Maddox Academy: Grievous Beginnings - Wattys 2022 Shortlister

Chapter Twenty-Nine - Something Lurks in The Dark

April moved into May with nothing significant taking place.

Lessons continued as normal. I spent time working on my project notes whilst trying to help Katie and Jo study for their exams. Victoria kept her distance and resorted to muttering under her breath and staring at me in class. She had backed off considerably in order to focus on her own project, not that I was complaining. The break from having my trunk searched or being pushed over was welcomed.

Even with Mrs Maddox and the other teachers still watching, it felt like a sense of normalcy I could get used it. The constant fidgeting had stopped. I stopped spending my lessons spinning the bracelet around my wrist and could focus a lot more knowing that Victoria had decided to keep her distance. Although I should have known better, having experienced a similar respite in the past, not even my thoughts or paranoia could break the sense of calm that had finally graced me.

The only thing that I still couldn't shake, the only thing that seemed to follow me when all else had balanced out, were my feelings for Katie. Even when I thought it had all but moved on, pushed to the back of my mind to focus on my project, they came hurtling back. I just couldn't shake them. Her promise of a trip to the lake for just the two of us hung on my mind and that itch of wanting to kiss her was inescapable.

All I could do was do my best to ignore them and focus on what was important; the project. It just became a little harder to do so if I happened to be working on it around Katie.

"This book keeps mentioning Aqueducts and I have no idea what they are," she said one morning. We were sitting in the dining hall with Jo, both doing a little bit of early morning study since their exams were getting closer.

"They used to carry water from one place to another. Both Greece and Rome had them, but the Roman ones are more famous because they covered the entire Roman Empire, including Africa. They were also bridges. The Greek ones were considered underwater aqueducts, it's one of the main reasons the Roman ones are more well known, they're still visible," I said, taking a sip of my juice.

"Can you sit the exams for me?" Katie asked.

"No, no I can't."

"It was worth a try."

"I'm surprised they aren't putting you in for the O-Level this year, you know more than we do," Jo said.

"They tried. They were going to put me in your year so I could sit them, but I didn't want to."

"Why? It would have meant not dealing with Victoria."

I shrugged. "It just made more sense for me to stay with people my own age. They've been trying to get me to go up a year for a while, but I always said no. One, because I didn't want to be the weird genius child in a class of people a year older than me, and two because of Janina. She had been held back three years because of the war and I was helping her catch up, I didn't want to go up a year and leave her."

"Makes sense, I suppose," Jo said.

"If I had known about Victoria beforehand, this could be a different conversation."

"I don't doubt it."

The first lesson bell rang and Katie groaned. I didn't blame her. Due to my lesson swap, I had gone from having history first thing on a Thursday to having sewing. There was nothing worse than having to deal with Miss Feldman first thing in the morning, but at least I didn't have to put up with Victoria and her minions. It was, perhaps, the only plus side to being put in the fifth-year lessons, that and getting to do Egyptian history rather than the economic stuff the fourth years were doing.

I drank the rest of my orange juice in one go whilst Katie and Jo closed their textbooks and stuffed them into their bags. We left the dining hall and walked down the darkened hallway to the sewing room. Miss Feldman was walking around the large table, smoothing out the tapestry and humming to herself. Katie looked at me and I shrugged. None of us were used to seeing Miss Feldman in a good mood first thing in the morning. Or ever.