Maddox Academy: Grievous Beginnings - Wattys 2022 Shortlister

Chapter Twenty-One - Cake For Breakfast

My splint became an immediate inconvenience.

Since I was right-handed, having the splint made writing a lot harder and by Friday, I was ready to tear it off. If my handwriting had been bad before, it was almost completely illegible with it. Mrs Clarington had offered to write my notes for me so they could at least be readable, but I said no. I would read my own writing whether I had the splint or not.

Friday evening felt like one of the strangest I had ever had at Maddox, and that was saying something. Katie and Jo were both sneaking around and acting a little suspicious throughout the day, but it got worse after supper. They had their meeting with Mrs Maddox that afternoon so I had hoped we could just find an empty room and talk until bed. They both had other ideas and came up with rather stupid excuses to leave me on my own.

"I need to water the plants," Katie had said. There were no plants.

"I have choir practice," Jo added, glaring at Katie for her terrible attempt at an excuse.

"Oh, alright. I'll see you tomorrow then."

I narrowed my eyes at them but said nothing as they walked away from the dining hall and towards the school office on the other side of the building. Even without their terrible excuses, I knew that whatever they were doing had to relate to my birthday. Katie had been dropping not-so-subtle hints all week and even some of the fifth years had been having oddly all week. I hadn't wanted them to do anything for my birthday, I had said as much.

Birthdays had never meant anything to me, at least not in the same way it probably would have meant to them. I had spent every birthday with my family when Mum would bake a cake and it didn't matter that I only received one present from them. Just being with my family meant more to me than a gift ever could, and this would be the first year without them with me. I didn't want to celebrate my birthday without them, it just wouldn't be the same.

Still, I appreciated them for at least trying to make my first birthday at Maddox a decent one. I just wanted my family to be there too.

I jogged up the stairs to the dormitory, finding the room completely empty and the rest of the fourth years no doubt playing some of the board games in the common room. With the room completely silent, I settled against the pillows on my bed and grabbed the book from the nightstand. Although I wanted to do some more work on my project, even I knew I needed a break from it. Dad had once warned me about working too hard and I felt as though I was on the edge of that boundary. The break was needed.

After reading until it became too dark to see the words on the pages, the other girls filed into the room, yawning and muttering to each other. I closed the book and placed it back on my nightstand, pulling out my pyjamas and walked to the bathroom to change. The other girls moved around, some changing but others just talking. I stifled a yawn and climbed into bed, blocking out the sounds of the other girls and the stares from Victoria on the other side of the room.

"Flick. Flick. Flick. Wake up," someone said. They poked me in the back every time they said my name.

"Go away. Sleeping."

"Wakey, wakey!"

"No."

"Someone built the Coliseum on the grounds of the school."

"How nice."

Someone flicked me in the head. I grumbled to myself and pushed the blanket off my face, rubbing my eyes and rolling over. My eyes adjusted to the light, seeing Katie and Jo peering over me with something in their hands. After a few seconds, my eyes adjusted to the light completely and I looked at the small object in her hands. Katie was holding a small cupcake with a candle and grinning bigger than the Cheshire Cat.