Naughtiest Girl 8: Well Done, The Naughtiest Girl

by Enid Blyton

  ‘Another hour should do it,’ grinned Julian.

  Seated comfortably in the tree, the two friends munched the last of the delicious sandwiches that Joan and Arabella had brought out to them. They offered the robin a few crumbs.

  It was morning break and quite a crowd of boys and girls was starting to gather below.

  The woodmen had long since retreated. They had parked their lorry some distance away down the road. They were sitting in the cab, drinking tea from a flask, waiting helplessly for further instructions.

  ‘They tried to tell me the tree needed to come down for a road widening scheme!’ said Elizabeth, indignantly. ‘A beautiful healthy tree like this with no disease at all! Who wants the silly road widened? Drivers can go a bit slower as they always have done and still have a lovely old tree to look at.’

  The tree department people agreed with Elizabeth entirely. It turned out that the powers that be hadn’t got all the correct paperwork, so the men weren’t allowed to cut the tree down. Within the next hour, an official arrived and pinned a notice to the old oak. It was an emergency Tree Preservation Order. It would go to appeal, of course, but now Miss Belle and Miss Best were involved, Elizabeth was confident the tree would survive.

  The doves cooed and all the little birds sang, as though in gratitude. Elizabeth’s heart sang loudest of all as, aching with tiredness, they were given permission to descend from the tree at long last. Everybody cheered.

  ‘Well done, Elizabeth!’

  Well done, the Naughtiest Girl!

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Goodbye to William and Rita

  NEVERTHELESS, ELIZABETH had been in breach of school rules. The big oak tree was out of bounds. She had visited it not once but several times. And she had spent an entire night away from her dormitory, causing everyone great alarm and anxiety. That was a most serious offence.

  At the big school Meeting the next day, it all had to be written down in the Book. It was the last Meeting of the summer term and the last one ever for William and Rita. There were serious matters to discuss and the head boy and girl were determined that they should be dealt with fairly and wisely. All their conclusions would be written in the Book, offering help and guidance to future Meetings after they had gone.

  ‘As soon as you suspected the tree was in danger, Elizabeth, you should have reported it to a monitor,’ said William. ‘Even though, to do so, would have meant confessing that you had been out of bounds. Another time, you must try not to take matters into your own hands.’

  ‘Yes, William,’ agreed Elizabeth, contritely. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘On the other hand,’ said Rita, busily writing in the Book, ‘this was one of those very rare occasions when breaking a school rule had a beneficial outcome. If you had not been exploring the tree in the first place, you would never have discovered that it was to be felled. It would have been lost. Although you should not have acted alone, your action was brave and so that must go in the Book, too.’

  The Meeting had to deal with Arabella’s crimes, too.

  That was more difficult.

  At the behest of the joint heads, Miss Ranger had started giving Arabella some extra lessons in preparation for Monday’s English exam. She would have to spend the entire weekend on difficult exercises. There would be a completely new paper set, of course. The Beauty and the Beast had reasoned, correctly, that the girl must be beside herself with panic to have stooped so low. She clearly needed help. At the same time, cheating was a serious offence at Whyteleafe School and so was letting someone else take the blame. These were things that the Meeting must deal with.

  There was also the very difficult matter of next week’s Leavers’ Concert to think about. Should Arabella still be allowed to play – or should Elizabeth take her place?

  ‘Why did you practise so hard for the concert, Arabella,’ asked Rita, as the fair-haired girl stood up, ‘when you should have been working for your summer exams?’

  ‘At first I just wanted to be chosen to spite Elizabeth,’ replied Arabella truthfully. ‘She always seems to be better at things than me and then she laughs at me. I don’t know why nobody likes me and everybody likes Elizabeth.’

  ‘Elizabeth can be very naughty but she has a warm heart and that is why people like her,’ explained Rita. ‘She cares for others whereas you are sometimes thought not to.’

  ‘It wasn’t a bit warm-hearted of her to make such a contest of it,’ complained Arabella. ‘She knew I was better than her but she started practising so hard, I didn’t dare slack off after that. I was so worried about the exams but I couldn’t let Elizabeth beat me and I knew she wanted to. It was my big chance to shine, you see,’ she blurted out. ‘I did so want to be chosen. That – that was the only reason I took so long to confess about the exam paper.’

  ‘Is this true, Elizabeth?’ asked William. The whole school was listening, in fascination. ‘That you knew Arabella was better than you but decided to make a battle of it? Even when you both had exams coming up?’

  For the first time, Elizabeth felt a twinge of shame.

  ‘Yes, it is true,’ she said, hanging her head. ‘I did realize Arabella was better, quite early on. But I still wanted to beat her. Even though I’d been in the school play and she hadn’t. And even though it meant skimping all my revision. And so, in a way, I suppose I stopped her revising, as well.’

  Sitting down again, next to Julian on the first form benches, Elizabeth began to think deeply about things.

  Poor Arabella! Elizabeth had been working hard and was starting to lose her fear of the exams. But she could tell that Arabella was as worried as ever. It must be dreadful to be the oldest in the form and always struggling near the bottom.

  On the platform, with the other monitors, Joan put her hand up.

  ‘Please, William, don’t just blame Elizabeth! I think it was wrong of me but I heartily encouraged her at the time.’

  ‘And I encouraged Arabella!’ exclaimed Rosemary, jumping to her feet. ‘I tried to mention the exams sometimes but most of the time, I just egged her on.’

  The head boy looked from Joan to Rosemary and nodded.

  ‘Thank you both for speaking up,’ he said. ‘There’s an important lesson to be learnt here. The rest of the school, please take note. We always want to please our friends, don’t we? We like to say to them the things that they want to hear. But sometimes the thing that is best for them is the very last thing that they want to hear. The finest friendship you can give someone is to stand up to them sometimes and tell them when you think they are doing the wrong thing.’

  Joan at once nodded agreement. Rosemary sat down, feeling very ashamed at the way she always pretended to agree with Arabella, even when she knew she was wrong. Elizabeth glanced at Julian admiringly. He had told her several times that she was overdoing things with the piano business.

  Rita wrote all this down. Then she, in turn, addressed the school.

  ‘There is something else I would like to point out. To both Elizabeth and Arabella. But it applies to the rest of us, too. It is very easy to care about people whom we like. To care equally for those people whom we don’t like is much more difficult but is something we must strive for.’

  Shyly, Kathleen put her hand up.

  ‘Please, Rita, Arabella was really upset when she thought something had happened to Elizabeth. Even though she doesn’t like her! She was crying.’

  The Naughtiest Girl’s eyes opened wide at this surprising piece of news. She turned to look at Arabella but the other girl turned her head away, embarrassed.

  ‘Thank you for pointing that out, Kathleen,’ said Rita. ‘And this brings us to the final business of the Meeting. We have given everything a good airing and now we have to decide about the Leavers’ Concert. Should Arabella still be allowed to represent the first form or should Elizabeth take her
place?’

  ‘This is going to be a very difficult decision,’ added William. ‘Rita and I will talk it over with the monitors.’

  Everybody on the platform went into a huddle. There seemed to be a long argument going on. Elizabeth sat very tense and still. So did Arabella. All around them the hall buzzed with conversation, as the boys and girls discussed amongst themselves which of the two girls should be allowed to play.

  Then William banged the gavel on the table for silence.

  ‘We are finding it impossible to reach agreement,’ he announced. He gazed towards the back of the hall where, as always, Miss Belle, Miss Best and Mr Johns sat in on the Meeting. They never joined in unless their advice was sought. ‘We would like the heads to tell us what they think.’

  Miss Belle at once rose to her feet. She was smiling.

  ‘While you have been discussing this difficult problem, we have been discussing it, too. We have decided that you should let Elizabeth and Arabella use their own good sense in the matter. Let them discuss it together privately. Let them decide which of them should play at the Leavers’ Concert.’

  It was the end of summer term at Whyteleafe, the very last day of the school year. William and Rita and the others were leaving today! Exams were over and the results posted on the board.

  Elizabeth had passed! She would be going up into the second form next term! She would be reunited with Joan. She would be going up with Julian and Patrick and Kathleen and Belinda and Jenny . . . and Arabella! Somehow Arabella had managed to scrape through the English exam and had passed in maths, and French as well. She had failed some other papers but because of her tremendous progress in music this term had been given some useful bonus marks for that instead. So she was being allowed into the second form.

  ‘As a matter of fact, I really like my piano practice now,’ she had confided to the music master. ‘I never realized how satisfactory it could be, to find out that there’s something one is really good at!’

  Mr Lewis was delighted.

  It was time for the Leavers’ Concert.

  He was up on the platform in the hall now, smiling at Sophie as she waited nervously with her flute. She would be the first to perform. All the parents had arrived and the hall was crammed full.

  The girl from the junior class soon got over her nerves. She gave a faultless performance. Everybody applauded. William and Rita, sitting in the front row, sat very still. They glanced at each other, moist-eyed, for they knew that this concert would be their last memory of Whyteleafe.

  ‘And now,’ announced Mr Lewis, ‘to represent the first form we have one of our most gifted pupils. Arabella Buckley.’

  Sitting between her parents, near the front, Elizabeth watched Arabella as she walked on to the platform. She put her music in place on the grand piano which had been brought into the hall for this special occasion. How magnificent it looked. Arabella looked quite small against it. She looked different today, thought Elizabeth, her fair hair brushed and gleaming, a spot of colour in each cheek, her eyes sparkling.

  As she started to play a deep hush descended over the audience. The pictures came again to Elizabeth, conjured up by the music. Those lovely visions of green fields, grass blowing, clouds scudding across blue sky, wooded hills . . . What a fine player Arabella was!

  William and Rita listened, enraptured.

  All too soon it was over.

  Children from other classes came and went. Richard played his fine new piece. Then Courtney Wood, the well-known concert pianist, performed for the rest of the programme, as planned.

  It had been a wonderful Leavers’ Concert this year and yet, for Elizabeth, it was Arabella’s music that lingered in the mind. Had the head boy and girl enjoyed it as much as she had? She did hope so!

  Afterwards, she and Julian went to say goodbye to them. They were deeply touched when Julian presented them with the little wood carvings.

  ‘They are quite beautiful, Julian!’ exclaimed Rita.

  ‘Father Bear rather looks like me, doesn’t he?’ laughed William in delight.

  He turned to face Elizabeth and smiled approvingly.

  ‘So you and Arabella sorted it out then? How did you decide?’

  ‘It was easy,’ replied Elizabeth. ‘I just thought Arabella’s piece would be the best memento for you, better than mine actually. I – I’m just sorry that I haven’t got anything of my own to give you.’

  ‘But we heard your music drifting out one evening, Elizabeth, and that was lovely, too,’ said Rita quietly. ‘I will never be able to hear Greensleeves in future without its reminding me of you.’

  Elizabeth blushed with pleasure.

  ‘Naughtiest Girl in the school – Best Girl in the school!’ laughed William. ‘You have no need to give us a memento—’

  He bent and kissed her on the cheek. Then Rita did likewise.

  ‘Memento? Please don’t be silly!’

  ‘Dear Elizabeth! How could we ever forget you?’

  Enid Blyton has been one of the world’s best-loved storytellers for over 70 years. Her interest in writing began as a child, and before she loved receiving letters from the children who read her books, she enjoyed working with them as a teacher. The Naughtiest Girl stories are inspired by real schools and experiences. Turn the page to learn more about Enid as a child and as a teacher. Afterwards, you might like to write about your school and teachers and the people in your class!

  11 August 1897Enid Blyton was born in East Dulwich, London. Two brothers are born after her – Hanly (b. 1899) and Carey (b. 1902)

  1911 Enid enters a children’s poetry competition and is praised for her writing. She’s on the path to becoming a bestselling author . . .

  1916 Enid begins to train as a teacher in Ipswich. By the time she is 21, she is a fully-qualified Froebel teacher, and starts work at a school in Kent.

  1917 Enid’s first ‘grown-up’ publication – three poems in Nash’s Magazine.

  June 1922 Enid’s first book is published. It’s called Child Whispers.

  1926 Enid begins editing – and writes – the phenomenal Sunny Stories for Little Folks magazine. (She continues in this role for 26 years!)

  1927 So vast is Enid’s output that she has to learn to type. (But she still writes to children by hand.)

  1931 Having married Hugh Pollock in 1924, the couple’s first child, Gillian, is born. Imogen, their second daughter, was born in 1935.

  1942 The Famous Five is launched with Five on a Treasure Island.

  1949 The first appearance of The Secret Seven and of Noddy mark this year as special.

  1953 Enid moves away from Sunny Stories to launch Enid Blyton’s Magazine. She is now renowned throughout the world – she even established her own company, called Darrell Waters Limited (the surname of her second husband).

  1962 Enid Blyton becomes one of the first and most important children’s authors to be published in paperback. Now, she reaches even more readers than ever before.

  28 November 1968 Enid dies in her sleep, in a nursing home in Hampstead.

  Enid’s death wasn’t the end of her remarkable legacy. In the 1970s, the Famous Five became TV stars (Noddy having already hit our screens in 1955). In 1996, the Enid Blyton Society was formed so that fans across the world could share their enthusiasm for Enid’s work (www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk) In 2012, the Famous Five celebrated 70 years of continuous publishing, with special editions featuring covers by top illustrators, led by Quentin Blake. New book, film and merchandising deals are being struck all the time. Enid’s work is definitely here to stay!

  What did you like most about school?

  I loved school, every minute of it. I loved learning. The things I liked at kindergarten were the things I have liked best all my life – stories – music – nature – and games.

 
What do you remember about school?

  I remember everything about it – the room, the garden, the pictures on the wall, the little chairs, the dog there, and the lovely smells that used to creep out from the kitchen into our classroom. I remember how we used to take biscuits for our mid-morning break and swap them with one another – and how we used to dislike one small boy who was clever at swapping a small biscuit for a big one.

  What was your best subject?

  Essay and composition and story-writing.

  What about your worst?

  Sums. I hadn’t the right kind of brain for figures and I used to look on in awe when I saw other boys and girls doing the most complicated sums.

  We know you loved stories. Tell us about some of your favourites?

  My favourite book as a child was called The Princess and the Goblin by George Macdonald, and also loved Coral Island by R. M. Ballantyne. Other books I enjoyed include:

  Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll.

  Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (even though parts of it were sad).

  The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley.

  Arthur Mee’s Children’s Encyclopedia – which I read from end to end. Nature books. Annuals. Magazines, too.

  Myths and legends from all around the world.

  I liked poetry – even when I didn’t really understand it.

  I quite liked comics – but found they were like sweets – you sucked them for a few minutes, then they were gone, and you didn’t think about them any more.

  Were there any books you didn’t enjoy?

  I didn’t like all stories. Some I found dull and boring, just as you do. There were no real children as characters, and it was children I badly wanted to read about. There were no lively conversations in the books. Nothing to really make me laugh.