by Nikki Young
“Silence, girls,” the teacher said, even though no one was speaking. “Please gather your things and proceed to the changing rooms.”
Martha gave Jess a nod. This was their opportunity to sneak away to Matron’s office for yet another uniform change. Jess wondered how bad the PE kit would be. They ran across the hall and out the door behind the main office, which came out just across from the annexe building where the sick room was.
Matron looked up from her desk in confusion, as they bumbled in through the door, eager to get in and out before anyone noticed.
“Back again so soon, ladies?” she said.
“We need PE—I mean games kits,” Nadia said, whilst Jess could only look down at the floor in embarrassment.
Although Matron only raised her eyebrows and looked a little irritated at being disturbed from her paperwork, she didn’t question why they didn’t have the right things with them. She went to her cupboard, took out some shorts and cotton tops and handed them over.
“Try these on. I think they will be the right size for you,” Matron said, without even looking at either of them.
The girls took the garments from her, nodding their thanks before looking at them and then at each other. The shorts were a brown cotton material, long and baggy. They came down to the knees, looking more like culottes than shorts. The tops were equally as baggy, like shirts, or even an old-fashioned pyjama top. They were awful, truly awful, but Nadia, of course, still found it hilarious.
“Shut up,” Jess said, pushing past her. “Come on, we’re not supposed to be here, are we?”
Complete with plimsolls, also borrowed from Matron’s lost property box, they squeaked their way back across the yard just as the other girls were coming out of the changing rooms. Martha smiled and waved at them to join her in the line, but not before they had thrown their uniform into the changing room along with everybody else’s. It seemed everything at school involved standing or moving in a line. Jess wondered how they would manage to do any PE if they weren’t allowed to move from that formation.
Whilst they had been changing, Miss Jennings and some of the other girls had transformed the main hall into a playing court, fastening nets across each side. Relieved they weren’t going out into the cold Jess began to relax a little.
“Yes! It’s badminton,” Nadia said, elbowing Jess lightly in the ribs and nodding towards the rackets and shuttlecocks on the floor at the side.
As they took up their positions, Jess noticed the boys hard at work in their classroom, which was off the main hall like theirs but on the opposite side. It looked as though they were having a maths lesson, from what she could see on the blackboard. Tomma had his head down, bent over his desk, concentrating hard. Ash was shaking the quill pen in frustration and some of the ink splashed on to his face, making him jump. Jess couldn’t help laughing. She knew the boys would hate their afternoon and felt guilty that hers was going to be much more fun.
The boys’ teacher seemed to shout a lot more than Miss Jennings did. He was booming at them constantly, enough to make Jess jump too, even though she was nowhere near. She turned her attention to the badminton with Nadia instead and they got into a rhythm. The rackets were much heavier than they were used to, as were the shuttlecocks but they managed to hold together a few rallies.
Chapter 11
Trying To Get Home
“What happens now?” Jess said to Martha, as they changed back into their uniforms.
“What do you mean?” she said and stopped to look at them. It was as if she was seeing them for the first time. “Is school so different where you’re from?”
Jess felt her face heat up and looked at Nadia, hoping she would come to her rescue.
“We never have Games at the end of the day, so we were just wondering if we have to go back to class or if we can leave when the bell goes,” Nadia said. She was always good at thinking on her feet and had gotten the pair of them out of many a scrape. Jess, on the other hand, couldn’t lie to save her life.
“Oh, well we have to go back to class for home time prayers,” Martha said. “Then we wait to be dismissed.”
Both Jess and Nadia were disappointed they couldn’t just escape. They were itching to get home, or at least down to the station to see if they could catch the right train. Feeling suddenly drained after the energy rush of the afternoon’s exercise, they followed Martha, somewhat dejectedly, in the line again, back to class, where Miss Jennings was waiting. She didn’t look like she had moved, even though she had been walking around the hall observing the girls’ badminton skills.
The home time prayer was the Lord’s Prayer, which was a relief for Jess because she knew it off by heart. Then the sound of a bell coming from the hall, and the way the other girls began to fidget, signalled it was time to go home. The children had survived a day in First World War Hickley School and all they had to do now was get back to the present day. Easy if you knew how.
“Class, you may be dismissed,” Miss Jennings said and there followed a collective sigh of relief. It seemed they weren’t the only ones eager to get away.
“See you on Monday,” Martha said as she shut away her things in the desk and got up to put on her coat.
Jess could only smile weakly at her, not wanting to say how it was unlikely they would ever see each other again. Jess hung back and watched her go before moving down towards Nadia.
“Let’s go home,” Nadia said, linking arms.
Jess crossed fingers on both hands and held them up. She didn’t trust herself to speak at that moment. Together, they walked towards the corner of the street to where they’d parted from Tomma and Ash after lunch.
“Please let there be that magic last carriage,” Jess said when they had greeted the boys.
“Don’t worry, it will be there,” Tomma said confidently. “I’m sure of it.”
Just as Tomma was sure of most things, he was sure of this too. Jess wished she had his faith. She clutched tighter to Nadia. The anticipation and worry of whether they would be able to get the train and make it home, made Jess so nervous she couldn’t speak.
Ash clearly didn’t feel the same. He chatted non-stop about his afternoon as they walked down the hill towards the station, among the crowds of other pupils making their way home too.
“Having Crawford for maths was torture,” Ash said. “He didn’t explain what you had to do. He just turned to the board and scratched his way through some seriously complicated calculations, muttering what could have been Chinese for all I know. Didn’t understand a word. Saw what you were wearing though. That was hilarious. Almost laughed out loud, I did, but Crawford would have gone ballistic. You weren’t even allowed to fart in there.”
It all came out in one breath and Nadia burst out laughing.
“Ash, have you ever had to be silent for that long? It must have killed you,” Nadia said.
“Oh, it did, almost, but wait ’til you hear about what else we learned. It was awesome. Tell ’em, Tomma.”
The girls turned to look at Tomma, whose face broke into a big smile.
“Science,” he said, looking smug.
“Science? Well, that sounds really interesting. . . not,” Nadia rolled her eyes.
“But not just normal boring science,” Ash said, and he was jumping up and down by now, his excitement getting the better off him.
Tomma sighed. “Why don’t you just tell them?” Tomma looked at Ash, who seemed about to burst.
“It was all about the science of grenades and other bombs they’ve been using in this war,” Ash said, blurting out the words in his excitement. “Crawford told us about all the different ones that have been developed, how they work and about the factories that make them. There’s one in Leeds and it’s mostly women who work there. They have yellow-stained fingers and faces because of the chemicals they use. People call them little canaries.”
“Go the women!” Nadia said, punching the air with her first.
“This was what Crawford said, and I quote. . .” A
sh stopped walking and the others had to stop and turn towards him. He cleared his throat and puffed out his chest in readiness for his impression of Mr Crawford. “You see, that’s the thing about war. It forces many new developments in order to keep up with the enemy. Whatever the Germans make, we try to do one better. It keeps us on our toes and it makes sure we stay one step ahead of them. That’s how we are winning this war, gentlemen.”
It was so over-the-top, even Jess had to laugh.
*
At the station, the children went to the platform and waited for the train. There were a few other school children already there, as well as a lady with little ones running in circles around her and a couple of old men, sitting on a bench smoking their pipes. Other than that, it was quiet for the time of day, but when the train arrived, it cut through the quiet with a rip-roaring screech as it came to a halt. A cloud of black smoke enveloped the platform and, desperate to make sure they got on the last carriage, but unable to see in the dense, choking smog, the children had to fight their way through, holding their breath.
The train seemed unusually long and it took a few minutes to walk to the end. Not surprisingly, no one else had bothered to walk that far, so the four of them were alone in the carriage as they had been that morning. They all sighed when the train began to move slowly away.
“Well, every carriage looks exactly the same, so I hope this is the right one,” Jess said. As before, they were in a carriage that had a compartment off a narrow corridor, with two, carpeted bench seats opposite each other.
“Try not to worry, Jess, I’m sure it will be fine,” Nadia said, dumping her bag on the floor and making herself comfortable on the seat.
As the train moved off, the landscape changed from industrial buildings and mills, alive with activity, smoke pluming from their tall chimneys, to field after field, separated by dry-stone walls and filled with grazing sheep as they left the town behind. Usually, the landscape whizzed by in a blur and it wasn’t possible to appreciate it. The sheer emptiness was fascinating. There were so fewer houses back then, but as Jess stared out of the window, her view suddenly became obscured by a cloud of smoke billowing past and almost seeming to hug itself against the train. Jess withdrew, holding her nose to escape the now-familiar diesel smell.
When the smoke cleared, the train seemed to be moving much faster than it had been and when she looked out of the window again, it wasn’t so easy to make out the landscape this time. Concentrating harder, Jess noticed the world outside had changed too.
“Look,” she said, jumping up and straining to see if what she thought was happening was true. The others stood and joined her at the window. “Does it look different to you? More buildings. . . and there’s a car over there, a proper one. I mean modern.”
Her heart sped up as the train whizzed over a road, where there was a petrol station. Never had the sight of such a dull and nondescript landmark been so welcoming.
“I think we’re back!”
Everyone gave a whoop and the boys high-fived each other, the tension seeming to have lifted and blown away along with the rest of the smoke. As the train came to a stop, Jess watched with joy as it pulled alongside the run-down station building of Kirkshaw, with its familiar peeling, painted-wood walls, covered with graffiti. The station building itself was no more than an empty shell, apart from the one-person ticket office that had a few broken plastic chairs. Jess never thought she would be so relieved to see the horrible old place again.
They stepped off the train and watched as it pulled away out of sight, marvelling at its magnificence, whilst at the same time wondering how on earth it had managed to take them back in time. It all seemed so crazy.
“I don’t think we should tell anyone about today,” Nadia said as if answering all their thoughts. “They’ll think we’ve gone mad.”
“What if they find out we weren’t at school?” said Jess.
“We’ll have to worry about that if and when it happens,” Ash said, even though he knew if his parents found out he’d skipped school he would be in trouble, big time.
“Listen, does anyone want to meet up tomorrow to try and work out what went on today? I want to know the actual year we landed in and why,” Tomma said. His curiosity and need-to-know nature would not be satisfied until he had answers. Tomma found he could usually find the answers to most things if he looked hard enough.
Everyone agreed, except Jess, who ignored the shaking of heads and disapproving looks. Jess, at that moment, was happy enough to be back home to the normal world and time. She would have been quite content to hide under her duvet, never to emerge again, rather than dig into why they had travelled back in time.
“Come on, Jess! It won’t be the same without you,” Tomma said.
It was the sound of the old Tomma. The one who had always been by her side, but hadn’t been so much as of late. It was as if he’d been caught off-guard and had almost forgotten himself. As Jess looked at him, he blushed, causing a flush of heat to her own cheeks.
“Oh, all right then,” she said, resigning herself to the fact they were in this together. She had to admit she did want to know— there was at least one curious bone in her body! But she wasn’t about to tell them that. And the fact Tomma had asked her, well. . .
“Cool. Mum and Dad are out in the morning, so why don’t you come to mine and we’ll see what we can find out? At least no one will be nosing around wondering what we’re doing. If they come back early, we can tell them it’s a school project.”
“I can’t wait to get home now,” Ash said. “I’m starving.”
“We’d better get changed out of this disgusting uniform first though before anyone starts asking questions,” Nadia said, looking at Jess, who in turn looked down at her clothes and laughed. She had completely forgotten she was wearing it.
“Come on,” Nadia said, linking arms with Jess. “We can change at mine. No one will be home yet.”
Chapter 12
History In The Making
The shock of the previous day’s events had wiped Jess out, making it a struggle getting up early the next day. She usually didn’t rise much before ten on a weekend, but Tomma said his house would only be empty in the morning, so they’d agreed to meet at nine. She thought about not turning up and letting the others do all the research, but her conscience got the better of her. Unable to sleep any longer, she got up, cursing that annoying voice in her head for always thinking it knew better.
Jess was downstairs, fully dressed and eating breakfast by the time her mum came into the kitchen, bleary-eyed and with her hair sticking up in all directions. She stopped short when she saw Jess.
“Yes, you are seeing correctly. I am up and I am dressed even though it’s a Saturday morning,” Jess said.
With her mum’s mouth moving, but nothing coming out, Jess thought it would be easier if she just said everything it looked like she was thinking. Her mum shook her head in disbelief and went to put the kettle on.
“Where are you off to so early, then?” her mum asked as she came to sit down opposite Jess, nursing her mug of tea in her hands.
“I’m going to Tomma’s to work on a school project. Nadia and Ash will be there too. He hasn’t got any other time except this morning.” Jess blushed as she spoke and looked down into her bowl of cereal to hide her face, wondering why she was babbling so much about going to Tomma’s house.
The thought of Tomma made her heart speed up a little. It happened every time she was around him and Jess couldn’t look directly at her mum, knowing she would see straight through her. She wasn’t ready to start answering questions about boys just yet.
“What’s the project about?”
“Oh, it’s just. . . stuff,” Jess said, stacking the little circular O’s of her cereal up on top of one another.
“Of course, stuff, yes, I know that one. Well, you should make sure you get all your homework out of the way before that big sleepover at school on Monday. God knows what they were thinking of
having all the Year Sevens overnight at the school. They must be crazy. You’ll be fit for nothing for the rest of the week.”
Jess looked up. She’d forgotten all about the sleepover. Their year group were staying at school for the night. It was supposed to be a bonding thing.
“I hope they’re going to put the boys separate from the girls,” her mum said.
Jess blushed. “Mum, don’t be ridiculous, it’s not like that.”
Her mum didn’t look convinced as she got up, putting her mug in the sink. “Anyway, I’m off for a shower. Have fun today.” She kissed Jess on the top of her head and shuffled away in her over-sized slippers.
Jess held up the bowl to her mouth and drank the milk left at the bottom before heading off to the bathroom to brush her teeth and finish getting ready. Tomma’s house was opposite Nadia’s and just around the corner from Ash. They all lived on the other side of the village to Jess, but it wasn’t far.
She picked up her school bag, thinking she should take it with her for authenticity’s sake and as she wrapped up in hat, scarf and gloves, Jess thought about Martha Stenchion. Was it as cold for Martha that day as it was for her? Did she have enough clothes to keep her warm or enough fuel for her fire? Jess wondered if her family had eaten that morning and if they’d had any news about her brother. Martha had been so worried because they hadn’t heard anything from him. It must have been very difficult living at that time.
*
Ash was jumping up and down like an excited puppy when he opened the door to let Jess in. She took off her coat and hung it up on the hooks by the front door, along with the hat, scarf and gloves. She went to join Tomma and Ash in the study.
Jess loved Tomma’s house. It was Victorian, with a big front door that had a stained-glass panel at the top of it. The door opened into a wide hall, tiled with small squares that were like a chessboard, and when the sun was shining, the light from the window reflected off the coloured glass and bounced about the squares as if it were dancing. Tomma’s dad’s study had one wall lined ceiling to floor, almost, with dark wooden shelves, all filled with books. In front of the huge bay window was an enormous mahogany desk, a deep red-brown wood, which always made her think of conkers. The desk was topped with brown leather and edged with gold. It was truly beautiful. It was also so huge everyone could fit around it.
