Just so you know, Matilda is my favorite book of all time. I adore most of Roald Dahl's work but that book in particular is full of pure brilliance and I could probably go on forever about how good it is but I won't bore you. What I will say is that the musical took the chaotic moment of Matilda's first telekinetic moment and turned it into one of the most incredibly moving songs I've ever heard. As an ADD suffering ENFP, I knew EXACTLY what the song was talking about, having felt moments like it myself on many, many occasions. So I decided to take the moment in the book and write it from Matilda's perspective. I hope I can replicate it. So this is kind of a love-note to my favorite book and second favorite musical (sorry, Matilda, but Wicked is incredible; it's one of the few cases where the adaptation is a thousand times better than the book and you're one of the cases where the book is so perfect, it's impossible to be improved upon).

By the way, all the lines of dialogue are quoted directly from the book. If you haven't read it, drop everything and read it. Even if you're too old for children's books, it's freaking Roald Dahl. It's worth it.

~KateMarie999

Overwhelmed

"I shall be keeping a very careful eye on you from now on. Sit down and keep quiet."

It may have been my fault for being impetuous with Miss Trunchbull. I should have kept my mouth shut. Her insinuation that none of us in the class had read Nicolas Nickleby wasn't an invitation for me to speak up, even if I had read it last summer. I'm not sure why, but for some strange and unexplainable reason, I felt no fear in standing up to this almighty grown-up. Perhaps it was all the pranks I played on my parents that gave me this unfounded courage. My nimble mind, forcibly stagnant at home, had to do something to fight back to keep from going crazy. But though Miss Trunchbull was a malevolent bully, I still had to respect her. She was the headmistress after all.

I meekly sat down at my desk and watched her carefully as she strode over to the teacher's table and seated herself behind it. She reached out a heavily muscled hand and took hold of the water jug, holding it aloft but not yet using it to fill her glass.

"I have never been able to understand why small children are so disgusting. They are the bane of my life."

I've never been able to understand what sort of horrible childhood trauma you suffered to make you hate children so much, Miss Trunchbull. I shivered slightly at the thought of saying that out loud.

"They are like insects. They should be got rid of as early as possible. We get rid of flies with fly spray and hanging up fly-paper. I have often thought of inventing a spray for getting rid of small children. How splendid would it be to walk into this classroom with a gigantic spray gun in my hands and start pumping it."

Actually, if you mixed the right amount of chemicals, you could probably produce a noxious spray that would kill everyone in a thirty foot radius but that would also break about a hundred laws. And you couldn't very well continue to bully children while dead or sacked, now could you?

"Or better still, some huge strips of sticky paper. I would hang them all round the school and you'd all get stuck to them and that would be the end of it."

Actually, Miss Trunchbull, I believe most children are intelligent enough to avoid touching the walls if covered in a sticky solution after seeing the plight of those children who were not initially aware of its existence.

"Wouldn't that be a good idea, Miss Honey?"

I stole a glance over to the back of the class where my teacher stood rigid and frowning slightly. "If it's meant to be a joke, Headmistress, I don't think it's a very funny one."

"You wouldn't, would you, Miss Honey?" asked Miss Trunchbull, smirking at her. "And it's not meant to be a joke. My idea of a perfect school, Miss Honey, is one that has no children in it at all. One of these days, I shall start up a school like that. I think it will be very successful."

I placed my head on my hand and drummed my fingers against my cheek. How the woman got the job as Headmistress when she was this barmy was beyond me. Were there really no other applicants?

At last, Miss Trunchbull poured the water from the jug into her glass. Out came a foreign object which I couldn't see clearly. The Headmistress, however, saw the object with startling clarity and leapt out of her chair as though someone had stuck her behind with a thumbtack. I sat up slightly so I could get a glance at the object and was startled to discover that it was moving. I once saw something like that in a zoology book but I couldn't remember what it was called, only that it was an amphibian. The creature, from the looks of things, appeared to be as enthusiastic about its present location as Miss Trunchbull was about it being there; it squirmed and hopped and jumped about in a desperate attempt to free itself from its glass surroundings. Instantly, it was pandemonium as the children shouted out warnings and exclamations.

"What is it?" asked Eric.

"Oh, it's disgusting!" piped up Prudence.

"It's a snake!" cried Nigel.

"It's a baby crocodile!" shouted Rupert.

"It's an alligator!" Eric continued, once he got a better look at it.

"Look out, Miss Trunchbull!" Lavender exclaimed. "I bet it bites!"

I sat quietly at the desk, entertained by the sight of Miss Trunchbull, who had until moments before been a frightening force with which to be reckoned, stood there quivering like a blancmange. She seemed quite peeved that someone had succeeded in making her shout like that but as I watched her peer into the glass, I suspected that the woman, who was supposed to be an educator, had never even seen this creature before. After a few seconds of staring at the amphibian in slight fascination, she slowly sat back down. Her moment of shock was now over and I saw a sort of switch turn on in her brain. Someone was going to get accused of this crime.

"Matilda!" she bellowed, shaking with rage. "Stand up!"

I was genuinely surprised. Me? She thought I did that? I'd pulled pranks before, yes, but I certainly would never have done this.

"Who, me?" I asked, my eyes widening in surprise. "What have I done?"

"Stand up, you disgusting little cockroach!" Miss Truchbull demanded.

I haven't done anything, Miss Trunchbull, honestly I haven't. I've never even seen that slimy thing before!"

This may have been stretching the truth the tiniest bit but I certainly had never seen that creature anywhere except in a book and I couldn't even remember what it was called. My parents weren't the type to take me out to the creek and let me play around, looking for wildlife.

"Stand up at once, you filthy little maggot."

I reluctantly complied, unblinkingly meeting the woman's gaze.

"You are a vile, repulsive, repellent, malicious little brute!" the Headmistress roared, her face slowly turning red and a vein in her forehead pulsing. "You are not fit to be in this school! You ought to be behind bars, that's where you ought to be! I shall have you drummed out of this establishment in utter disgrace! I shall have the prefects chase you down the corridor and out of the front-door with hockey sticks! I shall have the staff escort you home under armed guard! And then I shall make absolutely sure you are sent to a reformatory for delinquent girls for a minimum of forty years!"

As the Trunchbull bellowed out insults, spit flying out of her mouth and coming dangerously close to hitting the children in the front row, I felt my entire body go rigid. Had I committed this crime, I would not have minded being accused for it. But I absolutely, positively, without-a-doubt did not do it! I had nothing to do with the stupid creature and this insane adult looming over me was certainly not going to pin this on me!

"I did not do it!" I shrieked, trembling with rage.

"Oh yes you did!" Miss Trunchbull shouted, losing her cool completely. "Nobody else could have thought up a trick like that! Your father was right to warn me about you! You are finished in this school, young lady! You are finished everywhere! I shall personally see to it that you are put away in a place where not even the crows can land their droppings on you! You will probably never see the light of day again!"

I knew most of her threats were illegal. I knew she didn't have that kind of power. But the fact that I was being blamed and shouted at for something I clearly did not do was overwhelmingly unjust. I couldn't keep myself from shaking even more violently and my face felt hot. I had never been so angry in my entire life.

"I'm telling you, I did not do it!" I shrieked, not caring that the Trunchbull was several times my size. "I've never seen a creature like that in my life!"

"You have put a… a… a crocodile in my drinking water!" she shouted back, trembling about as much as I was at this point. "There is no worse crime in the world against a headmistress! Now sit down and don't say a word! Go on, sit down at once!"

I didn't sit down, instead I balled my fists and smacked one against the desk, leaning forward and shouting as loudly as I could. "But I'm telling you…"

"I am telling you to shut up!" Miss Trunchbull interrupted. "If you don't shut up at once and sit down, I shall remove my belt and let you have it with the end that has the buckle!"

I knew I was defeated. If the woman was as mad as she seemed, the illegality of her threat wouldn't have meant a thing and none of my peers would have dared report her. I had no choice but to sit back down, enraged but finally quiet.

I barely saw what happened next. I was so furious that I began to stew in that feeling. Everything that had happened in my life was unjust. I felt the words of the Truchbull and my parents and everyone who had been horrible to me penetrate my mind, allowing the anger to grow and fester within me. It was as though ever insult I'd had to endure was screaming inside of my head.

"You're a little cheat, madam! That's what you are! A cheat and a liar!"

"You're just an ignorant little squirt who hasn't the foggiest idea what you're talking about!"

"You are most certainly crooked!"

I knew I wasn't stupid. I knew I wasn't crooked. I knew that all I wanted was to be left alone and to learn and to be treated with some amount of dignity as respect as a human being! And to be expelled for something as inane as putting a small amphibian in my Headmistress's water jug was certainly a miscarriage of justice! Even if I had done it, it wouldn't have made a difference! I'd read books about school; the worst that could have been done would have been to give me detention. But expulsion? No! That was too much!

I stared at the Trunchbull, who had sat down at her desk. She began to stare at the creature within the glass with a mixture of horror and fascination. I sudden, horrible idea gripped me. I dearly wanted to stand up, walk over to the desk, and tip the contents of the glass, amphibian and all, on top of the Trunchbull's head. I trembled slightly at the repercussions of such an action. The noise in my head was beginning to give me a headache. I put a hand up to my head as the volume seemed to explode as the anger I felt, coupled with all the sounds of my mum and dad, the blasted telly, the horrible Headmistress, and every other horrible distraction from reading I'd faced, began to blare. I stared at the creature, wishing so dearly that I could tip it onto the Headmistress… the anger coursing through me…

And then, quite suddenly, everything… everything went quiet.

It wasn't silent in the classroom. There was still the scraping of the desks, the angry muttering of the Trunchbull… but I didn't hear it anymore. It was like the sensation when you lie upside-down on your bed, the way you can hear your heartbeat inside your head. A soothing quiet and calmness in the midst of chaos. It was like I'd sailed into the eye of the storm.

Just then, I felt the anger physically channel through me, as though gathering up every bit of fury I felt in my entire body and building it up behind, strangely enough, my eyes. I felt a sort of electricity. The back of my eyeballs grew hot. It was a most peculiar sensation. As I continued to stare at the glass, I felt as though tiny, invisible hands were shooting out of my eyes. Like electrical currents. The anger I felt became a physical manifestation… and it was shooting right at the glass.

"Tip it." I shouted in my head. "Tip it over!"

Instantly, the glass wobbled. I wasn't surprised; I seemed to know that was going to happen. It was like I knew I could tap my left foot if I so desired. It was nearly instinctual. The noises around me sounded rather distorted as I concentrated on that glass, on making it tip over into the vile woman's lap.

"Tip it." I shouted again, suspecting that I may have whispered this out loud. "Tip it over!"

And so I pushed harder, concentrating every feeling I'd ever had for this woman on the glass, on the incredible power I had inexplicably acquired… and in a moment, the glass began to move. It began to tip so slightly I hardly saw it happening. But I knew it was me doing it. The desk stayed perfectly still. The Trunchbull did not move. I was making this happen.

And then, just as I began to become exhausted from the effort, the glass finally wobbled and spilled, dumping its contents onto the enormous bosom of the Trunchbull.

All the sound was still distorted but I watched in fascination as the Trunchbull let out a yell so loud, I vaguely heard the windowpanes rattle. I watched her shoot out of her chair. I watched as the poor creature clutched at her bosom and, when the woman finally noticed it, she bellowed a second time and pitched it across the room. It landed behind me, next to Lavender's desk.

And now the Trunchbull stood in front of the class, quivering in fury. Her face was bright red and I wouldn't have been at all surprised if the pulsing vein in her forehead exploded. There was a wet patch on her bosom that had probably soaked its way to her skin. It must have been quite uncomfortable.

"Who did it?" she shouted, her fists flailing around. "Come on! Own up! Step forward! You won't escape this time! Who is responsible for this dirty job? Who pushed over the glass?"

And just then, the class really was quiet. It was a sort of oppressive silence, like being immersed in pitch blackness but only in the ears.

"Matilda!" she roared, pointing a large finger at me. "It was you! I know it was you!"

So she had guessed right this time, had she? There was a class full of witnesses that could vouch for me. No one could possibly incriminate me and I knew it. I felt an amazing calmness, in part because the anger I had felt before was now released. But there was another thing too. I had a newfound power behind my eyes and if I could tip over a glass just by looking at it, the threat of the Trunchbull didn't frighten me one bit.

"Speak up you clotted carbuncle! Admit that you did it!"

I looked Miss Trunchbull in the eye, my mouth twitching in a desperate attempt to keep a smirk contained, and replied. "I have not moved away from my desk, Miss Trunchbull, since the lesson began. I can say no more."

Instantly, the class began to come to my rescue, telling Miss Trunchbull that I hadn't moved at all. I finally allowed myself to smile a little bit at their loyalty and the Trunchbull's furious look at being contradicted by a group of five-year-olds.

When Nigel suggested that Miss Trunchbull had knocked it over herself, she swelled up like a bullfrog. "I most certainly did not knock it over myself!" she barked. "Speak up, Miss Honey! You must have seen everything! Who knocked over my glass?"

"None of the children did, Miss Trunchbull." Miss Honey replied coolly. "I can vouch for it that nobody has moved from his or her desk all the time you've been here except for Nigel and he has not moved from his corner." She recoiled slightly when faced with the Headmistress's glare but stood her ground. "I am telling you the truth, Headmistress. You must have knocked it over without knowing it. That sort of thing is easy to do."

Miss Trunchbull was temporarily silent, forced to face the logic in my teacher's words. At last, she gave us all a final glare.

"I am fed up with you useless bunch of midgets!" she shouted. "I refuse to waste any more of my precious time in here!" And with that, she stomped out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

For a moment, all of us silently stared at the door. Finally, Nigel slowly lowered his foot and turned to face Miss Honey, who also seemed to be at a loss for words. Miss Honey slowly walked to the front of the class and found her voice once more.

"Phew!" she breathed. "I think we've had enough school for one day, don't you? The class is dismissed. You may all go out on the playground and wait for your parents to come and take you home."

In the excited chaos of the children packing their bags and exiting the class, I stayed at my desk, staring intently at Miss Honey. I felt as though I would burst if I had to keep this humongous secret inside of me much longer. And since my parents weren't the sort to think of it as anything other than a nuisance, I knew I had only one option.

And in an instant, I had decided. I knew that the best person to confide in was my teacher. I had come to greatly appreciate her and hoped that if anyone would see this event for what it was, it would be her.