by Ann Bryant
I love it when Dad says things like that to me. Somehow, they always stick in my mind. If our teachers said such interesting things, I’d be in top sets for everything. Not that we’re actually in sets for all the subjects – just science, maths and English – but still, it would be nice to be in top sets for just one of those three things. My science teacher did say she was very pleased with my work on soil recently, though, so maybe I’ll get put up a set for that subject next term. I really enjoyed the work on soil, because I love anything to do with the environment. But geography is probably my best subject, even though I don’t like what we’re doing at the moment on maps. I prefer work on different types of land, like deserts and jungle and marshes and things. I quite like history too, especially as Mrs. Egerton is so laid-back. I think she’s a bit of a scatterbrain, actually. Or maybe she’s a dreamer, like me. She must be one or the other, anyway, because Bryony said she didn’t even notice I wasn’t in the lesson yesterday. So at least that’s one thing I don’t have to worry about.
By the time I was showered and dressed, all the others were awake, and I felt really honoured, because every single one of them offered to come with me to see Miss Gerard.
“Sorry, guys!” I told them a bit shakily. “This is something just for me.”
“See you at breakfast then, Ems,” they called, as I went off with my heart thudding like a bass drum. “Good luck!”
The words of my speech were still whizzing around in my mind as I walked along, breathing in the cold morning air and trying to keep calm. I looked up at the pale streaky sky and noticed that there was a bit of dim yellow sun pushing through. Straight away my eyes went to the spires, but they weren’t silver yet. Maybe they would be later. And that made me think of Emily again. I never did get round to asking her whether she and her friends used to watch the sun make the spires gleam, like we do.
The other reason I love the main building is because it’s so huge and grand and old. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it’s a bit dark for me. The furniture is dark, the beams are dark, and the little diamond windowpanes don’t let in as much light as big windowpanes do – although there are lots of them, so that helps lighten it a bit.
At twenty to eight in the morning the building also seems deserted, and I felt as though I was trespassing as I stood staring at the noticeboard in the main reception hall. If anyone had been watching me they’d think I was trying to memorize every single word or something, but I didn’t know what else to do as I waited for Miss Gerard to arrive.
The clock in the hall said exactly seven forty-five when I heard the front door open. I didn’t turn round, just stood there, stiff with tension. I knew straight away that it was Miss Gerard from the click of her shoes on the flagstones, and immediately a nervous giggle rose in my throat. Actually it was awful that she was so punctual. It just seemed to make her all the scarier, somehow.
The clicks went all the way up the dark oak stairs and seemed to echo round the whole building. I could even hear her clicking along the top corridor, and then there was the click of her door shutting.
I swallowed and started counting in what I thought were seconds. When I’d got to a hundred and twenty I made my way upstairs and crept along the corridor, looking at all the doors. The one on the end had a plaque on it that said DOMESTIC BURSAR. As I stood outside I felt as though my heartbeat was the loudest thing happening in the whole building. I knocked gently, but there was no reply. She couldn’t have heard me, so I knocked a bit more loudly and this time she said, “Yes, come in!” in a bit of a snappy voice.
I opened the door, anxious already that I’d got off to a bad start, and swallowed as my eyes took in the size of the office. Miss Gerard was sitting in a smart office chair on wheels at a huge desk, working on her computer, and I noticed how straight her back was. I also noticed her silky shirt, her smart jacket, her hair in a perfect bob, and the crisp expression on her face – there was no other word for it. In that second I wished I could turn and run away, because it seemed more obvious than ever that someone with an important job like domestic bursar would take no notice at all of a student who’d only been at Silver Spires for a term and a bit.
“Can I help you?” she said, and her eyes said, I’m very busy and I’m waiting for you, so could you make it snappy?
It was too late to run away now. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but…” I said, and then something flashed into my mind. Maybe I should ask for an appointment to talk to her, so then she’d be expecting me and there’d be time for me to explain about everything. Yes, that’s what I’d do.
Just say it, Emily…
“I was wondering if I could make an appointment to see you…”
She did something with her lips that made her look as though she was pouting but I realized this must be her expression for thinking hard, because she stayed silent for a few seconds as she slowly moved her glasses till they were balancing on the tip of her nose. Then she spoke in a rush, with all the crispness from her face coming out in her voice. “I think it might be better if you just tell me what it’s about.”
“Er…” It was now or never. “Well, you see, I wanted to talk to you about…” My brain was whirring away, trying to remember what I’d decided to say first. “Er, you see, I’m interested in growing vegetables, because we do that at home and I’m used to it. And I was wondering about growing vegetables at Silver Spires. I mean…vegetables that we could actually eat…” Oh dear, this was coming out completely wrong. I’d better get to the point. “I know Tony asked if I could have a bit of land, but…”
She took off her glasses altogether then, and leaned back in her chair. “Yes, that’s right, and I told Tony to go ahead and allocate you a small plot.”
“Only…I was wondering if I could have a bit more, please, because—”
She tapped her glasses on her lip. “As I understand it, you want to start a gardening club. Is that right?”
“Yes…a big one…”
She was sounding very brisk. “Well I might be able to extend it a little. I’d have to have a word with Tony.” She reached for a notepad and pen. “And perhaps I ought to speak to your housemistress. Which house are you in?”
“Forest Ash, but—”
“Name?
“Emily Dowd, but—”
“Year?”
“Seven.”
“Mrs. Pridham’s the housemistress, isn’t she?”
“Yes, only—
She was scribbling on her notepad. “I’ll ask her to let you know when I’ve had a word with Tony. I’m not making any promises, and it’ll take a few days because I’ve got a lot on at the moment and it’ll have to work its way up the list.” She put her glasses back on and looked over the top of them at me. “All right?”
My brain was spinning. No, no, it’s not all right. I want more than just a little extra land. I want a proper compost, using food waste from the kitchens. And I want to change the whole way of catering at Silver Spires.
But how could I say that? Miss Gerard would stop listening before I got halfway through the first sentence. Maybe I ought to just keep quiet and go away. I tried to think what Bryony would do. I could practically hear her voice in my ear…
Just accept the extra bit of land, Ems, then come back in a few days when you’ve started the club properly.
I knew it made sense but I didn’t think I’d have the courage to come back another time. It was now or never.
Speak, Emily. Just SPEAK!
“Er…I really wanted to ask about growing vegetables for us all…to actually eat…at Silver Spires.”
Her forehead seemed to suddenly jut forwards and her mouth pursed right up. At least she wasn’t scribbling any more or firing questions at me.
I forced my brain to concentrate on the words I’d planned. “Er…you see, I know the school used to grow all its own vegetables, and now that everyone’s trying to go green, I thought Silver Spires could too.” It had sounded mature when I’d tried it in front of the mirr
or, but here under the gaze of Miss Click, it sounded really babyish. The expression on her face told me that I hadn’t got much longer to speak, so I gabbled the rest and kept falling over my words. “Fruit and vegetable peelings and apple cores could be turned into compost for the garden and you might have to still order a few things from outside but there are always enough seasonal vegetables so we could grow most of them here and—”
“Whoa! Hold it!” She gave me a kind of half smile. “There’s the small question of manpower for a plan like this. In a nutshell, Emily, because I don’t have much time: it’s very laudable that you’ve thought about all this, but it would be far too labour-intensive. It would cost just as much, if not more, to grow food for as many girls as we have here. And we can’t rely on students for something of such economic consequence. I don’t expect you to understand the big picture, but there it is. Now—”
“It used to work fifty years ago. The students were keen then. I think we could make it happen again. In fact, I’m sure we could.”
I’d given myself a bit of a shock by interrupting like that and I swallowed and waited nervously.
The crisp look was right back. “I’m sorry, Emily. I can see exactly where you’re coming from. But the answer is no.” She drew a deep breath, as though she knew she’d got a lot to say and she was determined to fit it all into one breath. “The school decided to go down the route of buying in its fruit and vegetables many years ago and it’s proved easier, quicker and more reliable. And on the question of recycling the peelings, rotting them down into compost is a long process and it’s also horribly smelly. So, for all those reasons, I’m afraid your idea is simply not an option now at Silver Spires.” She gave me a semi-smile, then took another breath. “However, perhaps you’re still interested in expanding your patch just a little for the gardening club?” She was doing the pouting thing again, only this time her eyebrows were arched right up in a big question mark. And she was on her feet too. My time really was up. And my head was spinning as she fixed me with her questioning gaze.
If I say yes she’ll think I’m happy with nothing more than a little gardening club, and yet I’m so not.
But how am I ever going to get what I want unless I start somewhere?
“Yes…please.”
“Excellent. Leave it with me.” She walked to the door and held it open for me.
“Thank you.”
“That’s all right.”
Click. The door shut. My time was up.
I felt such an idiot telling the others over breakfast about my great meeting with Miss Gerard.
“Everything I said came out wrong and it was totally in the wrong order and she finished up by thinking I was happy with just a bit more land for my gardening club.”
“So didn’t you get the chance to tell her about wanting to grow vegetables for use in the school?” asked Izzy gently.
“I tried but she wouldn’t stop interrupting.” I sighed a big sigh. “And I obviously didn’t say the right things to make her realize how important it was,” I said miserably. “She just went on about how much quicker and easier it was to buy in the vegetables and it was obvious that nothing I was ever going to say would make her change her mind.”
“Poor Ems,” said Antonia.
I sighed again as I thought back to my disastrous meeting. Then I spoke quickly, because I’d had enough of talking about it now.
“And she said that composts were smelly and took ages. And I said it had been done here before and she said I didn’t get the big picture. The end.” I folded my arms and dropped my shoulders forwards in despair, which made all my friends murmur that I mustn’t worry and it would all turn out right in the end, and things like that.
“Poor Ems,” repeated Antonia.
“At least she’s letting you have a bit more land. And in time you might be able to expand even more when you show everyone what you can do,” said Nicole.
“Just take it one step at a time,” Bryony added.
When Bryony said that I felt much better. Of course I should just keep working away in the garden to make it look amazing. And better still, I must definitely go ahead with trying to get other people interested in joining the gardening club.
“I should have asked Stan if I could hang on to his photo, shouldn’t I? Then I could have made photocopies and put them up all over the place with information about the gardening club. I’ll ask him next time I see him, because I need to spread the word, don’t I?”
I looked round at my friends, feeling myself cheering up like mad, but the looks on their faces sent me right back into the doldrums. “What?” I asked Bryony. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”
“Jet’s already been spreading the word,” explained Izzy, giving me a sad smile. “She casually asked where you were just now before you got here, and Bryony told her to mind her own business, but she’s got a thing about you for some reason, and since she heard about your gardening idea…well…”
I felt myself getting cross as I looked round the dining hall for Juliet.
“She’s gone now,” said Antonia quietly.
“What did she say about me?” I had to know.
“Oh…she was just horrible and…sarcastic,” said Sasha. “But don’t worry, we all stuck up for you.”
I could tell that my friends were trying to be kind by not telling me and in the end I turned to Bryony. “Tell me what she said. Please, Bry.”
Bryony took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll tell you, but you mustn’t get upset. She’s not worth it.”
I nodded and waited.
“She said something like, ‘Emily’s probably single-handedly digging up the whole grounds and making the school into one massive vegetable garden so we can all be the greenest people on earth. Maybe we should all take mudbaths.’” And as Bryony spoke, I could just hear Juliet saying something mean and nasty like that.
I sighed a deep sigh. “Do you think she’ll put people off joining the club?”
“Maybe some people…at first,” said Bryony. “But we’ll all help you, so you don’t have to worry.”
“Yes, you can count on us,” said Antonia, which I thought was sweet.
After that our conversation turned to the TV people, because apparently they’d been filming in the hall at Forest Ash when the others had left for breakfast, and some Year Nine girls further along our table were talking about how they’d even been filmed in lessons.
“Imagine if they’d come into the history lesson that I missed,” I whispered to Bryony, feeling myself tensing up at the thought.
“Was it hard to act naturally?” Izzy asked the Year Nines.
“It was at first,” a girl called Lottie said. “But after a bit, you just forget the camera’s there,” she added. “So it was okay, I suppose.”
I started to wonder whether I’d acted naturally on the times when I’d been filmed myself. I knew I definitely had done when I’d been with Emily and Stan, because I was so interested to hear all that they were saying. I wasn’t so sure that I’d seemed natural on Sunday morning before breakfast, though, when Bryony and I had been looking for Tony. And as for when the cameraman filmed me in the garden… At least I’d been wearing my tracky bums at the time, and not my school uniform, thank goodness. I would have looked really stupid in the middle of a great big patch of old wasteland, digging away, getting myself all messed up.
Mum and Dad would probably be pleased with me, though, if they saw me in the film. I could just picture our family crammed into Aunty Mandy’s little living room, all eyes on her TV screen, watching me crouching over a pile of weeds. Aunty Mandy would definitely think I was completely bonkers. She’s the complete opposite of Mum and Dad. She lives in a first-floor flat in a bustling little town and she doesn’t have any garden at all, just a big balcony…
Wait a minute… Something was straining to get out of my mind into the open. What was it Mum said to Aunty Mandy on the phone in the Christmas holidays? “You ought to get yourself
a wormery, Mand. Then at least you’d be doing something green. You can recycle all your food waste into compost, and then you can grow lovely herbs in pots on your balcony.” I can remember Mum explaining to Aunty Mandy that a wormery is a plastic or wooden container that’s full of composting worms, which eat and live on the decaying foods on the surface, and turn it into compost, just like that.
Yes! That was it. That’s what Silver Spires needed. A wormery. And Miss Gerard might approve of that idea. It didn’t take ages for the compost to develop in one of those, after all, and I was sure it wouldn’t smell because Aunty Mandy would never put up with something smelly. A wormery might be quite popular too, as it would be interesting to watch the composting actually happening before our eyes. And people would realize that gardening is more fun than they thought, and then Juliet wouldn’t get away with saying horrible sarcastic things any more. Plus, even better, we’d have loads of compost to grow more vegetables with.
Yes, a wormery was what Silver Spires needed. And I would be the one to get them one. I’d wait till the end of school, then I’d go and research them thoroughly on the internet.
Yes!!!
Chapter Seven
All through lessons that day I could think of nothing but my latest composting idea. I had four tellings-off for not concentrating and I deserved every one of them because my mind was a million miles away from square roots and litmus tests and tectonic plates and the Tower of London, as my brain space was totally being used up on wormeries.
I thought it would probably be best to try and get Mrs. Pridham interested and then she could ask Miss Click about it, because there was no way I’d dare to go back to see Miss Click so soon after my last meeting with her. I’d been tempted to rush back to Forest Ash at lunchtime to look up wormeries on the internet and talk to Mrs. Pridham about getting one, but I knew there wouldn’t be time, as I also wanted to go over to my garden just in case Stan happened to be around, so I could ask him if I could borrow one of his photos. I knew from what he’d said about only doing very few hours’ work at school each week that he wasn’t likely to be there, but I was still disappointed when he didn’t show up.
