{"id":4976,"date":"2016-10-23T22:44:36","date_gmt":"2016-10-23T11:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/?p=4976"},"modified":"2016-12-16T16:37:26","modified_gmt":"2016-12-16T05:37:26","slug":"autumn-term-part-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/autumn-term-part-three\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Autumn Term\u2019, Part Three"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter Five: \u2013And Nicola Loses It<\/strong><\/p>\n

A storm is brewing in Third Remove! Nobody much likes Marie, so she makes friends with ghastly Pomona and they plot to unseat Nicola from her prize desk at the front of the classroom. Actually it\u2019s mostly Marie doing the plotting (“Marie remembered her defeats, sucking persistently at the memory as though it were a particularly hard, unpleasant-tasting toffee\u201d). An approach to Miss Cartwright fails but Marie is not deterred, \u201cbeing possessed of a dull obstinacy which could carry her successfully through any number of snubs\u201d. She comes up with the bright idea of simply swapping all Nicola and Pomona\u2019s books over during midday dinner, thinking that Nicola is bound to accept this fait accompli<\/em>. Yeah, that\u2019s really going to work, Marie. I can see why Marie is in Third Remove. <\/p>\n

Anyway, the twins and Tim come back early, Nicola chucks Pomona\u2019s books on the floor, Pomona tries to pull Nicola out of her chair and after a tussle, \u201cdesk and combatants fell sideways in one final, glorious crash\u201d. Naturally the prefect who arrives to investigate is Karen, who doesn\u2019t listen to explanations and says Nicola should have the place and Pomona the desk (which is damaged now anyway). Karen thinks she\u2019s been fair and impartial; most of Third Remove thinks she\u2019s been a \u201csilly ass\u201d, but they\u2019re too polite to say. So unfair!<\/p>\n

Chapter Six: A New Patrol<\/strong><\/p>\n

More complete and utter unfairness! It turns out Third Remove aren\u2019t allowed to play netball, because the headmistress regards them as \u201cdelicate, gentle souls who aren\u2019t strong enough to romp in rough games like netball\u201d. All they can play is boring old rounders. Lawrie is devastated because \u201cthis was absolutely the very worst thing that had ever happened\u201d, even worse than when she accidentally tore up her father\u2019s important papers or Nicola got mumps the day they were supposed to go to the circus. How are the twins going to become netball stars now? Are all<\/em> their plans ruined? <\/p>\n

The twins tell Tim, who is not exactly devastated by the news. I have to say, I\u2019m with Tim. I\u2019d be ecstatic about not having to play netball. (I\u2019m not sure if netball is a thing in America, so I\u2019d better explain here that it\u2019s a bit like basketball, but with even stupider rules. It is pretty much mandatory for Australian schoolgirls, so much so that it\u2019s claimed you can predict an Australian woman\u2019s personality<\/a> based on which position she played on the netball court. I was Wing Defence, \u201cthe Jan Brady to [Wing Attack]\u2019s Marcia\u201d, which I chose because with a bit of luck, I could get through an entire game without touching the ball.)<\/p>\n

Anyway, the twins decide they\u2019d better join the Guides, so at least they\u2019ll be triumphant in something<\/em>. After all, they were really good at Brownies! Tim refuses to have anything to do with it, especially when the twins sing her the Brownie song:<\/p>\n

We\u2019re the Fairies glad and gay,
\nHelping others every day!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also, Pomona and Marie are joining the Guides. Also, Ann, the twins\u2019 annoyingly helpful sister, will be their Patrol Leader. Also, their Captain is Miss Redmond, the domestic science teacher, who only that morning \u201ctold Lawrie she would never catch a husband if she couldn\u2019t remember to put salt in her greens\u201d. (Take note, ladies, that\u2019s what men really want \u2013 well-salted greens. Although if she\u2019s Miss<\/em> Redmond, what would she know about catching a husband?) <\/p>\n

But the twins pass their initial Guide tests and everything is going smoothly until DRAMA! <\/p>\n

First, Rowan\u2019s netball team unexpectedly loses a cup match and is out of contention for the County Shield. Then rumours fly around the school that \u201cRowan and Lois Sanger had fallen on one another foaming with fury and had had to be parted by the umpires\u201d (this rumour courtesy of Tim, of course). Then it turns out there are so many new Guides they have to create a new patrol and the patrol leader is none other than Lois Sanger! Who hates all the Marlows! Then it\u2019s revealed that Lois only has to do one more test before she passes First Class, and that\u2019s to take her patrol on a hike and bring them all back intact! WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?<\/p>\n

Next, Chapter Seven: A First Class Hike<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter Five: \u2013And Nicola Loses It A storm is brewing in Third Remove! Nobody much likes Marie, so she makes friends with ghastly Pomona and they plot to unseat Nicola from her prize desk at the front of the classroom. Actually it\u2019s mostly Marie doing the plotting (“Marie remembered her defeats, sucking persistently at the … Continue reading \u2018Autumn Term\u2019, Part Three<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-4976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-antonia-forest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4976"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4983,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4976\/revisions\/4983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}