The New Girl

Standing in the corridor alongside her mother, Kelly was gazing at the different paintings on the school walls when an austere looking woman walked towards her. She had silver coloured hair which she tied back in a big bun, her black glasses were octagonal steel rimmed, and she was holding a hardback notebook in her right hand. She was very well dressed in a three quarter length navy skirt suit, a white and black shirt, a dark blue tie which she wore in a double Windsor knot pushed up against her tight collar, her top button closed, black pumps, and a pair of drop earrings were suspended from her ears. Looking at her, you would not think for a second that she did not remotely possess a sense of humour, and your assumptions would have been correct, she had a very stern look in her eyes. From her muscular physique, it was clear to see that she had been an athlete once, and ongoing from Kelly's perspective. Her green eyes were like emeralds, and she had a slightly crooked nose, as if it had been broken once or twice. 

Facing Kelly, she exclaimed, "so, you must be Kelly, I've heard about you, quite the troublemaker I'm told. Well, that shall stop here, I am Mrs. Caroline Fox, the school headmistress, and while you're here you shall learn to behave yourself. I do not tolerate any messing or trouble making in this school, we enrol students to mould them into respectable human beings, not to be acting like idiots. First things first, we need to get you fitted for your school uniform. Mrs. Simons, you can head away now, we'll take things from here." Watching as her mother walked outside, Kelly gulped, she was in the deep end now. As they made their way along the corridors that seemed to span for miles on end, Kelly could feel as if she was being watched. It was probably just her imagination, yes, she was just thinking things, it wasn't anything silly like that. Arriving at a vast room, Mrs Fox walked in with Kelly in tow. "Stand over there Kelly, hands by your sides" Mrs Fox barked, she sounded more like a drill sergeant than a school headmistress. Clicking her finger, Mrs Fox summoned the school tailor, a plump woman with a boil on her nose and a small incision on her left cheek, "must have been from a fight or something" Kelly thought to herself.

Mrs. Quickly arrived with a tape measure dangling from her shoulders. "Kelly, this is Mrs. Quickly, she's our school tailor, she fits every new student here for their uniform. Speaking of which, your uniform shall compose of a three quarter length grey skirt, a mustard yellow tie, a shirt which shall be closed to the top button at all times, black stockings and a grey jumper. On more formal school occasions, you are required to wear a school blazer, this is mandatory with no exceptions. Every morning you shall come down for breakfast at 8:30am sharp, and the prefects conduct uniform checks before you enter the breakfast room. If your uniforms are not up to the school dress code, they shall take down your name in their notebook, and if the student racks up three infractions, they shall serve detention. Students are to appear properly dressed at all times. We begin breakfast every morning with a prayer, we are a very devout school and we take pride in it. Lunch shall be served at 1pm, and then dinner shall be served at 5pm. Students in each year are sorted into three groups, their year number, so 5 for example, and then these are split into three, so 5A, 5B and 5C again for example, and each separate class shall report to their designated classroom for evening study. This shall commence at 7pm sharp and then finish at 10pm, after which you shall go to bed. Students are to be properly dressed. Like with breakfast,, your uniform infractions shall also be in place when you arrive for evening study. Your infractions shall be cleared at the end of every week and you start again. Students shall address the prefects and staff in a courteous manner, and anytime our head boy and head girl walk into a room you all stand up and shake their hand. When teachers come in, you shall also stand up and only may sit down when they tell you to. Now, get changed into your uniform, we have no time to dawdle."

Scared stiff of her new headmistress, Kelly quickly got changed into her uniform. Struggling to tie her tie, Kelly exclaimed, "Mrs. Fox, could you give me a hand with my tie?" Sighing, Mrs. Fox exclaimed, "fine, just this once, from now on, you learn to tie your tie." When Mrs. Fox had finished, she tightened Kelly's tie, placed her hand on Kelly's shoulder, "perfect, now chop chop, there's a lot more to do." Kelly was very nervous, it was her first day in a new school, and especially one that wore a school uniform. She was a new student which to her meant that she would be fodder to everyone else, and her headmistress was more strict than anyone Kelly had ever met in her life. Kelly looked around her, and in her opinion, it was like someone opened the gates of the underworld and threw her in. Mrs. Fox cleared her throat, "come on Kelly, there's no time to be lazing about, thinking to yourself. It's time for you to meet your homeroom". Sighing, Kelly followed Mrs. Fox down the long winding corridor until they reached a classroom labelled 4.A. Knocking on the door, Mrs. Fox walked in with Kelly behind her. "Ms Rose, this is Kelly Simons, she's a new student here, and I have designated her to be in your homeroom." Ms. Rose was a young woman, from Kelly's estimations, she was no more than thirty five. She was wearing a red knee length dress with white polka dots, and a very expensive set of pearls around her neck. "Thank you headmistress. It's very nice to meet you Kelly, take a seat anywhere and I'll help you meet some of your fellow students here." Unlike Mrs. Fox, Ms. Rose was very soft spoken, her angelic voice made Kelly feel a little more comfortable than that of Mrs. Fox's. Kelly watched as Mrs. Fox then turned on her heel and walked back out of the classroom, and could hear her marching back down the winding corridor like a stormtrooper. As the morning passed by, Kelly was introduced to her fellow students in her homeroom who were all very nice people and helped her get acquainted with the place. 

When the bell to signify the start of the morning classes, Kelly followed her new friends to class. While they were all waiting for their teacher to arrive, she noticed a girl look at her. With a chill up her spine, Kelly knew that this girl was nothing but trouble, more than Kelly had ever been. One of Kelly's friends, a blonde haired girl with bangs called Amy exclaimed, "that's Melissa, she thinks she's the so called queen bee around this place, but she daren't cross the prefects, or especially Mrs. Fox, despite the fact that Melissa is Mrs. Fox's niece. Melissa thinks she is destined to be head girl one day, her mother and two of her aunts were, so Melissa thinks she'll be next in line when the opportunity arises." With a second chill, Kelly watched Melissa walk towards her with two other girls flanked behind her. "New student eh? I figured as such. These two are Serena and Kate, my number two and three." Kelly could feel a subtle sense of venom in her mind, "yes, I am actually, the name's Kelly, Kelly Simons, and you would do well to remember it." With a look of surprise, Melissa turned to her friends, "ooh, seems we have a feisty one here. I like that, why don't you join me and I'll show you around." Straightening her tie, Kelly glared at her, "no thanks Melissa." Stunned, Melissa took a step back, "excuse me?" Standing in front of Melissa, almost nose to nose, Kelly replied, "I said no thanks Melissa, did that message not register the first time?" Melissa was then filled with fury, "fine then, see if I care." 


When the teacher arrived, Kelly walked into the classroom, this was to be her first lesson in her new school. The teacher was. a young woman, roughly about the same age as Ms. Rose. "good morning class, I am Ms. Wilson, I am your English teacher, I say that because we have a new student here today. I'm sure you have all now met Kelly Simons. Take a seat anywhere Kelly, and I'll talk to you about the curriculum and the like after class. It's not that tricky to get to grips with." I noticed Ms. Wilson look at Melissa, and exclaimed, "Melissa, I do not want any messing in my class. You three shall sit apart from each other and you shall remain in those seats for the year. I do not want a repeat of last year's behaviour." With a suppressed snigger, Kelly took her seat.

When the school day had finished, Kelly was walking back to her homeroom when she noticed Mrs. Fox walking towards me. Slightly nervous, she stopped dead in her tracks. Mrs. Fox could sense Kelly's nervousness, and exclaimed, "no need to be nervous or anything, Kelly, you're not in any trouble. I just wanted to ask you how your first day went." Relieved, Kelly replied, "it was fantastic, I think I'll really get to like it here. I met Melissa who wasn't exactly the friendly person to me." Nodding, Mrs. Fox replied, "I'm not remotely surprised to be honest, Melissa is not the friendly type at all. I should know, she's my niece, and she is always jealous of new students, especially girls who join your year. She sees them as a threat to her self-believed destiny to be head girl. I do not show favouritism towards any student, Melissa included. Her mother and I were both head girl when we were here as students, so Melissa thinks she's guaranteed to follow in our footsteps and become the head girl when the opportunity arises." At that moment I heard a familiar voice, "it's not a thought, it's fact." My suspicions were confirmed when I saw Melissa walking towards us with Serena and Kate in tow. This was not going to be good. "In trouble already are we Kelly? Not even here a day and you're already being disciplined, disgraceful." Mrs. Fox glared at her with disgust, "no, she's not actually Melissa, I was asking her about her first day here. I would watch the next snide remark that comes out of your mouth Melissa, you already have two infractions and it's only the first day. One more snide comment, and I shall give you detention, and your mother would not like that would she? No, I thought as much. She wrote to me to keep an eye on you, and that I shall. The rate you are going, and your behaviour last year, you have a long way to go before you are even remotely considered to be a prefect next year. Now get a move on, you have evening study to prepare for." 

As they walked along the corridor, Kelly was telling Mrs. Fox about the rest of her day, and looking at her watch, Mrs. Fox exclaimed, "crikey, look at the time, Kelly, you'd better get back to your homeroom and prepare for evening study as well. Wait a second, let me fix your tie, I'll do it this once, and then you'll have to learn how to tie one yourself. There we go, oh, I forgot to mention, students are also required to wear their blazers for evening study. I took the liberty of putting one in your locker, so go and get it." When Mrs. Fox was finished, Kelly stood for a second, and then looked in the mirror, there was something good about having a tight tie and a tight collared shirt

Walking back to her locker, Kelly picked up the blazer and put it on, it was made with soft material so it didn't feel heavy on her. Locking her locker again, Kelly turned to find Melissa standing in front of her. Jumping back with fright, Kelly wondered what Melissa wanted now. With total sarcasm, Melissa exclaimed, "hello Kelly, I just came to thank you for your time earlier, here's my thank you gift." Kelly then watched Melissa throw her fist back, and then felt it hitting her nose. Kelly looked down at her left hand which was slightly covered in blood, Melissa had hit her hard enough to cause her a nosebleed. To Kelly, it felt even more excruciating than that, it felt to her like it was broken. Mrs. Fox who could sense trouble faster than any other teacher in the school, marched down the corridor towards Melissa and Kelly. When she arrived, she faced Kelly and then Melissa, the latter with an outraged glare. "Melissa, did you do this? Answer me, and do not lie. Lying will just get you in further trouble. Kelly, go to the school nurse, she'll take a look at you. Her office is room 2-7, down the corridor from the girls bathroom." 

Arriving at the nurse's office, Kelly rapped on the door. "Come in" a gentle voice exclaimed. The nurse looked up from her desk and saw Kelly standing there with blood still flowing down her face. "You must be Kelly, I'm Ms. Angela Wilson, the Ms. Wilson you have for English class is my sister Susana. Mrs. Fox mentioned to me that you're new here. We keep records on every student for medical reasons. Come in and I'll take a look at your nose." Sitting down, Kelly watched as Angela examined her nose, and after about twenty minutes, she exclaimed, "Kelly, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but your nose is broken. I'll need you to come in three times a week to help with your recuperation, and in the meantime, I'll have to ask you to wear this face mask, I apologise for any inconvenience it may cause.Anyways, you'd better run along and get to evening study." When Kelly had finished, she walked out of the nurse's office where she was met by Mrs. Fox. "Kelly, in light of Melissa's actions, you are exempt from evening study tonight. I want you to return to your dormitory and get some rest, I'll have the cook bring up some food for you in a while, I hope you like cottage pie." Beaming, Kelly replied, "I love it." Kelly was beginning to think that Mrs. Fox was not as bad as she originally thought. 

Getting back to her dorm room, Kelly walked over to the mirror and wiped the last bits of blood from her face. Lying down on her bed, Kelly ate the food that the cook had brought up, and then fell asleep almost instantly. In what seemed like an instant the night had flown by. Waking up, she looked out the window, and was then met by Amy. "Morning sleepyhead, time to get showered and dressed for breakfast." Rising off her bed, Kelly then walked into her dorm-room's shower. When she had finished, Kelly got dressed, she was slowly beginning to like the idea of wearing a school uniform, there was no uniform in her previous school, so the idea of a uniform was new to her. Looking at herself in the mirror, Kelly beamed with confidence, she was properly dressed and the uniform made her feel like she could take on the world. Turning to Amy, she exclaimed, "Amy, could you help me tie my tie?" Enthusiastically, Amy giggled, "alright, come on, collar up for me. I'll teach you later to tie one yourself." After Amy had finished, Kelly looked at herself in the mirror one last time and then followed Amy and her other dormitory friends downstairs to the breakfast room. Walking to the entrance, they were inspected by the prefects. Passing the inspection, Kelly and her friends walked into the breakfast room. Hiding her face from sight, Kelly tried to sit down with Amy when she noticed the whole room sniggering at her, and then turned to find Melissa re-enacting the punch to the amusement of everyone, and also laughing at Kelly's face mask. She was in the middle of re-enacting it again when Mrs. Fox walked into the room which then went deadly quiet. Her voice thundered, "Melissa!! This is the final straw, go to my office right now!! Everyone, quit making fun of Kelly this instant, I expect you all to be more mature and more welcoming to her. How would you like it if any of you had a broken nose and someone was making fun of you? That's what I thought, now, everyone apologise to Kelly and then we'll have breakfast without any more immature behaviour."

How’s it going so far?

A few days later Kelly was walking down the corridor with her friends when she was approached by Miranda which Kelly knew was not going to be good. While her nose was recovering, Kelly's mask made her the butt of Miranda's jokes. Kelly had been ridiculed by nearly everyone in the school because of the mask, they would call her horrible names and rudely insulted her at nearly every waking moment. "Well, if it isn't the masked weirdo Kelly. I have to say you look so idiotic with that mask on, but of course you have to wear it while your nose recovers. Them's the breaks I suppose. I have single handedly made you the figure of ridicule around here, and should you cross me again, I'll embarrass you further. You had better stay on my good side or else I will make your life here a living hell that you'll be begging Mrs. Fox to leave. Do I make myself clear? Good, now you understand." At that moment Miranda had started a chant that was very insulting to Kelly who ran away in floods of tears. Going into the bathroom, Kelly broke down crying in front of the mirror. She had not been in the school a week and she was already the target, she was live bait to Miranda's immature behaviour. Walking down the stairs, Kelly arrived at Mrs. Fox's office. Knocking, she heard the voice exclaim, "come in."

Looking up from her desk, Mrs. Fox exclaimed, "Kelly, whatever's the matter?" Sitting down, Kelly explained everything; and this made Mrs. Fox go crimson with fury. "Kelly, you follow me and I'll deal with this personally. All students are to report to the auditorium this instant!" When they arrived at the auditorium, Kelly was asked by Mrs. Fox to take a seat next to her onstage. This made Kelly feel very nervous, she had not been onstage before in the school." Kelly watched as Mrs. Fox then stood in front of the microphone, her face was still the crimson colour. "I have summoned you all here because I have been told of immature behaviour spreading around the school that is targeted at Kelly while she has to wear her mask during her nasal recuperation. I will not tolerate any behaviour like this, Kelly is a new student and I expect you all to be welcoming to her. You shall all appear onstage, one by one, apologise to Kelly and shake her hand, failure to comply with this shall warrant a week's detention. I have heard that a particular student is the ringleader of these immature antics, Miranda, get up here right now." Miranda was not in her seat which meant she had found a way to weasel her way out of coming to the auditorium. As each moment went by, Mrs. Fox was getting more and more furious. Storming with fury out of the auditorium, everyone could hear Mrs. Fox yell at the top of her voice to Miranda to come to the auditorium immediately. She had even threatened to expel Miranda who upon hearing this threat scurried into the auditorium as fast as her legs could carry her. When Miranda arrived, she sat down in her seat and fell silent. "Miranda, leaving aside the fact that you are my niece, in my twenty two years as an educator, I have never seen a more troublesome student than you. I am getting quite fed up with your antics, and it stops right now. You claim that you are going to be the head girl here someday, but with your constant immature behaviour, you have no chance in hell. You are nothing but a spoilt brat who never learns her place. One more step out of line and I shall make you repeat the year." The whole auditorium then sniggered, they thought this was the height of embarrassment for Miranda. 

Kelly watched as Mrs. Fox straightened her tie, she had clearly shown that she was the very cold and harsh headmistress, even to her own family. Kelly thought that Mrs. Fox's words were rather harsh, and made her the tyrannical headmistress that Kelly had met the moment she arrived. Mrs. Fox clearly hated being a teacher, but her entire family were teachers so she did not really have a choice. "I shall not tolerate any messing around by any student, you brats are all here to learn, and having fun means you are not learning. I am henceforth banning all after school activities, and each and every one of you shall report to after school study the minute the school day is finished. You shall appear properly dressed at all times, and anyone flaunting this rule shall face a month of detention without any second chances. I am sick and tired of seeing improper uniforms and every morning you shall all arrive to class with smart looking uniforms. You may see me as a tyrannical headmistress, well, yes I am actually. The moment this is finished, you are to head to class, and anyone caught outside of class hours shall be disciplined. I have been soft on you, but that stops right now."

At that moment the head girl stood up and applauded, she was clearly as power hungry as Mrs. Fox. Naturally, this was the case as she was in fact Mrs. Fox's daughter Sarah. Kelly was shocked, but in a way was also not surprised, it was clear as crystal that Mrs. Fox had used her power to make Sarah the head girl without any other person having a chance. Kelly noticed that Sarah was not wearing a tie which meant that Mrs. Fox was clearly showing obvious favouritism towards Sarah. It was completely unprofessional, but Kelly knew if she said a word she would be in big trouble.

I'm kind of modelling the headmistress off of Ms. Trunchbull in Matilda

Kelly was nearly sick to her stomach, Mrs. Fox had clearly been abusing her power as headmistress, it was clear as crystal. Kelly knew she had to find proof to present to the board of directors, the only people who had the power to oust Mrs. Fox from her position as headmistress. What people didn't know about Kelly was that she was whiz with electronics and computers so she knew that if she hacked Mrs. Fox's office camera, she knew that she could find Mrs. Fox in the mud. When the assembly had finished, Kelly made her way to the IT lab to use one of the computers. With her hacking skills, Kelly quickly took control of the camera in Mrs Fox's office. It was always recording and was then sent to the school's camera recording server. Kelly watched as Mrs. Fox strolled around her office exclaiming, "finally, my years of planning have finally come to fruition. I am the headmistress of a school of brats, Sarah is the head girl, and nobody can remove me from my position. My old teachers said all those years ago I would not be a likely candidate for headmistress, though must of them are either retired or dead, so I don't care. Their ways are a thing of the past, they were too lenient on the students here, I under my jurisdiction, I have made this school a respectable school, at least in here, but soon everyone will know it. It feels so good being in control here, the students are all brats, but I rule this school like a queen. Some headmasters and headmistresses are lenient in their schools, but here, I rule with an iron fist and nobody shall mess with me."

Kelly chuckled, "I will you tyrannical cretin. You are going to be very sorry once I'm done with you Mrs. Fox." When she had finished, Kelly uploaded the recording to the school's private camera recording server, posting with an anonymous name. Every day the board of directors checked the recordings to see how everything is going on day to day. 

A couple of days later, Mrs. Fox was giving a morning auditorium when she heard some people walking into the room. "Caroline! We've been hearing of you abusing your powers as headmistress, and we even received a video recording." Mrs. Fox exclaimed, "Mrs. Chairwoman, how lovely to see you here this morning." The chairwoman snapped, "enough with the pleasantries Caroline, I have been sent from an anonymous person video proof of you abusing your authority here and I for one am I fed up with it. You have single handedly turned this school into the equivalent of the military and your methods are very austere. I have come to tell you that your services as headmistress are no longer required." Mrs. Fox had suddenly gone pale, almost as if she had seen a ghost. "While we are waiting for a new principal, I shall take temporary charge in addition to my chairwoman duties. Sarah, you are no longer the head girl, and any changes that Mrs. Fox has made in her time as headmistress shall be revoked. I am reinstating after school activities and you can have as much fun as you wish. I'll still expect good grades, but other than that, enjoy yourselves here." 

Mrs. Fox could not believe what she was hearing, some anonymous entity had ousted her from her job. "Felicity, I beg you, please!!" The chairwoman shook her head, "sorry Caroline, but my decision is final. You have an hour to pack your things and leave. You are a disgrace to teachers everywhere. Now, get out of my sight."