Common Virtue

June 16th 1940

It had been two days since Courtney had arrived at Catref Farm, and this was the second morning she found herself being woken up by the obnoxious animals at the crack of dawn. Back home in London, Courtney would be woken up by the automobiles driving past her house, but that wasn't for many more hours into the morning than the farm animals decided to wake up.

Yesterday morning had been a shock to the system for Courtney, now she knew what to expect. On her first morning, Courtney had dressed in one of the few dresses she owned and had gone downstairs for breakfast. Mrs. Evans had laughed kindly at her, instructing Courtney that there was farm work to be done before breakfast, so she had better get back upstairs and put on Duncan's old clothes again.

This morning, Courtney was prepared for the early wake-up call and for the farm work. She trailed down the stairs after the two oldest boys while Duncan was no where to be seen. Courtney hadn't seen him until breakfast yesterday, either. Not that she cared, Duncan could have fallen off the old barn roof for all she knew and there was not one bit of remorse in her mind for thinking so.

"Morning," Mrs. Evans called to the three of them as they all groggily entered the kitchen. The two boys went straight out the side door, heading off to do their morning chores. Courtney was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes when Mrs. Evans called her over. "Are you sure you don't want to try milking the cows?"

"No, thank you," Courtney mumbled. Mrs. Evans had shown her once again yesterday how to milk the cows, but Courtney was not having any of it. She wanted to stay away from the cows, and the chickens, and the sheep. The only animals she would go near were the horses, and that was only at a safe distance. Her duty was now to open the gate before breakfast and let the horses out to graze. She would then lock the gate and bring down new hay bails from the loft. Then she was allowed in for breakfast before going back out and sweeping up the old hay and filling the water trough.

It was easy stuff to do, but Courtney wasn't used to doing it. At home in London her daily routine consisted of breakfast, school, homework, reading, bath, supper, bed. She didn't like this new change of having to earn her keep in her new home. She didn't like having to work in the dirt and put up with stupid boys every day for who knew how long. Her teacher in London had said it will be a few months- Courtney's mother had said otherwise. She wasn't one to lie to her daughter, or lie in general, so when Courtney had asked how long she would be away, she had opening admitted that it would be indefinite.

But if there was one thing Courtney was looking forward to, it was school. Courtney had always been good at school and was excited that today marked the first day she would be starting at a local school in Swansea. Of course, Duncan would be there, but she was sure not all her fellow pupils would be as arrogant and obnoxious as him.

Courtney was proven wrong. The other pupils at school were as arrogant and obnoxious as Duncan was. There just have been something in the Welsh water, Courtney wondered to herself as she sat alone at dinner time. The other kids were all crowded together, laughing loudly at something someone had said. Courtney sat on her own table in the lunch room, in the far back with her cheese sandwich and The Tale of Peter Rabbit. She'd read it twice more since the train, but still couldn't put it down for a fourth time.

The morning classes had consisted of arithmetic that Courtney knew all the answers to, followed by learning gas mask procedures. Courtney knew about that too. Her school in London had taught the children what to do in the case of gas bombs.

After dinner, they were going to practice what to do and where to go during air raids. The teacher had said the class were going to teach the new children some of their songs, though Courtney wasn't particularly looking forward to that. There was only one other evacuee in her tiny class of twelve, but he fitted in much better with the rest of the class than she did. The class was made up of six boys and four girls, and then Courtney and the other evacuee came along. The boys all rough housed and Courtney didn't like it. The girls stuck their noses up at Courtney, or at least one of them did. The rest followed suit out of fear of being thrown out of her group, or at least that was what Courtney saw. She wasn't interested in making friends, she was interested in getting home as quickly as possible. It was only her first day and she was already missing her old school in London, with it's qualified teachers and well-behaved pupils.

And when the end of the day rolled around, Courtney had to follow Duncan back to the farm where she was set a long list of household chores since she wouldn't do much farm work. Mrs. Evans often mumbled to herself that if her husband was there with them he wouldn't put up with Courtney's nonsense about the animals, and he'd have her shipped off to another family if she wasn't going to be helpful. Courtney wasn't scared or worried, if she went to another family, a nice one in town, there was a better chance she would never have to see Duncan or the farm again. However, Mrs. Evans seemed a lot nicer than her husband was made out to be, and reassured Courtney that she wouldn't allow her to be bounced from pillar to post. She was going to have a real home away from home on Catref Farm, much to Courtney's dismay.

Duncan came inside early when he'd announced he'd finished all his work. Mrs. Evans sent him straight upstairs to bathe, which he obeyed. Of course, not before he wiped his muddy hands over the back of Courtney's dress and tugged on one of her pigtails.

"DUNCAN!" Courtney yelped, and he ran upstairs sniggering to himself. Angry tears were starting to floor Courtney's vision when Mrs. Evans came running to see what all the commotion was about.

"Oh, Courtney, don't cry," she soothed. "We can wash the dress, don't worry."

Unable to form any words, her mouth opening and closing dryly, Courtney nodded her head. She wiped her hands along her eyes, but it didn't help. Duncan was getting under her skin in the worst way.

A/N: Shorter than the first chapter, but not as much to write.

I am hoping to do weekly updates, so keep an eye out here every Friday, but don't freak out on me if I miss a day or am a few days late! I am currently competing in Camp NaNoWriMo and that is stressful writing right there!

Anyways, thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I wasn't expecting half as many readers as I got! So thank you guys for actually wanting to read this!

See you next week!

Thanks for reading, please review (:

Love, ChloeRhiannonX