England Expects That Even Amanda Will Do Her Duty

Chapter One - Irritation and Arrival

"Move over will ya Jasminka!" pleaded Amanda as the coach swung round a sharp bend and the centripetal force and Jasminka sizeable girth conspired to squeeze Amanda against the window. "Oh sorry Amanda" said Jasminka as she reached out to the seat in front to help right herself. When the bus had pulled straight again Amanda said softly"Just, you know hang on to something next time, OK".

From the back-seat of the coach Hannah England sat forward and asked with mock concern "Are you all right Amanda? You look a bit queer to me" at that her ally Barbara burst out laughing. In-between them the imperious Diana Cavendish tried to rise above the fray. Amanda as always was all too eager to enter a fray and raised her hand and then two fingers to the entire back row. Hannah had half expected that reaction and was ready"What do you want to do with those Amanda, we're not into that sort of thing". Amanda turned in her seat and started to try to scramble over to get to Hannah, but Jasminka grabbed her round the waist and held her fast. Seeing they were safe Hannah and Barbara shrieked and moved to the far side of the seat away from Amanda as they squealed"Miss! Miss! Amanda's trying to do something to us".

From the front of the small coach Professor Finnelan stood up and looking over the rows ofgirls boomed "Amanda O'Neill will you please get back in your seat and stop harassing your class mates. Everyone please take a moment tocalm yourselves, we still have some distance to travel". The professor returned to her seat and turned to her colleague Professor Ursula Callistis "These field trips always get the girls in high spirits" she continued in a whisper "I remember you were ahandful yourself". Ursula blushed and replied apologetically "The energy of youth".

Amanda had stopped her attempt to breach the defenses of the back row and was sitting back down looking out of the window at the green countryside rolling past.Diana spoke chastisingly to her two friends "I would like a little peace before we reach the hostel, maybe you two should stay away from temptation and stay on that side". It was a rare day indeed when Hannah or Barbara went against Diana and so they made them selves comfortable where they were. Hannah however, felt she had not finished with Amanda and kept looking her way, planning the next attack as the journey continued.

The coach pulled in to the youth hostel car-park a little before dusk. It had taken them several hours to travel from their school to Birchenden and as the girl's of Luna Nova disembarked there was some stretching and yawning. The luggage were brought out by the driver and left on the gravel for each girl to find her own. As misfortune would have it,Hannah's expensive designer luggage was put down next to Amanda's army-surplus holdall. As the two girls walked to their luggage Hannah maneuvered to Amanda's side and said "Wow look at that bag, it's amazing how much effort you put in to being a complete loser". Amanda turned to face Hannah, who realised that Diana was not thereto protect her, Amanda bared her teeth and let out a low growl"you're lucky I'm tired or I'd shove that fancy luggage..."Professor Ursula's voice cut in "Everything OK here girls? No time to dawdle we need to get sorted."

Professor Finnelan's voice rang out "Ladies may I remind you that this is a public place and we have Luna Nova's reputation to uphold. Even though from tomorrow you won't be wearing your uniforms I want you all to act as though you are. Now, listen carefully we have assigned you all to one of the dorm rooms. There will be no swapping, do I make myself understood" the girls in unison said "Yes Miss" as the professor's eyes looked over the girls coming to rest on Akko Kagari and then switched to Amanda O'Neill.

Professor Finnelan went inside to the reception and Professor Ursula read out the names of who was assigned to each dorm. When each group had been announced they made their way into the old house that now served as a youth hostel, where Finnelan was waiting to direct them to their room. As the numbers dwindled the remaining girls looked round to see who they were likely to be sharing with. As expected groups of room mates from the Luna Nova were being kept together and joined with others to make a total of nine per room. Amanda and her room-mates Jasminka and Constanze were standing with Akko and her gang of Lotte and Sucy. Amanda put her hand on Akko's shoulder "I think we're going to be lucky". The last name of the penultimate group was readout and Amanda moved her hand to Akko's far shoulder and pulled her in for a hug "See what I mean kid, you stick with me", it then struck Amanda who the other three girls would be and she bowed her head ingrief as she realised it would be Diana Cavendish, Barbara Parker and worst of all Hannah England. Amanda body slumped and face fell as the reality struck home that they would be spending a week with them.Raising her head skyward "Lord, give me strength".

Not far away the same thing had dawned on Barbara and Hannah and they turned to Diana to see if she could be their saviour, sadly for them Diana had accepted her fate and told them so "What's done is done. I expect it was designed so that we would act as a brake on their excesses" she paused and looked in turn at her friends before continuing "Now shall we put our best foot forward?". In deflated tones the girls assented "Yes Diana" and made their way inside with their new room-mates.

To no-ones surprise Akko was in front as the group made their way down the corridor to their dorm. She burst through the door, flicked the light switch and assessed the simple room. Across from the door were large windows framed by thick curtains. Along one wall were three sets of bunk-beds with two along the other wall, separating each bed was a small chest of draws. A single large wardrobe occupied the space on the side that had only two bunk-beds. Akko pulled her luggage into the room and waited for the others. As Amanda walked in she only took a moment before saying "Bagsy this one" and threw her holdall on to the bed to the right of the door. Before the bag landed Akko said"Amanda! Waaait! We should decide things fairly so everyone is happy". Amanda retorted defiantly "Well I'm happy here". Diana entered the room followed closely by Hannah and Barbara. They all scanned the room and then everyone waited for Diana to speak "I agree with Akko we should try to meet everyone's needs". Akko's look of vindication turned to comic goofiness as she stuck her tongue out at Amanda. Amanda smiled and raised her eyes to the ceiling "Goon then what's the plan?".

Akko thought "Well as Diana, Hannah and Barbara don't have bunk-beds maybe they should goon the bottom". Diana smiled "That's very considerate of you Akko". Sucy grinned a devilish grin "What if they want to be on atop bunk, you know, to be further from the rats". At this Hannah and Barbara both grabbed Diana, who titled her head to the side as her expression tried to make clear to Sucy that she did not need the extra hassle. After various options were raised and rejected it became clear, as was often the case, that Diana would need to sort things, she sighed and begun "This is what we will do...".

Later that night after Professor Ursula had come round to make sure all the girls were in bed, Amanda lay thinking to herself. Diana was right, the room was high and so being on the top bunk wasn't too bad and she had good old Constanze on the bed below. She had Sucy and Lotte in-between her bed and Hannah and Barbara's. Jasminka seemed happy in the bed adjacent to hers and she wasn't snoring tonight, not yet anyway, which was a bonus. And last but not least she had a nice view of Diana and Akko.It was probably all in her imagination that they were more than friends, there was a chance though that she'd catch them out. If Akko really had melted the Ice Queen's heart. Amanda yawned as she turned on her side, she'd better think ahead what Barbara and Hannah would be up to. Yes she'd better keep an eye on them, especially Hannah...yeah she'd have to watch Hannah carefully.