by Enid Blyton
The last week of term was a full one. Alice returned to class after her visit to the Head’s room and was given three rousing cheers by the proud sixth formers. Even the serious Miss Oakes beamed at the girl and patted her on the back.
Alice was the heroine of the school, for everywhere she went, girls and mistresses wanted to cheer her, or shake her good hand, and tell her how they admired her bravery.
‘Heavens, I shall get a swollen head if this goes on for much longer,’ said Alice, quite red-faced.
‘No, Jo would have got a swollen head,’ said June, clapping the girl on the shoulder. ‘But Alice is far too decent a person.’
June hadn’t been in the best of moods for the last few days, for she still hadn’t solved the problem of how to replace those members of her lacrosse teams who had gone down with the flu – and the matches were to be played the day before term ended. Now, though, she had finally got to grips with things, and made some decisions.
At break-time she approached Felicity and Susan, and said, ‘I have some news for you. You are both playing in the upper-school match against Marlowe Hall on Thursday.’
The two girls stared at June, quite speechless. At last, Felicity found her voice, and said, ‘But, June, we have hardly played at all this term, because of the exams and our extra duties. What if we let you down?’
‘As long as you try your best you won’t let me down,’ said June. ‘And I know that you will both do that. Can I count on you?’
The girls knew that June had been having difficulty making up her teams, and that if they didn’t play, the match might have to be cancelled. That, of course, was quite unthinkable, and, with the honour of Malory Towers at stake, both of them chorused, ‘Yes!’
‘We shall have to spend the next couple of days practising like mad,’ said Susan.
‘Well, what are you waiting for?’ laughed June. ‘You are both free now until after lunch, so off you go to the lacrosse field!’
June then went in search of Daffy, and found her in the courtyard, chatting with Katie, Faith and Violet.
‘Daffy!’ she called. ‘I want to see you at the lower-school lacrosse practice this afternoon.’
‘Of course, June,’ said Daffy, who had vowed to be on her very best behaviour from now on. ‘I’ll be there all right.’
‘Good,’ said June, ‘because you are in the team against Marlowe Hall on Thursday.’
For a moment, Daffy thought that she hadn’t heard June properly, then Katie gave a whoop of joy and thumped her on the back. ‘Good show, Daffy! We shall be playing together. Isn’t that marvellous?’
‘I’ll say,’ said Daffy, her voice quivering with excitement. ‘Thank you, June. I shall shoot dozens of goals, you see if I don’t!’
As June walked away, Faith congratulated Daffy too, but Violet said nothing. And Daffy, who felt that a new understanding had sprung up between the two of them, felt rather hurt.
Then Violet gave a haughty sniff and said, ‘Of course, you know that June only chose you because so many of the others are ill, don’t you?’
Daffy whipped round to stare at the girl, hardly able to believe her ears, then she saw that Violet was grinning.
‘Only joking, old girl!’ she laughed, giving Daffy a playful punch on the arm. ‘I’m simply thrilled for you!’
Then Daffy laughed too, while Katie and Faith exchanged startled looks. Heavens, only the other day Violet and Daffy had been bitter enemies, and now they were on their way to being the best of friends! Whatever next?
Felicity, Susan and Daffy stuck to their word, all three of them spending every spare minute on the lacrosse field over the next few days. Then it was Thursday, and the teams climbed aboard the big coach that was to take them to Marlowe Hall.
The lower school played first, while the upper school watched and cheered them on.
‘Daffy’s going to have her work cut out,’ said Felicity. ‘The girl marking her is twice her size.’
‘Yes, but Daffy is very agile and very fast,’ said June. ‘I don’t think that her opponent will be able to keep up with her.’
And June was quite right, for as soon as Daffy got the ball into her net, she was off down the field like a streak of lightning, before passing to Katie, who was very near the goal. Katie aimed for the goal, but just missed, causing the watching Malory Towers girls to groan.
‘Bad luck, Katie!’ called out Susan.
The two teams were very evenly matched, but a few minutes later one of the Marlowe Hall girls broke away from the girl marking her and shot a goal. Then, just before the whistle blew for half-time, Marlowe Hall scored again!
June was in despair, but although she groaned inwardly, she sportingly applauded the girl who had scored, for it really had been a most spectacular goal.
The lower-school team looked rather dispirited as they sank down on to the grass to rest, and June ran on to the field.
‘Cheer up!’ she said. ‘You’re all doing splendidly and you mustn’t lose heart. There is still a long way to go before the match is over.’
Her words put new heart into the girls, and they started the second half full of fighting spirit. And it paid off, for after only five minutes, Rita of the second form shot a goal. The team were inspired after that, and a little later Maggie also shot one.
Felicity and Susan hugged one another excitedly, while June cried, ‘We’re even! Come on, Malory Towers! Play up!’
And the girls did play up, putting every effort into stopping the Marlowe Hall girls from shooting any more goals.
Then, with only a few minutes of play left, Daffy found herself with the ball in her net and a clear shot at goal. The only trouble was, she was so far away that she wasn’t certain if she could get the ball in. Rita, however, was closer, and if Daffy were to pass the ball to her, she was almost certain to score. Daffy hesitated for a moment. How marvellous it would be if she were the one to shoot the winning goal! And wouldn’t it be something to tell the others when she returned to Malory Towers. But what if she missed? There would be no glory in that! Besides, if she passed to Rita, she would still have played a big part in scoring the goal. All of these thoughts ran through Daffy’s head in an instant and, in that instant, Daffy got an inkling of what team spirit was all about. The ball flew from her net to Rita’s, the second former caught it and flung it towards the goal, and then a great cheer went up, just as the whistle blew.
They had won! Malory Towers had won!
The upper-school team yelled themselves hoarse, thumping one another on the back, until June cried, ‘I say! We had better go and get changed, for our match starts shortly. Come along, everyone!’
Then it was the turn of the lower school to cheer on the older girls, which they did with great enthusiasm.
‘Good show, June!’
‘Come on, Felicity!’
‘Oh, rotten luck, Susan!’
Once again, the match was a very close and exciting one. Neither Felicity nor Susan shot a goal, though they tried their hardest, but June did, and won the match for her team.
As June shook hands with the captain of the opposing team, the younger girls jumped up and down, hugging one another in excitement.
And no one was more thrilled than Daffy, who felt as if she might burst from happiness. It just goes to show, she thought. There are other ways of having fun besides fooling around and playing jokes. All the same, I expect I shall get up to mischief occasionally, for it’s in my nature. But, from now on, I shall think things through properly before I play a trick, and make sure that no one can be hurt, for there is nothing funny in that at all!
Daffy thought that the day couldn’t get any better, but she was wrong, for June came and sat down beside her on the coach back to Malory Towers, and said, ‘Well done, Daffy. You played jolly well today.’
Daffy turned red with pleasure, and said, ‘Thanks, but I didn’t do anything marvellous. Why, I didn’t even shoot a goal.’
‘No, but you made it possible for Ri
ta to shoot one, and win the match for us,’ said June. ‘I was watching you, and saw you hesitate, wondering if you should try and aim for goal yourself.’
Daffy looked at June in surprise, wondering how on earth the games captain could have known what had been going through her mind.
June laughed, and said, ‘I know exactly what you were thinking, because the same thoughts would have gone through my mind when I was your age. In fact, I was once in your position, but I decided to try and grab the glory for myself, and shot for goal.’
‘What happened?’ asked Daffy, her eyes wide.
‘I missed,’ said June ruefully. ‘And our team lost the match. So you see, Daffy, you made the right decision. You have a lot more team spirit than I did when I was a youngster, and are a great deal more sensible.’
Sensible! What a horrid word, thought Daffy. She had made up her mind to turn over a new leaf, but she didn’t want to go too far and become all sensible and dull and goody-goody. That would never do! What a pity that it was the end of term tomorrow and there wasn’t time to plan another trick on Mam’zelle. Well, she would come back next term with plenty of tricks up her sleeve, and show everyone that, although the new Daffy was kind and thoughtful, she still knew how to make people laugh!
‘Well, this has rounded off the term nicely,’ said Felicity cheerily as the lacrosse teams arrived back at Malory Towers tired, untidy, hungry – and very, very happy.
‘I should say,’ agreed Susan. ‘My word, I’m starving! Hope there’s something good for supper.’
‘There’s sure to be, as it’s the last night,’ said June. ‘Come on, there’s just time to tidy ourselves up a bit and get changed before the bell goes.’
Of course, word had got round that both teams had won their lacrosse matches, and the players were absolutely thrilled when they entered the dining-room, and everyone got to their feet to applaud them.
‘Very well done, girls,’ called out Miss Potts. ‘We are extremely proud of you all.’
Then everyone took their seats and tucked in for, as June had predicted, it was a most delicious supper.
There were fat, juicy sausages and fluffy mashed potatoes, all smothered in gravy, followed by treacle pudding with custard. And, if anyone was still hungry after that, they could help themselves to cheese and biscuits.
Everyone ate hungrily, and Felicity noticed that even Alice, who normally had a poor appetite, seemed to be enjoying the meal.
The girl seemed much more relaxed and less timid now that her secret was out, and Felicity was pleased to see her chattering happily to Nora as she ate.
‘I say, Alice!’ she called out. ‘Will you be coming back to Malory Towers next term?’
‘Yes,’ said the girl, looking pleased. ‘If things had gone badly for me this term, I probably wouldn’t have, but as it is you’ve all been awfully decent to me.’
The others were pleased to hear this, for they had grown to admire Alice enormously, both for her ability to see her faults and change them, and for her courage.
‘It’s been a funny old term,’ said Felicity. ‘What with all the mystery surrounding Alice, and the trouble that the first formers have caused. As for Daffy Hope, I simply can’t believe how mistaken I was in her character!’
‘Well, you can hardly be blamed for that,’ said Susan. ‘Even her parents don’t realise how naughty she is! She had most of the mistresses fooled at first, too, with her innocent act, though Miss Potts saw through her fairly quickly.’
‘She’s not a bad kid at heart, though,’ said Felicity, looking across at the first-form table, where Daffy was chattering nineteen to the dozen with her friends. ‘And I shall certainly keep an eye on her next term!’
Many of the girls found it hard to sleep that night, for they were all excited at the thought of going home for the Christmas holidays. Even Felicity, quite worn out from her strenuous lacrosse match, found her mind racing as she thought of what fun it would be to spend Christmas with her parents and Darrell. At last, though, she dropped off, and didn’t stir until the bell rang the following morning.
Even Nora, who normally hated getting out of bed, was up on time, for she was as excited about going home as anyone.
After breakfast, there was the usual last-minute panic as everyone packed their trunks and hunted for long-lost items.
‘Oh, where is my hairbrush?’
‘Pam, have you seen my slippers?’
‘Lucy, why you are packing a photograph of my parents in your trunk, I don’t know!’
Things were even more chaotic in the first-form dormitory, for Willow had been brought down from the box-room and thought that it was great fun to climb in and out of the open trunks.
‘One of us is going to end up taking her home, if you don’t keep an eye on her, Violet,’ said Katie.
‘No chance of that,’ laughed Violet. ‘I’m not going to risk losing her again.’
Daffy flushed a little at this, for she always felt uncomfortable when reminded of the time that she had taken Willow and, seeing this, Violet quickly changed the subject, saying, ‘My goodness, won’t it be fun to be at home for Christmas?’
Daffy threw the girl a grateful look. Violet really had changed a lot just lately, she thought, and had become a much nicer person.
At last it was time for the girls to gather in the hall. Some of them were being collected by their parents, while others were waiting for the coaches that would take them to the railway station.
Susan’s parents were coming to drive her and Felicity home, and as the two girls waited patiently, Susan said, ‘Heavens, what a din! And most of it caused by the first formers!’
‘Well, we were just like them once,’ said Felicity with a grin. ‘And, one day, they will be just like us!’
‘Only two more terms,’ said Susan rather wistfully. ‘And then we leave Malory Towers for good.’
‘Yes, but we must try not to feel sad about it,’ said Felicity, giving her friend’s arm a squeeze. ‘Otherwise it will spoil the time that we have left.’
‘Yes, you’re quite right,’ said Susan, glancing out of the window. ‘Oh good, Mother and Father are here. Got your things, Felicity? Come along then.’
And, calling ‘goodbye’ to the others, the two girls walked out of the school, Felicity wondering what was in store for her during her final two terms at Malory Towers.
Plenty of fun, I expect, as well as some shocks and surprises. We shall have to come back and see!