Crawlers

7:47pm

'That's it,' said Ms Gresham. 'Everyone outside.' 

'But, miss,' said Samantha, blue eyes glinting, 'you've got to admit it was a good shot.' 

'Right on his head!' said Lauren. 'Genius!' 

'Get...' repeated Ms Gresham, in a tight voice Jasmine had never heard her use before, 'out. All of you. Now.' 

Samantha touched her bottle-blonde mane above her right ear and smiled. 'Fine,' she said. 'We didn't want to see your stupid play anyway.' She turned to Lauren. 'Come on, babes, we're going.' 

Grinning, Lauren followed her mistress. Lisa got up and meekly went after them. 

Jasmine scowled. 

She made it out of the row of muttering, disapproving theatre-goers just as the lights were going down. The performance was about to start - and, in the passageway beyond the doors, so was the one from Ms Gresham. She wasn't the first teacher Samantha had pushed to the limit. Here we go again, Jasmine thought. 

'I am so disappointed in you girls,' Ms Gresham said as the doors closed behind her. 'You four were the only ones in the class whose parents even deigned to give their permission for you to come on this trip. The journey was a nightmare but we get here at last, I buy you all a treat to make the most of the occasion, and what happens? You have to go and ruin it.' She looked around the group. 'I just don't know what to do with you. Don't you want to take something from your education? Don't you want the chance to make something of yourselves? Because if not, I'm sorry to say I'm starting to wonder why I should bother with you.' 

Samantha let that hang in the air for a moment, shrugged, then said, 'Great. Don't. See if we care.' 

'Hah!' said Lauren as Samantha turned to receive the high five she already had waiting. 

Ms Gresham went very pale. 

Jasmine put her hand up. 'Miss?' 

'Yes, Jasmine?' 

'Miss, are we going back in to watch the play?' 

'No, Jasmine,' said Ms Gresham. 'It seems I can't take you girls anywhere without you making a nuisance of yourselves. So we're going home.' 

Jasmine did not reply. It was as she'd expected. 

The play they'd been about to see was Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 1. Unlike perhaps anyone else at her school, Jasmine had read it. The play was going to be one of the set texts for their exams at the end of the year. English literature wasn't Jasmine's best subject - in fact it was her weakest - but she needed a full set of first-class exam results to get her plans started and prove to her mother that she was serious. Seeing the play could really have helped, particularly since she'd never actually seen one performed professionally before. 

Jasmine had thought Ms Gresham was different, strong enough to stand up to Samantha - or at least to see past her and realize that not everyone at Swatham was the same. But no: once again it was 'you girls'. In minutes now, Jasmine thought, they would be back on the bus, leaving another missed opportunity behind them. 

She was wrong.