Free First Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton

on—go to Jean's place.”
    Alicia realized what was happening. She was full of dismay! What, leave the back seat she liked so much, leave her seat beside Betty—and go to the front row, under every teacher's eagle eye. Everyone knew that the front row had no fun at all!
    “Oh, Miss Potts,” she began, in dismay. “Honestly. I am deaf! It's all that under-water swimming!”
    “You thought—or pretended you were deaf the other day,” said Miss Potts, unfeelingly. “How in the world am I supposed to know when you are and when you aren't, Alicia?”
    “Well, I really am this time,” said Alicia, wishing her ears wouldn't buzz so. “Please, Miss Potts, let me stay here!”
    “Now, Alicia,” said Miss Potts, speaking in loud, clear tones so that, deaf or not, Alicia would be sure to hear, “listen to me, and tell me if you agree with me or not. If you are not deaf, but playing a trick, it would be best to have you out here under my eye. If you are deaf and can't hear in the back row, then it is only common sense that you should be placed out here where you can. What do you think about it?”
    Alicia, of course, could not do anything but agree. She sat rather sulkily down in Jean's place. She could, of course, hear much better there. Then a funny thing happened. First one of her ears went “pop” and then the other. She shook her head. Goody, goody! Her ears had gone pop and were all right again. She could hear as well as ever.
    She was so pleased that she whispered to Mary-Lou, next to her. “My ears have gone pop. I can hear!”
    Miss Potts had extremely sharp hearing. She caught the whisper and turned round from the board. “Will you kindly repeat what you said, Alicia?” she said.
    “I said “My ears have gone pop. I can hear!”” said Alicia.
    “Good,” said Miss Potts. “I thought you would probably find you could hear all right in the front there.”
    “But Miss Potts, I...” began Alicia.
    “That's enough,” said Miss Potts. “Let us begin this lesson please without wasting any more time on your ears, deaf or not.”
    Alicia was cross because Jean and she had to change over the contents of their desks in Break. She hated being out in the front. Jean was very cheerful about the change.
    “I wished hard enough I could be at the back,” she said. “And now I am.”
    “It's not fair,” grumbled Alicia. “I really was deaf this morning—and then my ears suddenly got right. Miss Potts ought to have believed me.”
    Darrell, who was helping, couldn't help laughing. Alicia was not in a mood to be teased, and she scowled.
    “Oh, Alicia, I know it's unkind of me to laugh,” said Darrell, “but honestly it's funny! First you pretend to be deaf, and pull Mam'zelle's leg well. Then you really do get deaf, and nobody believes it! It's just like that fable of the shepherd boy who called “wolf wolf!” when there wasn't a wolf, and then when there really was, and he called for help, nobody came because nobody believed him!”
    “I thought you were my friend,” said Alicia, stiffly. “I don't like being preached at.”
    “Oh, I'm not preaching, really I'm not!” said Darrell.
    “Listen, Alicia, I'll write out half your lines for you, I will really! It would take you ages to write out a hundred, and I know you hate writing. I love it.”
    “AH right. Thanks very much,” said Alicia, cheering up. So Mam'zelle Rougier was presented with one hundred lines that evening, half of them rather badly written and the other half quite nicely written. “Strange that a child should write so badly on one side of the paper and so well on the other!” said Mam'zelle wonderingly. But fortunately for Alicia Mam'zelle got no further than wondering about it!

A queer friendship
    IT was very hot. The girls simply lived for their time in the swimming pool. They groaned when the tide was out and they couldn't bathe. Fortunately the pool was an enormous one, and would take practically the whole school when the