The Pi Sisters at Malory Towers

CHAPTER TEN: BUSTED (OR NOT QUITE)

The Pi Sisters knocked on Miss Grayling's door, their faces lit up with smug smiles.

'Just imagine how much trouble Alicia will be in!' trilled Doris. 'I imagine it was her who was behind this horrible trick!'

The big, oak door to Miss Grayling's office swung open. 'Come in,' said Miss Grayling's crisp, pleasant voice.

The Pi Sisters marched into the spacious office and immediately began to spin their tale.

'You see, Miss Grayling,' chorused the twins. 'That awful Alicia has dropped a stink bomb in our classroom, interrupting a frightfully awf- sorry, important French dictee! So naturally, we had to come and tell you. Of course, we do think that Alicia should be expelled. After all, we cannot have such a dreadful girl in our school!'

Miss Grayling was shocked at this spiteful little tale. 'Heavens!' she exclaimed. 'Expelled? How bad is this smell? I simply must go and see.'

The head got up and walked out of room. The Pi Sisters stared at each other smugly.

'That went frightfully well,' gloated Doris. 'We couldn't have planned it any better!' Both girls cackled in delight.

Meanwhile, Mam'zelle's French class was in pandemonium, the teacher having deserted the class so that she could go see Matron. Girls rushed around, opening windows and doors to air out the scent, and Irene seemed to be reciting a dramatic passage from Hamlet for no apparent reason.

'Golly,' said Darrell to Sally. 'Blow those horrible Pi Sisters! Always going around stirring up trouble where they're not wanted.'

Sally opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything the classroom door opened a crack. The girls leaped up at the noise and hurriedly rushed to their places, closing the windows and eradicating all signs of the dreadful smell.

Miss Grayling entered the room in her calm, dignified gait, slowly observing everything about the room. 'Girls, she said. There appears to have been a misunderstanding. Sorry to disturb you. There are no signs of any smell here, and I cannot imagine what the Berger twins were talking about when they said a stench had overtaken the room.' She gazed at Alicia. 'I shall leave now.'

She walked back to her room, thinking about the bothersome Berger twins. 'Really!' she thought, 'I shall have to speak with their mother to get down to the root cause of their problem. They can't stop telling tales because they've been taught to, and that is a very grave problem.'

Alas, Mrs Berger proved most obstinate and unresponsive over the phone.

'Why, I think my girls ought to get a medal for being so honest,' she disdainfully told Miss Grayling. 'In fact, I am going out to buy their favorite cakes and goodies to send to their tuck boxes this instant!'

'But Mrs Berger,' tried Miss Grayling once again, in vain. 'The girls simply must stop telling - '

'Yes, well, I'm off to get those goodies. Goodbye.' And with that, the twins' mother hastily ended the call with a catty smile.

The whole debacle ended with the Pi Sisters facing very different reactions. The girls, on one hand, simply detested the twins for being so spiteful, and their Coventry treatment continued. However, on the other hand, their mother sent them the following letter, which arranged their plain features into an odious smile.

"My dear girls," the letter read. "I am so very very proud of you. You are growing up to make your Mummy extremely proud. I have enclosed some little nibbles from your special bakery as a reward. Looking very much forward to meeting my darlings at half-term, Mummy"

The Pi Sisters, it seemed, were exactly like their mother, and they couldn't wait till half-term to report all the excitement of the term to her.