Sam and Pippa waved goodbye to their father and set off through the main entrance, across the hallway and out into the Court. It was sheltered from the bitterly cold January wind and already seemed to have a faint promise of spring about it. Sam smiled appreciatively but Pippa seemed not to notice, being too busy concentrating on not dropping her burden of bags and games equipment. Safely inside North Tower the two hastily stored their outside shoes, coats and games equipment in the cloak room before hauling themselves and their remaining belongings upstairs to their dormitories. As befitted so grand a personage as a third year, Pippa shared a small room with only two others. Sam, being merely a first year shared a dormitory with seven other people. They tramped upstairs to the second floor and parted at the doorway marked 'Dormitory No.1'.
Sam pushed open the door, anxious to see who had arrived back before her. Several beds were strewn with their owner's belongings, only Charlotte had arranged her things neatly - and she had probably arrived from Singapore the previous evening. Lucia was sound asleep amidst a sea of books and clothes but, having caught an overnight flight from Brazil, she couldn't really be blamed. Lauren and Kipper's areas were still starkly empty, their owners not having arrived yet. Apart from Sam the only person who was in the room and awake was Rebecca Loxley-Hampton.
Rebecca, normally known as Becky, was lying back on her bed wearing a disgruntled expression and glaring distastefully at the stack of text books on her bedside table and the hockey stick leaning against it. "Hello Becky" said Sam, in a loud whisper so as not to wake the slumbering Lucia. "Looking forward to hockey then?"
"No" muttered Becky irritably. "Stupid game, why we couldn't stick to lacrosse I don't know".
Sam was quite surprised, Becky was easily the best athlete amongst the first years and Sam had been sure that she would adapt easily to the new game. Even if Becky wasn't very good at hockey, she should surely still be a shoo in for junior games captain next year on account of being good at every other sport Malory Towers offered.
"Chin up" said Sam, pursuing this line of thought out loud. "You can't be much worse than anyone else and you'll be fine when you get enough training in".
"That's just it" said Becky bitterly. "My parents have withdrawn permission for me to do any extra games until I improve my school work. My report was pretty awful and I'm in the bottom groups for French, English, Latin and maths. Dad says he doesn't care how good I am at games, he sent me here for an education and I'm jolly well going to get one. So I can't carry on with lacrosse because all the team practises will be outside lesson times, when I have to go to academic coaching, and I won't have enough time to get really good at hockey either".
"Gosh that sounds pretty awful" said Sam, feeling rather inadequate in dealing with the situation. "It isn't like you can be good at everything after all and it seems a shame you won't get the chance to shine in something that you are really good at". She herself was beginning to feel rather worried, the new ability sets had intruded on her thoughts rather a lot over the holidays and soon she would have to brave the lists and find out where she had been placed.
"The lists are posted in the common room" said Becky, as though reading her thoughts. "You only got told in your report if it was particularly bad. Or good – Charlotte's in the top set for everything".
"Well she would be" said Sam, "But I suppose I'd better get it over with and go and look, see you later Becky".
Ignoring the pile of belongings waiting to be put away, Sam immediately left the room and ran back downstairs to the first form common room. It was a bright airy room despite overlooking the courtyard (common rooms with sea views were reserved for the older girls). Nobody else was in the room which was quite un-naturally tidy. The notice board was near naked apart from the set listings. The fifteen North Tower first formers were listed in alphabetical order with their set listings next to their names.
Sam ran her finger down the list until she came to her own name. English… set one – thank goodness for that. Maths, set one – a great relief for Sam's favourite subject was science and she harboured hopes of becoming a science specialist further up the school. Being in the top maths set was a good start in achieving that goal. French, set two – hardly surprising for Sam had never been much good at French. Set two for Latin as well which was also pretty much as expected. Breathing a sigh of relief Sam made a mental note to send an email home as soon as possible communicating this news.
The door to the common room opened, admitting Poppy Milewski who was in Dormitory Two; since she was in Wilshire One rather than Grayling One she was one of the housemates Sam knew least well. "Hello Sam" said Poppy cheerfully, "good hols?"
"Yes thanks" said Sam, ceding her place at the notice board to the other girl. Poppy scanned her way down the form list, nodding in satisfaction as she reached her own name. This done, she read through the rest of the list.
"No Natasha" she said. "I wonder if she's moved towers or something. I know I'd want to if I was her".
"So would I" agreed Sam. "She made an awful mess of last term".
This conversation was cut short by the door opening again, this time to reveal Mrs Reeve the house mistress of North Tower accompanied by a girl Sam had not seen before. The newcomer was on the short side and rather stocky, though she could not fairly have been called fat. She had short blonde hair and looked around her rather curiously. "Oh good" said Mrs Reeve, "just the person I was looking for. Girls this is Madeleine Box who is joining us this term in place of Natasha who has moved to Switzerland with her parents. She'll be taking Natasha's place in your dormitory Poppy, so you can help her unpack and then show her around". Poppy nodded obediently and immediately left the room, indicating that the new girl should follow her. Left alone, Sam idly examined the set list which was most interesting reading.
Curiosity satisfied, she returned to the dormitory to make a start on her unpacking. Lucia had woken up and was putting her clothes away. Rebecca was tidying her books onto her shelf. Francois and Izzy had returned from whatever mission had previously claimed them and were busily filling their lockers and making beds. Sam began to tidy her own things away, starting with stowing her clothes in drawers and wardrobe. Suddenly there was a loud noise from the stairway and in clattered Lauren and Kipper who had arrived from the station with a coachload of other girls. They greeted the others before hastily commencing their own unpacking. All those who had not previously done so found the time to go and check the set lists in the common room and came back looking smug or bemoaning their fate as appropriate.
Dinner was a rather riotous affair with every member of the school seemingly set on telling all her holiday news at the top of her voice. Even the delicious beef casserole and mashed potatoes could not keep mouths shut for long. The first formers reconvened in the common room after dinner and this time the main topic of conversation was the set lists. Izzy had taken the fact that she was in set one for English and maths but set three for French and Latin with a shrug "I told you so, I'm awful at languages. Good thing I did concentrate my revision efforts on maths and English, or heaven knows where I'd be".
"I expect they'd have thrown you out and told you to go back to junior school" said Kipper cheerfully, she had taken her own placing in the top set for all subjects very calmly.
"You should not joke about these things" said Charlotte seriously. "School is important to learn, to study. Not the games and jokes you like so much Izzy".
Izzy shrugged again. "We can't all be academic geniuses Charlotte and I would die of boredom if I spent all my time studying".
Becky groaned, "I may not have any choice in the matter".
Madeleine had sat rather quietly through all this conversation but, at length, was prevailed upon to introduce herself to her housemates. "I'm Madeleine Box, everyone calls me Maddie for short. Or Mad for shorter".
"Can we call you Frog?" asked Kipper innocently.
Maddie looked at her in confusion for a moment and then burst out laughing. "Frog? Oh that is brilliant. Of course you can". The others looked at each other in confusion. Whatever joke had passed between Kipper and Maddie/Frog was beyond them. The two in the know exchanged knowing smirks, finally Kipper cleared her throat ostentatiously.
"Well you've all heard the phrase 'mad as a box of frogs' haven't you?"