{"id":5527,"date":"2017-12-31T18:07:01","date_gmt":"2017-12-31T07:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/?p=5527"},"modified":"2018-01-01T23:30:04","modified_gmt":"2018-01-01T12:30:04","slug":"end-of-term-part-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/end-of-term-part-five\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018End of Term\u2019, Part Five"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter Six: A Change of Cast<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miranda has been watching the play rehearsals secretly, so she\u2019s there to witness Miss Kempe\u2019s frustration with Jess\u2019s terrible rendition of Shepherd Boy, Dr Herrick making Ginty the Archangel Gabriel, and Tim giving an impertinent but useful suggestion about stage direction. Then, what a surprise, Jess suddenly can\u2019t do Shepherd Boy! Her father has to fly to South Africa to investigate I.D.B (which I think is Illegal Diamond Buying) and is taking his whole family with him! (As if expats working in the colonies didn\u2019t always put their children in English boarding school. Personally, I would have given Jess a broken leg or glandular fever or something else a bit more plausible.) Miss Kempe tries to convince Miss Keith that Lawrie should have the part, but the best she can manage is being allowed to have Nicola.<\/p>\n

Nicola is very happy when she\u2019s told, about not having to sing a solo, although surely having a lead acting role would be just as stressful? But then Lawrie bursts in, convinced she<\/em> has the role. They race off to the noticeboard to check, and yes, it\u2019s Nicola.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, Lal\u201d (Nicola used the baby name she hadn\u2019t used for years), \u201cI\u2019m most awfully<\/em> sorry. Truly<\/em> I am.\u201d Which was true. The pleasure of being Shepherd Boy was gone for ever.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nicola is much more gracious about it than Lawrie would ever be. Lawrie tells Nicola she hates her and to get away and fetch Tim, which Nicola obediently does. Tim\u2019s reaction is even worse:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you say you wouldn\u2019t do it? You knew how Lawrie would feel.\u201d
\n\u201cBut \u2013 Yes, I know, but \u2013\u201d
\n\u201cYou really are the end<\/em>,\u201d said Tim, eyeing her with an angry, hostile look. \u201cHonestly, there are times when I could hit<\/em> you, you\u2019re so stupid.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nicola has no control over the play\u2019s casting, as Tim knows perfectly well, but the really awful thing is Tim\u2019s presumption that she understands Lawrie better than Lawrie\u2019s identical twin. Lawrie, literally sick with disappointment, goes off to the san with Tim, while Nicola contemplates her ex-friendship with Tim, remembering all their quarrels and that Tim had only written to Lawrie in the holidays:<\/p>\n

\u201c[Nicola] took it for granted that people liked her better than Lawrie. Only Tim didn\u2019t. Tim liked Lawrie best \u2026 And then she was ashamed \u2013 a cold, squirming apprehension that probably she\u2019d butted in, often, when she wasn\u2019t really wanted.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Poor Nicola! At least she has Miranda as a friend now. As well as Esther and Sally and Elizabeth and nearly everyone else, because Nicola is simply a nicer person and better friend than Lawrie. I can see why Tim would find Nicola\u2019s Moral Uprightness a bit much, but I can\u2019t see why Tim puts up with Lawrie\u2019s self-centredness and immaturity. Unless Tim likes being the Superior One in their friendship, always knowing more than Lawrie? Or thinks Lawrie is going to be a superstar in the future and Tim likes the idea of being the best friend of a celebrity … except I don\u2019t think Tim cares that much about social status.<\/p>\n

Chapter Seven: A Change of Team<\/strong><\/p>\n

The next day, Tim has the nerve to try to pretend nothing\u2019s happened, and then when Nicola doesn\u2019t respond to her cheery greeting, says, \u201cWhat\u2019s up with you? Still sulking?\u201d Lawrie is also Not-Talking to Nicola, so everything\u2019s a bit strained. It all blows up in art class when they\u2019re drawing the play and they realise Miranda has been watching rehearsals. Nicola, worried about her performance as Shepherd Boy, quietly asks Miranda for her opinion, but Lawrie butts in to say Nicola is \u201cpretty awful\u201d. Miranda loses it and it is GLORIOUS:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trouble with you<\/em> is, you\u2019re a spoilt brat \u2026 If everything doesn\u2019t go the way she wants it, she yells the place down. Bellow, bellow, bellow. Anyone\u2019d think she was six.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Miranda also points out that Nicola wanted to be in the netball team just as much as Lawrie wanted to be Shepherd Boy, without making the same fuss, and they\u2019d actually be winning their games if Nicola<\/em> was in the team. And Miranda blames Tim:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026if you weren\u2019t always telling her, Lawrie, I mean, how madly brilliant she is, she mightn\u2019t be such an ass.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But the best bit is when she turns to shy, conflict-averse Esther to back her up and Esther immediately, unequivocally agrees that Lawrie is an ass. This silences even Tim! It\u2019s great.<\/p>\n

But poor Esther is otherwise having a miserable time. She\u2019s been forced to take on Nicola\u2019s soloist singing duties in the play, even though she has debilitating stage-fright, and she knows she can\u2019t even run away because she doesn\u2019t have a proper home to run to anymore. It\u2019s a good thing she has Nicola and Miranda as friends, because the adults in her life are being actively harmful.<\/p>\n

The netball team loses yet another game and Lawrie injures her leg in gym just before the final game of the term. This presents a moral dilemma, because she was planning on playing brilliantly in the final game and gaining colours:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026she\u2019d be almost as good as the people in books who played with broken bones and sprained ankles and no one knew till they\u2019d fainted at the end \u2013 and she\u2019d always wanted to do that.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But even Lawrie concedes that with a hurt leg, it\u2019s going to be difficult to play as well as she usually does, let alone better<\/em> (\u201cPeople in books must have different types of bones or something\u201d). During an illegally-long hot bath, she contemplates (in a side-long, Lawrie-ish way) the things Miranda said about her and wonders if she, Lawrie, might have been cast as Shepherd Boy if she wasn\u2019t so babyish and spoilt. Then she comes up with a plan. She\u2019ll let Nicola play in her place (instead of Sally, the official sub). This, she decides, is such a nice thing to do for Nick that somehow, as a reward, Lawrie will end up being Shepherd Boy. Also, if they get found out about the netball swap, Nicola will be in so much trouble, she won\u2019t be allowed to be Shepherd Boy, and Lawrie can revel in schadenfreude.<\/p>\n

The plan goes surprisingly smoothly the next morning, as they manage to fool Ann, Ginty and Matron. Lawrie stays in bed being Sick-Nicola, while Nicola messes up her hair and goes down to tell the netball team. They all think it\u2019s an excellent idea, and agree not to tell anyone, \u201cspecially not Marie Dobson\u201d. Tim needs some convincing and Nicola thinks:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was queer and difficult being friends with someone who disliked you so much. At least she supposed they were friends and she supposed it was dislike, though neither seemed quite the right word.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let me assist, Nicola. Yes, Tim dislikes you. You\u2019re free to dislike her back. No, you\u2019re not friends. There, sorted.<\/p>\n

There are some amusing bits where neat, precise Nicola is forced to be messy and disorganised in order to be a convincing Lawrie. They take the train to the school where they\u2019re playing their netball matches, telling Marie to walk with the Seniors, then ordering her out of their train carriage. (The teachers don\u2019t seem to notice this blatant bullying, which presumably happens at every away-game, so I don\u2019t think Nicola should have any concern about them noticing the twin-swap.)<\/p>\n

Now, I don\u2019t even like netball (typical Wing Defence<\/a>), but this game is pretty exciting. Everyone plays well, especially Nicola \u2013 so well that Lois and Janice, watching the game, realise it\u2019s not Lawrie playing. Janice says, \u201cLois, do have the sense to let it alone. You shouldn\u2019t have got Nicola out in the first place.\u201d Lois hotly denies this and prattles on about prefects having to do their duty, while Janice is coolly amused and dismissive, pointing out that Lawrie will get into just as much trouble as Nicola if Lois decides to report them. When Miss Craven comes over, Janice wickedly says, \u201cLawrie played particularly well. Didn\u2019t<\/em> Lawrie play well, Lois?\u201d and Lois reluctantly agrees that Lawrie deserves her colours. I\u2019m liking Janice more and more.<\/p>\n

On the way back, Marie manages to squirm into the carriage with the rest of the triumphant team and then gloats that she knows a secret. Except then she finds out that everyone else knew about the twin-swap and didn\u2019t tell her because they knew she\u2019d sneak to Craven or Lois. So Marie bursts into tears, exclaiming it\u2019s not fair that Nicola told everyone about Guides last year<\/a>. Even though Nicola hasn\u2019t told anyone. Marie is so pathetically awful \u2013 it\u2019s completely understandable that the other girls don\u2019t like her. If only a teacher or an older girl would take Marie under her wing and teach her some social skills, then work out what she\u2019s good at and let her have some success and responsibilities in that. Or<\/em> they could have left her in the B class with her friend Pomona. Instead, they throw her into the netball team, when she can\u2019t play, and ignore it when the others exclude her from everything. At least Nicola realises \u201cwe\u2019ll have to be a bit careful \u2026 she has feelings same like the rest of you\u201d, although Lawrie \u201cwho never really believed anyone but herself had any, remained unconvinced”.<\/p>\n

Next, Chapter Eight: As It Turned Out<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter Six: A Change of Cast Miranda has been watching the play rehearsals secretly, so she\u2019s there to witness Miss Kempe\u2019s frustration with Jess\u2019s terrible rendition of Shepherd Boy, Dr Herrick making Ginty the Archangel Gabriel, and Tim giving an impertinent but useful suggestion about stage direction. Then, what a surprise, Jess suddenly can\u2019t do … Continue reading \u2018End of Term\u2019, Part Five<\/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":[22,6,18],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-5527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1950s-and-1960s","category-books","category-my-favourite-books","tag-antonia-forest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5527","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=5527"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5534,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5527\/revisions\/5534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}