Madness

Chapter 2

"I hate heights!" Chloe was still complaining. I don't know why. She'll have a detention almost everyday. The beauty of befriending me.

"It's OK," I told her, "they never make you go near the guttering your first few times."

Chloe whimpered in fear. Hahaha. Fear! Of heights. I'm more scared of trees! Which reminds me: I'm almost finished my new tree. Chloe might have a choice of sleeping places after all.

About forty minutes into detention, a rather flushed looking Mrs Curtis runs up onto the roof.

"Oh thank goodness," she says when she sees me. Then she draws out a radio. "She's here. I've got her."

I dance over to her, my hands full of moss (which I intend to sneak down to my room as soon as detention is over). Chloe follows me, curious as to why I'm not getting hit over the head for leaving my area.

"You never told anyone you had detention tonight! Mrs Vord, Mrs Deets and I have been running about like crazy!"

I slowly back off. I hate shouting from her and she knows it. It's not that I hate shouting. I just hate shouting when it comes from the people I trust. People like Mrs Curtis.

Matron walks over to see what's happening.

"These girls are in detention, Mrs Curtis, they still have five minutes left to serve and..."

"I am well aware of that, Vicktoria, But I was asked to find them and tell them to go to their room. I can wait with them for the last few minutes."

Matron nods reluctantly and points at the floor for us to get back to work. After the last few minutes, Matron walks over and puts out her hand for our bag full of moss.

"That's our cue." I say to Chloe, and we both run. It's quite amusing to watch matron running after us. Hahaha. Matron. Running. Hahaha. We crash through the door of our room, both killing ourselves laughing, straight into the wildly frantic eyes of Mrs Vord.

I drop the bag of moss and sink into my immediate reaction: go crazy.

I roll forward onto my toes and jump into my tree, swinging from branch to branch, hooking my hands, arms, knees and feet on to help me cling on.

"Heeeelllllllooooooo."

"Nessa, get down."

Hhhmmmm. I hadn't noticed Mrs Deets at first. Matron rushed in, followed by Mrs Curtis.

"Hey matey matey matron."

Matron started to turn red. She bends to pick up the moss, but I'm faster. The moss is up in my tree before anyone can blink. Matron's now turning purple with rage. Hahaha. Mrs Curtis helps her out and the door shuts behind her.

"Nessa, are you OK?" Mrs Deets asks.

I smile at her. She's only seen me act truly mad around the wicked witch of the west.

Mrs Vord looks concerned, but Mrs Deets relaxes, which seems to calm her slightly.

"I'm here to get to know you, Nessa. I already know you're good at maths and art, and I already know you like trees..."

"Actually, it's just general forest that I like."

To prove my point, I empty the moss onto the floor and stamp it down around the tree roots. The I sit down on top of it, motioning for Chloe to join me. She does, and Mrs Vord sits opposite us on the branch bench, beside Mrs Deets, and the long, tedious 'getting to know you' session begins.