This drabble concerns Sarah and how her caring nature proceeds to shine through.


NO MORE MISS GOODY TWO SHOES

Sarah Price did not hate anyone. It was possible for her to dislike certain people, people who did not follow the set rules, but to hate? The anger never fuelled her to the state of pure hatred, simply intense dislike. The group of troublemakers who plagued St Champions similar to a bad smell were disliked by Sarah, for their tendency to break the rules, but she didn't hate them. Their personalities were too annoying, and a couple of them possessed loud vocal cords, but Sarah didn't hate them. Her first duty upon overhearing Dinah Glass and Ingrid Smith discussing plans suspiciously would have been to divert her route to the Headmaster's office and inform the man of what she had just overheard. However, she chose not to give into the urge to go to the Headmaster, pushing the urgent thought in her mind away to pause at the end of the corridor and listen to the conversation around the corner.

"This plan better work. We can't fail, because you'll end up under his control forever… and we can't lose you. We can't lose anyone and I don't want him to run the country… I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight. How about you?"

"I feel nervous… actually, I feel scared." Sarah noted the traces of awkwardness in Dinah Glass's voice, it was difficult for the girl to admit her true feelings to people. "I have to take part in the Quiz for Harvey's sake, but you will all be at risk too if I decide to not take part. But if we win… I hope that Lloyd has analysed all of the risks."

"He would have done, trust me. I just don't know how we're going to pull it all off without being caught. The Prefects have eyes everywhere and they might even have secret cameras set up that we don't know about!"

If Sarah was prone to laughing, she would have been forced to stifle a chuckle at that very moment, for fear of being caught eavesdropping. Although the theory was plausible, Sarah shook her head, as if silently answering Ingrid's question. They had no need for cameras in the school. The Prefects were truly everywhere.

"I doubt they have secret cameras set up, because if Ofsted came for an inspection and found a network of hidden cameras, they would be quick to get the Headmaster out of the school and I don't believe that he would risk that happening."

"You never know though! It is the Headmaster! He's capable of anything! He hypnotises the kids of this school, for goodness sake! It's only lucky that me and the others are Immune. Can you imagine if we could all be hypnotised? Then the Headmaster would have no-one to stop him! He would be able to take over the country just like that-" Ingrid snapped her fingers and the click resounded in Sarah's mind. It was a familiar action, courtesy of the Headmaster when he sent the Prefects on their way, when he had given them new orders, when Sarah seemed to awaken from a daze and question the man if she had been sleeping…

Wait.

Could it be?

Or was she over-thinking the entire situation?

As the girls moved away, their voices fading into the distance, Sarah rested the back of her head against the wall and murmured: "Hypnotism. All this time… I've been hypnotised."

From that revelation, she found all she wanted to do was cry.


Sarah tailed the group of 'troublemakers' after school, neglecting her Prefect duties to leave early and follow the rest of the children out of the gates and towards their homes. She walked slowly, mixing in and out of the crowd, eyes glued to the six children who threatened to topple the Headmaster. Children she considered inferior to her because they acted up. Children, who she believed because if they were to lie, why choose hypnotism? More so the fact that the Headmaster's actions correlated to signs of hypnotism. Feeling sleepy, the man even saying that she was constantly tired and why didn't she rest her eyes…

Sarah narrowed her eyes, decision final. She was following the group to be provided with answers… and so she could help them to stop the Headmaster.

Sarah continued to follow them all the way to the Hunter's house, (she had seen Ian, Mandy and Ingrid enter the house many times when out of school), but was forced to stop when the group abruptly stopped in their tracks and turned round, gazing at her suspiciously.

"What are you doing, following us?" Ingrid was the first to throw an accusation. The slander was expected, and Sarah had debated between either the younger girl or Lloyd to be the one to question her actions. She raised her hands in a placating gesture and said softly:

"All I want to do is help. I admit, I overheard you and Dinah talking about your plan to ruin the Great School Quiz and stop the Headmaster-"

Ingrid and Dinah exchanged panicked glances, Sarah surprised at the new girl's allowance for her cold façade to crumble.

"I know you expect me to go and tell him straight away, and you're suspicious that I've already told him, but… truth is, I haven't and I won't."

This caught SPLAT's full attention and as they all stared at her in disbelief, Sarah exhaled a deep breath and took the plunge.

"I know I've been hypnotised. What I overheard made something in my mind click into place. How sometimes recent memories seem fuzzy, how I seem to remember certain facts despite never learning them in the first place and how things I used to love before I attended St Champions I now can't stand. I must have broken out of the hypnotism, because even though there is a big part of me that wants to go running to the Headmaster and divulge everything that I've overheard… I don't want to. If the Headmaster is really planning something sinister, I don't want people to get hurt. If he is going to take over the country… it will destroy people's free will and they should be able to explore and create and learn, without someone dictating to them what they can and cannot do… and playing secretly with their minds."

She shuddered, suddenly becoming tearful. "I d-don't want to live in a w-world of fear."

The words sunk in and SPLAT realised they had an ally, one that was as close to the Headmaster as possible. Ian turned to Lloyd and whispered:

"See? Always told you she was the best one out of the bunch."

"Yes, you were right, but she could still turn us in. We cannot mess our plan up tomorrow. Otherwise…"

Ian cracked a smile, albeit one that didn't reach his eyes. "All we can do is put our faith into her helping us. You never know, by the end of tomorrow if things go all well, I could bag myself a kiss!"

Beside them, Mandy rolled her eyes at Ian, before gesturing to Sarah.

"We'll go to the corner shop and get some sweets. We'll update you on the way, Sarah."


The day of the Great School Quiz could not have gone better. Sarah had promised SPLAT that she would not tell a soul what she had uncovered about the Headmaster and the school and true to her word, she had arrived at school that day, silent and pretending to prepare for the upcoming events. Instead of going to the Prefect's room to discuss the Master Plan with Peter, Sue and Simon, Sarah had gone to the Headmaster's office and locked the man into a discussion about the aftermath of the competition, fooling him into believing she was lacking the leadership role that was required to take on a group of children.

The Headmaster had reassured her, despite becoming more and more irate by the lateness of the television crew, and Sarah had quickly ducked out of the office before the man could find a pause in her questioning to take his glasses off and do whatever he did to make her feel sleepy and lose her mind to hypnotism.

Sarah was unsure of how her 'troublemaking' allies were getting on, but when she spotted Rose and Jeff, both livid, storming towards the Headmaster's office, she realised she had to act fast. Sarah slid in front of them, hands clasped behind her back and murmured:

"I'm afraid I can't let you get to the Headmaster."

"What?!" Jeff barked, the colour of his face matching the shade of his hair.

She levelled her cool gaze at him. "What the Headmaster is planning to do is wrong. I can't let him go ahead with the Great School Quiz."

"Are you insane?" Rose growled, her authoritative command lost for a second, before she regained her control. Straightening her back, she ordered:

"Get out of the way, Sarah. You will listen to my orders. I am your senior and as Head Prefect, I order you to step aside."

Sarah forced herself to remain calm, moving her gaze over to Rose. "No, I will not step aside. But you two on the other hand…"

On the side, her father trained in martial arts and had taught Sarah a few moves, a particular one that would result in knocking someone unconscious. With lightning speed, she pinched a nerve in both of their necks, dropping them cold to the floor. She let out a breath, before clasping her shaking hands under Jeff's arms and dragging him across the corridor floor to a storage cupboard. After dumping the two Prefects into the storage room, she shut the door and quickly went to rendezvous with SPLAT. Walking into the boiler room, she found them helping Harvey to pull out the fuses on the switchboard.

"Rose and Jeff have been taken care of. Everything has gone according to plan?"

She asked with hope, smiling slightly when Ian nodded.

"Yeah, the tv crew are locked in. Simon, Sue and Peter are locked in. The teachers are locked in. The other pupils are sitting like lemons waiting to be never called. The Headmaster's still in his office. Only problem is…" He blushed and lowered his gaze. "I couldn't stop Eddy Hair. He's on his way right now. He's mad! I'll have to go and check if he's here yet. We don't want the Headmaster getting to him first…"

"I'll come with you." Sarah stretched her mouth open, a genuine smile lighting up her face. She had not smiled like this for years.

Ian raised his gaze and grinned lopsidedly. "Thanks for everything, Sarah. You've been a star… As a reward, fancy a kiss?"

"No." Sarah shook her head slowly. "Thank you, but no." She winked at him and held out her hand. "Come on, Robinson. Let's go meet Mr Hair."