Rules at the School by the Sea by Jenny Colgan

Author:Jenny Colgan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-05-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

I sent away for the application form for you in case you forgot was written on the bright yellow Post-it enclosed with Anne’s letter.

Maggie shook out the paperwork from the envelope. The application form for the school liaison officer in Govan was about ten pages long. She glanced at it. There was room for three essay questions. Describe one situation in your professional life when you made a positive contribution to equal opportunities, it said. Maggie groaned and decided to deal with it later. She had to talk to Felicity’s dorm this morning, and wasn’t looking forward to it. She was going to do it before class, just to get it out of the way. Felicity’s parents had arrived, looking harried and confused, early that morning, and driven a wan-looking Fliss away. Joan Rhys had said she’d managed a couple of pieces of toast before she left, which Maggie was taking as a hopeful sign.

Zelda knocked quietly on her door. Miss Adair had asked to see her, when all she’d done was try and gussy up fat old Simone. She was feeling victimized. Maggie was quasi-ambivalent herself, given that the effects on Simone—her shiny hair, new figure, and newfound confidence—were so obviously good. But it had to stop.

“Good morning, Zelda,” she said, welcoming her into the cozy office-slash-study she shared with Claire.

“Morning,” said Zelda. “Can I have a cup of coffee?”

“No. Only fourth-formers can have coffee.”

“Oh, cool. More rules. Excellent.”

“Don’t be cheeky, please.” Maggie stopped herself. This wasn’t how she wanted things to go. It wasn’t a disciplinary matter.

Zelda plonked herself down in a chair without being asked. “What have I done now?”

Maggie looked at her grades with some despair. It wasn’t that Zelda was stupid, she simply took no effort with her work at all. None.

“Are you happy here, Zelda?” she asked.

Zelda shrugged. “Been to better, been to worse.”

Maggie leant forward. “We want to be better, Zelda. There’s a terrific education on offer here, if you just make the tiniest bit of effort to grasp it.”

“For what,” said Zelda, “so I can just get moved on again? Who cares?”

“But you’ve got so much promise,” said Maggie. “If you poured half as much energy and creativity into your work as you did into Simone’s makeover, you’d be doing really well.”

Zelda looked uncomfortable. “I thought that was what this was about.”

Instead, Maggie told her about what had happened. “We’re worried about Felicity.”

“She wants you to be,” said Zelda, uncharacteristically sharply, then stopped herself. “I mean, she’s fine. Everything’s fine.”

“I know fine, well, everything’s not fine,” said Maggie. “And Zelda, I’m asking you. Please take the pressure off the dorm. What you’ve done for Simone is great. What it’s doing to Felicity Prosser is not.”

Zelda sighed.

“And I can trust you not to repeat this conversation?”

In fact, Maggie fully expected her to repeat it word for word. It wouldn’t do either Alice or Simone any harm to hear what was approved of and what was not.

“Yeah, whatever,” said Zelda.

Maggie watched her beautifully styled hair leave the room.

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