3 days later.

Unconventional turned out to be a slight understatement.

Kelly stood outside the main entrance to St. Trinian's unsure whether to laugh hysterically or turn on her heel and run as far away from the school as possible. The girls either side of her seemed to be caught up in the same dilemma; standing and gawping Kelly decided seemed to be a good compromise.

The gravel fronted drive of the school had been turned into a battle field – complete with a complicated maze of trenches leading back to the huge front in which (Kelly squinted) a canary yellow tank had been positioned.

"Do you think we should... go in?" The girl to her left, with long blonde waist length hair muttered.

The girl to her right answered, twisting a bright orange plait round her finger in concentration. "I don't think just walking up to it is a good idea." The group watched as another grenade, thrown down from the schools bell tower, made contact with the ground. It ripped apart a trench and sent mud flying into the air like a brown firework. The ginger girl swallowed nervously and continued, "if we do, we're going to need some cover. The grenades their using don't look like the real thing from the splatter spay of mud, but they still pack a punch. Probably E2-40's – only mild explosives in a plastic casing. Still take your eye out at close range though." Kelly glanced at her, half amused - half puzzled and the girl fixed her with a serious 'I-mean-business-look'.

Unconventional was defiantly an understatement. Apparently her first lesson would be how to invade enemy lines.

"We're going in. Can't wait out here all night," Kelly gave a decisive nod of her head. "But it's gonna have to be fast – minimise our chances of being hit."

"Going by foot not an option then."

"Over there." The blond girl swung her arm wildly to point at a motorised lawn mower. It looked fit to crumble away. One of the wheels was flat, the hood was missing, the gas pipe had been bent into the shape of a corkscrew and paint pink, and... it appeared someone had taken several large bites out of the driver's seat.

"That thing?" Beside her the ginger haired girl began to twitch in horror. "It probably won't even start. Or worse it will! And then cut out on us in the middle of a grenade attack!"

"It's better than nothing. I know about cars – I'll have a look." The blond sent a self assured mile towards the vehicle.

"You know about cars? Well, what exactly do you know about lawn mowers?"

Kelly stayed silent, ignoring the argument in front of her, plan formulating in the back of her mind. It was crazy, but then how highly regarded can sanity be at a school that stages a world war two re-enactment, complete with a yellow tank? "The mowers probably our only hope of getting through that with being hit. We need to use it." She glanced at the blond girl, "you've worked with cars before? Good. Can you go check the fuel levels? And we might need to jump start it."

To her amazement the girl gave her a mock salute and a wide smile, before turning on her heel to deal with the mower. Unknowingly Kelly seemed to have landed herself as (an accepted) leader in this harebrained scheme.

Beside her the remaining ginger haired girl had resumed wrapping her orange plait round her finger and stood deep in thought, still staring sceptically at the mower. Kelly watched her, waiting for whatever it was she had to say.

"We should probably find something to protect our heads with. Preferably metal."

"Sure."

"Look how are we going to do this? It doesn't look like there is a way to go round... it. Are we just going to drive straight and hope for the best?"

"Any better ideas? The trenches look narrow enough for us to jump over if we build up enough speed. If we've got something to protect our heads, it should hold off the worst of the damage." Kelly hoped she looked as confident as she sounded.

"What about when we're actually inside?"

She shrugged, "We find the head, I guess. They know we're coming – at least I got a letter of acceptance. First things first though. We need a shelter."

The other girl just nodded and fell silent, scanning their surroundings.

There was nothing. Just an ocean of mud and the occasional clump of sad looking grass reaching back towards the road.

"There isn't anything."

"How risky is it to go in with cov-," Kelly stopped herself.

From the corner of her eye she caught sight of a rusty sign, which had been vandalised into to spelling: 'Keep Off the grass Your Head'.

A piece of Kelly's scheme slotted in to place with a satisfying click within her head. It was large enough to cover all three of them, providing they held it above them in the mower. "Don't suppose you've got a screwdriver have you?"

Five minutes later Kelly and her ginger haired accomplice, waddled their way over to the mower dragging the make shift cover between them.

Their ride was purring away under the soothing hands of the blond. "What's that?" she motioned at the sign.

"Our savour," Kelly intoned with a wicked grin.

"Are we all set? You managed to jump start it?"

The blond nodded. "Yup, all she need was a bit of love. Plenty of oil in her; not sure 'bout the top speed though. Be quicker than by foot an how." She swung herself up onto one of the seats and patted the space next to her. "Let's go for it."

"Before we go," the ginger girl murmured, suddenly shy, "what are your names? It just seems odd, I guess, you know going out there without... I mean, from my calculations there's an 8.16% chance we could die."

"Don't sweat it. We'll be fine." Kelly grinned, "'Sides I have a feeling we'd be friends anyway."

The blond girl nodded in agreement, "I'm Celia."

"Polly."

"Kelly."

"So we good to go?"

The newly named Polly grinned, all nervousness forgotten in the face of adrenaline. "Let's roll."

AN: So this was a bit more... action packed than my usual slow ploddy chapters, so I feel a little out of my depth :0 I'm also looking for a beta-reader, so if anyones intrested PLEASE message me :) Thanks. Oh, and review? Pleeeeeease.