The corner of Mr Williams' lip slightly twitched upwards as he glanced at each and every girl's face, studying them. Maggie shifted on her feet when Mr Williams locked eyes with her. A smile grew on his face, sending shivers down her spine and the hair on the back of her neck to rise even higher. She watched a Mr Williams turn towards Mrs Rose and opened his arms.
"What a magnificent group of girls you have here Mrs Rose," Mr Williams thin voice bounced out of his throat.
Maggie bit her lip to prevent her self from laughing at the man's high pitch voice that was unpleasant to the ears. If Maggie would have guessed, she would have thought that the man swallowed a bottle of helium. Rebecca's shoulders shook in the corner of her eyes and that's when Maggie knew that Rebecca had the exact same thoughts.
"If I would have know that you were in the possession of such fair beauty I would've came by years ago," Mr Williams walked towards the end of the line and examined each girl. As he past the ones he didn't want, Mr Williams pointed out the girls he did want.
Maggie watched as he pointed at Alexa Goner, Melody Frost, Crystal Macleod, Amber Gibbons, Grace Heart, Layla Grey and a smirking Clare Elliott. Mrs Rose took a step forward after Mr Williams returned to the spot next to her.
"Now," Mrs Rose cleared her throat, Maggie's was beginning to think that the poor woman need a cough drop. "The girls chosen are to return to their rooms immediately and start packing. You have an hour to say your final goodbyes while Mr Williams and I finish the needed paperwork. For the rest of the girls, you may spend the next two hours as you please before lunch then it's back to classes. Dismiss."
The girls slowly left, watching Mrs Rose escort Mr Williams towards her office. Once out of earshot, the girls chosen squealed in excitement and words of congratulations flew around the room. Crystal threw her arms around Rebecca's shoulders, jumping up and down. This caused both Grace and Maggie to laugh at Rebecca's surprise expression.
"Okay," Rebecca hissed through clenched teeth. "You can let go now."
Crystal released the girl from her tight embrace and smiled nervously, "Sorry, I'm just..." Crystal squealed once again, "I'm just so excited that I got picked to get adopted."
"Yeah well, be happy with Grace in your arms. She also got picked."
"Oh my golly," Crystal pulled Grace into a hug. "I forgot!"
Maggie shook her head fondly at the three, a sad smile on her face, "Come on you two. Rebecca and I will help you pack."
The four girls made their way up the stairs and towards their shared bedroom on the third floor. As the girls enter the room, Maggie was pulled back by a someone. She turned her head to see Clare staring at her.
"I told you, you wouldn't get picked,"
Maggie frowned for a second then gave Clare a smile, "I hope your happy at you new home Clare. I really do and I wish you the best of luck."
Clare's victorious smirk faltered, she took a step back not knowing how to respond to the smiling girl's comment. She opened her mouth but closed again before spinning on her heel and walked towards her bedroom three doors down the hallway. Maggie watched her go, know that she had won that argument and everything though Clare thought it was a joke, Maggie meant what she said. She knew that it was very hard for the girl when her dad left her here and she also knew that the promise he made to Clare that day was a lie, she could see it in the man's eyes that day.
A fake cough broke Maggie's train of thoughts, she turned her head and saw all three girls staring at her questioningly. She could basically hear their minds screaming at her for an explanation but she only smiled and shook her head at them.
They started to help Crystal and Grace with their trunks, chattering happily about what awaits the two girls once they leave the orphanage. An uneasy feeling settled in Maggie's gut and a troublesome thought burning in the back of her mind.
As the hour grew to an end, Crystal and Grace hugged their friends and left with the other girls, promises of writing letters to each other every week was the last thing Maggie could remember when she watched the car pulled away from the orphanage.
"It strange don't you think?" Rebecca said, standing next to Maggie by the window. "That a strange man would adopt seven girls."
Maggie turned towards her frowning friend, "You felt it too right?"
"Yeah, something about that man seemed off. I just hope it's nothing bad and that the other two will be alright."
Maggie sighed walked back towards their room with Rebecca following behind her. She glanced around the bedroom, it felt empty somehow. The light pick piece of fabric, neatly folded on the her bed, stood out against the dark colour of the duvet. She made her way towards it and slowly picked it up.
The silk handkerchief Grace made her was cold to the touch. She rubbed her thumb softly over the beautifully stitched name, "I hope they are..."
The first three weeks after the seven girls' adoption went by fast. Maggie and Rebecca mostly kept themselves busy in the forest with their little discoveries when they weren't busy in class. The letters as promised by Crystal were written and received until the fourth week came and past. No letters from either of the girls.
"You think they're okay?" Maggie asked Rebecca on the beginning of the sixth week.
The two girls were walking along the garden on that morning. Rebecca splashing around the edge of one of the fountains with a stick, disturbing the Koi fish as they peaceful swam around underneath the lily pads.
"I don't know," Rebecca reply poking one of the fish with the stick, scaring it away. "I've been thinking-"
Maggie cut her friends off with a loud snort, "That must have been painful."
Rebecca dropped her stick and scooped up water, splashed Maggie with it.
"No it wasn't," Maggie giggled at Rebecca rolling her eyes. "Maybe it's time we go and visit them."
The giggling stopped and Maggie thought for a moment, "But we don't know where they live."
Reached into her pocked, Rebecca pulled out one of the old letters to that Grace set them awhile back. The white crumble envelope was starting to turn yellow with age on the edges. Maggie took it from the tall girl and ran her hand over the cursive words neatly written in the centre in black inks.
"You really thought this through, didn't you?"
Rebecca gave the redhead a nod, "So?"
The idea of seeing their friends again made Maggie smile. She gave Rebecca the envelope back, "Okay but we have to leave tomorrow night."
The girls' little conversation was interrupted by deep clearing of the throat. They turned towards the direction of the sound and found Miss Harrington glaring at the both of them.
"Why aren't you two girls in class?" She asked, her rough voice flying through the air like bullets being fired in war, loud and unpleasant.
"We were just-"
"They were help me with something," a thick French accent from behind Miss Harrington spoke.
The trio turned to Miss Belle, who walked towards the two girls and stood behind Maggie. She place a her hands gently on Maggie's shoulders as she gave Miss Harrington one of her charming smiles.
"My apologies," she said, giving Maggie a light squeeze on the shoulders. "I asked the to help me get a nice idea of what the fish look like so that we could paint them for art."
Miss Harrington eyed the tree suspiciously before humming, "Very well, I'll be off and fair warning girls, if you skip a meal again I will have to force feed you and Miss Greenwood, we wouldn't want to have a repeat of that now do we?"
Maggie shook her head, causing Rebecca to cringe and Miss Harrington to smirk before walking away, her long skirt flaring out behind her as she walked.
"Il serait sage de rester en dehors de cette horrible chemin de femme," Miss Belle advice. (It would be wise to stay out of this horrible woman's way)
Rebecca frowned at the French words, try to figure out what she said. She never really bothered to pay attention in class when ever the woman spoke.
Maggie turned around and stared up at the brunette, "Pourquoi? Je pensais que tu aimais la femme." (Why? I think you liked the woman.)
Miss Belle burst into laughter, she shook her head and bend down to look Maggie in the eye. Her expression serious, "Où que vous alliez demain soir, je viendrai avec compris?" (Wherever you go tomorrow night, I will come with understood?)
Maggie glanced over at a bored Rebecca, who was playing with her nails. She reached out towards Rebecca and pulled her down before whispering the question on her ear. Rebecca glanced at the French woman before turn back to Maggie and whispered something in return.
The two whispered back and forth until they pulled away from each other. Maggie gave Miss Belle a nod causing the woman to pull her into a tight hug. Miss Belle whispered something into Maggie's ear before letting go and walking off.
Rebecca raised an eyebrow at the the Maggie, silently asking what the woman whispered but Maggie only shook her head. The two girls rushed towards the when a bell rang, signalling the start of lessons.