Free Pandora by Arabella Wyatt Page A

with the teachers or answer back or go where they’re not supposed to.”
    “It will be interesting to see how they deal with those two idiots,” replied Pandora as Miss Saunders finally found her voice.
    “Go to Miss Hill’s office! Now!” she shouted in anger.
    “Screw you,” crowed Jones, brushing his hand through his hair and grinning at the girls who were watching.
    Pandora noticed that the native Willowcombe pupils seemed to be as horrified as Miss Saunders, who was clearly at a loss in dealing with the situation.
    “I’m giving you one last chance,” she cried.
    “Back off, bitch,” sneered Mitchell, snapping his fingers in the shocked teacher’s face, a move and catchphrase copied from a comedian on television.
    “How dare you?” cried Miss Saunders in horror as she turned and blundered away, unable to comprehend what she had just heard.
    “That is going to cause trouble,” said Zoe, as they watched the distressed teacher run indoors.
    “I don’t know, it happened all the time at the old school, but the teachers could never do anything about it, so they never even tried.”
    “Like I said, things are different here.”

Chapter Twenty
     
     
    Mitchell and Jones walked away, deciding–in spite of their bravado–to move from the scene of their crime, leaving behind a small crowd of students made up of both the new and village-born pupils. This was one of the few times the two groups had ever come together.
    “I can’t believe the way they just acted,” said Grace Gideon in horror. “My parents will never believe me when I tell them!”
    “I hope you turn that to your advantage,” said Kylie Withers, one of the new pupils from the development. “Whenever my mum doesn’t believe me, I make sure she pays for it.”
    “What do you mean?” asked Grace in confusion.
    Kylie rubbed the tip of her thumb across her fingers and smiled unpleasantly. “Make them pay,” she said, greedily. “The last time my mum didn’t believe something I told her, I did the sob stuff and I got some wicked nail extensions out of it.”
    “What will happen to them? Craig and Wayne?” asked Pandora, noticing that the Willowcombe-born children were all looking in horror at Kylie and her false nails.
    “I have no idea,” said Duncan Tyler primly, another native of the village. “I suppose they’ll be dealt with by Miss Hill.”
    “I wonder what she’ll do with them?” said Grace. “I’d hate to be in their shoes right now. Miss Hill really scares me when she gives me that look of hers.” A nod went round the local children, drawing baffled looks from the half dozen or so who had only recently moved to the village.
    “Why are you afraid of her?” asked Kylie scornfully. “Teachers can’t touch you. It’s assault if they do. Everyone knows that.”
    “It’s Miss Hill,” said Grace in disbelief. “She’s in charge .”
    “So what?” demanded Darren Bright, another of the new children at the school. “She’s just a teacher. Why are you scared of her at all?”
    Pandora looked at the anxiety on the faces of the Willowcombe children and the scorn or indifference on the faces of those who had only recently moved to the village. She rubbed her head, feeling she almost had hold of something important. It wasn’t just the difference in behavior; it was the way they viewed the world, the way they experienced it.
    “It’s Miss Hill,” said Grace again, as though stating the obvious. “She’s the headmistress. You may as well say you don’t want to do well in your exams!”
    “Exams?” said Darren in confusion. “Who cares about exams? As soon as I’m out of school, I’m going back to Nottingham. There’s always plenty of bar work in the clubs and pubs. So you get paid and you get free booze!”
    “Sod that, it’s the dole for me,” said Kylie cheerfully. “Have a kid, get a house, all paid for, that will do me nicely.”
    “Is that all you want from life?” demanded Grace in a