about it"

Con was quiet. She had some ideas about what might have been said. They had had plenty of comments thrown at them over the years, and it was a common situation now where people started off friendly to Con, then their attitude changed once Ted arrived.

Felicity found her voice. "We wondered about, well you and Ted, and..." she started then paused before finding the words. "We wanted to know about you, well - you two being together"

Con wasn't sure quite what to think. What did Felicity mean?

"What..." she said, then blushed almost as much as her sister. "Er... What do you want to know ?"

Felix carried on, at a pleading look from Felicity.

"Well Feli... we nearly said something to the girls who were being rude about Ted... Nearly said about her being your... Well, about her being our sister, cos well she is... Like a sister, you know. We wanted to know if we can say that or not."

Con was so touched by this, and how happy it would make Ted to know that they felt this way, that she nearly missed the little voice from Felicity.

"Also... Does Ted have to look ... Could she maybe wear a skirt, when she is, you know, teaching? The girls are ... They don't respect her, and they should."

Con looked at her sister. Her instinctive "No!" luckily didn't leave her brain. Felicity wasn't one to make a fuss for the sake of it.

She wanted to point out that Ge and Tom always wore trousers, but she knew that in the school world, that was different. Tom was mainly teaching woodwork at present, so her overalls didn't seem out of place. Ge was mainly out on the farm, so wasn't often to be seen in a teaching context. But Ted was a teacher of an academic subject, and in most schools she would have had to conform to a dress code. Con herself had no great opinions either way about skirts, so it wasn't an issue for her. Ted did look out of place in a skirt, always had done. She wore them, but strode so like she was wearing trousers that the effect was unintentionally comic.

For a fleeting moment Con considered asking her to wear a skirt to work. Then she shook her head. They were supposed to be themselves here, not having to hide as much. The snide comments would reduce as the pupils got used to her. She said as much to the twins, and that they were not to get involved in fights because of it, that would upset Ted more than the original rudeness.

The question of how much was appropriate for the twins to reveal was a difficult one. Con wanted to say they could say what they liked, but she was wary of how parents would react to the school, as well as potential bullying for the twins.

Eventually, hating herself slightly for being a coward, she told them to just keep to the story of Ted being like an adopted sister to the Maynards. Felix nodded, but Felicity looked upset still.

"But that's a lie" she said finally. "You are more than that, you are like boyfriend and girlfriend, aren't you? "

Con nodded, wondering where this was leading.

"I don't really see why we can't say that?" Felicity added, looking at Con with that slight frown so familiar to Con from seeing it on Len's face.

Con didn't really know how to answer. She searched her mind for a way to explain. She rebelled at the idea that by telling them to hide this, she was saying that she and Ted were wrong in their partnership. But even now, in the early 1960s, it was still something people could get silly about.

Finally her face cleared.

"If people find out, you don't have to lie, but all I am saying is maybe don't volunteer. After all, you know about us because of the family situation, not from knowing us as teachers."

She could see that this was still difficult for Felicity to feel comfortable with. To her a lie was a lie, and hiding seemed like lying. Con paused for a moment, then gave a small smile.

"You know how we see Aunts Nell and Hilda outside of term time?" she began, getting puzzled nods from the twins. "Well, because of that we know things about them, don't we. Like Aunty Nell being really good at balancing spoons on her nose." she continued, getting a giggle from the twins at the reminder.

"Or Aunty Hilda singing sea shanties after too much wine" added Felix.

"Er, yes..." said Con, thinking privately that Ted would shout with laughter at that little revelation !

"Well those sorts of things would maybe affect how parents of the Chalet School girls saw them as teachers. It doesn't make them bad or stop them being great heads, but you wouldn't tell people at the Chalet School about it, would you?" she continued, getting a strong "Oh no, of course not" from both of them.

Felicity understood now, and was happier about things. They had to hurry to get to their next lesson, but she was at least able to concentrate on Miss Ferrar's geography class now.

Con set off for her own English lesson with the youngest set in a much lighter mood than she was earlier. The image of the Abbess singing sea shanties was just too funny to stay in the same brain as a bad mood. She was a little bothered about how she would explain the situation to Ted, but she knew she had to, they had decided early on not to hide things from each other. Hopefully Ted would focus on the twin's acceptance rather than on the rudeness of the other girls that triggered the little discussion.

Chapter 22

Summary:

Liz is a made up character, not from anything else

The weeks went on, and the staff and pupils began to settle to their routines. There was still a divide between the girls from the closed school and the young adventurers. They muddled along amicably enough in their separate groups however. As Nell Wilson said, you get groups within any school, over time they would mix more. No sense in forcing it.

The lessons had been fairly traditional so far, with the regular adventure skills sessions on Saturday and Mr Biddle's boxing religious education lessons to break the weeks up a little.

The monday of the third week of tern dawned with a bright sun but grey sky and low mist. Gerry was unusually distracted at breakfast, allowing Jenks to chatter on to him without limiting him to his normal ten minutes at a time.

John Kirren looked at him, recognising the signs. As breakfast finished, he held back and muttered "What's up?" to Gerry, who turned from the window to look at him.

Gerry replied slowly. "It feels... There's an adventure coming, I can tell, but I just don't know what."

John was surprised. "But it's term time!" he said. "They don't usually happen till holidays..."

"Hmmm, I know" said Gerry. "But there are so many of us here together, I think the usual rules don't apply. I wish I knew WHAT was going to happen."

The friends walked off to their next lesson, debating all of the possible adventure situations that could happen. Finally, as they reached the classroom door, Gerry decided.

"We can't report anything if we don't know what we are reporting. We need to keep an eye out on all the possible adventure starting points. Get the others together, we need to have a meeting, I think."

"Will do," said John. "If you tell your lot, I'll let all the twins know. What about that girl who is prefect with us - Liz? The rest of us who are also prefects will be there, and it is likely to affect the school - we ought to include her."

Gerry wasn't sure. They hadn't really got to know their fellow prefect yet, since there hadn't been any cause. She kept order within the group of girls from the closed school, and did seem to be a leader within that group, but Gerry didn't really want to include her in this meeting. She might be as dismissive about adventures being real as some of the other girls from her group were.

But his sense of fairness won out, and he nodded agreement. "Tell her not to tell anyone else though" he said "Not yet. We need this to be kept under control till we know what we are dealing with."

He hadn't needed to specify where they were meeting, it was always the twin's treehouse. That they weren't really supposed to be in the farm garden in school hours didn't occur to any of them

John nodded, and went off to whisper to as many of the others as possible before Miss Gay arrived for their Latin lesson. Most of them just nodded, but his own twin looked at him with sparkling eyes.

"So you've felt it too?" she said, barely keeping to the undertone they all knew carried far less than a whisper. "There's an adventure on the way, I can tell."

He nodded, thinking it quicker than explaining that it was Gerry's intuition, not his, and went to his seat just as Miss Gay strode in and the lesson began.

-----

Later in the treehouse, they sat around and looked at Gerry expectantly. Liz, the only one without adventure experience, was trying not to laugh, they were all so serious about this meeting. She was pleased to have been included however, it had been hard being the only one of the prefects not an adventurer. She kept her merriment inside, not wanting any of them to decide to exclude her next time.

Gerry began. "How many have had that feeling that an adventure is on it's way? Honestly now, don't just say yes, we need to work out what type of adventure we are dealing with."

It turned out that Josie, Gerry, Rosie and Sam had felt it. John never really did, adventures just seemed to creep up on him, so it looked as though it was a Kirren Style adventure on it's way.

"Thank goodness!" said Josie to the Russells and Maynards in a heartfelt tone "If your lot had been involved we would be far greater risk of injury, illness and falling off cliffs or mountains! I haven't forgotten that Snowden holiday! I didn't think we would ever make it out of that one!"

They chuckled along with her, then got back to business.

"We can't assume things will go as normal, however" said John seriously. "The pattern has already been broken if this adventure is coming in term time. Make sure you all are prepared for a Maynard/Russell type adventure too."

He looked over at Liz, who was looking bemused, and explained further.

"In case you don't remember or know what that means :- Check you have your ropes ready for a cliff rescue. Perhaps have an extra rope with you too if you can. Triple check food supplies before setting off, especially drinks. Keep aware of the weather and always assume the storm / snow / heatwave will hit you, no matter what adults or weather reports say."

He stopped and looked around. There didn't seem to be any questions, so he moved on.

"Right. If it is a Kirren based adventure, there are probably bad people about. We need to try to work out all the possible risks. The most likely one is kidnap, as there are no scientific secrets about as far as I know?" John said, pausing and looking around to a collection of shaking heads. Liz however had something to add here, determined to be involved.

"Well we don't know that" she said, then stopped, embarrassed as all eyes turned to her. "Mr Harbottle does seem the type to be, oh I don't know, inventing things. And Mr Mannering and Mr Trent are quite famous for their animal and bird investigations. So we should... Be aware..." she finished, feeling foolish for being so easily drawn into what seemed like a game to her, but wanting to have at least tried to join in.

Gerry looked at her with a little more respect. "That's very true, Liz, thanks." he said. "In terms of kidnappings, we have Lony as ever, being a Prince means he is always at risk... Felix and Felicity might be, due to your famous mum, though I don't think that is too likely. I think there is an heiress in your lot, isn't there Liz?" he said, looking questioning at the girl from the closed school. She nodded, though was a little sad to hear the description 'your lot' still.

John took up the list. "Jenks is often at risk because of Uncle Freddie being so high up in the secret services, as people think they can influence his dad through him." he said. He grinned and continued. "Not TOTALLY sure we would want or need to prevent that one, I pity any kidnapper who had Jenks 24/7, they would give him back after a day I reckon!"

They all laughed at this. The irrepressible Jenks Trottville was still taking a while to realise that he wasn't the most important person on earth, and as the housemaster Mr Arnold had once been heard to say, he could talk the legs off a whole herd of donkeys!

John gave them a moment, then continued "Anyone or anything else ?"

Sam spoke up suddenly. "Well ... you two." he said, pointing at the Kirren Twins causing John and Josie to look at him open mouthed.

"Us??" said Josie, "Why would anyone want to kidnap us?"

Gerry looked at his friends with understanding dawning in his face.

"He's right!" he said. "Before you weren't a target. But I bet more people know about ... Oh ... Er ..."

He tapered off, suddenly aware of Liz being in the room. The famous actor Richie Kirren being the twin's natural father was known within the family, but Liz ought not perhaps to be told about it. He wasn't sure whether to continue or not.

Liz took the matter out of his hands, finishing his sentence off.

"You two having such a famous father, of course" she said matter of factly. The rest of them now gaped at her, and she looked around at them in surprise."

She looked back. "What? It's not a big secret really, is it? It's in all the fan magazines. The rumours about his children, and him funding this school for his cousin and her kids. Doesn't take a genius to work it out! After all you are the spitting image of him. I should know, there were barely any dormitory walls in my old school without a picture of Richie Kirren up there !"

The Kirren twins looked at her, then each other. They had always just thought they looked like their mother and "aunt" Ge. It hadn't occurred to them that they looked like their father. Nor that their father might have fan magazines or people might put his picture up on their wall.

"Well that answers the unasked question" said Gerry, as John and Josie were in no state to continue. "People outside the family obviously know about Uncle Dick being your dad. So they might try to kidnap you."

The little group went through a few more risk areas, made plans for watching the vulnerable points if entry to the school, then were about to head down out of the treehouse when Felicity piped up with a valid point.

"Do we tell anyone? They keep saying that we should report adventure situations to someone in charge? Should we?"

They all instinctively wanted to say no, since usually grown ups wanted to interfere in adventures. But finally Gerry nodded slowly.

"We don't really have anything to report yet though... We had better tell them as soon as we do though. Aunt Ge would be my choice. She understands adventures and also isn't too much of a meddly mother to you two. " he said, and the twins nodded, proud of their Aunt being praised that way.

"So we will tell Aunt Ge - Miss Kirren," said Gerry, adding the explanation for the rather confused looking Liz. "We had better get back now, it's almost the end of lunch break. Just be aware everyone, and call a meeting here if you see anything suspicious.

They agreed, and hurried back to the school and their different classrooms. Gerry and Liz were last to leave the treehouse. They walked together in silence, then parted at the door of his form room. Being older she was in the next one along.

"Thanks" she said suddenly. "For including me"

He nodded in some confusion and gave her a matey grin. "This is only the beginning" he said. "Wait till it all kicks off and we are in the middle of an adventure. If you still are glad to be involved then, I'll accept your thanks."

She grinned back, and headed for her own classroom, just making it there before Miss Peters, and having to grab her books from her desk in double quick time.

Outside the school, the mists became heavier and the light darker as the weather began to turn.

Chapter 23

Nell Wilson sat back in her chair and sighed. The mists outside were making it necessary to have a light on above her desk, and she felt irritated about this, for some reason. It felt too early in the season for lights in the middle of the day.

She was also finding the dampness of the air an unwelcome change. She passed a hand over her forehead and then down to pinch on her nose. The weather was making her sinuses feel irritated in a way that she had never had in Austria or Switzerland. That had been one of the reasons she had been glad to leave St Brivials, all of the mists.

Her leg was aching as well, and she felt just generally grumpy. Everything had happened so quickly, she hadn't really had time to think, and she was homesick for the Platz, and a warm tiled stove to sit by in this sort of weather.

Her flat was in the older part of the school, part of the old farmhouse. She knew that the girls had done this as a gesture of respect, since it was one of the larger and better appointed flats.

But as she prodded the fire in the grate, she did envy some of the others their neat modern rooms with fewer drafts. She didn't feel that it would be fair to ask to move, but it didn't help her general mood at present.

She put her marking pen down with a sigh. She could already see that she had a few difficult students in her classes. Many of the adventurers could be kept on track for only short periods of time, and some just refused to see the point of certain aspects of Biology or general science at all. She was used to Chalet School girls, who as a whole worked hard, either through natural tendency or through fear of her. So many of them now were also second generation Chalet School girls that she had found that they had been told about "Bill's sarcastic tongue" before they even joined. Even the middles were generally polite and careful around her, keen not to earn her wrath.

At this new school, she was having to establish that reputation from scratch, and she realised how much she had relied upon it to keep order.

These youngsters were also automatically suspicious of authority, having often come up against adults being in the wrong during adventures. If they didn't see the point of something they wouldn't do it just because she told them to do so. She was finding her sarcasm was not working as well as it had in the past, and she was feeling generally quite lost.

The books in front of her were covered in red pen, and she could see that she would have to devote at least one lesson to covering the topics again. In a better mood she would enjoy the freshness of having to find a different approach after so many years, but at the moment it seemed just impossible.

She looked out at the mists, trying not to give into home sickness. She missed regular conversations with Hilda more than she realised she would. She even missed Joey and hearing about her mad escapades. For all her tendancy to create drama, Joey was quite motherly even towards Nell. She and Jack and Hilda had always given her a solid base, people to talk to about things, a form of family.

Nell missed silly things, like being able to go over to Freudesheim for afternoon tea. There was plenty of tea here, and the staff were friendly enough. But there is something special about time with people who have known you for decades.

She shook herself and set herself onto marking again. She knew she had no choice, she couldn't cope with the winters on the Platz any more. It was this or retirement, and she'd be even more lonely retired to her cottage with no one she knew nearby.

---------------

Penny Parker was having the same issues with the students. Used to the girls at Malory towers, she was prepared, almost expecting, tricks, or laziness. But these pupils weren't lazy, but were often either able to coast through without effort or just stubbornly uninterested in schoolwork.

However, being used to the area, and in fact now having more chance to see friends than she had before, this was a challenge that she was already enjoying. She had been taking notes from the enthusiasm the students had for their adventure skills class, and had started to tailor her classes to keep her student's attention. They just had to be managed a different way to the generally well behaved girls in her previous school.

She shut the last book with a slap and hurried into her riding clothes. She had the rest of the afternoon and evening free, and was looking forward to a night at home with Pollie.

As she thundered off towards Bill and Clarissa's riding school, she noticed Nell looking out if her window and gave her a cheery wave. Nell waved back, and smiled to see the happy body language from her new friend, remembering that feeling of rushing off to someone, grabbing spare minutes together.

---------------------

Charlie Mackensie sat at her desk in the staffroom, supposedly marking, but actually deep in thought. She had noticed that Nell didn't tend to do her work in the large room, and wished she knew whether that was just a preference, or whether she had taken to that habit due to her own presence there.

Nell was friendly enough, but it seemed as if their paths barely crossed, despite the small size of the school. She was clearly avoiding any risk of them being alone together. Charlie wasn't sure whether to try to talk to Nell or not.

She was distracted for a moment by a bang, some gasps, and a round of laughter. Turning in her seat to see what was going on, she then joined the laughter.

Ted was on the floor, rather bemusedly sitting in a pile of exercise books, a smear of red ink on her face. She had a terrible habit of tilting her chair, even now as an adult, and had clearly tipped too far and kicked the desk over.

Ted herself joined in the laughter, though then despaired loudly at the mix up of the marked and unmarked books until Len and Con came to help her sort them out.

Charlie smiled as she turned back to her own marking. It was nice to be in a young staff room again. It was easy to get too serious sometimes, and the merry nature of many of these girls kept the place alive and active.

She looked thoughtfully over at the space allocated to Nell, though rarely filled by her. The Nell Wilson that she had known wouldn't have shut herself away from the other like this all the time. There had to be some reason. She was wary of seeming to be hassling the other woman, but this couldn't go on. She would have to make the first move.

She got up purposefully, made general muttering about being back in a bit, and left the staff room, intent on at least finding out why Nell was keeping away. If it was due to her, then she wanted to deal with the problem now, before she became too attached to this quirky school and it's unusual staff.

-------------

Nancy Wilmot looked at the diagrams in front of her. She could see a vague resemblance to the one she had asked the students to copy, but the angles of the lines seemed at times to have been chosen at random, and differently by each student.

She sighed, did a sketch of the correct line positions, and added a small "see me" note to the page. She added the book to a neighbouring collection of similar ones, and ruefully looked at the size of that stack compared to the "Well Done" pile.

Kathy looked up at the sigh, then followed Nancy's gaze to the book piles. She understood straight away, as she had a similar inequality in achievement with her geography students.

"It's frustrating, isn't it," she said, getting up and going to a little kettle stand in the corner of the study. "Tea, Coffee or Hot Chocolate to ease the burden?"

"Coffee and a bar of chocolate" came the despondent reply. "No make that ALL the chocolate... I wouldn't mind so much, if I didn't know that they could do well if only they would put their minds to the work."

Kathy nodded agreement. There were a few hard workers, and some lucky people like Jenks, who barely had to try to get the answer right, but in general most of the students seemed content to coast in lesson time. There was no open rebellion, just lack of effort.

Nancy continued her rant, massaging her temples in an effort to remove the headache that threatened.

"The girls from that damn school that closed are just that few more students than we were set up to handle. Oh, I know we had to take them" she said, in reply to Kathy's beginning a reply. Kathy shut her mouth again, seeing that Nancy needed to get her frustrations out.

"The School needs to grow to survive. It just seems too soon. If they had been typical students, I think we could have coped. But their Head obviously prioritised sport above all else, so they only do enough to not get in trouble, then are out practicing or rushing off to ride. Then the young adventurers seem to just work when they choose..."

Kathy opened her mouth again, then shut it with a slight smile as it looked as though Nancy had plenty more steam left in her ranting engine.

"... It drives me mad - I see them solving the same problems and using the same principles every week in their adventure skills. But put an exercise book and an equation into the mix and they could be kindergarten babies for how much they will pay attention... "

Finally, after a few more mutters about inability to draw straight lines and refusing to listen, Nancy drew to a close.

"Finished?" said Kathy, coming over with the drink, although not the food, as Nancy noted plaintively. Kathy ignored her and continued "I have heard the same story from nearly every member of staff recently. I think we need to call a meeting and try to work out a different approach."

Nancy knew she was right, although she wasn't happy about it. She had been avoiding anything as official as a staff meeting about the issue, due to still having a faint fear that Nell, Penny or even Con would take over.

They were all older and more experienced, and Nancy was still finding it hard to adjust to the idea that they accepted her as Head. Somehow, despite being younger, Kathy seemed more confident about the joint headship than Nancy felt. The older woman might have more experience, but still was wary of putting her authority to the test. She still felt slightly irritated about the fact that things had changed so much. She had agreed to be Head when she was one of the oldest, most experienced member of staff, then Penny Parker, Nell Wilson and Charlie Mackenzie became part of the staff one after the other. Nancy felt as though the older women must surely doubt her abilities, although none of them had given any sign of that so far.

But this was something that the whole teaching staff needed to be involved with, so she grudgingly agreed to arrange a meeting of the staff and advisors to decide how best to motivate these stubbornly unacademic students.

Chapter 24

Charlie hesitated outside Nell's door. She had set off with such confidence, determined to make Nell talk, but now she was here, it seemed somehow a bad plan. She stood indecisively about to knock, then slowly moved her hand down from the door before doing so.

She began to turn to go, when Nell opened the door abruptly. Charlie turned back and looked at her colleague. She suddenly had a flashback to their days in Tyrol, so many years before, when things like this used to happen all the time, knowing the other was there even without a knock on the door or other sign.

Nell was being hit by the same memory. She didn't know what had made her go to the door, but finding Charlie there when she opened it had made her mind fly back to Tyrol days in an instant.

"Hello, er... How, what, um ..." she said, in a toungetied way that would have made generations of Chalet Girls gape; 'Bill' had the reputation of never being lost for words, let alone inarticulate and stammering.

Charlie had to smile. She had straight away felt the contrast; Nell so seldom let the barriers around her persona of "Bill" Wilson down, she wondered how many people really realised how much the sarcasm was a defense, a wall to protect from the world.

"Can I come in?" was all she said, but she felt more confident inside already, for some strange reason.

Nell nodded, and moved back, trying not to be too obviously scanning the room for mess, before she remembered that this was Con, not Hilda. Con was no more or less untidy than Nell, that had always been one way they matched well. They both liked a certain degree of clutter, objects around them to be at hand rather put away. No, Nell thought, there was no need for that mess-check, Con wasn't strictly neat and organised in the way that Hilda always had been. No, not Con. Charlie, Charlie, Nell told herself firmly. She had to remember to call her Charlie again. It was too confusing for the others if there were lots of Cons.

She suddenly realised that Charlie was in the room, and she was still standing holding the door open, which must look rather strange. Shutting it to, Nell came into the room and motioned to a seat, then sat down herself opposite Charlie. Now that the the shock had worn off she was intrigued as to the meaning of the visit.

Charlie had been looking around her, curious to see how Nell had arranged the room. She smiled to see familiar objects from their past. A set of golf clubs with repaired grips, but still clearly the same ones. A familiar sight from their games on the 9 hole links set up by Dr Jem on an alp above the school.

On the shelves a battered collection of Just William books, along with stones and dried flowers brought back from hikes through the Tyrol, then pressed in huge textbooks, often with one or both of them messing about sitting on the books then on each other to add extra weight, laughing and mock fighting as they did so.

Charlie realised all of a sudden that she had been quite obviously staring around the room. Nell was smiling however, so she didn't worry too much.

"Lot of memories" she said, deciding to use the situation to her advantage. "I see you haven't given up on that idea that golf clubs last forever !"

Nell grinned. "I'm proving my theory quite nicely thank you!" she said with a laugh. "Although they don't get the use that they used to, when we were ... when we were in Tyrol. None of the others have been that keen when we have been anywhere near a course. Got a bit boring playing the doctors, they tended to get so irritated when they lose !"

Charlie laughed. "They must have been bad, if they lost to you!" she joked instinctively, even winking as she spoke the way she always used to, before remembering herself and looking worried. "I mean, I'm just teasing, I don't ..."

Nell let out a laugh, unable to avoid reacting to the absurdity of being polite to each other this way after they had been casually rude to each other for so many years.

Charlie grinned. She was struck with a wave of emotion however, at the way that Nell's laugh made her feel. Both warm and safe, and also vulnerable and scared. 'Get a hold of yourself' she told herself firmly. 'Anyone would think you were a young foolish girl just out of school, instead of a mother, probably not too many years from being a grandmother. She's a colleague, and she has been avoiding you remember.'

Nell, for her part, was wondering why she felt less achey all of a sudden, and also hoping despite herself that Charlie might be interested in friendship at least. She was taken back over 20 years, to the early, less complicated days of their relationship, and for a moment couldn't control her emotions enough to speak.

Charlie had moved on in her gaze, and all of a sudden leapt forward. "I KNEW you had it! My guide knife, now let me see... Yes! C.S! Now Bill, why..." she exclaimed, then saw the other woman's shocked face, and all of a sudden remembered herself. " I mean...er... Nell, sorry, I ... carried away... Being silly..."

She put the knife back down and sat back in her chair, cheeks flaming with embarrassment. She had come to find out what was going on, have a serious adult conversation, and here she was accusing the other woman of petty larceny. She began to stammer out an apology, all of a sudden finding herself back in the present day, remembering the years between, the break up, the minimal communication between them since the war.

Nell recovered herself finally.

"I'd forgotten that it was originally yours, I'm the one who should be sorry, not you!" she replied, cutting across Charlie's increasingly irrational stammerings. "Although I believe technically it IS my guide knife. After all I did win it fair and square..."

Charlie looked up in indignation to see a cheeky expression on Nell's face, realising too late that this was intended to make her rise. "You DID NOT! You knew already that Joey was pregnant, it wasn't a fair bet..." she began, then stopped and just stopped herself from making a face.

Nell was chortling, even as she wondered in amazement how they had so suddenly fallen back to this easy teasing between them. She had been getting herself more and more wound up about the situation, and avoiding being around Charlie, but it seemed so natural being together, all of a sudden.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't gave kept it" she said. "I did mean to give it back to you, but it, well, we got a bit distracted with everything that was going on..."

She stopped herself there, not wanting to pass through the muddy waters of their break up just yet. Charlie knew what was probably going through her mind, and searched for a distraction.

"It's funny, now I think about it," she started, changing the subject neatly. "That bet was on the existence of our two goddaughters - and Margot too of course. It's so strange to see them now, after all these years."

Nell nodded agreement, and Charlie continued. "... and it is even more strange, now I start to think about it, for them both to have turned out, well, like us..."

Nell tried not to read too much into that "like us" and busied herself making some tea. She suddenly heard her own voice say, as if miles away "Well, like me, at least. You got married, after all".

'What was she doing? They had been getting on so well' she thought frantically, cursing the automatic reaction, making her say that out loud. She had thought it often enough to herself, after all it was of one of the few things in her life she was bitter about. But she had never meant to say it out loud to this returned Charlie, at least not so soon. She was sure that it would spark an argument, that they could no longer work together.

She took a deep breath and turned back towards Charlie, ready to face whatever anger her comments provoked. She was unprepared for the sadness on the other woman's face, and all at once regretted her words all the more.

"Oh Con! I mean... Charlie," she exclaimed. "I'm so sorry, you must miss him so much, I don't know what came over me. After all we were over, I was stupid to say anything. Please, forget it, I don't know when Jock died, but that must hurt."

Charlie looked up at Nell, and was struck with how much the other woman had mellowed. The pre-war Nell would have let the comment stand, defend her actions to the hilt if questioned, and certainly wouldn't have been willing to give Jock the respect of using his name. He had been 'That man', 'The Scot', or 'Him', delivered with a tone most unlike the normally matter of fact, fair and straightforward Nell.

It did hurt, thinking about Jock, and it jarred her to get that negative comment, but it reminded her of why she was there. Nell clearly HAD been avoiding her, and Charlie was glad of that, in a way. After all this conversation was going to be hard enough, even here in a private place. She took her time to reply, this was important to get right.

"I didn't change who I am, what... I am, Nell. You had had boyfriends before me, you know it's not that simple. Jock is... Was my best friend for so many years... so yes, it hurts. But we need to get this out, we need to talk, so don't apologise. I know I hurt you..."

She talked and talked, and Nell for once was silent, unable to trust herself to speak. Charlie's words amazed her, they were words Nell had never expected to hear. The hardest to hear without tears starting to Nell's eyes was the sudden admission that Charlie had perhaps made a mistake, that perhaps they HAD had a chance, perhaps Nell had got over Hilda. Hearing this, the tears nearly overtook the strong willed Nell, for the first time in years.

It was almost too much to hear also the fact that if Jock hadn't come back so suddenly, that if Charlie hadn't been so angry with her at the time of having to make the decision to leave, she might not have left. That if Charlie had not felt that Nell wasn't fully hers anyway, she would have stayed, broken the engagement with Jock.

Finally Con stopped talking. Nell wasn't sure what to say. She was for a second time that evening, totally stuck for words. She could see that Charlie was drained, and with a sudden burst of insight, she realised that the other woman had had no intention of telling her so much all at once.

She remembered this type of thing from their years together. Both of them would feel that they had to hide something from the other, to protect them, but would find themselves unable to lie well to each other, even by omission.

Nell was just too moved by the way that Charlie had laid her heart open like this, to be able to reply, make her own apologies yet. She trusted to her instincts, and just took Charlie's smaller hand in her own and, for the first time in a long time, looked her straight in the eyes, doing her best to send the words she couldn't yet say.

Charlie jumped initially at the unexpected contact, then couldn't help but tighten her grip, holding tightly onto the hand that she had been unable to hold for such a long time. The room grew colder but neither of them noticed for a long time. Nell finally managed to get her own words out, to apologise for those stupid months where she couldn't properly work out her own feelings about Hilda. Apologise for the angry words when Charlie wouldn't break off the engagement to Jock.

The bell for the evening meal interrupted all of a sudden, made them both jump and look at their watches. They were loathe to break the handhold between them, irrationally scared that they would not be able to talk again like this, that they would go back to avoiding each other.

Finally Nell spoke.

"We should... the food will get cold and people will talk. But ..."

Charlie smiled. "Yes, we should go." she said, then added. " I wondered ... It's cold in here, would you like to come over and finish your marking in my flat later? We could talk, or not. I have marking too... It's fine if you would rather stay here though..."

Nell smiled at Charlie suddenly waffling and unsure again.

"That would be lovely" she said. "I'd enjoy that. I warn you however, with some of the terrible efforts I have to mark at the moment, I will be uttering expletives!!"

They both laughed and hurried off to the meal, quietly processing the afternoon's discussions as they ate. 'Such a lot of misunderstandings', mused Nell. So many little things that changed the route of their relationship. She didn't know if they would ever be a couple again, or even whether she could change her routines now for another person. But they were friends again, and that made her feel happier than she had for a long time.

Chapter 25

The students were in bed, with only a few incidents of bad behaviour. Mike and Lucy Ann had picked out the worst troublemakers, and set them to tasks like moving the trampolines around the gym, and then running to the beach and back. Although most of them thought they were just being punished, they all slept better that night, and the House Master and Mistress took careful note of who responded well to this treatment and who didn't.

They were now late, so hurried off to the main school for the staff meeting, Mike looking around for students nearby, then taking hold of Lucy Ann's hand as they walked.

"What's that all about?" said Lucy Ann, looking up at him with a smile on her face.

"Nothing!" he replied. "Can't I want to hold my wife's hand every now and again?"

She laughed and held a little tighter. "Fair enough!" she said, then looked more serious.

"I don't know about you" she said "But I'm exhausted ! I thought our lot were bad enough, but some of these children are like a bag of jumping beans the whole time!"

He smiled and agreed. "Did I tell you about Jenks' latest?" he said, with a chuckle. "He has decided he CAN leave his desk over the bed and sleep beneath..."

Lucy Ann groaned, having a fair idea of what might be coming next. Mike continued.

"He's small enough that he can actually do it. The daft boy forgot last night that he had left a glass of water and an open ink well on there. Had a bad dream and kicked the desk. It didn't collapse on him, more's the pity in a way! He tipped the lot over his prep, the bed and half his textbooks, turned over and went back to sleep !"

Lucy Ann laughed, and they continued in gentle chatter about their charges until the reached the door of the staff room. By necessity they were the last, and as they took their seats everyone looked to Kathy and Nancy to start the meeting.

Kathy stood up. "I don't think many of you will be surprised to hear the reason for today's meeting." she said, and many of the staff nodded. "We all have far too many books in our 'Not acceptable' piles when it comes to work in lessons and in prep. We know these children are bright - they show us every week in their adventure skills ! But we need them to use that towards learning and exams."

They all agreed, and Nancy took over the discussion for a moment. "We have one suggestion - give each group their own indoor adventure skills days within the week, and actively plan that day's activities around tasks they need to later perform in exams. Only reason to make it indoors is to allow us to work our time tables around the adventure skills" she said.

The staff were in agreement, although it would mean a lot more lesson preparation. "But if it saves a bit of time marking and correcting some of those terrible efforts, it will be worth it" commented Len darkly.

They discussed a few more options, and Nell reminded them of the old Chalet School practice of sending the students out for a run imbetween the lessons.

Lucy Ann was still slightly shy of some of the staff, so looked pleadingly at Mike. He was even less confident around the main teaching staff however, having left school early and being much more of a hands on person than an academic one. He became hugely interested in looking out of the window, and she realised she would have to be the one to bring up the issue they had noticed and discussed between themselves.

"W..we need to work out a better system for prep," She said. Everyone looked at her, not used to Lucy Ann speaking much unless spoken to. "They don't work solidly, any of them, so they run out of time. We spend half of the prep session sending them back into their own cubicles, the other half looking out for jokes being played. The idea of the cubicles is good, it works for the calmer ones, we just need to supervise them a lot more" she finished, then gave Mike a dirty look for making her do all of the talking.

Ted looked thoughtful. "We are missing having older prefects" she mused. "None of the current ones are advanced enough to be able to fill that role."

Con looked towards her, and she nodded, then Con spoke herself. "We've talked about it, and we're both willing to do the rounds of the cubicles, checking if they need help in anything. I'm only teaching part time at the moment after all" Con said. "Only thing we ask is if we can have an evening off together a week. It won't be forever, after all. But we need them to get the idea that prep time is work time, or work out a different system for their evening study"

Several of the others volunteered their time as well, and soon it became clear that it need only be once a week for most of them. Len felt really grateful for this. At present the school could only afford to pay a few people for out of hours work, so these offers from people to work more for free made a huge difference. If they proved to need the regular staff at night they would have to find the money, she didn't want to take advantage of the volunteers. But secretly she was hoping that as the prefects became more sure of their roles, the staff would not be needed so much. They would only know by trying.

-----------

 

Armed with this plan and some others for exercise between classes, Kathy and Nancy were about to call a close to the meeting when Julian Kirren stood up and asked for a further topic to be discussed.

"I may be wrong, but I've a feeling there is an adventure brewing." he said with a questioning look at his cousin and friends. "I wanted to do two things - see whether anyone else has that feeling, and work out what we need to do if the adventure hits in term time" he said.

Mike and Lucy Ann exchanged looks and this time Mike spoke for both of them, he was much more confident when it came to adventures than prep supervision. "We were talking about this earlier. We couldn't make any sense of it, after all it's termtime. But if you are feeling it too, it seems perhaps there really is something going on"

The ex Chalet School and Malory Towers staff were looking most bemused at this, but Phillip, Jack and Ge were nodding their agreement. Even Tom was nodding, a fact which confused the non adventurers even more.

"Dinah said the same," she said "I used to think it was a joke, but it is obviously some instinct you all have. She's been right every time, it's usually the next generation that have the actual adventure, but we often have to lend a hand."

Kathy and Nancy were both slightly inclined to dismiss these apparent premonitions, but having so many of their staff sure something was going to happen was rather unnerving.

So while they were rather bemused by the process, they didn't object when the adventurers started going through possible risk factors. It was quite illuminating, hearing them talk amongst themselves. Nell and Charlie felt the same. They had thought themselves quite adventurous, being used to getting stuck in storms, mountain rescue and people falling in water. But these people were talking about kidnap, gangs, secret passages and self defense against armed attackers!

Had they but known it, the Adventurers' conversation went very similarly to their juniors Treehouse meeting, although without the realisation that the twins were now famous.

To everyone's surprise, Penny Parker added this fact at the end, causing great concern to Len and Ge. They couldn't understand how such a private family secret was now general knowledge.

Ge was initially furious, turning towards Con immediately. Len put a hand on her arm and signaled 'wait', and once they heard the source. she was glad that she had. Although Len had avoided the argument, honest Ge mentally apologised to her sister in law. It wasn't that she disliked Con, but her tendency to mentally drift was hard for Ge to cope with, especially when she saw Len being hurt or worried by it.

So her first thought was that Con had unintentionally told Penny. Once she found out the actual source however, she thought that Len's dreamy sister having been careless would actually have been preferable.

"The girls at Malory Towers have posters of Richie Kirren everywhere, little ninnies" said Penny briskly. "Bill and Clarissa hear all about him when the girls have their riding lessons. The 'mystery children' that look just like him have been a topic for the past 6 months or so, it didn't take much working out to realise they and the twins were the same."

Len couldn't help herself. "But that's absurd! If they were, as most people think, Ge's children... Well they WOULD look like him anyway. She's his cousin! Half of our clan look like our cousins, that doesn't mean anything."

Penny nodded. "I know that. But they call her AUNT Ge. To an outsider that doesn't make her the parent." she paused. Being very forthright herself, she disliked gossip in all forms, but she realised that she needed to make the staff and Ge aware. So she continued, as conscisely as she could.

"Now he's funding the school and has been seen here, apparently the fan magazines have been full of gossip about them. Nasty load of rubbish those magazines, but the girls smuggle them in whatever we do. I would never have mentioned it, Ge, but I thought it important that we watch out for the twins."

She refrained from mentioning the nastier rumours, which were that Ge was the mother, despite being Richie's close cousin. Penny herself had dismissed the speculation ad idle gossip, had assumed the children to be Ge's, from a youthful indiscretion. Now it seemed as though they actually were Richie Kirren's offspring she wondered slightly.

Though legal, relationships between first cousins always carried a slight hint of wrongdoing, and Penny didn't like to ask too much. She liked Ge, and didn't want to spark any more rumours about the woman than were already flying around.

The meeting broke up quickly after that, Len and Ge still slightly shell shocked to realise their family life had been discussed in the wide world this way.

---------

Later that evening, Len found Ge standing in the door, looking into Josie's room. It was tidier than Len had ever seen it, now that Josie was mainly living at the school.

"I just thought he was running away from them" said Ge, half to herself. "He always used to warn me that him being around would risk people knowing. It looks as though he was right."

"Don't worry about it, love" said Len. "With all of the gangs after you and your family for revenge, we watch them carefully anyway. It's just another reason to look out for them."

Ge nodded, still not feeling quite right about things. She had been so angry with Dick, for so many years, that it was hard to realise that some of it might have been unnecessary.

She also felt that irrational fear that hit her when the twins were too closely associated with Dick. They were her's, legally hers, but she was secretly so afraid that they would be taken away from her, or worse, chose the glamour of life with him.

Len knew Ge well. She was trying so hard not to be clingy or to treat the twins any differently to others that she had almost gone too far the other way. But Len had noticed that she had been making excuses to do farm work near to the exercise field, whenever the twins were there, and turning up in the school building far more the past few weeks.

"I was thinking" Len said carefully "It's been very quiet around here without them. Why don't we ask for them back this Saturday night and Sunday - I'd say Saturday too, but they'd never forgive us for interrupting Adventure Skills !"

Ge looked at her doubtfully. She had been trying so hard not to disturb the twins from settling in at school, she had barely let herself realise that she missed them. She worried that it wasn't good for them to come back when term was on. However, although she didn't tell Ge, Len had seen Josie starting to habitually frown slightly, and she'd bet anything the girl would benefit from some time with Ge. If she was honest, Len missed them too,even though she saw them in school hours more than Ge did.

It was hard not to talk to them casually in lessons, or stop herself from checking that they were eating properly at meal times. She had a great respect for how well her godmother Nell had managed to keep the right balance with her and her sisters at school.

Ge was still worried by the news, but suitably distracted by the idea of having the twins back for at least a few hours. She checked all of the secret passages even more carefully than usual before going to bed, and made a mental note to contact Dick about those damn fan magazines, although she doubted that he could do much.

-----------

Nell stood in front of Charlie's door, bottle of wine in hand, trying to tell herself not to be so silly. Charlie had invited her after all. They had been sharing Charlie's flat for lesson prep and marking in the evening for a while now now. It was so much warmer than Nell's that she felt much better, and had determined to talk to the girls about swopping with someone in the more modern part of the building.

Nell felt stupid to be hesitating. This night was no different to any other. Well. Not much different. Charlie had casually suggested they have a meal together rather than eat with the others. It was only a few hours ago that she had mentioned it. She wouldn't have changed her mind already. But Nell was still having trouble taking in the fact that they were friends again, that more might be possible. She felt absurdly nervous.

"She'll answer sooner if you knock on the door." came a voice just behind her shoulder. Recognising Penny Parker's amused tone, Nell turned and to her intense shame, blushed. It was only dinner, what was she getting embarrassed about? She began to explain, but Penny just laughed and carried on along the corridor.

"Enjoy!" was all Nell heard floating back along the corridor. She had to stop herself laughing out loud, conscious that she was still standing just outside Charlie's door. She steeled herself and knocked.

Chapter 26

Gerry woke suddenly, all of his senses alert. He couldn't tell what had woken him, but he knew something was different. Something was wrong.

He lay in his bed, trying to work out what it was. There were snores and muttering from the other boys within the dormitory, no smell of fire or smoke... No smell of smoke, that was it! Gerry sat up suddenly. The snores of the boys were only audible when Prince Lony's bodyguard, Ranni, stopped snoring.

Gerry remembered waking once before when the noise was absent, but Ranni had clearly been nearby, for the smell of his Russian style cigarettes came in through the dormitory window. Pilescu never made much noise, but he had been called back to Baronia due to family problems of his own only a few weeks into term. So Ranni was a constant presence at night, staying close to his Prince, often to Lony's intense irritation. All of the boys were used to the sound of his snores. But now there was nothing. No snores, no smoke.

Gerry still had that feeling of imminent adventure, and this was something that needed to be investigated. He quickly dressed, grabbing his rubber soled shoes from the shelf and other kit from it's hooks. Later he had time to realise how well planned the cubicles were for night time adventures, and be impressed. At the moment however, he was just intent on making sure that there was no attempt to kidnap Lony.

He stole silently down to the end, and peered around the open door to Ranni's room. Sure enough, he wasn't there. A quick check of the doorways showed him nowhere in sight, nor was he in the bathroom.

Gerry returned to the dormitory, and hesitated in indecision. Should he tell someone? Was this the beginning of the adventure? He didn't really have much to tell, after all. Ranni might just be taking a walk, or visiting someone. Gerry liked the big Baronian, and didn't want to get him in trouble if he merely wanted a night off.

He decided the best thing to do was to guard Lony himself, so wrapped himself in a blanket and sat down opposite the young Prince's cubicle. He concentrated on the door to the dormitory, but was still half asleep, so before long, he began to drift off slightly.

Suddenly he was rudely awoken, by something being thrown over his head, muffling his yell of surprise.

----------

In Mike and Lucy Ann's quarters, Ranni was sitting enjoying a rare chance to visit his old friends. He had insisted on seating himself with a view of the closed dormitory doorways, but otherwise was relaxing slightly for once. He had been impressed with the security at the school, especially the hearing and alertness of Ge's dog Timmy. An evening nearby rather than right next door to the dormitory was not likely to make a difference.

Mike and Lucy Ann were enjoying his company, and having fun being reminded of past adventures together. Lucy Ann had been wary of the bodyguards to begin with, associating them with King Paul, and the way that Nora had behaved towards Dinah. However she had soon come to trust the gentle giants, and after all, Dinah was far happier with Tom Gay now.

They had enjoyed a late supper and were now discussing the general feeling of adventure in the air. Mike was asking Ranni whether Lony had mentioned anything. Ranni replied in the negative, and expressed a wish to be able to trust the boy to report anything suspicious. But the young Prince was his autocratic father all over again, and Ranni had not been able to get any sense of the danger instilled into him. Lony wanted adventure if it was coming, and refused to take the risks of harm coming to him seriously.

"It was different with Paul" Mike said, agreeing that Lony was unlikely to be a reliable witness. "Then, the political situations meant the kidnappers usually had to be careful of their victim. They had too much to lose if they died or were hurt badly. Now it's more stable in places like Baronia, all the kidnappers want is money, and the state the child is returned in is far less important. Freddie Trottville has told me some terrible stories of kidnapped children being hurt."

Ranni opened his mouth to reply, then they all heard a muffled thud, and what sounded like a stifled yell from the boys dormitories. All three were up in seconds and racing to the scene, Ranni with revolver in hand and Lucy Ann grabbing her martial arts weapons as she went.

------

Out on the cliff path, Ge Kirren was walking with Timmy, trying to calm her thoughts enough to sleep. She had been so glad of the opportunity to start this new school here, now it seemed that it had helped to risk the twin's discovery. She didn't blame Len, after all they would have been far more able to fund a school elsewhere if Ge had been willing to leave Kirren. But this was her home, where she felt safe, or at least safer than elsewhere.

She sighed, and made her way back towards the school and farmhouse. The twins were more protected here than anywhere else, after all.

Dick didn't seem to be wanting to take them from her, but he was currently distracted by his imminent wedding to Len's sister Margot. What would happen once they were married though? Would Dick want to start playing happy families, now the secret seemed to be out? Would he expect holiday times alone with the twins? She couldn't say no if he did, she knew that the twins were curious about their father, and doubted his love for them. But she already saw them far less in term time, she selfishly wanted them and Len to herself in the holidays.

Timmy gave a little whine, and a woof, then sped off towards the school. She looked after him in surprise, then saw Ranni run past a window towards the boys dormitory, and heard faint sounds of a struggle. She sped towards the source of the noise.

----------

Jenks Trottville woke suddenly. He could hear movement outside his cubicle. Assuming it to be someone needing the bathroom, he turned over and started to drift off again. Then the person stopped, and settled down in the shadows right outside Prince Lony's cubicle. A kidnapper!! Jenks was instantly alert. He slipped out of bed, and grabbed the nearest thing he could find, his sports kit bag, and his rope. He swiftly emptied the bag and snuck forward, creeping nearer and nearer to the bulky form. The blanket was much larger than Gerry, and in the half light it did look like a man was sitting there, rather than a tall boy.

Jenks looked around. He didn't know if there were accomplices nearby. He had to eliminate this one as a threat as quietly as possible. Gerry, half asleep and with his attention focused on the dormitory door, didn't hear him coming until it was too late. Jenks shot the bag over his head, and followed that with a loop of rope over his shoulders and upper arms, pinning the boy's arms his side. Gerry toppled over, kicking out with all his might in all directions as he went.

John Kirren and Sam Seymour heard the struggle, and leapt out of bed themselves. Seeing Jenks in his pajamas struggling with an apparent intruder, they went to his aid. Gerry was soon trussed tightly, and Jenks was whispering about possible accomplices to them, when the door flew open, and Mr and Mrs Arnold were in front of them, Lucy Ann in readiness stance, Mike with fists up ready, followed by Ranni, running straight into Lony's cubicle with revolver ready to aim.

The boys leapt back from their victim, as the rest of the dormitory woke. Seeing that the threat appeared to be neutralised, and all the boys awake, Lucy Ann switched the light on, only to see a comical look of dismay on all three of the young heroes' faces as Mike started to laugh.

"I think we have an intruder" he said, as Gerry's voice could be heard swearing all sorts of vengeance from within Jenks's kit bag. "However, unless we want to gas him with the odour of that kit bag, I'd suggest an unveiling. Jenks, I believe this is yours? Want to do the honours? "

Jenks was starting to feel a little nervous. Gerry was clearly very angry, and had nearly growled at the sound of Jenk's name. The younger boy was feeling much less clever than he had a few moments ago, and gingerly removed the kit bag from Gerry's head.

"You little ..." Gerry began. Lucy Ann, fully aware of both his Aunt Ge and Uncle Julian's extensive vocabulary of swear words, managed to stop him before he got too far, suggesting that the three heroes had better untie their victim. Gerry's jaw dropped as his sheepish brother and cousin came forward to help Jenks untie him.

In a final burst of drama, Ge herself launched into the room and nearly barreled into the Arnolds and Ranni, while Timmy leaped over Gerry and stood guard over him, looking around for intruders.

Ranni leapt out from checking Lony's cubicle onto a startled Ge, still thinking that there might be gang member or kidnappers about, and the whole group of teachers went down like ninepins with the surprise, Timmy leaping back to protect Ge, and adding to the confusion.

"In fact," said Lucy Ann the next day to a chortling Ted and Con. "A good time was had by all !"

Chapter 27

Nell stood in front of Charlie's door, bottle of wine in hand, trying to tell herself not to be so silly. Charlie had invited her after all. They had been sharing Charlie's flat for lesson prep and marking in the evening for a while now now. It was so much warmer than Nell's that she felt much better, and had determined to talk to the girls about swopping with someone in the more modern part of the building.

Nell felt stupid to be hesitating. This night was no different to any other. Well. Not much different. Charlie had casually suggested they have a meal together rather than eat with the others. It was only a few hours ago that she had mentioned it. She wouldn't have changed her mind already. But Nell was still having trouble taking in the fact that they were friends again, that more might be possible. She felt absurdly nervous.

"She'll answer sooner if you knock on the door." came a voice just behind her shoulder. Recognising Penny Parker's amused tone, Nell turned and to her intense shame, blushed. It was only dinner, what was she getting embarrassed about? She began to explain, but Penny just laughed and carried on along the corridor.

"Enjoy!" was all Nell heard floating back along the corridor. She had to stop herself laughing out loud, conscious that she was still standing just outside Charlie's door. She steeled herself and knocked.

---------

Inside, Con was telling herself the same thing, about it only being dinner, but failing to convince herself. She knew she wanted to see whether Nell wanted to try again, but didn't know how to find the words to discuss it. It had been so long after all, and they were much older. More set in their routines, more cautious about the risks involved in this lifestyle.

She had busied herself making them a simple meal, and had to stop herself from over setting the table. This was just a school night, with food involved. The fact that she had noticed they both had a free morning the next day wasn't relevant. Nor that she was getting worried about her cooking in a way that she never had before, and that she was more nervous than their first date 20 odd years before. No it didn't mean anything. But it might.

----------------

Nell sat back, resting against the cushions, unable to stop a sigh of contentment.

"That was wonderful, thank you" she said, looking over at Charlie, who was clearing the plates, having insisted that there wasn't room for two of them in the kitchen. Charlie smiled, and finished her cleaning up as speedily as she could, before coming back to the living room and sitting down beside Nell.

They hadn't talked about the situation over dinner, both wary of spoiling the meal if the conversation didn't go their way. Now Charlie was determined to get an answer.

She wanted Nell's friendship either way , but they needed to work out what they wanted and set boundaries. She saw no easy way to lead up to that fact, so simply started with a "So... Where are we then? I'm happy as we are, Nell, if that's what you want. But ..."

She paused, trying to find the words, trying to express her interest without putting pressure on if Nell didn't feel the same. She gave up, neither of them were good with playing games.

"Nell, I'm scared we might risk our friendship, but I also can't stop thinking about us, I made such a mistake leaving before, perhaps it's just not meant to be, but ..."

Nell was touched. Charlie sounded just like she herself felt. The openness about her worries help Nell to respond in kind, explain her own worries but also how she wondered if they could work together.

They hadn't solved the problem, but they at least were making a start. Nell tentatively put her hand in Charlie's. The other woman let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, and moved to sit closer.

They sat companionably in silence, knowing they needed to decide whether to take the risk of being a couple, of at very least trying to spend more time together. They talked quietly, remembering positive times together in the past, laughing at memories of shared chaos and near discovery.

The evening had worn on to midnight, and Charlie somehow found herself resting into the crook of Nell's arm, still holding her other hand. Nell was amazed how solid and safe this felt, how the smell of Charlie's hair close to her and the occasional movement of her body as she shifted slightly had so much power to knock Nell's carefully thought through reasons not to rush. She was just enjoying this closeness so much that she didn't want to break it.

Suddenly she stiffened, on alert after the concerns discussed in the staff meeting. She could hear some odd, rhythmic sounds, and other noices, like voices but not quite audible. She was about to ask Charlie if she heard it when the noises became louder she blushed to realise that she recognised Con Maynard's voice. And she was not in a situation she was likely to want to be rescued from any time soon.

Charlie tried not to giggle. It had been the unspoken issue she had with this flat. She loved her goddaughter, but she didn't want to know about her namesake's life in this much detail. She tried to speak but couldn't, dissolving into giggles and instinctively turning in towards Nell to dampen the noise.

"Is it ... Always that ... Er ... Noisy next door?" said Nell, restraining her own giggles, while breathless at how that familiar movement in towards her had take her back to sharing a room at the Chalet, having to hide every noise that showed there to be two of them present, even innocent ones like giggles.

Charlie couldn't answer so just nodded. She finally got enough control of herself to speak. "Yes, though it's only in here that I can hear, normally I'm in my own bed by now, so don't often know about it."

Nell was moved to wonder if it was thin walls, but Con shook her head. "No, I get the impression from disgruntled conversations with a sleep deprived Ruey - she lives in the flat next to theirs, so not even an adjoining wall - that they've always been somewhat ... Louder ... than most. Belinda and Irene have their bedroom adjoining mine, barely hear a peep from them. Not that I'm listening for it!"

Nell now had a fit of the giggles herself, having noticed Ruey didn't seem to be sleeping well, and amused to know the reason. Finally she recovered herself. A germ of an idea was forming.

"My rooms are away from the others, I doubt you'd hear anything there" she began. Charlie tensed a little, wondering where Nell was going with this. She grinned in delight as Nell continued, immediately seeing the benefits of the plan.

"I really can't cope with that flat, but they'd have no problem with the slight chill." Nell continued, then gripped Charlie's hand tighter, wanting to be clear that the need for space wasn't a rejection "Also, if this is to work, then you and I need our own living space, our own routines I think, to begin with at least."

Charlie nodded. She had been quite worried about having to share a space together. It hadn't been that many years yet that she had been able to have space of her own , without Jock or the children there. She liked her little flat, and being her own mistress, not having to work around other people. She had been worrying that she ought to offer to share, since Nell was having such an issue with the cold.

Nell had been worrying about the same thing. She also was of a generation where these things were more private, and didn't want to be moving straight in with Charlie without the opportunity to keep the fact of their change of relationship just between the two of them to begin with.

"Why don't I suggest a swop - citing my old age and general decrepitude as reason. If they are as bad as that, I'd imagine no one would have any objection to them moving !

Charlie laughed. "I think Ruey might well pay you to suggest that!" she said. "Less of the old age and decrepitude though ! I'm similar in age to you, and I'm not giving up on myself yet!"

Nell laughed, a deep chuckle, and looked at Charlie. Like so many things in their lives, neither of them could say who moved first, but the kiss that followed wiped away all objections either of them had to moving beyond friendship. There are some things you don't forget, and although their bodies were different, the memory for each other made it seem as if they had always been together. As if they were once again that reckless young couple sneaking between rooms along the staff corridor at the Chalet, or spending days in bed in Nell's cottage.

------------

Ted and Con were most surprised to have the suggestion to move to the larger flat, set away from the others. Even more confusing was the unanimous agreement of all of the staff in the modern block. Neither of them felt they ought to just take the better flat without offering it to others. But since it seemed that everyone was in agreement, they happily swopped, excited by the fact of having a proper living room with open fire.

Ruey was more than happy to help them pack.

Chapter 28

One good thing about it all" said Mike to Lucy Ann the next day, "They do seem to have good instincts. If an adventure is coming, they should cope if they have to, even without any of us to help."

Lucy Ann let out a laugh "Yes - so long as they don't kill each other first!" she said, with a grin. Mike laughed too, and they continued along the corridor to the heads' office.

Mike hadn't been keen on reporting the incident, arguing that Ge was there, and she was their boss anyway. Lucy Ann was more aware of the possible conflicts, and insisted they had to tell the heads.

Nancy and Kathy looked up in surprise at their knock. There hadn't been many visits to their study yet, and they were not used to being disturbed in the morning, especially not by Lucy Ann and Mike, who tended to keep to themselves, or spend time with Ge Kirren.

As Kathy had said to Nancy, a few weeks earlier, there were two distinct groups within the staff : Chalet and non Chalet. It wasn't a problem, but it did mean that their headship was not always remembered by the adventurers. The Malory Towers group were no problem, although Belinda and Irene did tend to defer to Miss Peters automatically, but thankfully Penny didn't exploit this fact.

Ge and Julian Kirren however were not natural respecters of heirachy, and so didn't stop the other adventurers bypassing the actual heads. They were used to being leaders, and just dealing with things on instinct, so didn't even think of it as an issue. They tended to just solve the problem and get on with things, rarely even remembering to pass the information on to the heads.

Kathy and Nancy knew it wasn't malicious, but they had had a few discussions about how to deal with the situation. All they felt they could do at present was make themselves available in the Staff Room, and elsewhere, and get to know the staff individually, then gently remind that they needed to know what was going on in the school. Mike and Lucy Ann turning up was a nice surprise, although they were worried to know the reason.

Their worry quickly turned to laughter as they heard about the evening's events. Mike and Lucy Ann had already dealt with telling Jenks off for his over active imagination. However they were fairly sure that Gerry's vengeance would have a more long lasting effect.

"I wish I had been able to see all of you collapsed into a heap!" chortled Nancy.

Mike grinned, surprised to have this reaction from the heads. He had assumed them to be all seriousness and obsessions with following rules. Kathy saw his surprise and made a mental note of it, wanting to make sure that they handled each member of staff correctly. Sticking to protocol exactly and being over serious would never work with Mike, in fact it would be likely to alienate him, and therefore a lot of the boys, who hero worshipped their housemaster.

The report finished, they all went about their normal business. Kathy did say privately to Nancy that she wondered whether all this 'sensing adventure' actually caused dramatic situations to be more likely. Nancy laughed and agreed, but added that at least their time as heads would not be dull.

-----------

Gerry was still recovering from the previous night, and had several rather painful bruises. He had told Jenks in no uncertain terms what he thought of him, although he did admit privately to John that he might have done the same thing himself in the circumstances.

John laughed, but said "Don't tell Jenks that! He'll be attacking us all in our beds. It's done him no harm to be wrong for once."

His friend agreed, and they headed off for their woodwork lesson, chatting easily and laughing about the night before.

Josie watched them come in together, trying not to be jealous. Due to the bullying, and a naturally less steady temperament, Josie was not in all classes with her twin, a fact that she wasn't happy about. Especially when John and Gerry walked straight past without seeing her there, like today.

She attacked her wood carving with a frustrated energy that caused Miss Gay to exclaim and stop her. Tom showed Josie the deep gouges that she had now made, and set her to fixing the problem, warning her that the tiniest slip now would mean the bowl would now be too thin on one side for an even finish. This did not improve her mood, even though John had now noticed her, and gave her a sympathetic grimace.

They all worked steadily, and even Josie was slightly less angry by the end, although seeing John and Gerry able to walk off together to their next lesson didn't improve her mood.

Josie, Maggie and Rosie were the only girls for now to take Woodwork, so once they were finished they had to rejoin their forms. Maggie and Rosie were together in a lower form, so Josie had the ordeal now of rejoining her form by herself after their netball session.

"Finished playing with the boys?" came the inevitable question from one of the girls. She just gave them a look and started to walk on through. The things they said were nothing compared to the bullies at her previous school, so Josie just ignored them week after week, hoping they would get bored of it. She waited for the one of girls to make their next comment, about wanting to be a boy, and sure enough one of them started to speak, only this time another girl nudged her and they stopped.

"Josie," the girl who had nudged said. "We were just saying that there is a film out in the next town we wanted to see. Want to go with us?"

Josie looked at them suspiciously. They hadn't been exactly welcoming, her form being mainly girls from the closed sporty school. Josie didn't see the point of chasing after various balls for exercise, not when there was sailing, climbing or martial arts training to do, or even - as in this case - woodwork.

She was as happy being a girl as the next girl, but with mainly boys and tomboys as family she just wasn't interested in the same things as her form mates. They in turn were so obsessed with sports and competition that they couldn't understand her not being interested, and took it as a rejection of them and the pride of their form that she didn't join in.

"We were going to go to see it" said another of the girls, with a slightly shifty look. "Do you want to come? It's a Richie Kirren ..."

All at once Josie saw the reason for their sudden interest. They wanted to see how she reacted. She turned her back on them in disgust and went to her locker to put her tools.

"Wait, Josie, don't be angry, we meant it," said another girl, feeling bad about the teasing. "We thought you'd like it, after all he's your ... uncle... isn't he?"

Josie didn't trust these girls an inch, but she was curious. She had never seen her father in a film, and she found it quite strange to think that in some ways these girls knew him more than she did, with all the films and fan magazines.

If she had stopped to think, she would have remembered that she was a prefect, and sneaking out to see a film was hardly prefect-like behaviour. But Josie was thoroughly wound up today, and stopping to think was not one of her strong points at the best of times. She turned back to the girls and faced them fiercely.

"Alright then, if you mean it" she said, eyes bright and her little face tense. "When are we going?"

-----

Gerry and John had gone on to Art with Julian Kirren, a change for them, since up until now they had been doing sketching so had had Belinda instead. Today they had the task of using water colours to paint a picture of the island in the bay.

Gerry was not really concentrating. He was more and more convinced that an adventure was on it's way, and was feeling torn between finding out what was going to happen by himself and telling someone in authority. But Aunt Ge had been distracted and hard to get hold of recently. Gerry looked thoughtfully at his Uncle Julian. This might be a chance to at least have passed on a warning about the vague feelings they all had.

At the end of the lesson he hung back, and told Julian of his feeling that something was going on. He slightly expected to be told not to worry, after all it was term time. Adventures didn't happen in term time. To his surprise, his uncle listened and told him that he was right, adventure did seem to be in the air. He cautioned Gerry not to go looking for it, but praised him for being aware.

"It might just be having so many of you all together" Julian said, as they made their way back to the main school. "Kirren always was a place for adventures though. I think all we can do is be aware and wait."

They parted company at the staff room door and Gerry hurried off to his next lesson, earning himself a stern look from Miss Grantley as he hurried into the room.

Chapter 29

Josie had had time to think about the plan to go to the cinema, and remember her prefectship. If she had been her normal self, that would have been enough, but she was all out of sorts at the moment. As she was heading off to her next lesson, she looked out of the window to see Gerry coming back, deep in conversation with Uncle Julian. You could see the family resemblance, and Josie was struck with an irrational jealousy.

Gerry had a father of his own, he didn't need to steal Uncle Ju. Not that Uncle Ju was anything like Josie imagined a father to be, nor was she really that close to him, even as an uncle. But all of her mixed up feelings about the school and the sudden changes in her life over the past few years were tangled together, and she was ready for a fight.

She picked up her books and went off to her next lesson, music. Josie wasn't hugely musical, and didn't really have the patience for the subject. Irene regularly despaired over getting her to join in, finally giving her a triangle to play, and trying not to wince when the girl hit it too hard, or at the wrong points. She kept having resolutions to talk to Len and Ge about Josie dropping the subject, but then a tune would enter her head, and she would be lost in trying to complete the rhythms and patterns. So Josie spent another boring lesson waiting to be told to hit a piece of bent metal with a bar, and brooding on her wrongs.

---------

The girls gathered in a corner that evening after school, and worked out their plan. Len was surprised to see Josie with them, but was glad to see she seemed to be being included at last, so left the little gaggle alone.

The film would finish just an hour before their bedtime, so they would have to hurry. Luckily the timings of the buses to the town gave just enough space to get back.

"What if we miss the bus?" asked one of the more timid of the girls, slightly hoping that the plan might be abandoned.

"We won't" said one of the more forceful of the ringleaders. "Don't dawdle and we'll be fine. Now who is coming? Do you all have your bus fares?"

They did, so the plan was set in motion. They were to scatter and all seem to be doing games or hobbies, but each make their way down to the bus stop before the time. Josie was not totally happy about it all, she was a very honest girl, and didn't like the fact that they would be breaking bounds, in fact she was almost inclined to go and ask permission. But the horror with which the other girls reacted to this stopped her doing so. It felt nice to be included in this way for once, so she buried her misgivings and entered into the plan with all the enthusiasm of her classmates.

-----

The plan had gone off without a hitch. The girls met at the bus stop and giggled their way into town, then in the queue for the film. Josie was quite struck on the journey by the sight of posters with Richie Kirren on, and found herself hovering in front of one, hardly able to believe this was her own father. She looked at herself as they went on to the cinema, trying to see the resemblance in nearby shop windows to compare but the reflections were always too dark.

The film was good, but to begin with Josie couldn't have said what the storyline was at all. She was too fascinated by seeing her Uncle Dick, no, her father, up on the screen this way. She started to see the resemblance to her Aunt Ge, and she knew she looked like Aunt Ge, so she guessed she must look like him, like her father too. It was quite strange to think about.

----

By now the girls had been missed, after all a whole class rarely disappeared at the same time. Searches were being planned if they weren't back soon. There were many walks around the area that they could have gone on, so no one was too worried yet.

"After all, they have Josie with them" said Con as the first search of the school had come up with nothing. "She knows this area like the back of her hand."

No one told Ge yet, as she was busy at the far extremes of the farm, and there was no need to worry her unnecessarily.

John Kirren frowned. It was unusual for him not to know where Josie was. But she had been like a bear with a sore paw lately, so he had kept out of her way, hoping she would calm down soon.

-----------

Josie hadn't noticed a man follow the little group in,, then sit near the back of the cinema. He ignored the screen mostly, but looked at her intently for a while, before slipping out part way through the film. He had a hurried conversation with someone on the phone in the lobby, repeating again and again the words 'Spitting image' and 'from that school' and that he had heard her called Josie. He listened to the phone in silence for a minute, then returned to the auditorium. Josie was miles away, engrossed now in the story, proud of her father and feeling strangely shy to realise that she was connected to him.

The film finished, and while the other girls rushed out, intent on catching the bus, she dawdled slightly, still watching the credits on the screen, wondering if her father's name would appear again. She didn't see the two men rush towards her, and they covered her mouth before she could cry out. They pushed her out through the emergency exit, and before she knew it, she was in the back of a van, tied up and they were speeding off into the night.

Chapter 30

The other girls rushed onto the bus, chattering merrily about the film. They were not used to Josie being with them, so didn't miss her until one of the girls did a mock swoon over the thought of Richie Kirren, and another said perhaps Josie could introduce her. They were all shocked to realise that she wasn't there, and even the hardest of them felt a pang of guilt that they hadn't checked that she was with them.

"She'll be alright" said one of the ringleaders. "After all, she knows the area, and her family are teachers. They won't be too hard on her if she has to catch the later bus and gets caught."

They dropped off the bus and began to wait by the school gates to go back in a few at a time. The staff were alert by this time, and they were quickly found and herded up to school to see the heads.

"What about Josie?" one of them whispered as they waited. "Should we tell them about her?"

"We ought to pretend she wasn't with us" said one of the ringleaders firmly. "That way if she can sneak back in they won't know she went. She's a prefect after all"

Truth be told, the girl was more concerned with the fall out from having left Josie behind than Josie's own protection. She had been called to account several times already that term for bullying, and she was sure that nobody would believe that it had been an accident. She wasn't worried about Josie getting back, there were still a few buses after the one they had caught. Josie had lived here all her life after all.

The others were still too young to think more deeply, and so they too swore that it was just them, and they didn't know where Josie was. Which was technically true, they didn't know where she was, although they assumed she was waiting for the bus and swearing at them for leaving her.

Len wasn't sure whether to be relieved or more worried to hear that Josie wasn't with the guilty group. She immediately decided that Ge needed to know now, after all she knew the girl best. Rather dreading the possible reaction for not having told Ge earlier, Len sought her out at the far end of the farm, and told her of the events of the afternoon.

Ge wasn't inclined to worry that greatly. Josie had been out of sorts lately, and she did have a tendency to hide herself away when hurt or worried.

"You said that you saw her with the other girls earlier?" she said, and Len nodded. "Well then, she may well have known about all this, and not known what to do. She's never been to boarding school, so she'd hardly know it's a fairly harmless prank. She would know that I'd guess something was going on if I saw her, so she may well just be hiding out of the way somewhere. Let's get the others together and look in all of her usual hideouts."

Ge strode off, and Len followed, both trying not to let the other know their worry that something real had happened to Josie. The girl had many hiding spots, and it took a while to eliminate them all. It was well past the students bedtime by the time they were finished.

Lucy Ann was just making a final check of the dormitory in case Josie had returned unnoticed, then started to leave, with a frown on her face.

"Please.., Luc... I mean, Mrs Arnold!" came a low voice, and she turned back to Rosie's cubicle and answered the little girl's question about Josie.

"No, she isn't back yet, but I'm sure she will be" she said, with more confidence than she felt. "Settle down to sleep now Rosie, she'll be snoring in her cubicle before you know it, I'm sure."

Rosie nodded, but looked doubtful. She'd heard a few of the whispers of the girls in Josie's form, and was sure that they were not telling the while truth. They had been quite threatening to her when they saw her listening, and she didn't feel that she had enough information to go to any of the grown ups. But she felt sure that something was wrong. She waited until Lucy Ann had gone, then gave a secret knock quietly on Maggie's cubicle wall. Her friend was in with her in a trice and agreed with Rosie's whispered worries.

The two of them dressed swiftly, and made their way over to the boys' dormitory. Rosie made a sound of an owl outside the window nearest to Gerry, Sam and John's cubicles. As expected, before long they heard a low whistle back from each and by their long established codes the little group knew to go to the treehouse to talk.

Rosie and Maggie climbed up into the treehouse and waited impatiently, only to nearly exclaim out loud when they saw that John, Gerry and Sam had Jenks in tow.

"Sorry" was all that Gerry could say, to their appalled looks. "He heard us and insisted on coming too. He's a lot better than he used to be, honest. We thought it quicker to bring him than argue."

The girls were doubtful. Jenks' over confidence had nearly put them all in danger in the past. Maggie loved her cousin, but she wished he was a little calmer. And quieter, she thought, as he nearly knocked a stool down the entrance hatch.

They lost no time in telling the others what they knew. "I'm sure that she went with them." Rosie said. "So she might just have missed the bus, but... I don't know. It doesn't feel right somehow."

John nodded. "If she'd missed the bus, she'd be back by now. Something doesn't add up." he said, trying not to let worry about his twin show as a break in his voice.

They were all trying to work out what to do for the best, when Jenks suddenly hushed them. Sure enough, there were teachers down below, and before long Ted stuck her head up into the treehouse.

"Thought we'd find you lot here. Come inside, it's warmer." she said, with a matey grin. Ge, Mike and Lucy Ann had been unsurprised to find the others of Josie's family missing from their beds, and had sent Ted to check the usual meeting places. The little group of cousins stuck together, they were very like their parents that way. Ted was a little surprised not to find the Maynard and Russell twins there too. But they were less tuned into adventures like this than the others, and were still sleeping soundly.

The little group trooped in to the farm kitchen, unsure if they were going to be told off or not. Ge looked up and motioned to them to sit down.

"What's going on?" she began. "Is she off on some part of an adventure that you haven't told us about?

They all shook their heads. John looked at the girls, who returned the look pleadingly, so he modified their reason for meeting. "We think she went to the cinema too" he began. "But that's all we know, we don't know if the other girls knew she was going or not. Rosie checked her cubicle and her purse was gone."

Ge nodded, she had been wondering the same thing. "I'll contact Jack Trent. He'll go and see if she is still there. But I smell an adventure."

She looked around at each of them, meeting their eyes significantly. "Now since you are all at school, I have to send you back to your beds" she began, then put up a hand at a groan from Jenks. "Even if all my own experience and instincts tell me that youngsters like yourselves could well be necessary to get this adventure solved, I'm a type of teacher now. So I can't officially condone you going off to town and meeting Jack Trent to look for clues. Even if there is a bus going in half an hour. I have to send you back to bed. Ok?"

All of them but Jenks caught on quickly and hurried off to "go back to bed".

Gerry was tempted to not explain Ge's double meaning, and to leave the bouncy youngster behind, but he might be useful. So he muttered instructions to Jenks, who for a mercy shut up and followed orders to get his adventuring tools together and meet down by the bus stop.

Once back at the boys' dormitory, John gently woke Felix Maynard, and asked him to keep watch for anything unusual going on here. Kevin and Kester were too noisy to wake, but Felix was to fill them in if the others were not back before morning. Rosie shyly woke Felicity and the other prefect, Elizabeth, and asked them to do the same. Before they could argue that they wanted to come too, she and Maggie were gone.

The adventure had begun.

Chapter 31

Inside the van, Josie was fuming. It was years since she had been taken by surprise like that, and she hadn't had a chance to grab her pocket knife before being tied up. Thankfully she had at least remembered to hold her hands at an angle while they tied them, to give some slack in the ropes. It would have been much quicker with a knife though. She was having to work the knots out one by one, and that was hard to do without being noticed.

She was alone now in the back of the van, propped up against some boxes and extremely uncomfortable. To begin with she had had one of the kidnappers with her, but a couple of well aimed kicks whenever the movement of the van allowed had led to the man chosing to go to the front cabin. As she worked on the knots, she could hear some muffled conversation from the front.

"So what if it isn't his kid?" came one voice, with a slight whine to it.

"Still his cousin's kid, gotta be worth something. But it IS his kid. The papers have been digging out every detail, got some neighbours to talk. Kirren was always hanging round with the gypsy girl and she ends up having these kids. This is her, I'm telling you. I've been up near that damn school long enough trying to get near to 'em"

Josie couldn't hear much more, but her heart sank. She was sure that it had been a mistake, but now it did sound like they actually weretrying to kidnap her, not someone else. She needed to get away, and quickly. She finally managed to work free, and waited for her chance. Josie wished that she knew just where they were going. But getting away was the main thing.

Finally the van slowed. She quickly hid her hands behind her and pretended to be asleep. The men looked in, clearly decided it was safe to leave her, then left the van. As soon as they were gone she sprang up and went for the door. Locked! She had expected that it might be, but hoped they might be amateurs and assume her still tied up.

Josie used her time as well as she could, once she was sure she couldn't get out. She found a coat belonging to one of the men, and stuffed it into a ball, ready to grab if she could see a moment to escapes. She knew from past adventures just how cold it could be sleeping out without cover. Delving in the coat pockets, she found some papers, but didn't have a chance to look too deeply at them, for the light was dim now, and she was sure that the men would be back soon.

She tried to see into the front of the van, but the window between was too grimy. The lights outside didn't tell her much, but did suggest that she was in a built up area. Perhaps a roadside cafe?

Finally she opened some of the boxes. Nothing useful, but she looked at one of the larger ones with interest. She was running out of time but the embryo of a plan began to form in her mind.

--------

Back at Kirren, Gerry and John had managed to scrape together enough money for everyone's bus fares, and hoped the driver didn't ask too many questions. Luckily he knew John well, so beyond a brief "Ge know you're here, boy?" there wasn't too much of a problem. John had taken the precaution of bringing Timmy the dog, so the driver knew they would be safe enough.

They reached the bus station, and soon saw a worried looking Jack Trent searching the area. Kiki the parrot gave a squalk and flew over to land on Maggie's shoulder.

"Hello Uncle Jack," Maggie said cheerily, as Kiki nibbled her ear in welcome. "Any luck?"

Jack looked up, and couldn't resist a grin at the determined faces before him. Had he and his family been so fierce and organised about things, he wondered? He would gave to ask Bill Cunningham at some stage. He was glad to see them though, especially Timmy.

Timmy set to sniffing around the area immediately, and it wasn't long before he took them to the cinema, and then round to the alley at the back.

Jenks proved his worth here. For all his annoying tendancies, he really did have a lot of information relating to detection. He recognised the tyre thread, compared it to a little notebook and found a scrape of paint from the door being flung open as Josie was pushed into it. He even found a man's footprint, all of which he solemnly drew details of in his notebook.

Jack Trent was getting worried now. This had all of the hallmarks of a kidnapping. He left the children investigating, and went to call Bill. With his secret service contacts they should be able to have forces up and down the land on alert. But on alert for what? He only had the colour of the vehicle, and Jenks Trottville's word that the tyres matched a certain type of heavily laden van.

He return to the alley to find the children gone. Initially frustrated, he then had to laugh, for he knew that none of his own generation would have sat back and left it to the adults. He went out to the main street, looked around, and sure enough there was a note, saying that they had a clue, but had to follow it up quickly, they would be back soon.

-----

Soon after Jack had gone to find a phone, Rosie had pointed out that someone must have seen the van there, they had to get in now and ask questions of the people around before the police were involved.

"After all you know how silly grown ups are" she said seriously. "As soon as the police are involved they forget half of the truth and make up all sorts of things."

So saying, she had beetled off to the shops opposite, and soon they were interviewing everyone who might have seen the van leave. Finally a couple of people mentioned a yellow van, leaving the alley in a hurry at just the right time for the end of the film.

Meeting Jack back at the front of the cinema, he was impressed to find that they had the type, timing and even most of the registration number of the van. Also the inital direction, although this didn't help a lot since there were many crossroads nearby. Jack thanked them, and went to tell Bill.

Jenks then surprised the whole group by going to a telephone box and ringing a special number his father had given him for back up in adventures. He then waited cooly in the box, and was called back with the information that their quarry had been seen enroute to Bristol, and that patrols were out looking already. In fact this was in part due to Bill Cunnigham's earlier alert, but Jenks chose not to pass that part on. He badly wanted to be part of this group, and was determined to show his worth, even if he had to use his father's contacts to do so. Unfortunately for Jenks, the effect of this was slightly lost when Jack returned with the same information and the fact that the van had also been spotted recently not that far away.

The group wanted to go themselves to help in the rescue, and although Jack Trent was a little worried about this plan, he remembered being their age and frustrated at having to leave the work to the adults, so promised them that if she wasn't home the next morning, he would take them to the last known sighting of the van. With this they had to be content, and returned reluctantly to the school.

John particularly was not happy about leaving things as they were, and it was with difficult that Gerry convinced him that he couldn't go to the girls dormitory and interrogate Josie's classmates, and give them a piece of his mind or worse.

He was so calm and sensible normally, that this anger was all the more apparent. Back at the farm, the problem was solved, since Ge and Len were setting out straight away to the last point the van had been seen. They heard the news, looked at John and merely told him to get a warmer coat and sleeping bag, he could come with them.

Gerry was slightly jealous, but wisely decided that sleep was a better option for him at present. John would never have slept anyway, knowing that his twin was in danger.

Chapter 32

Meanwhile, Josie heard the men coming back, and had to put her plan into action. She had emptied the biggest box, and left it near the door, then arranged the other boxes so it wasn't clear whether she was still there. She remembered the coat and put it on and clambered inside.

Crouching then inside the large box, she prayed that they would check the back before driving off. This hope was dashed when they got in the front and started the engine, seeming about to drive off without opening the back door. She didn't think she could crouch in the box until whenever the next stop would be.

She waited a while to see if they stopped, then the van changed to another road and started to speed up. She couldn't cope with motion while crouched inside the box and was afraid that she would have to give up her plan. As a last effort, she reached out of the box and gave the side of the van a hefty whack. Thankfully they heard, and stopped the van, arguing between them and obviously turning around to try to look through the grimy window.

Unable to see her, they had to get out and open the back. It seemed to take an age before the door was opened. As expected, they began to move the boxes to try to see her. There seemed to be a lot more people around than before, from all she could hear. For a moment, she was nearly stuck in the box in panic. She was worried that she had reached her destination, and if she didn't go now she would be caught and tied up again.

Muttering a small plea for strength, she pushed out pf the box, leapt from the van, giving the nearest of the men a high kick as she went, and as it hit a very hard home, she promised to herself that if she got back she would thank Lucy Ann for insisting on her practicing from almost toddler age.

She was fast, and her dark colouring was a great help, as she belted off into the shadows. She ran and ran, until she reached a crowded area, and slipped in among the people there. She waited to see people following, but couldn't. She easily slipped through the crowd to the other side.

It was very late, and she didn't quite know what to do. All she wanted to do was get back, and as soon as she could. But she didn't know who to trust. She used to trust the authorities, but time and time again she and her cousins had found out that the gangs had sources within the police force. She didn't know what was going on, if the kidnapping was the whole thing, or whether this was part of a bigger adventure.

She was getting tired now, and wanted to find somewhere to rest. She wandered the streets until finally she found herself out of the town and into the country again. She always felt better out of built up areas. Finally she saw a barn, and wrapping the big coat around her, she decided to shelter there for the night.

The next morning she looked at the sun, and decided the best thing she could do was head south, and see if she could find a phone box. By the time she got to a town there might be a chance of an operator being on the end of the phone, and she could attempt a reverse charges call. That was something that had hurt once she had time to realise it. The kidnappers had taken her purse, which was one she had had for years.

She enjoyed the early morning walk, stretching cramped muscles from her time in the van. She walked around a bend in the road, but then she had to stop and rub her eyes.

Now she knew she was tired. But could she really be seeing an elephant ?

--------

If Josie had only known, this part of her adventure had not been necessary. The work of her friends and family had led to the van being identified and, by this stage of her escape, it was being followed closely by unmarked police.

The men suddenly stopping and going to the back doors had worried the officers, so they had made the decision to pull over and approach the van. The way that the criminals had reacted had been enough to show them as suspicious, for as soon as the policemen showed their badges, they turned to run. One had managed to escape, the others were swiftly caught. Luckily one of the ones caught had been the driver and therefore the holder of the keys.

The officers went to open the van and release Josie, only to find her apparently not there, although they couldn't be sure without moving the boxes. Then all of a sudden Josie had launched herself out, kicking a police officer in a delicate area even as she went, and disappeared off into the darkness.

Ge and Len had heard all of this from Freddie Trottville, and both had decided they needed to get there, find Josie themselves. Ge knew that feeling of adrenaline in escape, and she felt sure that Josie would not be easily found by people who didn't know her. If she had kicked a policeman, she must still be thinking that she was in danger, and would not stop until she felt safer. Freddie Trottville had been rather irritated that Josie had run off, but Ge completely understood, and was even slightly proud. After all the girl had been inside the van, and couldn't have known that it was a rescue.

No one even knew which direction she had headed, nor did the officers really realise quite how far and and fast the girl could run. They had kept their search limited to the local area, and so far had been totally unsuccessful.

Len, Ge and John drove through the night in silence, Timmy on the back seat with John. He instinctually knew that John needed him, and laid his paws on the boy's knee, occasionally resting his head against John. The boy took far more comfort from this than any words, and Len felt glad that he had that unquestioning support that only a dog like Timmy can bring. She kept an eye on John in the mirror, and as his head began to droop, Len suggested he pull his sleeping bag over him and use the long drive to rest.

Ge was silent, but her mind was working furiously. She hoped that Timmy would be able to track the girl, but the report had been quite vague about where the van had been, and since Freddie had rather pompously suggested that they leave the search to the professionals, she couldn't ask for more information. She was torn between stopping at Jack Trent's, in case his stepfather Bill Cunningham was more helpful, or just using the time to get to the area and trust to Timmy. Ge was inclined to not risk any delay, and Len agreed, so they decided to just get to the area the police had searched as soon as they could.

Len was also trying to think, to plan their best way to find the girl. Josie was a good runner, and also probably knew the importance of intermittent changes of direction to reduce ability to follow. The area the police were searching was too small, but where should they start if they couldn't find a strong enough trail for Timmy? Len puzzled over the maps, and worked out possible routes.

Even as she occupied herself woth this, she couldn't help but berate herself for not being too concerned till later about Josie's disappearance. Her stepdaughter was a fiercely independent person, however, and as Ge had said, she did tend to hide herself away when upset.

Len was also beginning to wonder whether Josie really had followed the other girls without their knowledge. Surely they couldn't be so dishonest as to have lied about that, when asked directly? The evidence suggested that they had been, and Len was angry to think that they had perhaps left the girl deliberately, as part of a nasty prank. An even worse thought floated at the back of her mind, that perhaps one or more of the girls had been working with the kidnappers.

Finally, many miles later, they arrived, and had a reasonable idea of where to leave the car and start tracking. Timmy sniffed around for a long time, since there had been many people on the scene, and they were not that close to where Josie had left the van. Eventually he got a tiny scent of the girl, and began moving purposely in one direction, trying to find a stronger trail.

Even as he did so, a police officer came over to them, and asked what they were doing. He took a while to understand that they were searching for the missing girl too, not listening to what they were saying, but repeating for them to move along. Even when he understood he was unhelpful, advising them to go home and wait, not to interfere with police business.

Ge knew that all this wasted time was only going to make the trail harder to follow, and the rage inside her was building so strongly that she was close to forgetting herself and telling the policeman exactly what she thought of him. Luckily, Len could see what was going on, and thinking quickly, she diverted the little group onto a side street, as if they were giving up and going home, hand firmly on Ge's arm to stop her arguing. She consulted her map a moment, then brought them back around to a little further along the original street, thankfully out of sight of the policeman. Timmy searched around again, and found the trail finally.

They continued, this time just avoiding the searching policemen, or pretending just to be out walking their dog. Unfortunately Timmy was finding it harder than he used to, his activities in recent years had been far less strenuous, being very old for a dog. But he was determined, and would not give up.

As the trail continued, with no sign of Josie, Ge and Len started to make plans. They still harbored a hope that Josie might have enough money with her to ring the farm, or might turn herself in to a police station for help. They needed to be able to keep checking in, also they didn't want to get too far from the car, this wasn't the nicest area they had ever been in, and also they might need to move swiftly if they got a clue as to Josie's location.

Len and John went back to get the car, while Ge and Timmy continued the slow progress. When Len reached them, her heart went out to the pair. She could see how tired Timmy was, and the distress and tension in Ge.

She managed to get Ge to see that this needed to be a marathon, not a sprint, after all Josie had several hours head start on them. It would do no harm to stop for a moment, and allow Timmy some rest. Ge only accepted this when reminded that while they were near a phone box it made sense for Len to ring back to the farm in case any messages had been sent.

Ge went to the car, and for the first time really noticed how tired Timmy looked, and also how set and fierce John was seeming. She climbed into the back, put her arms around both John and Timmy, and Len found her little family all dozing in a heap all together. Josie was a glaring omission in the picture, and Len was determined that they would find the girl. However they needed to pace themselves. She looked at her watch, and gave them a little longer to sleep, before gently waking Ge and Timmy to start again. There had been no contact from Josie, and it looked as though their search must continue, all night if necessary

Chapter 33

Josie rubbed her eyes. It was, it really WAS an elephant. She quickened her step as she saw other animals in travel cages, and a line of brightly decorated caravans.

A circus! She had good memories of circuses. Whenever they went to one there seemed to be someone who was related to or knew her mother, or Ge, or failing that there would be someone who had known her adventurous extended family.

She felt safe again, but wanted to see which circus it was before she asked for help. She slightly hoped that Barney would be there, but she wasn't sure that he was still in the circus life. She finally reached the back of the line and could see a name board. It was Brown's! It still seemed strange to see it called that instead of Galliano's, though it had been Brown's for a few years now. She quickened her step and felt much better. She not only knew a few people in this circus, she was related to the owners.

In their huge caravan at the front of the line, Lotta Brown looked out of the rear door at the little figure running along, being greeted as she went. Jumbo the Elephant trumpeted a greeting, Sammy the Chimpanzee waved from his travelling cage, and she waved merrily back, even as she carried on, determined to find Lotta.

The dark haired woman in the caravan chuckled at the sight of the small girl completely swamped by the man's coat. She looked more like her mother Jo every year.

"Jimmy!" she called. "We have a visitor!" then jumped lightly down from the caravan steps to the ground while her husband looked around, caught sight of Josie and grinned.

Lotta swept the girl into her arms, then hurried her along to jump back on the steps. She grabbed Josie in a hug, then both of them made awful faces at each other and burst out laughing.

"What are you doing here, my girl?" Lotta asked finally. "Run away to join us?"

Josie laughed. Her mother Jo had been a cousin of Lotta's, and she knew the woman quite well, often staying with the circus for a few days when they came near enough. Ge had known the pair for almost as long, and Timmy had been great friends with their dogs Lucky and Lulu.

"No - though I do wish I could sometimes !" Josie said, then explained the situation. She was hugely thankful when Lotta took charge, and sent a message back for one of the other members of the circus to take a horse ahead and phone Ge, then made Josie's day by saying that they were heading nearly back to Kirren.

Josie relaxed finally. She was among friends and could have a lift most of the way home. Lotta privately decided that she would take the girl all the way back, for despite her high spirits, the young girl looked 'all in'. Sure enough, as they chatted out in the winter sunshine, she saw Josie's eyes begin to drift closed. Lotta sent her inside the caravan, as she'd surely fall off the steps if she stayed there. The young girl gratefully settled down one of the little bunks, and swiftly fell asleep.

--------

It had been a long night for the rest of her family. Timmy had valiantly followed the trail, finally leading to them finding the barn, then John found a few signs that someone, hopefully Josie, had slept there the night before.

The little group were buoyed up by this, and set out with new energy. They had made slow progress, for they had to keep bringing the car along, but not too close, for the scent trail was obviously quite faint, and the smell of the car seemed to make it harder for Timmy.

They began looking out on either side for the girl, hopeful that they would see her in the distance. However soon after, just where Josie leapt up into the caravan, Timmy gave a small whine, and had to stop. He'd lost the scent, and there were so many confusing ones around that he just couldn't pick it up again.

The problem, if they had only known it, was that Josie had learnt her lesson only too well with respect to not being trackable. She had intermittently walked through water, climbed trees near junctions before making her direction choice and walked near strong smelling areas. This was in part habit, and partly intentional, for she couldn't have dreamed anyone who knew her might know at all where to start looking for her.

She had to assume that the kidnappers to still be at large and after her, so she made it as difficult as she could to find her trail. But of course this it had made for very slow going for Timmy, and they didn't reach the point where she met the circus until mid morning, all feeling grubby, dispirited and tired.

To be stopped now when they had made it so far was awful. Ge concentrated on telling Timmy how well he had done, Len felt tears prick and stopped them falling only by sheer willpower and telling herself not to be such a spineless jellyfish. John just kept frantically looking for some sort of clue. The only thing that he could find was that along the road where the trail was lost, small leafy branches appeared to have been pulled off from quite high on the trees. But that could have happened at any time, could just be a high bus passing by at speed. It wasn't helpful.

Finally they just had to accept that the trail was lost for now. They decided to go back to the last place they left the car, and start driving around the area. It was all they could think of to do. They drove and drove, but there were so many junctions nearby, and they just couldn't narrow down which way she might have gone.

Finally they had to decide to go back to Kirren. John nearly broke down in tears with frustration and tiredness, arguing with Len and Ge that they couldn't give up, they just couldn't. They carried on a bit longer for him, but finally even he had to admit to himself that they were getting no nearer to finding his twin. They set off back home in silence, each trying not to snap at each other in their disappointment.

John sat in the back of the car, staring in despair out of the window. Why on earth had the trail just stopped like that? Could the gang have manage to get hold of her again, and taken her away in a car? She would never have got in a car with a stranger, he knew she wouldn't. But what had happened? He rolled the facts as he knew them around and around in his head, but just couldn't think of a next step.

He was nearly asleep, and in that half aware state he couldn't help thinking his mind drifting, and ended thinking, about his old toy animals, of all things. One of them was lost, washed away, why did that matter?' Nellie, lost to the tide, Nellie the Elephant. Packed her trunk and...'

"TRUNK!!" he said out loud suddenly, making Len jump and nearly swerve and crash the car.

He was so excited he was nearly gabbling, and they had turned into the school gates and stopped the car before he got his whole theory out.

"She wouldn't, you see, she would keep walking, she would say no ... none of us take lifts, it's too risky ... so she wouldn't, and then the animals... And the leaves, and it's high... and a trunk, and Nellie the elephant ... though it's not her. She's a toy and she's lost... Maybe it's Jumbo, it could be... And that's where she is, I'm sure of it !"

They had to get him to slow down and explain again, but once they understood it seemed a real possibility. It brought them all back to life again, and they were all determined to go into the nearest town and see if anyone knew where the nearest circus was headed. Tired as they all were, they all felt that they had to do something, had to at least try this new lead.

They were just starting off to look again, when Con came running out of the farmhouse, waving frantically.

"She's been found!" she gasped, once she reached them. "Apparently someone from a circus, of all things, just rang. He said he was sent to ring us by his boss. They say they are bringing Josie back, and she's fine, she's fine!"

Ge blinked back tears, and had to focus on the distance for a minute to avoid breaking down. She knew that it had to be either Barney or maybe Lotta that had sent that message, and that meant Josie really was safe. Ever since childhood Ge had scorned tears, but it really felt as though she might not win the battle this time.

Len was less able to hold back the emotion. She had been berating herself all night for not taking Josie's disappearance seriously earlier, despite the fact that even Ge had not been worried until late evening. She gulped a few times and gave Con a watery smile. Luckily her sister understood, and left them to it, encouraging John to come along into the school with her, intent on making the exhausted looking boy go to rest.

Ge just gripped Len's hand, and they sat for a while in the car, not quite sure what to do next. They couldn't yet quite believe that she had been found, that she was on her way back to them.

Timmy looked from one to another. He still couldn't smell Josie, but his pack seemed to be suddenly less worried about finding her. It was a little strange this, sitting in the car now that they were home, but humans were a bit strange sometimes. He settled down on the back seat, and closed his eyes for a brief nap, one ear open as always for a word from Ge, or sign of danger. It had been a long night for an old dog, but it seemed to all be finished now, the humans were quiet and still, and all would hopefully soon be back to normal.

Notes:

Lotta and Jimmy are from Galliano’s Circus, and Barney from the Enid Blyton R Mysteries

Chapter 34

Jimmy turned the caravan into the lane to the farm. The rest of the circus folk had gone on to set up camp, but he and Lotta were determined to take their young relative all the way back home.

Josie had woken about half an hour before and was up on the ledge at the front with Jimmy, chattering away about her hopes for her own dog at some stage, and how she wanted to train it to do the things that his dog lucky had done. Jimmy listened to the chattering girl with a smile, although it still hurt to think of Lucky. She had been his own dog from a very young age, and he had never again had a dog so smart. Even though she had lived a very long time for a dog, he had had to say goodbye a few years earlier.

He gave Josie serious attention, knowing how important something like this was to a youngster. He warned her that she would have to start with any puppy very young, and give them lot of attention and training. Josie listened carefully to tips that he gave, knowing that he was one of the foremost dog trainers in the country, and knew what he was talking about.

They reached the front of the school, and Josie jumped almost straight from the front of the caravan into Ge's arms, burying her head into her neck, and muttering apologies and how glad she was to be back. Ge couldn't quite speak, just held her close, and sent her thanks to Jimmy and Lotta by her eyes. They understood, and after a quick hug to Josie's twin John, they set the horses going again and set back off to join the rest of the circus, Lotta waving madly out of the caravan door all the way along.

John Kirren was a mass of feelings that he didn't know how to cope with. He was exhausted, relieved, angry with Josie and hurt that she hadn't confided in him about the cinema trip. He stood by Ge and Josie, unsure what to do with himself. Len put her arm around his shoulders and pushed him gently towards them. Josie launched herself on him as soon as Ge let her go, didn't give him a chance to hold back. He was so glad to see her that he couldn't hold on to being quite as angry at that moment, although he was still not quite comfortable meeting her eyes. Josie let go of him, detecting his reserve and suddenly unsure of herself.

Len watched all of this, understanding John's feelings, but also knowing that the twins were never happy when arguing. She had a shock then herself, for Josie had looked around, saw her too, and run into her arms for a hug. Much as Len loved her little stepdaughter, the girl was rarely affectionate with her unless ill and being looked after. Josie was resentful of losing some of Ge's attention to Len, and so Len had not expected such an enthusiastic welcome. She wrapped her arms tightly round the girl, making the most of the moment, sure that they would be back to sulks and arguing soon enough.

Josie was slightly surprised herself, but she had missed all of her family, Len included. She also had had time during her adventure to realise that the risks to John and herself obviously were real, and to appreciate the support and safety of the school.

-------

Josie didn't get away scot free from her escapade. The staff were just so glad to see her safe that that evening they left explanations for later, and welcomed her back wholeheartedly. She produced the papers from the coat that she had 'borrowed', and they passed them on to the authorities. Thankfully this was good enough evidence to convict the captured kidnappers, since it clearly linked them with Josie's kidnap. Without that there would only have been Josie's word, for none of the policemen had seen her well enough to swear that it had been her in the van.

So to begin with, she was just welcomed, fed and put to bed in her own room back in the farmhouse, where she slept deeply, exhausted with the past couple of days. She didn't have the energy to think about how wrong she had been in going off like that without permission, and almost began to feel herself a hero, as she retold her story for all of the different audiences.

However the following morning she had to visit the heads, and they were firm but fair with her. She started to realise how irresponsible she had been, to go off that way, especially since she was supposed to be a prefect. She nearly broke down when they pointed out how much worry she had put her family through.

Unintentionally, for she had not been in contact with the other girls, she let out the fact that the others had known that she was with them, and shortly after the rest of her form were lined up outside the head's office. The staff were not blind to the previous bullying in the form, but it was hard to know what to do about it. Josie wasn't academically ready to join the class above, but far above the class below. It had been hoped that she might help some of the girls in her form integrate with the adventurers in the school, but instead she was one alone in a big group who were all friends with one another.

Finally they were all allowed back to their lessons, and she was sent to join them. Josie had not had a good day, even after escaping the heads with her prefectship intact. They had warned her that she would lose it if anything further happened, or if she didn't start behaving more like a prefect, and she was determined to keep her position. It would be even worse to have John and Gerry prefects and not be one herself.

She was very nervous about returning to the group, for she had been told by now that the others had pretended that she wasn't with them, so unintentionally had made herself appear a sneak. She awaited being sent to coventry or worse, and almost felt like running away as she entered the room after break.

However, despite not being natural adventurers, the girls from the sporty school were generally honorable, and in fact had learnt well that a team needs to stick together. They wouldn't have intentionally have left her, and they didn't blame her for showing their lies, after all she couldn't have known. They also had been deeply shocked at the danger that Josie had been through due to their thoughtlessness. If they had realised the seriousness of the situation, they would have confessed at once to leaving her behind, after all it had been an accident. They honestly had thought that she would be back by the next bus.

So to Josie's surprise, she came back to a form full of apologies, and explanations, and reassurances that it hadn't been intentional. One or two of the more mean spirited did make comments about some people always falling on their feet, and getting attention, but most were welcoming. From her past experience with bullies, Josie was immensely surprised, and began to gain a new respect for her form mates. They might not be adventurers, but they weren't so bad, once she got to know them.

It was good for Josie that her own form were beginning to be more friendly, for the period after the adventure was a hard one for her. Once the happiness at her return had worn off, John returned to a deep anger with her for putting herself in harms way. The normally even tempered boy was beginning his own growing pains, and he couldn't quite shake his feeling that Josie had let them all down, had been selfish and stupid.

It split the young adventurers apart for a while, since Rosie, Sam, and Maggie felt that John was being too harsh, but Gerry, Felix, Felicity and the Russell twins all understood why he was so fierce about things, and followed his lead in showing Josie that they were unimpressed.

Josie had unfortunately made her own bed, for she had been rude to family and friends for no great reason in the past with her moodiness, and had been quite fierce towards them on occasion.

She was soon to realise the sad fact that her being John's twin had been a large part of why the others had tolerated her moods. He had tended to go around and explain her actions, smooth the way for her with people, and none of them wanted to upset kind and gentle John by arguing with Josie.

Her adult family watched the situation unfold, and didn't quite know what to do. The children were getting old enough now to resent any interference. It was also a lesson that Josie needed to learn, that you reap the seeds that you sow with friendship, and that she couldn't always rely on John. The lesson was a good one, and the adults were loathe to interfere too soon. However they could all see that the Kirren twins were just not happy being at odds with each other. No one was quite sure how to fix the rift, or whether either twin would resent the interference. For now all that they could do was wait and hope that they came back to being friends naturally.

Chapter 35

Life at the school gradually began to return to normal. Or as Nancy said feelingly to Kathy "What passes for normal in this place!"

She had justification for her comment, for she had just passed the gym, where a class was being taught how to set up a tightrope and then walk safely across, as quickly and quietly as possible, carrying another student on their back.

Kathy laughed and agreed. "I do wonder sometimes what Hilda would think if she came to visit, or Lady Russell. It's somewhat different to throwing bean bags around in a circle!"

"She would take it in her stride, as would Madge" came a comment from just behind them, Nell's voice making them jump, as it apparently appeared from out of the wall.

The Heads turned towards the sound, only to then look at each other in confusion. Nell laughed, and they followed the sound up, to see her sitting on a wide ledge, a remnant of the gym's previous life as a barn.

"What on earth?" the pair said simultaneously. Nancy continued, while Kathy just remained staring, open mouthed "Nell, what ARE you doing?"

"Awaiting rescue" was the calm reply. "I'm hoping that they will be a little gentler about it than Ted and Tom were in helping me get up here. I must remind those two that I'm not 25 any more!"

As her colleagues still looked mystified, she relented and explained. "Penny Parker's brainwave. Her Advanced Applied Maths group are over there in a corner working out just how many pulleys and weights they need to build a lift for me."

They looked over to where Miss Parker had her group hard at work drawing triangles, calculating forces and estimating Miss Wilson's weight. Nancy grinned, but Kathy looked a little green.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" she said, looking somewhat nervously at the height of the ledge and hardness of the gym floor.

"I am assured by Penny that there will be crash mats below. We have enough of the damn things to build a staircase down for me if necessary! Quite what Len was thinking when she ordered so many, I don't know. She seemed to have planned for mass throwing of people over cliffs, from the number and size of them!"

Nancy and Kathy laughed, and continued on their tour of inspection. It was the first time for weeks that they had been able to get away from the paperwork that was an inevitable part of starting a new school. Nell went back to reading her book, awaiting rescue.

The new approach had worked well, and finally some of the pupils were really coming on, willing to at least listen to the staff rather than assume all lessons were pointless.

They reentered the school building, and walked through the corridors, listening to the general hum of noise from the classrooms, and glad to see that there seemed to be nobody out in the corridor in disgrace as yet. The staff had debated changing the old punishment option, but it sometimes seemed to be the only way to defuse a situation, and now that the heads were able to resume their walks around the school, they could see first hand who were repeat offenders, and deal with them accordingly.

They passed one door, then looked at each other, turned and went back to look through the window into the classroom. The form was sitting quietly enough, but appeared to have no teacher present and no work set. Alerted by their recent experience with unorthadox teaching methods, they looked all around the room, and up near the ceiling, but to no avail.

"Who should be here?" said Nancy, frowning in concentration. Kathy looked in at the form and identified Felix and Felicity Maynard. As she watched, some of the students started to chatter a bit more loudly. Felix and Felicity immediately turned towards them with a glare that could rival any that they had seen. Kathy smiled despite herself, then looked troubled.

"I'm not sure, but I wonder whether it ought to be Con Maynard ..." she said slowly. "There's a timetable up in the staffroom, let's check."

Nancy nodded. The students seem to be being quiet and well behaved enough, the Maynard twins were seeing to that. However they ought to be doing something more than sitting at their desks being kept in order by a pair of 13 year olds.

On reaching the staff room, they saw that Con was indeed meant to be with the form, yet seemed to be sitting happily oblivious in the corner of the staff room, scribbling away. They looked at her in indecision. They didn't want to be heavy handed with any of the staff, but they knew Con of old, and the look in her eyes did not bode well for her being fully awake and aware.

"Er... Con, could we have a word?" began Kathy. Con looked up at them vaguely, her eyes miles away.

"Mmm?" she said, eyes already flitting back to the page. They looked at each other. Nancy tried this time.

"Do you know what time it is, Con?" she started gently. Con looked up at her, then the clock, then gave a squawk and raced from the room. Despite themselves, the heads started to laugh, making the most of the empty staffroom.

It wasn't long before they were looking more serious again. They had been concentrating so hard on the problem of motivating the children that they hadn't really had time to think about the staff too much. By unspoken agreement, they returned to their study to talk, not wanting to risk being overheard.

"I don't know what we should do" Kathy started, once they were settled with a cup of tea. "I wish that I could dismiss it as a one off, but Felix and Felicity looked very fierce. I have a horrible feeling that they have covered up for Con before."

Nancy nodded. It was a difficult situation; They knew that Con tried her best not to let her characters win, or give in to the words that danced around her head. They had seen her grow up over more than a decade, and knew that she was much more aware and alert than she had been when younger. As her honorary Aunts, they wanted to turn a blind eye. However as Headmistresses they couldn't just ignore a member of staff forgetting to go to lessons.

They decided for now to wait and see what happened, after all they only knew of this occasion, however much they suspected that it wasn't the first time.

-------

Con finished the day in a blur, upset with herself for being so unprofessional as to forget to go to her lesson at all. She was regularly late, protected from discovery by Felix and Felicity, although she had no idea that they were doing that for her until today. However she had never been so far away in her imagination that she had forgotten almost an entire lesson. Her brother and sister had come to her at the end of the lesson, sure that something was wrong, wanting to know if they could help.

Con had always found it hard to fight her need to live in her imaginary world. She had taken much longer than her sisters to make friends outside the family, and was not a natural leader. She had struggled as a prefect to keep her attention on her duties, leading in part to a skiing accident on one occasion. Ever since then she had been able to keep her mind from wandering too greatly, at least when it mattered.

However the latest ideas that had appeared had really taken her over, every plot point triggering another. She had only just managed to cope over the past few weeks, keeping track of things only with a lot of effort, and with Ted reminding or covering for her on every possible occasion. That day Ted had been commandeered to help get Nell up to the ledge, and for once had forgotten all about the current loss of Con to her plots and characters.

Con didn't know what to do. She wanted to do her job well, and knew that Len and the school needed her, but she just felt as though she couldn't control the need to write, to get the words out and onto the page. She felt that she was just a burden to Ted, and an embarrassment to Felix and Felicity. Con had slept badly for weeks, and her confidence was very low. Her selfish side wanted to disappear off in the camper van, give into the writing, ignore the need to interact with the rest of the world. Then she thought of Ted, and of Len, who had worked so hard to get this school together, and couldn't do it.

Ted knew something was wrong as soon as she arrived in the flat, but Con had withdrawn within herself, determined not to put any of her worries onto anyone else.

It wasn't until the middle of the night, when Con had woken Ted with one of her worst nightmares for months, that she broke down and explained about being caught out, and her fear of not being able to control this latest story.

Ted wished that Con would just let her be the main breadwinner, but she knew that it wasn't that simple. In Con's family, both parents worked, and her mother balanced her writing with bringing up several children. Ted knew well enough that Con would feel a failure if she couldn't cope with part time work along with her writing.

She also knew inside herself that she had to help Con be able to cope without her there, that Con needed to be able to control her brain, and the way that her characters took her life over. Ted hoped to always be there for Con, but if something happened to her, Con would need to be able to function outside of her imagination.

Ted couldn't really say anything to help, so she just held Con close, until they both drifted back off to sleep. Con snuggled into Ted, comforted even though she didn't have any real solutions. Tomorrow was another day, and all she could do was start afresh with more resolutions to keep her characters under control.

Chapter 36

Ted left Con to sleep in the next morning, waking her well in time for her first lesson, and suggesting that she go back to their flat in her break that afternoon, rather than trying to work in the staff room. As she expected, Con fell fast asleep in the break, over come by exhaustion from the past few weeks of poor sleep. However, also as Ted had hoped, she appeared in the staff room just before her next lesson, with a better colour to her cheeks, and a more alert look in her eyes than before.

As Ted had suspected, Con had been trying to force a sociability that she didn't feel, while working in the staff room. She wasn't really able to shut the other staff out when it came to work, but felt that she ought to make an effort to be with the others. She had been trying to cope there, just fighting off the characters except in gaps between lessons when she had the staff room to herself. She was getting more and more bogged down with marking and lesson planning in the evening, all the while trying her hardest to suppress her real desire to shut herself away and write.

Thankfully it was a fairly light day for Con today, and she was able to go back to the flat after work. She found herself whizzing through the marking without the distraction of the other staff around, and when Ted joined her a few hours later she was happily curled up in an armchair, pages of her latest effort scattered all around her.

Ted smiled, leaned in for an absent minded kiss on the cheek, and left her to it. She herself preferred the bustle of the staff room while she did her marking, so once she had changed into more comfortable clothes, she took Con a cup of tea and left her in the peace and quiet of the empty flat.

In the staff room, Ted settled herself down at a desk and found that there was another benefit of this new routine. Normally she had one part of her attention always active, watching out for Con, making sure that she wasn't getting too bogged down with things, trying to keep people from being too chatty, or asking Con too many questions when she was trying to work. Con didn't complain, but Ted knew that every "Had a good day today?" comment threw Con off course, and made her marking last twice as long. Ted's own protective instinct meant that she tried to deflect the chatter, which took her away from her own tasks.

Now she could just concentrate on her own work. She was far more able than Con was to chatter while marking, then switch off when needing to concentrate more fully. She was pleased to find her own evening tasks done in half the time it normally took.

Checking her watch, she saw that there was plenty of time before dinner. Con would still be well away in the land of her imagination, so Ted moved over to an armchair, welcomed happily by Len and Ruey, who were debating whether they were ready to issue sports challenges to other schools yet. She joined in the debate, and enjoyed the friendly arguing back and forth. Ruey was called away, and Len turned to Ted with a smile.

"It's nice seeing you here chatting again" her friend said, settling back against the chair and smiling at Ted. Len was much happier herself these days, since Josie had returned safely. Kathy and Nancy were now taking on most of the management side of the school, and Len was able to get back to teaching, which suited her far better.

Ted always felt a little odd when Len smiled at her like that, the similarity to Con was so much more apparent. Although she hadn't seen Len as anything more than a friend for years, she had had a slight crush on the other girl when she first joined the Chalet School, and the combination of the familiar Maynard smile and Len's obvious pleasure in her company occasionally gave her a slight jolt. Ted was head over heels for Con, but if she had been single, she knew that she and Len would have been well suited, with their love of languages and generally matter of fact approach to life. These little moments were the only time she ever even noticed another woman, and it tended to catch her off guard, throw her into confusion. Thankfully no one seemed to ever notice, least of all Len. Ted knew in herself that Con was her soulmate, and that was what mattered.

"Where's Con?" Len was asking, and Ted dragged her attention back to the room. "I rarely see you apart these days."

"Working in our flat" Ted replied, "She gets distracted easily at the moment, and she needs to get this latest story written. She's happier on her own at the moment. In fact I think she might be better doing that all the time, she will get less bogged down."

Len frowned. "Are you sure she shouldn't try to join in ? Mamma used to say that Con needed to be with people more, help her to fight getting so distracted" she said in concern. "If she doesn't spend the evening time with all of us she won't be around adults enough..."

Ted bit back a retort asking 'What am I then, a child? This had been a consistent theme with Con's family, and Ted was tired with arguing the point. Although Con's mother understood the way the characters took her over, she was herself a very sociable person, and even with her knack for getting under people's skin, she couldn't really understand how much effort being sociable could be to her middle triplet. Jack, who was shyer in public, could understand it a bit more, but he tended to go with the majority view and encourage Con to fight the characters.

Ted loved her extended family, but she understood the need for space and peace, and she knew Con, felt in her bones that Con didn't need or want as much social contact as this school was providing. At university, she and Con had been quite happy just seeing friends and family on occasion. Len used to spend all possible time away in Kirren with Ge, and they often spent most weekends just the two of them, enjoying being quiet together. The nightmares and sleepwalking had barely happened, and Con had enjoyed her work, taken most things in her stride. Now she was becoming run down, less able to cope, and wasn't happy.

Even though she changed the subject, Len's worries did seep into Ted's brain. That evening, as she lay in bed, watching Con sleep, she worried that she was being selfish, just wanted Con to stay in the flat more so that she didn't have to worry about her. Her own sleep had been as disturbed as Con's, over the past few weeks, and she didn't trust her own judgement.

It also worried her slightly. She hadn't ever wanted to be anywhere other than wherever Con was, but that evening apart had been really relaxing for both of them. She started to worry that there might be something wrong in each wanting their own space. She decided to go for a walk, have a think. It was still early, maybe Ruey would still be in the staff room, she was a night owl, as was Nell Wilson.

As Ted walked, she passed Charlie Mackensie's flat, and suddenly found herself knocking on the door, determined to talk to Nell. She had always been like an Aunt to Con, and Ted valued the older woman's judgement.

It wasn't until Charlie opened the door and looked questioningly at Ted, that she remembered that in theory Nell and Charlie lived apart, and were not officially admitting to being an item. She ought really to have at least have pretended to knock on Nell's door first.

Since she was fairly sure that Nell would be there, she ploughed ahead anyway. "Could I talk to Nell, is she there?"

Charlie was in a quandary. It was very late, and Nell was in her nightwear, although still awake. Letting Ted in now would make their situation open and obvious. She could tell that the young woman was worried, however, and didn't like to send her away.

The problem was solved by Nell coming out of the bedroom pulling on her dressing gown.

"What's wrong, Ted?" Nell asked, looking at her searchingly. "Is there a problem?"

Ted coloured slightly. It wasn't in her nature to discuss her relationship with anyone but Con, and she didn't know quite how to start. Charlie saw the hesitation, and told her to come in, pointed to the living room, then left her alone with Nell while going away, supposedly to make a cup of tea.

Ted stumbled through her reason for the visit, getting redder and more embarrassed as she did so. She only became more fluent when trying to explain how much better off she thought Con would be if she spent less time in the staffroom.

Nell listened in silence. When Ted faltered to a stop, she replied, and reassuringly, she seemed to be in agreement with Ted. "I completely agree, Ted. Con will come back to spending more time with others in her own time, she always does. Your Aunty Hilda and I both preferred to just visit the staff room socially, we didn't find it easy to work there."

Ted felt hugely touched by the slip that Nell had made, describing herself and Miss Annersley as Aunts to her, in the same way they were to the Maynards. Ted used to spend so much time at the Maynards that she saw Nell and Hilda in that way, as extended family, but had never thought to presume that they even noticed her, with all of the Maynards as honorary Neices and Nephews.

She wasn't sure whether to repeat her worry about whether enjoying this time apart from each other was a bad sign for their relationship. Thankfully Nell seemed to have picked that up from her mumbled comments, and was equally reassuring.

"Ted, you've looked after Con handsomely, and it's clear to everyone how well suited you are, don't you worry about that. All couples need some time apart, and you'll enjoy your time together all the more."

Ted began to cheer up, although she went red again as Nell continued.

"I don't know when you two first got together, but you've been inseparable since you were at least 16. That's over 8 years, Ted. Things change in any kind of relationship, friendship or otherwise. Being constantly together suited you when younger, as time goes on, it's less of a need. Don't worry, just enjoy time together and apart, and I'm sure that you'll be fine" Nell finished up, glad to see Ted looking happier. "Now get yourself back to bed, before Con wakes up and wonders where you are!"

Ted thanked her and left, looking a lot less worried. Charlie came into the living room and sat down next to Nell.

"It never fails to amaze me how you seem to know how to handle Len, Con and now Ted." she said, and Nell just smiled in answer.

"I've been there, or at least nearby, from almost the moment of the Triplet's birth" was all she could think of as a reply. "I know Joey's good at getting under other people's skin, but somehow that doesn't always work with those closest to her. Len is the same. She worries about looking after her siblings even now. Con worries too much about not letting Len down, Ted worries about Con. Too much worrying from all of them "

Ted's plan proved to be the right one, despite Len's concerns. Con was able to get her work done in reasonable time, still get some writing done, and get back on track with remembering to go to her lessons. A week later she started turning up in the staff room later on, and curling up next to Ted, able to enjoy the social side of work much better now that it was in small doses. Ted returned to her usual joking self, and stopped feeling bogged down by worrying about where Con ought to be next. They spent less time in the same place but the time was so much better quality that it felt as though they were actually together more.

Chapter 37

The next excitement was caused by Jenks Trottville. As Gerry said,with feeling 'It WOULD be Jenks!'

In fact, to be fair to the boy, he'd done well so far that term. His parents were quite amazed to have had no complaints or meetings about his behaviour, nor any rushed calls to a san or hospital. The Heads checked in with most of the parents every few weeks, and it always amused Nancy and Kathy to compare the reactions of the adventurous parents, to those from the Sports school. The more traditional group had the type of concerns that they were used to, general health and academic achievement of their offspring. The other parents were usually just relieved to be told their child was still present at the school, had done nothing borderline illegal and was in one piece. As Ge said to the pair, 'when there's constant chance of adventure or drama around, everyday things just lose their importance'. Freddie and Peggy Trottville particularly had become almost resigned to Jenks causing mayhem. The combination of Fatty's intelligence and Peggy's resourcefulness meant that he was a constant ball of mental and physical energy, and frequently thought of doing things that it would never occur to those in authority to forbid.

So far however, Jenks had been kept occupied in a far more intensive way than he ever had at school before, and he was so desperately trying to be accepted by the older adventurers as part of their group that he followed their lead and behaved. He was able to do the academic work with ease when he bothered, and at present was trying his hardest to get promoted to John and Gerry's class.

The trouble started when John Kirren began to get nightmares. He was growing very fast, and as Dinah said when she examined him, he was battling his changing hormones at the same time as his rift with Josie, so there was no wonder that he wasn't his normal level self. He confided in Len that he kept waking convinced that he was in the landslide, that he and Josie were about to be overwhelmed, and he couldn't stop it. She understood, and if he hadn't been so determinedly independent now she would have wanted to hug him to her, remembering those terrible days after the landslide. It had happened on the first visit to Switzerland, several years before, and both the Maynard and Kirren twins had been in grave danger. John had been unconscious for days, and was very lucky not to have more health problems afterwards.

Unfortunately he seemed to be now remembering that time in his sleep, and he was getting fewer and fewer hours of sleep before waking, sometimes crying out and disturbing the other boys. The disruption of his home, along with becoming more independent from Josie was hard enough, to then start aching and growing all of a sudden was wearing him out. His voice was starting to break, and many of his friends would start to laugh when he tried to talk for any length of time, even the staff found it hard not to smile sometimes.

He also was struggling to keep his temper far more than ever before. In fact the family had wondered if John even had a temper, he was usually so calm. Len understood, she was another who tended not to blow often but had a natural temper to battle when she was feeling overwhelmed. In school time she kept an eye out for him, without being obvious, for he would hate a fuss. But in the boys dormitory she obviously couldn't divert situations or set him tasks to distract.

Boys being boys, they had all gone through phases of tricks and teasing each other, as had many of the girls. The apple pie beds and mixing up of clothes had been the main type of prank, with boys turning up to school convinced they had grown in the night, only for Lucy Ann to measure them and gently suggest their trousers had been swopped for shorter ones. These sorts of things barely touched John's notice, and he joined in with a will as long as no harm would be done to anyone. Jenks had generally been involved on both sides, for his inventive mind was ideally suited for joke invention, and his irrepressible nature tended to make him a good target for jokes to be played on him. As Gerry said more than once, it was impossible to squash Jenks, he bounced back like a rubber ball, always had.

One day when sitting on his bed he had one of his brainwaves. He managed to get up to the main central lights, and attach a very thin cord, which he rigged to a motor to be pulled tighter then released, basically causing the light to swing every 7 minutes. The bulb was generally off at night, but the motion caused a strange rattle, then a swoosh sound when the light was released. Jenk's only idea was to make people wonder, and maybe cause a bit of distraction, but he hadn't realised quite how much this would disturb John. The poor boy would just start to drift off, and then hear the sound again. The other boys slept more deeply, so it was an hour or so before any of them heard it, an hour that John spent unsure whether he was really hearing the noise or starting a new nightmare.

It wasn't until he heard Gerry get up and cautiously begin looking around for the source of the noise that John realised it wasn't just his imagination. The pair of them spoke in low tones and agreed to search along the dormitory between them, doing their best not to disturb the others. However they bargained without the imagination of Gerry's younger brother Sam. They reached his cubicle just as the string was pulled again, and the combination of the noise, John's torch light casting shadow on the floor and the sound of footsteps became entangled in his own dreams. He woke suddenly, giving a yell and falling out of bed with a thump.

This of course woke many of the others, and soon Mike Arnold, their housemaster, was in with them, demanding to know what was going on. As he came into the room he heard the Rattle-swish himself, and had an irrational moment of worrying about a flying rattlesnake. He shook himself and turned the switch on, but by this time the light was still and there was nothing visible up above to explain the noise.

He had a garbled account from the boys, and came quickly to the conclusion that it was a joke of some kind. He told them all to get back to bed, and ignore the noise, then stood there in the central aisle until they did so. Jenk's luck so far had held out, most of the others had thought it to be an animal of some kind, only Mike had an inkling that trickery might be afoot. Jenks was caught out by the fact that his housemaster was also his uncle, and had some idea of his nephew's expressions. As Mike said to Lucy Ann later, 'When Jenks looked like a little cherub, you know that he's been anything but angelic!'

The boys had just resettled when the timer began it's turn again, and sure enough, to Jenk's dismay, the light pulled along, and clearly lit up the wire, and his own face. Mike had already guessed the culprit, and was watching the boy, so Jenk's look of panic as the light moved told him all the rest that he needed to know.

"Jenks Trottville!" He barked, in a voice most unlike the level 'Uncle Mike' most of them knew. "What have you done and how do we stop it?"

Jenks felt very small, and not at all clever as he climbed up and undid the string. He was going to unfasten the motor, but Mike told him just to leave that until tomorrow, and by his tone the boy knew that his prized pulley and timer set were going to be confiscated. He was used to such things however, so settled down to sleep fairly soon, a little disappointed by the way the joke had really fallen quite flat, but not too upset.

John however tossed and turned even more than he had before, and couldn't get the sound of the rattle out of his head for some time. The boys all took a while to settle, with whispers and giggles often waking him just as he dozed off. John blanked Jenks completely the following morning, then later almost growled at him when the boy got in his way at breakfast. Gerry wisely suggested a run down to the beach before school, by which time John had regained some of his normal cheer and was able to get on with the day.

The pair were in different classes, so saw little of each other during the day, but as always most of the pupils shared the one common room, so it was that evening before the pair came back into contact. The latest craze among the pupils had been the drawing game Etch a Sketch. Many of them had had one for a few years, and a game of quick draw was a regular sight in the common room, with two players trying to do the best picture possible in a fixed time. Jenks for once was not able to win very often, for his natural impatience made him skew the lines off course and often have to start again. John was patient and had picked up a lot of imaging skills from his artist Uncle Julian. Again and again Jenks would challenge the others, and time after time he lost, most frequently to John. Jenks was a sunny natured boy generally, but a very poor loser, and annoyed about his failed prank. After three losses in a row one he petulantly threw his Etch a Sketch away from him, accidentally knocking John's out of his hand and breaking the screen.

John and Josie had grown up knowing that money was fairly tight, and the toy had been one of the first up to date presents the boy had been able to have, sent over from America by his father a few years before. As careful as Ge and Len had tried to be when discussing their finances, John knew that there would almost certainly not be funds to spare to replace his expensive toy. He saw red and launched himself at the other boy, catching all around him by surprise and having to be pulled away by Gerry. Jenks had received only a few glancing blows in the flailing around John did, but one had caught his cheek, and as the little group watched it came up in a huge, very noticeable bruise.

To give both boys credit, neither had intended a fight, and both regretted their actions straight away. However with such an obvious bruise, they knew that it wouldn't be long before the staff would notice and ask questions. John was a prefect and much older than Jenks, and in his past schools the fight would have meant a serious punishment for the older boy, perhaps even loss of his responsibility. The school was as yet too young for the boys to realise that past rules didn't necessarily apply, or to understand that the staff knew they would on occasion fight. John was near tears with tiredness, but there was no way he was going to show that to the others, so hurried away, with Gerry close behind.

Jenks didn't know what to do. If John had been there he would immediately have offered his own toy, for he knew the damage was his fault. He hatched a quick plan for the bruise, leaping from the room and apparently running carelessly into a door just outside the staff room. He didn't say outright that the bruise was caused then, but he knew that he would then not be questioned about it. Once that was done he returned to the common room, and made it clear to all around that the staff wouldn't ask questions, so not to tell. In his own bumbling way, he was trying to make things right, the only person he needed to tell now was John, and give him the Etch a Sketch. But try as he might, he couldn't find John that evening, and Gerry refused to speak to him, as did most of the others. They had all had Jenks tease them or be annoying, and many of them had had disturbed sleep the night before due to his prank. The boy was left to go to bed knowing only that everyone was angry with him and John was not in his bed, or even in sick bay.

He thought it through, and remembered that John did have his own room, back in the staff farmhouse. It seemed the only likely place for the boy to be, and Jenks was even more alarmed, his imagination thinking that John might have been taken away from the dormitory, or be ill. In fact Jenks had much to learn about the code of honour his cousins and honorary cousins lived by. John had been very afraid of being stripped of his prefectship, but as soon as he had seen the bruise he had known he needed to own up. He'd gone to his housemaster, and Lucy Ann had immediately gone to look for Jenks, only to overhear his fierce speech in the common room. She wasn't sure whether to leave the matter or not, since they couldn't really have the children hiding things like this, but Jenks was so often a little selfish, she was loathe to undo him trying to do the right thing. She and Mike spoke to John and decided to leave things as they were for now, they would tell the heads in the morning. Looking at how grey and hollow eyed John was looking, they took him over to Ge, who instantly sent him to his own bed. He was too tired to argue, although he had no intention of staying out of school the next day, as she was planning.

With Jenks, to think was to act. He lay still until the others were snoring away, then slipped out, the Etch a Sketch in a small bag and his rubber soled shoes making his footsteps quiet. If the others hadn't had such a poor night the night before he would never have managed it, but they slept far deeper than they normally did. He crept out of the dormitory, and around to the farmhouse. He knew that the adults would still be awake downstairs, so typically of Jenks, he went the more unusual route. Timmy heard the boy get up onto the first floor, and listened in bemusement, but he knew the boy to be part of his extended pack, so did little more than keep an ear open for what the boy was up to, enjoying being stretched out by the fire too much to go and investigate.

Jenks was lucky enough to make it to the right area, then was struck with a sudden dilemma. He didn't know whether Josie was sleeping in the girl's dormitory or here, nor which room was hers and which one was John's. He didn't want to peer in, in case he was seen, and people thought him to be a peeping Tom. This problem had never worried him before, but he was himself starting to grow up, and the very thought of accidentally seeing Josie getting ready for bed made him blush and wish he hadn't started this climb. Thankfully at that point the moonlight streamed from behind a cloud and he saw John's Dr Who figure on the windowsill of his bedroom. He looked in and saw the boy's tousled head lying on the pillow. Typically of Jenks, now he had reached this point, he wasn't sure what he planned to do, for of course it was winter now and the window was shut tightly. Had he realised how tired John was, he would never have come to disturb him like this, but he was as ever ruled by his instincts, and had been determined to make things right with the older boy.

So it was that John was roused by a gentle tapping, and then given an Etch a Sketch through the window in an almost dreamlike state. He accepted Jenks apology, then drowsily went back to bed, barely having woken during the whole strange exchange. It was only when he woke the next morning clutching Jenks' Etch a Sketch that he realised that the whole thing really had happened, and was touched by the boy's attempts to make things right. After a good night's sleep in his own bed, he was himself ashamed of hitting out, and said as much to Jenks at breakfast. He didn't argue with Jenk's comment of "I deserved it" but shook the younger boy's hand and they left it at that. Mike and Lucy Ann told the heads, but advised no action, for the boys had clearly dealt with it themselves, and Kathy and Nancy were glad enough to agree.

Chapter 38

Summary:

It has taken am embarrassingly long time to get this next update going! This is a little deviation in order to give The Secret Seven a cameo, and also to resolve my John and Josie storyline. Linda Elbee waited patiently for both things, but life got in the way, and I didn't manage to deliver, mainly because I really wasn't much of a fan of The Secret Seven. It worked out a quite nice little episode, so thank you and RIP Linda, and I'm glad to finally deliver, just sorry that it wasn't sooner.

John returned to school the following week without any problems, and made sure that everyone knew that Jenks had been a good sport about things. The students settled down again fairly quickly, but still John and Josie seemed to be avoiding each other, and healthy as this was in part, it was clear that neither of them was totally happy being at odds with the other twin. With this in mind, their extended family finally decided to act.

The next Saturday, John was getting into his "Adventure Skills" clothes, ready for the day's activities, when he was called out of the dormitory to find Tom Gay wanted him to come on a supply trip with her, to help carry packages. He was happy enough to agree, for he rarely got much time with his Aunt's old friend nowadays, and Tom was always good for an exciting drive, even letting him have a go with the car in a field once. He beamed his agreement and received a grin in return. It wasn't until he reached the car that he realised that the other person asked to help was Josie. He wasn't about to make a fuss however, and she was sitting quietly in the back for once. She'd been asked by Dinah to come and help, again with no mention of John coming too, although she had guessed that Dinah wasn't going alone when her honorary aunt got into the front passenger seat, asking if they had remembered their money. Both waved their wallets at her with a smile, for this was a standard joke in the extended family since Ge and Len had both forgotten their money on a supply trip and had to borrow from the twins, who had thankfully remembered. With a sideways grin at Dinah at this little ritual being remembered, Tom got into the front of the car, and they began to pull down the drive. As they reached the end, Ge waved them to a stop and lent into the back of the car, telling them to behave, and giving Josie a peck on the cheek, and a wink to John, before passing Dinah a list of supplies needed.

It wasn't long before they had reached the nearby town. Dinah and Tom disappeared off, telling the pair they wouldn't be needed for a few hours, as they had to wait for a few packages to be made up. Slightly surprised, the pair looked at each other, then decided there was no understanding adults sometimes. They began with one accord to walk towards a favourite cafe of theirs, that sold cakes and ices, but halfway there, Josie suddenly exclaimed, and spun round, flying back the way they had come. Automatically John followed, asking her what was wrong as soon as he caught up. She was nearly in tears, which was most unlike his sister, and stammered out that she must have lost her wallet, for she didn't have it any more. John asked the obvious, which was could it be in the car, and she shook her head, for she remembered putting it into her pocket directly after waving it at Tom. Sure enough, when they returned to the car, it wasn't there. However just outside was a dent exactly the right shape and size as her wallet. They looked around, and saw that someone seemed to have picked it up, for there were footprints coming towards the car, then away again.

The twins automatically followed the footprints, but far too quickly they reached a stone path with no way to know which way the person had gone. They automatically split up, Josie going right and John left, went 15 minutes each way in search of signs then returned to the middle again to compare notes. They didn't really know the town that well, and were coming to the conclusion that they would try for 30 minutes more, and if they couldn't find a trail they would have to just hope that it had been picked up by someone honest who would hand it in. They were just debating where the police station was when a young girl on a bicycle stopped next to them.

"You look lost, can I help?" She asked, and upon knowing their problem she initially told the, where the police station was, then continued excitedly. "But if you need help, I belong to a club, we could help you look? We've solved quite a few mysteries. We are the Secret Seven, you know. I'm on my way to a meeting Peter called" she showed them a badge with a double S on it. The twins were slightly taken aback that the club should use those initials, but they guessed that it was a long time after the war, and if they didn't have family who had been chased by the Nazis they might not have seen anything to avoid in the combination of letters.

John and Josie didn't know anything about the Secret Seven, and were quite doubtful that this girl and her little club could find a trail better than they could. But having more hands and eyes could he useful, especially if they knew the area better. They agreed with the girl that she could bring her friends to help, and resumed their search, staying together this time, for they knew from the previous trip along the path that one route ended at the river edge. "And unless they got into a boat without touching the mud at the end of the path, they must have gone the other way" John surmised.

Pam, for this was who they had met, cycled furiously to Peter and Janet's house, and ran up to the old shed with the cut out letters SS on the door.

"Password!" came a cry from inside, and Pam stood briefly with her mouth open. With the excitement of a mystery to help solve, the password had gone completely from her mind. "Oh no! Oh, do let me in, I have a mystery for us to help with!"

Peter could be heard through the door sighing and then repeating firmly. "No! If you don't remember the password you don't come in!" although Janet could be heard in the background saying that surely he could let her in, it sounded urgent. Pam racked her brains in panic, for she was sure that Josie's wallet needed to be found urgently, or it would be lost. Suddenly she remembered and triumphantly shouted "Biscuits ! Chocolate Biscuits!" which was obviously correct, as Peter opened the door, although with a thunderous look at her having shouted it out loud. Inside all the other members were sitting on boxes and a couple of big upturned flowerpots, looking at her curiously. There hadn't been many mysteries or tasks needing doing recently, and George and Colin had just been grumbling that all they seemed to do nowadays was sit around and eat biscuits.

"Pam, you fathead, anyone could have heard that! We will have to change the password..." He began, but for once Pam dared to interrupt, and spat out her news about the boy and girl needing help. They all agreed that they should help, and hurried off with her to where they expected John and Josie to be. They caught up with the pair just as they were comparing some footprints at the edge of the path to a quick sketch John had made, and deciding that they were the same ones. The influx of 7 excited young children and Scamper the spaniel made the twins jump to begin with, but when things had calmed down again they saw the point of extra eyes, and the little band continued to follow the trail. John and Josie couldn't help but exchange knowing grins at how enthusiastic the Seven were, and how proud they were of their little club. Their adventures were described by a proud Barbara and Pam as they all walked along, and while more impressive than most, they really were quite mild to the seasoned adventurers. It irritated Josie somewhat that Peter was quite determined to call it a lost "purse" but she accepted it. She knew that most girls did call them purses, but hers really was a wallet, one that her Aunt had given to her, and it irritated her that the boy assumed that all girls behaved a certain way.

As they went on, John and Josie scanned the path, and noticed the footprints heading off to the side quite quickly. They were impressed when Janet flagged them up only a minute or so after they had seen them, and praised her tracking skills, mentioning their school for the first time. All of the Seven were intrigued, but slightly skeptical about the idea of a school for adventurers. Josie fired up at Peter in particular, for he had been very bossy and was now quite dismissive of the idea that there were other groups out there investigating mysteries. He really was used to seeing his town and surrounding countryside as the whole world, and didn't quite like the idea that their adventures might not be as special as he had thought they were. John rolled his eyes as Josie started to tell Peter about the criminals dealt with by her Aunt Ge and cousins. Peter was beginning to scoff at the idea that a group called The Famous Five could do anything much, mentioning another member's sister Susie, who had tried to set up a rival gang called The Famous Five and how that had failed. "After all, if you are famous you can't hide, no, being SECRET is much more important..."

However he had forgotten that his sister was a huge fan of the real Famous Five, and stopped still at the news that these twins were really Kirrens. She bombarded them with questions about George, Julian, Dick and Anne, not to mention Timmy, until the twins wished they had kept their identities secret. Even worse, Barbara and Pam were "the kind of giggling girl who reads those awful film magazines" as Josie described it later. They knew of the rumours about John and Josie being actor Dick/Richie Kirren's children, and started questioning them all about their father as well, forgetting momentarily how rude that was of them. Thankfully Colin, who had up until now been quite quiet, saw their faces and changed the subject, suggesting that they work out who they might be looking for by the footmarks and signs they were tracking.

"The shoe is a man's style, but a smaller size than most men" he said quietly, looking at John's drawing. "The weight on the mud prints seems to be someone lighter than most men too."

They all carried on tracking, looking out for smaller or slighter than average men ahead, then a whistle from up above made the little group look up. A girl who looked remarkably like one of the club members was sitting up in a fork of the tree reading.

"What are you silly lot doing then?" She asked, in a tone that showed the twins that she obviously wasn't another member of the club. Peter frowned, and motioned imperiously for the gang to move on. Josie was getting fed up with the bossy head of the Secret Seven, so she stopped under the dangling feet and spoke to the girl, who was in fact Jack's younger sister Susie.

"Have you seen anyone coming along here before us? Maybe a man, not too big? We are trying to find the person who picked up my wa...purse" Se asked, and Susie gave her a look, clearly deliberating whether to help this girl, if she was a friend of the Secret Seven. However Susie was only a pest, she wasn't dishonest in any way, so she nodded.

"No man came along..." She began, and Josie sighed and began to follow the others. "But a woman dressed in mens clothes came along just a short while ago. She was holding a wallet in her hand, if that helps?"

Josie and John started at the description, and looked at each other. A small seed of suspicion began to germinate, and sure enough, soon they heard one of the Seven say in a puzzled tone that the trail seemed to be going around in a circle.

"Tom, I bet you" the twins said to each other, then grinned at having said the same thing at the same time, they hadn't done that for ages.

As they came out onto the road just ahead of where the car had been parked, they were proved to be right, for Tom was sitting on a bench next to the car, and Josie's wallet was on the bonnet. Dinah was sitting beside her with a grin on her face, which quickly turned to surprise when the whole group appeared. After a quick explanation and thanks all round, they set off to collect the packages, then back to the school. The little plan to bring the pair together with a little mystery had worked. Ge was glad to find out that her little pickpocket act of passing the wallet to Tom had gone unnoticed just long enough for the trail to have been set.

John and Josie were happy to be friends again, although it had also been good for them to start having their own lives as well, they really were too close not to be on speaking terms. The others of their little group were pleasantly surprised to find that a little time away had made Josie much more aware of other people, and far less bossy. Spending a little time with Peter and the little group of giggling girls and boys who followed orders without questioning had made her appreciate the boys and the fact that they treated her as a friend and equal rather than less than them. Although she had seen that Janet stood up to Peter on occasion, and Jack's young sister Susie had seemed brighter than the whole of the rest of the group put together, in general the little group had been determinedly Girls in one role, Boys in another, and Josie knew that she would have been annoyed very soon if she spent much time with them.

She had hidden her thoughts well, however, for the little group had no idea of her true feelings, so she was growing up and managing to be politer with people, which was a good thing in itself. The Secret Seven were glad to have helped, even if it was only a pretend mystery. They went back to their shed and talked about it for several meetings. Peter was initially annoyed, then laughed at the suggestion for the next password, the word "Wallet"

And so we leave them there, enjoying their ginger beer and boiled sweets, and laughing together. Scamper is there in the corner, curled up with one ear open for Susie or her annoying friend Binkie, in case they try to join the meeting, and the Secret Seven are looking forward to their next adventure.

Chapter 39

The last few weeks seemed to fly past, and the staff found themselves all of a sudden nearly at the end of term. As Kathy and Nancy said, with fingers crossed, the staff and students had finally settled down, were all working with, or around each other well, and really starting to make some headway even with the most unwilling of the students. There were the usual types of spats that occur in any workplace, and some of the staff were never likely to get on that well. Sam Harbottle frustrated most of the more organised and linear minded staff, but he was generally harmless, and so far hadn't managed to blow any of the students up, although Nell and Nancy were always slightly on edge when she knew that the class blessed with Jenks as member was having chemistry. They managed between them however to avoid Sam confusing the less scientifically minded staff too much, and he bumbled along quite happily without too much of a problem.

The Chalet School old girls were all used to each other's methods, so didn't tend to have much issue with each other, and Kathy and Nancy were starting to regain their confidence as the time went on, so overall the staffroom was a pretty calm place as the term went into it's later stages. The majority of the students typically had their adventures in the holiday time, as their parents had, so once John and Josie had settled down, it was only the Chalet School adventures that had to be watched for, and many of the staff were used to those, so took them in their stride. Kevin and Kester managed to fall ill just before the last week of term, after getting lost on a hike and falling into a local stream, but thankfully it turned out to be little more than a severe cold, and Madge was thrilled to see them throw the cold off with their old strength when she hurried over to visit. They were, after all only a term away from having been quite a pair to worry about, health wise, so to have them in the sick bay had worried her, but by the time she reached the school they were already causing havoc in the San, and complaining vociferously about a suggested plan for them going home early meaning they would miss the last adventure skills day. Madge only laughed, and told them they obviously needed more map reading skills, so as long as the doctor was happy with them joining in, she wouldn't make them leave until the end of term.

She left their sickroom, and wandered back along the corridors to find her neices. Since there were only a few days left of term, she had decided to stay nearby and take the boys back herself. It fascinated her, this new school that had developed on such unusual lines, and she was reminded of her own exciting days of starting a little school. Already she could see that it suited her own children, and she was sure that many other parents would feel the same when their unruly offspring returned home. She didn't quite like to voice her hopes, for the project really was still in it's infancy, but she wouldn't be surprised if the girls found that the school grew quite quickly and became a solid respected place of learning. They seemed to have taken the basis of the Chalet School, and added a more modern and practical side for the more independent children of the current day. In fact the contrast made her aware of how dated some of the practices in her own school possibly were now, and she made a mental note to talk to Nell about her experience that term as a staff member, and whether some of the changes would be worth suggesting to Hilda.

Thinking along those lines, she changed direction, and headed for the staff corridor, since it was Sunday and most of the staff were in their own abodes. Knocking on the door marked with Nell's name, she was surprised to have it opened by Con Mackenzie, or was she Stewart again now ? Madge wasn't sure. She knew that she seemed to be openly using the name Charlie now, especialy since it was just too confusing otherwise with two Cons.

As she entered the little flatlet, Madge began to wonder, for Nell's possessions seemed throughly mixed up with those she remembered from Charlie's days at the school, and items that didn't seem at all like the Nell that she knew. She had known a little of their situation back in Austria, but had never dreamed that the pair might be back together. She couldn't be sure obviously, for they were very discrete in general, but the more she looked around the room, and drank a cup of tea from a tea set much more typical of Con than Nell, she mentally wagered that the two were more than friends, in fact were living together.

In this she was correct, for the pair had finally decided the previous week to make Nell's flat more of a living space, and sleep at Charlie's most of the time. They were still too used to being independent to fully move in together, but after the fifteenth time that Charlie had to go back next door for something, or vice versa, they decided to at least store some possessions in each flat, and swiftly they had found themselves barely leaving Nell's, for it was far quieter than Charlie's flat, being that little bit further from the main school building.

Once Madge got over her surprise she was glad, for she could see that Nell was regaining some of her old self, and the spark of deep friendship between the pair was obvious. She was glad to hear that both of them felt that the Chalet School would suit some of the ideas given here, and to get their support in talking to Hilda about it. They enjoyed having their friend to visit, for much as they got on well with all of the staff, they and Penny Peters did on occasion feel quite old compared to the rest of the teachers, who were nearly all in their 20s.

Madge was happy to see the pair seemed settled, and Nell was already moving much better than she had at the start of term, so this plan had obviously worked well; In fact with the apparent romance with Charlie being rekindled, it had gone far better than might have been expected. They were very careful, and most observers would simply think them to be friends, but she knew the pair well, and Nell particularly so, and became absolutely convinced of their being a couple. None of them were of a generation that discussed such things, but as she rose to leave, she looked each of them in the eye and thanked them both for the tea, them complimented them on the decorating in their flat. She just stopped herself laughing at the pair, who had gone red just as if they were young mistresses caught out by their Head, and excused herself to search out Len and Con.

Con she found outside "helping", or really "watching" Ted and Tom tinker with the campervan, and as Madge stopped near the little group she was glad to see a colour in her neice's cheeks that had been missing at the beginning of term. The adventure skills classes took Con outside and moving much more than she had been since her schooldays, and it was doing her good getting some varied exercise to balance her mental racing through characters and poems. Tom she had known since she was around 12, so it was nice to chat briefly to her as well, and pass on news of the family.

Leaving the little group, she made her way over to the farmhouse, and knocked on the door, to be greeted by "Come round the back, the front door is sticking!", followed by Timmy appearing by her side as if to escort her. Sure enough, he stayed by her side to the kitchen door, then gave a little "Woof" before wandering back down the garden to the treehouse. Despite the cold weather, she could spy John, Josie, Felix, and a few other children she didn't know as well attempting to repair the ladder up to the treehouse, and Timmy was obviously feeling they were in need of supervison, settling himself down near the chattering little gang.

She entered the warm kitchen to find Felix's twin was obviously included, for she was holding a box of mixed screws and being handed various tools by her sister. Len grinned to see her Aunt, and shooed Felicity away, telling her she could see Aunt Madge later, the others would be waiting for those materials. Madge received a blown kiss from Felicity as she passed and then accepted a chair offered by Ge, followed swiftly after by a big mug of tea. She settled back and smiled, for this Len chattering away as she made the tea was a world away from the drawn and anxious girl who had suggested this plan and asked advice only a year earlier. She was sure that it hadn't all been plain sailing, but was happy to see that Len seemed to be learning to back away from things, let Kathy and Nancy do their job as heads. Even as she thought of the pair, Len said that they would be over soon, to look through some future students for next term, and sure enough they arrived shortly after, gently bickering about whether the little group in the garden ought to be being supervised or not, an argument quickly forgotten in greeting their visitor.

Madge looked at the pair and could see that they were well suited for their task, and was glad to see them listening to Len but making their own decisions together when necessary. School business was out of the way quite quickly, and they settled down to gossip, asking after the various members of the Russell / Bettany / Maynard clan. The Heads made their excuses and left an hour or so later, followed shortly by the little group outside, who swarmed in for goodnights before heading back over to the school for their evening meal.

Accepting Ge's offer to share their dinner, Madge had a gentle evening, enjoying the community feel as the kitchen played host to various people such as Con and Ted, Tom and Dinah and even a surprise visit from her neice Bride. She had forgotten how close Bride lived, and was pleased to see that she seemed well, and happy. Wanting some fresh air, Madge suggested that she walk back with Bride, with Len and Con quickly offering to come along too. As they said goodbye to Bride and returned along the cliff path to the school, Madge linked arms with the pair and asked them how they felt the first term had gone, smiling at their chattered replies.

"It does sound like you have had some adventures along the way !" She said with a grin, and they laughed.

"Well it IS the School for Young Adventures Adventure after all!" Con said. Len stopped and looked out over the sea, standing by a bench for a moment before they continued. She asked her aunt what she thought, and was visibly relieved to hear how impressed she was with it all.

"I really did wonder at times, how it would all work out." Len said, and smiled. "It may be called The Island School in theory, but I think from this term alone it will be always bringing us interesting situations. In fact I've already heard several of the students calling it The School of Adventure! Quite a fitting name really."

The others agreeed, and headed back along the path to return to the school. The next few days passed extremely quickly, and things for once were calm, if you didn't count Jenks upsetting a pot of paint over himself and dying himself purple, or Gerry and Rosie both investigating noises on the last night of terms and nearly attacking each other out in the courtyard. The parents all arrived or students were packed off onto the correct trains, with a wave of excitement when Richie Kirren came to the last day of term with his fiance Margot. The were heading off to Switzerland to accompany Felix and Felicity home, and to start wedding plans discussions with Jack and Joey.

Finally it was only the staff and John and Josie left at Kirren. The twins wandered off happily enough to investigate the repaired treehouse, with Timmy keeping them company, and all was quiet around Kirren Farm for the first time in years. The excitement of Christmas holidays and all the likely dramas of living together out of term would start the following day, but for now the little group of staff gathered together and raised a glass to the first term of ISAY school. They had all gone through a lot of change in the past few years, and it was good to stop and reflect back, to be glad that they were alive, and with plenty of future to look forward to, however complicated and convoluted it would probably be !

And so we will leave them there, chattering and happy that at least the school hadn't been attacked, blown up or set on fire.

Yet.

None of them doubted that there would be more alarms and mysteries, with the collection of staff and students they had there, it was inevitable.

It was after all, the School of Adventure.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of All Change and School of Adventure Saga