Jill Pole dreaded the first of September. To her, the first of September meant the first day of school, which meant that she would have to go back to that horrible, co-ed Experiment House. It wasn't so much the classes and the teachers that she hated as the people who went there; for while it was true that the classes were pointless and useless and the teachers were all horribly Progressive (and not in a good way), Jill's classmates were essentially divided up into three groups: Them, Their Lackeys, and Their Victims.
They were the bullies of the school, and quite unfortunately, the favorites of the headmistress. They were cruel in their methods, ranging anywhere from verbal to physical abuse, but the headmistress did nothing about it and called all of Them interesting psychological cases. Fortunately Jill had been ignored by Them for the most part, as she had gotten very good at avoiding them, but They were the reason she had no friends at school. They had bullied everyone at school into ignoring Jill along with Them during the first few weeks that Jill had been at Experiment House, leaving Jill alone and friendless.
Yes, Jill hated the first of September, and it was all Their fault.
4th year she dreaded going back to school the most she had ever dreaded going back. She was fourteen and in that awkward arms-and-legs stage where she looked even more horrible in the blue and grey school uniform and her hair seemed to be unable to decide whether it would stay straight or wild, and she wished that she could be as pretty as her older sister Elaine. The one good thing that had happened was the braces on her teeth had finally come off, but she knew even that could be against her favor if They noticed. Sometimes they did take notice of her, and school was worse than ever when They noticed her.
Dad hadn't come to the station to see her off that year, for he was somewhere in France working as a military doctor. Elaine also hadn't come to see her off, for she had left for university the day before, and that left Mum as the only one to see her off. She hugged and kissed Jill, telling her to write often and keep her grades up and if she wanted to bring a friend home for the holidays she could. Jill smiled grimly at the last bit, for what friends did she have? Mum didn't know this, however, for Jill didn't want to worry her with her silly problems while Dad was somewhere in France. So thus it was that Jill kept her chin up and smiled bravely for Mum and boarded the train without crying a bit about leaving home. By some stroke of good luck Jill found a car on the train that was empty, and so she sat in there and cried as soon as the station was out of sight. However, by the time the train came to the town Experiment House was located in, she had managed to pull herself together and act as though everything was completely normal.
Experiment House was located about five miles from the train station, so a bus was waiting for the students who were coming on that train to bring them and all their things to the school. Jill sat alone at the back of the bus, watching the dreary English countryside go by during the short ride to the school. All too soon the grey stone buildings of Experiment House came into view, and Jill nearly began to cry again at the sight of it. She managed to keep it within and remain expressionless, however. They had nicknamed her Crybaby on one occasion, and she had resolved then never to cry in front of anyone else ever again.
The next several minutes passed by in a blur as Jill got her things off the bus, registered inside, got her room assignment, and went to her dorm. She was thankfully not assigned to a room with any of Them, but a few of Them's victims: Kate Shearer, Mollie Morris, and Rose Livingstone. None of them would be friends with her, of course, being too scared of Them to go against Them, but at least Jill knew they would be nice roommates.
Jill put her things in her room and unpacked as quickly as she could. Then, as there was an hour or so of free time before dinner, she decided to go for a walk around the school grounds, as her legs still hurt a bit from being cramped during the long train ride to Experiment House. It was a warm day, albeit a little cloudy, and Jill enjoyed the warmth that she knew would depart soon with the coming of autumn.
Then, as Jill rounded a corner, she ran into some of Them.
"Oh, look, it's Pole," one of the taller boys, Evans, said.
"Or should we say, the Crybaby?" a smaller girl, Trent, sneered.
"Shut up," Jill muttered and tried to walk past them.
"Sorry, Crybaby, I don't think we're gonna let you go anywhere," Evans said.
Jill felt cold all over, despite the warm air. "Please let me go by," she said, struggling to maintain her composure.
"Why should we?" the girl asked menacingly.
"Because I need to get to the dorms," Jill replied.
"It can't possibly be that important," a smaller boy, Smithson, said, stepping towards Jill.
Jill bit her lip. "Then I'll just go the other way," she said.
"I don't think so," Evans said, blocking that way as well.
"Why won't you let me pass?" Jill asked, feeling frightened and alone.
"We don't feel like it, Crybaby," Evans said, glaring at her.
Jill finally decided to do the only sensible thing left, which was to make a run for it. However, she didn't make it more than a few yards when Evans caught her and twisted her arm behind her back, causing her to cry out in pain.
"Nobody runs from Us," Evans hissed in her ear, twisting her arm even harder. Jill desperately hoped that they wouldn't break her arm as she gasped in pain.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, Jill saw something thud into Evans, causing him to let go of her arm. Jill cried out in relief and turned to see none other than Eustace Scrubb standing there, looking rather fierce. In previous terms, Scrubb had been not one of Them but one of their lackeys. Yet there he was, ramming full into Evans as if they were enemies.
"Don't do that," Scrubb said.
"Do what?" Evans said in astonishment.
"Hurt a girl like that," Scrubb said.
All four of them looked at him in surprise. This was very unlike Scrubb, for in previous terms he had been a selfish prig. "We can do whatever we want to, Scrubb," Smithson scoffed.
"No, you can't," Scrubb said calmly. "I'm not going to let you hurt a girl like that."
Evans swung his fist at Scrubb, who blocked the blow and swung one right at his jaw, effectively knocking Evans over. Evans was ready to fight Scrubb, but one of the teachers happened to come by at that moment, causing Trent to pull Smithson and Evans away from the scene. This left Jill alone with Scrubb, and she felt slightly awkward and very astonished by the complete change in behavior since last she saw him, back in the spring term. "Thank you," Jill said hesitantly.
"Not a problem," Scrubb said, sticking out his hand for Jill to shake. She took it uncertainly and found that Scrubb had a rather strong grip. "I'm sorry about Them," Scrubb said, releasing her hand.
"It's all right," Jill said, still feeling slightly suspicious of Scrubb.
"What did you do to tick them off?" Scrubb asked.
"Nothing," Jill said. "I was just taking a walk."
"And they just started bullying you?" Scrubb asked.
"Yes," Jill said. "Anyways, I'd better be getting up to my room. I've still got a few things to unpack."
"All right," Scrubb said. "Have fun with that."
Jill laughed a little. "Doubt that," she said. "Anyways, see you around, Scrubb."
"Later, Pole," Scrubb said, waving to her as she walked away.
Jill couldn't shake the feeling of astonishment at Scrubb actually being nice to her - and being nice in general. It was probably just a trick of Theirs, she thought pessimistically. Or maybe - maybe he was doing that on his own. No, Scrubb wasn't that kind of a person. And yet - he seems to have changed since the spring term. Something's very different about Scrubb now. Jill had no idea what had happened to Scrubb over the holidays, but whatever it was, she rather liked it.
Jill mused about all these things as she went to dinner that night. She sat at dinner alone, as usual, and picked at her food as she tried to figure out what exactly could have changed Scrubb for the better. As she thought about these things, a shadow fell across her food. She looked up, half expecting one of Them to be standing there, and was surprised to see Scrubb standing there. "Could I sit here?" he asked.
"S-sure," Jill stammered, completely caught off guard.
"I just wanted to see how you were doing after what happened earlier," Scrubb said, sitting down with his plate of food. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, quite so," Jill said. "Thank you again for what you did."
"Anytime," Scrubb said. "I hate it when They bully other people."
"You used to like Them," Jill said.
Scrubb sighed. "I didn't exactly like Them," he said. "I didn't want to be bullied by Them, though. So I was sort of a lackey for Them, because I didn't want to be like Them but I didn't want to be bullied by Them either."
"I suppose that makes sense," Jill said.
"I'm sorry I even did that, though," Scrubb said.
Jill shrugged, and then decided to ask the question that was bothering her. "You're different, Scrubb. What happened?"
Instead of answering directly, Scrubb merely shrugged. "I think I'm going to head back up to my room," he said. "See you around, Pole." And with that, Scrubb got up and left the table, leaving a bewildered Jill behind.
"How odd," Jill mused, propping her chin up with her hand. Scrubb's behavior that day had been most unusual and Jill wasn't quite sure what to think of it. Perhaps it was Them trying to trick her using Scrubb but perhaps...
"Maybe I've found a friend," Jill said softly to herself. Suddenly the term looming ahead didn't seem quite so terrible to Jill, and she smiled at the prospect.
Review please! ~ the authoress