Alice Parker's Metamorphosis (Book 1 of the new adventure series for children) (3 page)

‘
Course I will, if I can. Maybe you’re just over-tired, as my mum says. Leave the homework and rest today. You’ll feel better tomorrow and you won’t look exhausted.’

Since her marks had been so impressive, Alice had taken a lot of stick from certain people at school. It was mainly jealousy, she knew that, but they had also been teasing her about yawning and the dark rings under her eyes. When Sarah left, she went back upstairs and lay on her bed. She reached for the book they were supposed to read for English by tomorrow, but after flicking from cover to cover, threw it down. Not a chance, she felt exhausted – perhaps Sarah was right. Still holding the piece of fabric she had intended to use as a bookmark, she now noticed how unusual it was. In spite of being rescued from the dog’s mouth, it was beautifully shiny and soft. It sparkled with dazzling shades of purple as it reflected the light and as she ran it between her fingers, it felt cold on one side and warm on the other. Very odd. She fell asleep almost immediately. Now that really was odd.

Chapter 2

Brains and the Banana

Monday morning arrived and Alice awoke feeling surprisingly good. She had slept well and felt much better. No aches or itching, just a hot back and she could live with that. While her parents were still upstairs, she seized the opportunity to eat an enormous breakfast, stuffing more fruit and a carton of juice into her bag. She opened several cupboards in the hope of finding chocolate and spotted a pack of iced mince pies and a bag of red, white and green jelly beans on a high shelf. She turned to grab a chair so she could reach them.

‘
Would you like me to get those for you?’

The voice startled Alice. Thomas had crept downstairs and was standing in the kitchen doorway, watching her with a bemused expression.

‘
Er, I wanted something...for school, for the...er...Christmas fair,’ garbled Alice.

‘
Well, we’d better get those down then, I think the kids will be disappointed with bananas and apple juice!’

Damn. He’d seen her take those as well. ‘What are you doing up this early anyway?’ she snapped. ‘You don’t usually leave your room during daylight hours in the holidays.’

‘
I love your charming manner in the morning,’ he mocked. ‘I’m catching a train to Oxford, I need some books from the library before Christmas. I’ll walk to school with you. I was just leaving.’

He reached up to the top shelf and passed the Christmas goodies to Alice. She raised her eyebrows in approval as she realised that they were from The Coffee Cauldron. ‘Actually, I did buy those for you,’ he admitted.

‘
Oh! Sorry! Have I found my present then?’ Alice felt guilty now.

‘
No, it’s not your Christmas present, I just thought you might like them.’

Now she was flummoxed. Thomas being nice? Thoughtful, even. Something wasn’t right.

‘
No need to thank me!’ he said sarcastically, before she could think of a response. ‘I’ve been taking the rap for all the food you’ve been eating, so I thought I’d get you some more, Wiglet!’ Wiglet had been his nickname for her since they were small – it started when he meant to call her a wicked piglet for eating his Christmas selection pack one year. Alice smiled.

The walk to school began in silence, as she pondered why Thomas had indeed taken the blame for the missing food at home. As a rule, he would grass her up in an instant. She noticed that a blackbird and a robin seemed to be following them as they walked, flitting from tree to hedgerow, chirping happily. Perhaps everyone was simply in good spirits today. ‘Thank you,’ she murmured.

‘
For the sweets? No problem. Are you feeling alright today?’ he asked.

Now this wasn’t just unusual, this was downright strange. Now her brother appeared to care! ‘What?’ she exclaimed with a look of amazement.

‘
Well, you’ve not been yourself lately, have you? And anyone can see the bags under your eyes. This sleep thing, don’t worry about it, it will right itself soon enough.’

Alice was confused but intrigued by his apparent awareness and concern. ‘Have you had it as well?’ she asked.

‘
Something very similar when I was your age. You’ll grow out of it.’

‘
I feel fine today anyway,’ Alice assured him. ‘And a hot back in this weather is a bonus!’

‘
Oh...er...how convenient!’ replied Thomas. They carried on walking, their faces glowing in the wintery air, until they came to Beaumont Avenue. Langley School was a beautiful old building, a former manor house converted into a private school, with two town houses opposite forming the infant school and sixth form centre. Alice had been a pupil there since she was four years old.

‘
Have a good day then, Wiglet,’ said Thomas with a grin.

‘
Er, thanks, you too,’ muttered Alice and watched him carry on down the road towards the station. How bizarre, she thought, as she stood at the entrance. Not just Thomas’s behaviour, but those two birds had now stopped and were looking down at her from the tree by the school gate. ‘Well, that makes a change, it seems everyone wants my company this morning,’ she concluded before turning to walk up the steps.

She spoke too soon. As she hurried up the grand staircase to her classroom, she was pushed against the wall as the coven jostled past her, looking down their noses at her as if she had stepped in dog poo and brought it in onto the carpet. The coven comprised Lucinda Rowbottom, Katy Blackwell and Olivia Staines-Downe, and Alice despised all three. They were at the centre of the ‘cool crowd,’ which, needless to say, Alice had never been part of. Lucinda No-Bottom was a tall, thin girl with pale blue eyes and long, brown hair. She would have been quite pretty if it weren’t for those ears which stuck out beneath her hair and reminded Alice of a chimpanzee. She was a horsey type with several ponies of her own. Her father was a formidable, insufferable man, a multi-millionaire making his money from several different businesses. A finger in every pie, as Grandad called it. Brian Rowbottom was feared by some and loathed by many, renowned for stopping at nothing to get what he wanted. Money was at the centre of his world; he wanted to take over everything, it seemed. No wonder Lucinda was so obnoxious. Katy Smackwell had no pony of her own, which was probably why she followed Lucinda everywhere like a bad smell. She was short and blonde, with an equally short modern haircut. It was shaved into a deep V in her neck, which Alice thought made her look evil. Olivia Stains-Brown was, unfortunately, stunning. She was like a catwalk model, with a perfect figure and shoulder-length ebony hair. All the girls envied her, though some took comfort in her one weakness – she was painfully stupid.

Alice sighed and carried on up to Room 12, the form room of Year 8. Spaced around this elegant landing with its ornate wooden balustrade, were five classrooms and to the right, the headmistress’s office. Unfortunately for Alice’s class, this was next to Room 12. As she neared the door to her form room, she saw Sebastian Seaton standing in his usual place outside the door. He rather fancied himself as a comedian and often nominated himself as doorman. It was school tradition that someone would stand outside to greet the teacher, but also provided the opportunity for that pupil to bang on the door on their approach, warning everyone to shut up and look sharp. For Sebastian it was the chance to practise his stand-up comedy on all who entered, making a witty or cruel remark, depending on who you were. This morning for Alice, he simply pulled down his eyes to reveal the red, bloodshot part, then yawned ‘Sorry to drag you out of bed.’

She pursed her lips and waited as he opened the door, waving his hand in a grand gesture. ‘I can see you as a toilet attendant rather than a comedian,’ she said as she walked in. He pulled a face like a sad clown and darted back outside. The room was noisy with friends chattering and laughing about their weekend. Sarah was waiting for her in their usual place, second row from the back, but Alice had to walk past the coven to reach her.

‘
Nice tights,’ said Lucinda No-Bottom, pointing a bony finger at the hole in the left knee. Quinton O’Connor looked over and wolf-whistled.

‘
Won’t Mummy buy you some new ones for doing so well?’ he asked with a grin. His sidekick, Lawrence Lovett, sniggered, while trying to extract a chewy sweet from his brace with his finger.

‘
Want this?’ asked Alice sarcastically. She waved the window pole in front of him, which had a large brass hook on the end. Lawrence shut his mouth and went red.

Sarah was laughing, but soon stopped when she realised that Alice wasn’t. ‘So? Did you get some rest yesterday?’ she asked, changing the subject.

‘
Yes, thanks. I had a much better night’s sleep too.’

There was a frantic banging at the classroom door as Sebastian alerted them in his usual, subtle manner to the arrival of Mrs Barnett, their form mistress. They fell silent and stood up when she entered the room.

‘
Good morning Year 8!’ she beamed.

‘
Good morning Mrs Barnett,’ they droned in reply, like bored infants at a pantomime. They sat down, scraping their chairs and shuffling in their seats as Mrs Barnett called the register and read out some announcements. Over the heads in front of her, all Alice could ever see was a talking mass of red curls at the front desk. She had the most wild, curly hair, which she attempted to tame with combs and clips, but by the end of the school day it had usually broken free, making her look as though her pupils had dragged her through a hedge. At 9 o’clock the buzzer sounded for first lesson.

‘
Enjoy maths!’ she said and dashed off.

‘
Is she trying to be funny?’ asked Quinton, pulling out his maths textbook and beating himself over the head with it in slow motion. He hated maths and they had a double lesson on Monday mornings. Alice tried to look sympathetic, though it wasn’t very convincing.

‘
Ooh, test results today!’ remembered Sarah. ‘Bet you’ve done well.’

‘
If I have I’ll be amazed. I didn’t even revise I was so tired.’ Towards the end of term, there was always a maths test on everything they had learned that term, which was quite a lot. It had taken place on Thursday and Alice had felt so rotten last week that she just didn’t feel up to revising.

‘
So you say,’ Sarah sneered.

‘
I wrote what I could on the day and that’s it,’ protested Alice. ‘My dad says not to worry as long you answer every question.’ And she had, with time to spare, which she found disturbing.

Announced by a thump on the door, Mrs Myers walked in briskly, waving her hand in an impatient gesture telling the class to sit down before they could say a word. Unnerved, they looked at each other anxiously.

‘
Oh dear,’ sighed Sarah.

‘
Well, everyone, we can safely say that wasn’t your greatest performance. I take it you haven’t enjoyed algebra this term?’ she asked menacingly, in her lilting Welsh accent. After no reply from the roomful of pupils fidgeting uneasily in their chairs, she continued regardless.

‘
Results in the usual manner, read out according to the register.’

They all hated this, some hid their faces behind their books. Their marks were revealed with groans and grimaces. For once, no one had more than 65% and that was Julia Hunt, the maths genius. Alice was red-faced and panicked. Her name had not been called – had she been left out for a reason, was her mark that bad?

‘
Have I missed anyone?’ asked Mrs Myers.

‘
Er, just me,’ said Alice quietly, her hand only half raised as if she were expecting it to be bitten off.

‘
Oh, yes, yours...’ She smiled and held her clipboard to her chest. ‘Alice Parker 100%.’

A brief, stunned silence was followed by an outburst of noise, exclamations of amazement and disgust, one or two congratulatory comments and Lawrence attempting to stick his fingers down his throat and be sick. Quinton lifted the lid of his desk and pretended to be Alice, a mock-look of surprise on his face like that of a winning beauty queen, bowing to left and right, then blowing kisses in the direction of Mrs Myers. The coven had turned around and was looking at her scornfully, shaking its three heads. Even Sarah looked as though she had been slapped in the face by an invisible hand, her mouth partly open ready to say something, but seemingly unable to get the words out. Alice had her crimson face in her hands, elbows on her desk. She was absolutely horrified. How could this happen? She had only ever been average at maths and now this, even without revision?

‘
Don’t be embarrassed Alice,’ said Mrs Myers calmly. ‘We’re all over the moon for you. You should be proud of yourself, you’ve clearly worked hard for this.’

Alice cringed and wished the floor beneath her chair would open and swallow her up. She glanced cautiously at Sarah, who finally managed to release the words that had been stuck in her throat.

‘
Well done. You are a brain box, aren’t you?’

‘
I just can’t believe it,’ whispered Alice. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

‘
Anyway, Year 8,’ Mrs Myers continued. ‘Now that someone has set a precedent for what
can
be achieved when you put your mind to it, let’s start the next chapter. Circles, arcs and sectors for the last week of term.’

There was a widespread moan and a voice from the front piped up, ‘Can we make the circles into Christmas baubles, Miss?’

‘
Grow up, Sebastian,’ she snapped.

When the buzzer finally rang for break, Alice had never been so relieved. She packed her rucksack as quickly as she could and rushed off without waiting for Sarah. She headed for a dark corner of the locker room, where she tried to pull herself together and munched thoughtfully on the jelly beans that Thomas had bought for her.