The Demon Headmaster

by Cross, Gillian

  I can’t, murmured a voice in Dinah’s head. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. But all the time, mechanically, she went on making snowballs, until it seemed that she would never stop, as if she would go on until the end of the world, stooping, seizing a handful of snow, squashing it together in her agonized hands, and dropping it on to the pile.

  They seemed to have been there for about a hundred years when Lloyd said suddenly, ‘Two or three more each and we’ve finished.’ Glancing sideways at his watch, Dinah saw that it was not yet twelve o’clock. Gritting her teeth, she scrunched together the last couple of handfuls of snow and flung them triumphantly on top of the pile.

  ‘That’s it. We’ve finished! Let’s go inside and get warm.’

  ‘Not yet,’ Lloyd said bitterly. ‘Look. They’re coming to inspect us.’

  Sure enough, the prefects, all six of them, were trooping down the steps from the school, marching in perfect time. They walked across the playground and stood in a half-circle round Lloyd, Harvey, and Dinah.

  ‘Not a very tidy heap of snowballs,’ Rose said grudgingly. She looked sideways at Jeff, and his spotty face suddenly creased into a leering smile.

  ‘But you must have enjoyed yourselves,’ he said softly. ‘Since you’re so fond of snow. Do you think they’ve had enough snow yet, Rose?’

  She leered back at him. ‘Surely not. Not when they like it so much.’

  Without warning, the line of prefects surged forwards, in unison, their hands outstretched. Lloyd, Harvey, and Dinah were each seized by two prefects who spun them round and knocked them forwards, face down in the snow.

  As Dinah’s face crashed down into the hard, balled snow, her first feeling was one of despair. Snow slammed up her nose, into her eyes, and all down her front, soaking her clothes. It seemed like the last straw, and she nearly burst into tears. But by the time she stood up, she was furious. Furious and incredulous. Leaping to her feet, she began to yell at the prefects.

  ‘That’s too much! You can’t do that! I shall go and tell the Headmaster. He’ll punish you. You’ve got no right to treat us like that.’

  Very softly, Jeff started to laugh and Rose, shaking with merriment, pointed a finger towards the school, where the window of the Headmaster’s office faced them.

  At the window was a pale face, its eyes hidden behind dark glasses. It stared out over the playground, apparently without expression.

  ‘So he knows, does he?’ Dinah said quietly. Her mouth set stubbornly. ‘Well, I’m not scared of him, even if the rest of you are. I shall go and tell him just what I think of him for letting something like this happen to a boy as little as Harvey.’

  Her feet sounding loud on the cleared tarmac, she stamped across the playground and into the school, carried along by the force of her cold rage. Without stopping to consider what she was doing, she marched up to the door of the Headmaster’s office and hammered on it with both fists.

  Nothing happened.

  Grossly, she caught at the handle and rattled it, but the door was locked, and so heavy that it hardly moved.

  ‘I know you’re in there!’ she shouted. ‘I saw you at the window. And I think it’s disgusting. Fancy letting the prefects bully a little boy like Harvey. It might make him ill. You’re inhuman.’

  She paused. No sound came from behind the door and, for a second, she felt completely helpless. Then, at last, her brain began to work. She smiled triumphantly, and went on speaking in a quieter voice.

  ‘Anyway, you won’t get away with this. Even Headmasters aren’t allowed to do things like that. When we get home, we’ll all tell Mr and Mrs Hunter, and there’ll be a scandal. You’ll be prosecuted.’

  There was still no sound, but she did not care now that she had worked out what to do next. Her fingers were starting to hurt as the warmth of the building reached them, so, with a final thump on the door, she began to run down the corridor, towards the cloakrooms. If only she could wash them in warm water, she would feel better. And if there was something hot for lunch, even Harvey might be all right.

  She was making so much noise, that she did not hear the office door open behind her. She did not look over her shoulder and see the pale face which stared after her. If she had, she would have been puzzled. Because the face was smiling.

  ‘So, Miss Clever Glass,’ murmured the Headmaster, ‘you have a soft spot for Harvey Hunter, have you? You’re ready to protect him? Well, that might come in very useful. Yes, indeed. I must think about that.’ His smile broadened. ‘After this afternoon’s Assembly.’ And as he turned away, he laughed, softly and evilly.

  Lloyd burst in through the back door of the kitchen, a hundred yards ahead of Harvey and Dinah. ‘Mum! Mum! Where are you?’

  Mrs Hunter emerged from the hall. ‘Goodness me, what a fuss. The end of the world at least, I should think. Whatever is the matter?’

  ‘It’s what happened at school today.’ Lloyd slumped down into a chair. ‘It was simply terrible.’

  Mrs Hunter suddenly stopped looking sympathetic. ‘Now, Lloyd, I hope this isn’t going to be another one of your silly stories. You know what trouble we’ve had in the past, with your lies.’

  ‘It’s different this time,’ Lloyd said triumphantly. ‘Dinah will tell you that it’s true. And you’ll believe her, won’t you?’ He turned round and waved a hand at Harvey and Dinah, who were coming through the door.

  ‘Well, Dinah certainly looks calmer than you do,’ Mrs Hunter said.

  ‘But she knows too,’ Lloyd yelled. ‘She’ll tell you.’

  ‘Don’t shout, dear.’

  ‘Oh, why don’t you ask her?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Harvey excitedly. ‘Ask Dinah what happened at school today.’

  ‘You’ll believe her,’ Lloyd said bitterly.

  Dinah was frowning, looking at the three of them in bewilderment.

  ‘Well, dear?’ Mrs Hunter said gently. ‘Tell me. What happened at school today?’

  In a perfectly calm, even voice, Dinah said, ‘At school this morning, Harvey made snowballs and we all had a snowball fight. It was super. The Headmaster made sure we all dressed up warmly in our hats and coats and gloves. And he gave us drinks of hot blackcurrant when we came inside.’

  ‘What?’ Lloyd stared at her.

  Harvey looked appalled. ‘Dinah!’

  Mrs Hunter smiled comfortably. ‘It all sounds very nice.’

  ‘But you don’t understand!’ Lloyd exploded. ‘It’s not true. It wasn’t like that at all. We—’

  ‘Be quiet!’ All at once, Mrs Hunter was very angry. ‘It’s always the same, Lloyd. You and Harvey come back from school with silly, unbelievable stories and whenever I ask any of the other children I find it’s all lies. I’m not going to make a fool of myself by complaining again. I don’t think it’s funny, even if you do.’

  ‘It’s not meant to be funny!’ Lloyd glared at Dinah. ‘She knows that. She’s a filthy, foul traitor! She’s the one who’s telling lies, and—’

  ‘That’s enough!’ Mrs Hunter banged her hand on the table. ‘I don’t blame Dinah for not wanting to join in with your silly games. You’ve been unpleasant to her ever since she came. I won’t have it. This is her home now, as well as yours, and you’ll just have to get used to it.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘Not another word!’

  ‘It doesn’t matter, L,’ Harvey said miserably. ‘We ought to have known it would be like this. It’s always like this. Two hundred people to say we’re lying, whatever we say. We can’t do anything about it.’

  ‘We can refuse to speak to traitors,’ Lloyd said hotly. ‘Come on, H. Let’s go to the playroom. There’s a bad smell in this kitchen.’

  He stamped out. Harvey stood in the doorway for a moment, looking at Dinah.

  ‘How could you?’ he said reproachfully. ‘When you know what it was like?’

  8

  Prefects’ Meeting

  ‘We won’t speak to her,’ Lloyd said. ‘Not ever again. Understand,
H?’ He pulled on his sock with such ferocity that his big toe came through the end. With a shout of rage, he flung the sock into the wastepaper basket and took a clean one out of the drawer.

  ‘But how can we not?’ Harvey said miserably. ‘She doesn’t know anyone except us. If we don’t talk to her—’

  ‘Black bananas! Think I care about that? After the way she’s treated us? You’re too soft, H, that’s what’s wrong with you. Well, just watch it. If I catch you speaking to her, I won’t look after you any more, And I’ll tell the others not to look after you, either. Then you’ll be in trouble.’ Ramming his shoes on, Lloyd stamped off downstairs and a moment later an unhappy Harvey followed him.

  They sat hunched over their plates of porridge, turned away from Dinah and talking only to each other. From time to time, Lloyd glanced at her, to see what effect they were having, but it was impossible to tell. She went on eating her breakfast without speaking, her cold, pale face gazing off into the distance.

  When the time came to leave, she followed them out into the hall and left the house with them, but they marched along the road ten yards ahead of her, not looking over their shoulders.

  ‘Just let her dare try to catch us up!’ Lloyd muttered.

  ‘She won’t do that,’ Harvey said. ‘She’s too proud. She—’

  ‘Oh shut up! I don’t want you going on about her all day. She’s not here. She doesn’t exist. Understand?’

  Lloyd strode faster up the road and swept into the playground, his eyes searching about. ‘We must find Ian and Mandy and Ingrid and warn them about her. Tell them not to talk to her either. Then she’ll only have the goody-goodies and she won’t get much fun out of them.’

  He saw the other three in a corner and marched across to them, followed by Harvey. But before he could say anything, silence fell over the playground and everyone turned to look at the prefects.

  There seemed to be something odd about them today. They were smirking at each other and hunting round the playground with their eyes, as if they were looking for somebody. Suddenly Ian poked Lloyd in the ribs.

  ‘Hey,’ he mouthed soundlessly, ‘why are they all looking at Harvey?’

  It was true. Six pairs of eyes had fixed on Harvey’s chubby figure and six smiles had grown wider. Harvey started to shake. Mandy reached out and gripped his hand comfortingly. ‘Don’t worry,’ she mouthed. ‘It might not be as bad as you think.’

  But Harvey was already worried. As the prefects rapped out their orders and the children started to move into lines, he caught at Lloyd’s sleeve. ‘Don’t leave me alone, L.’

  ‘OK.’ Lloyd patted his shoulder. ‘We’ll stick together.’

  As they moved across the playground, he avoided his usual place and went to stand in Harvey’s line instead, immediately behind him. He saw Dinah glance quickly across at him, but he ignored her.

  ‘Lead—in!’ Jeff shouted.

  As the lines began to move, Lloyd put a steadying hand on Harvey’s arm and the two of them walked together up the steps. When they were nearly at the top, Rose stuck out a hand, blocking Harvey’s way.

  ‘Harvey Hunter,’ she intoned, ‘you are summoned to appear before the Prefects’ Council at ten o’clock.’

  ‘Why?’ Harvey said plaintively. ‘I haven’t done anything.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Lloyd blustered. ‘Leave him alone.’

  Rose gave him an icy stare. ‘You are in the wrong line, Lloyd Hunter.’

  ‘That’s because I’m sticking by Harvey. I don’t know what you’re plotting, but I’m coming too.’ He saw Rose open her mouth to protest and he said, quickly, ‘Even in the courts, people are allowed to have lawyers to speak for them.’

  Rather to his surprise, Rose shrugged. ‘Please yourself. You can be Harvey’s lawyer. It won’t do any good. Ten o’clock.’

  For an hour, Lloyd sat in his classroom, chewing the end of his pencil. All around him, people were scribbling industriously, writing facts about the British Constitution. Lloyd did not know the facts—as usual—but this morning he did not even care. All he could think of was the minute hand on the clock on the wall. It seemed to be racing round towards ten o’clock at twice its normal speed.

  At five to ten, he stuck his hand up.

  ‘Yes?’ barked Mr Venables, looking startled. People hardly ever put their hands up. It was not encouraged.

  ‘Please, sir, I’ve got to go to the Prefects’ Council.’

  Mr Venables frowned. ‘I was not informed. This is most disorderly.’

  ‘I’ve got to go,’ Lloyd insisted. Without even waiting for an answer, he bounded out of his seat and made for the door. He could see Dinah watching him and he almost pulled a face at her. Then he remembered. No communication.

  Outside the door of the prefects’ room, Harvey was standing shivering. ‘Oh, what do you think is going on? What are they going to do to me now?’

  ‘Dunno. We’ll have to go in and find out.’ Lloyd slapped him encouragingly on the back. ‘Cheer up. At least the snow’s melted. They can’t make us do that again, anyway.’

  Boldly, he hammered on the door and heard Jeff’s voice say, ‘Come in.’

  The prefects were sitting in a line behind a long table, their faces grave and their uniforms immaculate. Each of them had a pen clipped neatly into the top blazer pocket, at precisely the same angle, and their hands were folded on the table in front of them in a straight row. Six doubled fists.

  ‘Sit down,’ said Rose, pointing at two chairs, drawn up on the other side of the table.

  ‘What’s this all about?’ Lloyd muttered. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘Sit down!’ Rose said again, more curtly. ‘And don’t speak unless we ask you questions.’

  Lloyd and Harvey took the two chairs and sat facing the row of accusing eyes. Slowly, Jeff reached out for a grey folder which lay on the table. A neat label on the front said Harvey Hunter. Opening it, he pulled out a piece of paper.

  ‘Harvey Hunter,’ he began, ‘we have called you before us, on the instructions of the Headmaster, to deal with your disobedient and disorderly behaviour this week. He has been most displeased with you.’

  Rose nodded. ‘You are a disruptive influence in the school.’

  ‘That’s nonsense,’ Lloyd burst out. ‘He’s never influenced anybody.’

  ‘Please be quiet,’ said Jeff, ‘and listen to the charges.’ He looked down at the piece of paper. ‘You are accused of three things. First, on Monday, you came into school before you were called in by us, although you know it’s against the rules to come in early. Have you anything to say?’

  ‘I was going to do the registers,’ Harvey faltered. ‘The Headmaster told me to.’

  Jeff shook his head and ran a finger down the paper. ‘Clearly rubbish. My information is that Sharon Mandeville did the registers on Monday.’

  ‘It was a mistake,’ Lloyd said quietly. ‘The Headmaster changed his mind.’

  ‘The Headmaster never changes his mind,’ Rose said crushingly. ‘Indecision is disorder.’

  ‘Second,’ Jeff went on relentlessly, ‘later the same day, in the afternoon, you left your classroom, telling Rose that you wanted to go to the toilet. Instead, you went up to the Hall, to spy on the Assembly—which you are not permitted to attend.’

  Harvey gasped and turned to look at Lloyd, but this time Lloyd could only shrug.

  ‘Third,’ Jeff said, ‘yesterday, in the playground, you threw two snowballs, although you knew that playing anywhere on school premises is most strictly forbidden.’

  ‘But that’s not fair!’ Lloyd shouted. ‘He’s already been punished for that.’

  ‘The prefects took such action as they saw fit,’ Rose said crushingly, ‘but the matter has not yet been dealt with by the Headmaster. We are now acting under his instructions.’

  ‘I don’t believe you,’ Lloyd said. ‘If the Headmaster wants to deal with Harvey, why doesn’t he see him himself?’

  But even as he spoke the words
, he knew they were stupid. Simultaneously, the figures round the table chanted, ‘The prefects are the voice of the Headmaster. They must be obeyed.’

  ‘Well,’ said Lloyd desperately, ‘if you’re the voice of the Headmaster, then when you punished Harvey yesterday, that was a punishment from the Headmaster. And it isn’t fair to give him another one.’

  Harvey twisted his hands together wretchedly. ‘Oh, L, what’s the use? This isn’t really like a court. They’re not going to let me off whatever you say. Why don’t we just shut up and hear what they’re going to do to me?’

  Rose gave a patronizing smile. ‘I’m glad to see that one of you has some sense. Especially since the Headmaster has decided to be merciful.’

  ‘He has?’ Harvey looked disbelieving.

  Rose nodded. ‘He will give you a chance to redeem yourself.’ She reached into the file and drew out a long white envelope with Harvey’s name written on the front. ‘He has set you a paper of sums to do. If you get them all right, your offences will be forgotten. This time. But if you get any of them wrong, the Headmaster will deal with you himself. Most severely.’

  Harvey gulped. ‘Is that all? Can I go?’

  Jeff nodded. ‘Go straight back to your classrooms and get on with your work. The sums are not to be done until you get home.’ He smiled sarcastically. ‘You never know. If you do them well enough, you might land up on Eddy Hair’s Great School Quiz.’

  Lloyd snorted. ‘I can just see us being the Headmaster’s blue-eyed boys.’

  Ignoring Jeff’s frown, he made for the door. As soon as he and Harvey were safely outside, he exploded.

  ‘Of all the stupid, trumped-up, unfair charges—’

  Harvey looked sideways at him, his eyes scared. ‘But how did they know, L? About me going into school early and going to look at the Assembly? No one knew about both things. Only me and you.’