Maddox Academy: Grievous Beginnings - Wattys 2022 Shortlister

Chapter Four - Capturing A Moment With A Needle and Thread

It turned out that I knew more about Ancient Greece than the fifth years.

Despite agreeing to help Katie with her work, I ended up contributing a lot to almost everyone else in her year. It hadn't been my plan, I really wanted to just sit there and read through my book on Roman history, but everyone seemed to have a problem with at least one element of their history work. It felt like being back at my old school where the only thing people wanted to talk to me about was my schoolwork. The only person to never ask was Janina, but she wasn't at Maddox.

"I have to ask, or it will drive me insane. Where did the name Flick even come from?" one of the girls, Grace, asked.

"That one is on me. My dad was home for a few days during the war so decided to try and teach me to spell my name. He wrote the first five letters, so 'f' 'e' 'l' 'i' 'c'. For some unknown reason, I yelled out Flick, even though it wasn't what he had written down and it just sort of stuck." I paused. "I've had to explain that far too many times."

"Wait, really?"

"Yes. I wasn't a very good speller as a child."

Grace tucked her bottom lip under her teeth to keep from laughing and I put my head in my hands to hide the blush rising in my cheeks. Katie knocked me in the side and pulled my hands from my face, gripping onto my wrists. She too looked as though she was fighting now to laugh, I just smiled sheepishly, the book starting to slip off my lap. I had been asked that question countless times in the past, and the story never got easier to tell.

The conversation returned to Ancient Greece for the rest of the lesson with Katie still looking like she wanted to laugh whenever she looked at me. We had just finished the final question on her worksheet when the school bell echoed through the halls. When it rang at breakfast, Jo had to explain how everyone could hear the bell no matter where they were in the school. All the dormitory Mother's had one and they would ring them from various places around the school.

I closed the book and tucked it into my bag, slinging it over my shoulder and standing up from the sofa. Katie wrestled her paper into her bag with Jo watching, rolling her eyes as Katie's worksheet got destroyed. Once she had stuffed her bag with paper, she slung it onto her shoulder and the three of us shuffled from the room and into the hallway. Students filed the hallways and emptied the classrooms. Some were headed to the common room whilst others moved down the stairs.

"I need to go to the Library. The librarian will have my head if I don't return this book on time," Katie said, fishing out a Maths textbook from her bag.

"How long have you had that for?" Jo asked.

"Three weeks."

"You're dead."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence." Katie shook her head and looked at me. "What have you got after break?"

"Sewing, I think."

"Are you any good?"

"Not really."

"Miss Feldman will love that. She's getting us ready for the schools centenary next year. For some reason, that includes in a tapestry about the history of the school. Every year group has to contribute something to it and if it's not right, she'll make you redo it."

"She's going to love me. I can darn a pair of socks, but nothing beyond that."

"You'll be her favourite person."

Katie nudged me in the side, and I followed her and Jo down the hall and up another set of stairs. I couldn't help but feel a tad uncomfortable when I followed them, as though I shouldn't have been there. The stairs led to a hallway similar to the one below with paintings hanging from the walls, the doors were the same dark brown wood as everywhere else and it all looked immaculate. My old school had a cleaner, but it never looked as clean as Maddox, dust didn't appear to exist.