Winter Term at Malory Towers Read Online Free PDF Page B

exactly what I thought,’ said Susan, with a grin. ‘Though, of course, I didn’t say that to Katie and Fenella!’
    â€˜So, it looks as if it’s up to us fourth formers to add a little fun to the proceedings,’ said June, looking thoughtful.
    â€˜I say!’ said Julie. ‘Remember that splendid pantomime that Darrell, Alicia and the others put on when they were in the fifth? Wouldn’t it be marvellous if we could do something like that?’
    â€˜We could never squeeze a whole pantomime into half an hour,’ said Felicity.
    â€˜No, it would be impossible,’ said Pam. ‘Besides, super though their pantomime was, I don’t think that any of us really want to copy Darrell and the others. It would be much better if we came up with a completely original idea.’
    There were murmurs of agreement, and Nora piped up,‘How about a display of dancing? We could all dress up as fairies, and angels, and what-not, and…’
    â€˜And you could take centre-stage,’ said Olive, with a sneer.
    Nora turned bright red, stung by the injustice of this. She had made the suggestion because of her love of dancing, but she certainly wasn’t the kind of person who wanted to steal the limelight all the time! Fortunately, the others knew her well enough to realise this, and Susan said coolly, ‘Do you have any ideas about what we could do as our contribution to the concert, Olive?’
    â€˜No,’ muttered Olive, sulkily.
    â€˜I thought as much. Well, if you don’t have anything useful to say, kindly keep quiet.’
    Then Susan turned to Nora and said, ‘Thanks for the suggestion, but most of us can’t dance as well as you can, so I really don’t think it would work. We need something that we can all be involved in.’
    â€˜What about putting on a short play?’ said Felicity. ‘There are lots of scripts for plays in the library, so we could try and find one with a Christmassy theme.’
    This sounded more like it, and the girls looked at one another excitedly.
    â€˜Marvellous idea!’ cried June. ‘And if we can find something that has a bit of humour in it, so much the better.’
    Sylvia, who had been unusually silent, perked up at this and said, ‘That sounds super! We put a play on at St Hilda’s once, and it brought the house down. Of course, I produced it, and—’
    â€˜And I expect you wrote it yourself, too, didn’t you?’ said Freddie.
    â€˜Oh no, though I did add a few lines of my own,’ said Sylvia, looking pleased at Freddie’s apparent interest. ‘You see—’
    â€˜I bet you designed all the costumes,’ put in Bonnie.
    â€˜And painted the scenery yourself,’ said Lucy.
    â€˜And probably took the leading role, too,’ said Nora.
    â€˜Oh no, that would have been far too much work for just one person!’ said the thick-skinned Sylvia, still completely unaware that the others were making fun of her. ‘Naturally I supervised everything, for I think it’s so important to have someone in charge who can organise things, and see that they go smoothly. And everything really did go like clockwork, if I do say so myself.’
    â€˜If she says that once more, I shall go mad,’ muttered Amy savagely, while Susan went on smoothly, ‘I do so agree with you, Sylvia. It’s very important to have someone who can organise things at the helm. And, as Miss Williams has put me in charge, I am that someone. But that doesn’t mean to say that I intend to go all bossy on you, and take over everything. This is going to be our play, and I will welcome any sensible suggestions, and listen to them.’
    That was the right way to run things, thought Felicity. Susan was firm, yet not the slightest bit domineering, and she was determined that this was going to be a form effort.
    â€˜We really need to decide on a play as quickly as