Free Pandora by Arabella Wyatt

smaller.
    Shaking her head at her imagination, Pandora walked out.

Chapter Nineteen
     
     
    Pandora found herself spending more time in the company of Zoe than anyone else in the days that followed. She didn’t know if it was simply because they were the two newest pupils which brought them together or if there was something more, but Pandora didn’t care. She was even beginning to admit that Willowcombe Clatford did seem to be a nice place to live. It was, therefore, something of a shock to be reminded of what she had left behind in Lowell.
    It happened as Pandora and Zoe emerged after eating their healthy school lunch of salad and cheese. As usual, Pandora was wistfully thinking that a bag of chips would have been preferable, but this was a minor grumble. At that moment, all seemed good in the world. In the schoolyard, some of the younger girls had brought out skipping ropes, while others were playing hopscotch. Most of the boys stood in groups, though the younger ones ran round, chasing each other and playing tag games. It was this that caught everyone’s attention as one young boy, as he ran after a friend, was deliberately and viciously kicked by another pupil.
    Pandora stared in shock, as did many others in the schoolyard. The culprit was a teenage boy, aged about fifteen, who roared in laughter with his friend at the small boy who lay on the floor, clutching his ankle and crying in pain.
    Pandora looked at the guffawing teenagers and recognised the type from Lowell. The grimy bodies under the grimy clothes, the cheap, chunky jewellery and the unhealthy skin that looked as though it had never heard of fresh vegetables or fruit. Their cold, dead eyes revealed that they were uncaring of anyone or anything except their own gratification.
    “Who are they?” asked Pandora.
    Zoe rolled her eyes.
    “Craig Mitchell and Wayne Jones. They only started about two weeks ago, but they’ve already got a reputation for doing things like that.”
    “I take it Craig is the one with the big letter ‘K’ hanging from his neck?”
    “Yes. I don’t know if he thinks it’s cool to spell it that way or if he’s just too thick to spell it properly. They shouldn’t be wearing jewellery anyway. It’s against school policy.”
    “Looks like the school is finally catching up with them,” observed Pandora.
    Zoe looked round and saw a teacher was bearing down on the scene. “That’s Miss Saunders, I think. She teaches the little kids.”
    “What is going on here?” demanded Miss Saunders, looking at the crying boy on the ground and the rings and necklaces worn by the two boys. If anything, it was these which seemed to infuriate the teacher more than the crying boy. “Rings and other jewellery are strictly against the school uniform policy.”
    The two boys looked at the female teacher with contempt.
    “So what?” demanded Jones.
    “So what?” repeated Miss Saunders in shock.
    “Yeah, so what?” sneered Mitchell. “What you gonna do about it?”
    “Kindly remove them at once,” snapped Mrs Saunders.
    “Fuckin’ make us,” snapped Jones.
    Miss Saunders mouth literally fell open. “I, I have never been spoken to in such a way, you ought to be ashamed,” she spluttered.
    “Fuck you,” laughed Jones, delighted to have got such a reaction from the teacher.
    “Report to Miss Hill’s office immediately!” shouted Miss Saunders. It was clear she felt that this was the ultimate sanction, which no one could defy.
    “Make us,” snarled Jones.
    “Yeah, make us,” snapped Mitchell. “Come on, make us! You touch me, I’ll get my dad down here and he knows a top lawyer and he’ll do you for assault.”
    Miss Saunders swayed and looked as though she would fall.
    “Blimey,” whispered Pandora. “She looks as though she’s never been spoken to like that before.”
    “She probably hasn’t,” murmured Zoe. “You’re still new, so you might not have noticed, but this place is... weird. None of the kids ever argue