When Miss Honey heard the message on the answering machine the previous night from Mr. Trilby requesting a meeting, she had assumed she was in trouble, but this!? Her chest was tightening. Her heart was racing. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She stared at the small man wide-eyed. He had to be off his rocker! Going senile! Crazy! Maybe he was even on drugs! It was the only thing that would explain what she had just heard come from his mouth.
He stared at her expectantly, his hands intertwined and resting on the desk between them.
"What?" It was all Jenny could manage to get out. Maybe she was the crazy, senile one. She must have heard wrong. Must have hit her head in the night.
"I said, I'm retiring" Mr. Trilby said. "And I want you to take my place." There it was again. She hadn't imagined it. "You don't have to give me an answer right away, but please think it over."
"Why me? I-I'm nothing but a first year teacher. I know nothing about being a headmistress."
"Yes, but you see, that's what this place needs. It doesn't need someone with management skills, or another disciplinarian. What it needs is someone creative, caring, and passionate. This school has been ruled by, well, rules and fear for far far too long."
Jenny remained silent, still at a complete loss for words.
"I've been watching you, Miss Honey, and I've seen the way you speak to the students. Students that aren't even in your class. You see them, you listen to them, and to be honest, you're one of the few teachers we have that care about them."
"Of course I care about the students, sir, but wouldn't literally anyone be better for this?"
"No, no they wouldn't. If I promoted anyone else, how would I know the cycle of abuse wouldn't continue?"
"How can you be so sure the cycle of abuse wouldn't continue with me?" Miss Honey asked. In her entire life she had never been in a position of power before. What if it went straight to her head?
"Oh I doubt that very much." Mr. Trilby said before smiling. "I do believe we both know of a certain little girl who would be up to the task of keeping you accountable."
"Sir, to be perfectly honest with you, the way things are going I don't know how much longer I can justify keeping her enrolled. Unless…"
Mr. Trilby raised an eyebrow. "Unless what?"
"I heard a rumor yesterday. Is it true they're expanding the school?"
"All the way to year 13." He said. Miss Honey's eyes widened. She really could keep an eye on Matilda. "And you know what? If you were headmistress, you'd have the final say in Matilda's education." Miss Honey bit her lip. It sounded nice, she had to admit. She could pull her from Mr. Larson's class or… she could just pull Mr. Larson.
"The teachers here, some of them are, how can I phrase this?" Miss Honey said.
"When the previous headmistress hired some of them, she was looking for disciplinarians, someone who could keep the students in line. She prioritized discipline over everything else, as I'm sure you're aware."
Miss Honey suppressed a shudder. "Yes, I'm aware."
"So I would suggest before the following school year, if you're interested, we sit and go over the personnel files together. Let's decide who stays and who goes." He frowned for a moment as he waved his hand through his graying hair. "Well, there's a bit of a problem we need to solve before we can even think of hiring new teachers."
"What's that?"
Mr. Trilby sighed deeply. "It's the ledgers! The longer I stare at them the less sense it makes! I looked at our bank balance, and it's practically empty. We've still four months left in the school year, and yesterday I find out how much money we get a year from the government and I just can't figure it out! Where did it all go? There's so many things that need repairing, but when was the last time the previous headmistress did more than hand over a roll of duct tape? The playground is nothing more than an asphalt lot, we have no heating or air conditioning, half the toilets are out of order, and to be quite honest, I feed my dogs better quality food than the school feeds the children."
"Was the Trunchbull over paying herself?" Miss Honey asked. She wouldn't put it past her aunt to pocket the money and let the school fend for itself.
"It's the first thing I checked. While she certainly paid herself more than she paid us, it was still considered reasonable and not enough to make this much of a difference."
"Sounds like you need to hire an accountant."
"I made a call to inquire about it, but they said we don't need just any regular accountant, we need a forensic accountant, and they don't come cheap. We can't afford it and i'm in over my head here. Do you have any ideas?"
Miss Honey racked her brain, thought of something, laughed darkly and shook her head.
"What?"
"Nothing, it's silly." Miss Honey said shaking her head. Hey, Matilda, sweetheart, if you can help us find the embezzled funds, I'll let you have a bowl of ice cream and stay up an hour past your bedtime.
Mr. Trilby seemed to read something in her face. He laughed for a second before saying, "No, absolutely not. No way." Miss Honey smiled sheepishly, embarrassed the thought had even crossed her mind. Although, she wasn't the one who brought it up.
"She's cheap." Miss Honey said with a laugh.
Mr. Trilby let his face fall into his hands before shaking his head and letting out a frustrated groan. He slowly raised his head and met her eyes. "How cheap?"
…
Hortensia was flashing her Cheshire cat grin. Matilda raised her eyebrows in question. "I always knew you were full of shit." Matilda rolled her eyes.
"Not anymore." Matilda moaned. The right side of her face was resting on her desk with her head craning up to see Hortensia. "You don't want to know what i've been through." It was the third-worst experience of her life. "I've been violated."
She was still a bit bitter over the whole situation. She had little to say to Miss Honey this morning, even if she had been mere putty in her arms last night. Jenny had caught her by surprise was all. Matilda wasn't expecting her to pull out the big guns. It wasn't like her to offer fabric free cuddling. Matilda closed her eyes and pictured last night. So soft and warm. And Jenny hadn't been panicking nearly as much this time. Matilda let out a contended hum.
"Yeah, for someone who says they were violated, you sure have a dopey grin on your face." Hortensia teased.
Matilda could feel her cheeks turning red. "I do not. I never want to do that again. The cramping! And then they make you hold it and-" Matilda shuddered. She tried to picture Jenny's arms around her again to flush her brain, but it wasn't working.
"Yeah, I hear enough about enemas from my mom. I'm good." Hortensia said. "She gives them to the old people like candy, then she comes home and doesn't spare me the details."
Matilda cringed. "Poor old people." Hortensia shook her head.
"She says they beg for them like sweets. She can't go a day without shoving something up someone's ass."
"Hortensia, mind your audience." Mr. Larson called out in his bored voice.
"She brought it up first." Hortensia said with a snicker.
"I meant me." Mr. Larson said. "I just ate." Matilda watched as his gaze stopped on her. "Wormwood, I take it you still have all your internal organs."
"Yes sir," Matilda said.
"You have a doctor's note excusing you from class yesterday? Bring it up." Matilda grabbed the two folded pieces of paper on her desk and sprang to her feet. She hurried and handed them over before standing awkwardly to the side as he examined them. He nodded his approval at the first, but paused at the second. "Look, Wormwood, I get it, I do, but I can't just give you special treatment."
"You told me if I brought you a doctor's note-" He held up a hand to silence her.
"That's why you need to come up with a hand sign." She furrowed her brows in confusion. "Look, flash me the peace sign, a thumbs up, hell, flip me the bird, I don't care. I'll make up some reason for you to leave the classroom, but you can't ask to use the restroom in front of everyone."
"Why though?"
"C'mon, you're the genius here. Look, cause if I let you, then everyone else will ask too, and I can't just let everyone in the class wander the halls whenever they want. She'll-" He stopped mid-sentence. "Ah, you know what, never mind. Just don't abuse it."
Matilda gazed up at him feeling even more puzzled. "O-oh okay." So was she supposed to make a hand sign or not? She scurried back to her desk and waited for the bell to ring.
Matilda had to admit class was going much more smoothly today than the previous two. The small things that had set Matilda on edge didn't seem to bother her as much. She could be patient when Bruce tripped over his words while reading, even if she had read the paragraph ten times by the time he got through it once. Or Brittany's never ending complaints of "I don't get it" in math.
The thing Matilda couldn't seem to get over was her boredom. She was starting to welcome Hortensia's crude drawings, and the pokes and prods of her classmates wanting to know how she had skipped five grades. How had following along turned school into something so boring?
Matilda had never been so happy when the lunch bell rang. She grabbed the book she had been reading out of her backpack and stood up to stretch. Finally! She could do whatever she wanted to for the next thirty minutes.
"A book?" Hortensia asked. "Leave it, we're playing kickball in the field again. It'll be way more fun than reading." Matilda looked down at Hortensia's bandaged leg. Did this girl learn nothing?
"I'm not wearing the right footwear for kickball." Matilda pointed out. They both looked down at her pink Mary Jane shoes with the purple butterflies on the sides.
"Let me have them, I'll see if anyone will switch with you for the afternoon." Matilda wanted to point out no one's feet would even come close to being as small, but arguing with Hortensia when she was bound and determined to make something happen was like arguing with a brick wall. So Matilda silently kicked them off and handed them over. She grabbed her book and sat on a nearby picnic bench to read. She figured Hortensia would realize her mistake and bring her shoes back eventually. At least she'd get to read.
Only, when Hortensia came back, she didn't have Matilda's shoes, she had someone else's brown sneakers. Not only that, but they fit! Well, sort of. They were a little big, but with a second knot, there wasn't much slip. She wanted to ask how in the world she had gotten them, but she had a feeling she didn't want to know.
"Why do you want me to play kickball with you guys? You know I'm going to be terrible at it, right?" Matilda asked Hortensia as they walked out to the field where the majority of the older kids had gathered and began picking teams. Hortensia flashed her another Cheshire grin.
"Not necessarily."
They made their way into the crowd to be selected for teams. Hortensia was picked nearly right away, despite the bandages and slight limp. Matilda on the other hand was chosen dead last. Even Bruce Bogtrotter was chosen before her. Matilda sighed. She'd rather be reading. Matilda stared over at the opposite team, where Hortensia was laughing with some of her friends.
Was she just trying to make Matilda look bad? No, that couldn't be it, it was obvious just looking at her size she'd be terrible. She stood off to the side and watched as they flipped a coin to see who'd go first.
"Heads! Yes!" An older boy called. It looked like her team was kicking first. She saw Hortensia flash her a wink before running off to the outfield. Matilda shook her head and took her place in the very back of the line in the hopes she'd never get to go up. She watched with mild amusement as the older kids ran and chased each other. It was better than class, but still. Why couldn't Hortensia just let her read?
Matilda was five spots away from kicking now. She watched the biggest looking boy, besides Bruce, kick the ball and send it sailing through the air. Matilda was sure no one could catch it, until she saw Hortensia sprinting for all she was worth and snatch it before it could land. Matilda had to admit she was good. There was the echoing of cheers from the outfield as Hortensia threw the ball back to the pitcher.
"First out!" She called.
Matilda was four spots away now. Then three. Why wasn't the opposing team getting them out? Was it wrong to root for the opposite team? Two spots. One spot. Doug scooped the ball off the ground and got the kicker out at first. Oh no, now it was her turn. How had she gotten into this situation? She hadn't even wanted to play. Matilda could hear the outfield begin to laugh.
"Move in." they yelled. She watched as everyone came much closer. Of course they would, she couldn't kick very far compared to them. Then she noticed something strange. Everyone had come closer. Everyone except for Hortensia that was. It almost looked like she had backed up even. But why? She watched as Hortensia stuck her fingers to the sides of her temple and closed her eyes. Huh?
Matilda stared at the pitcher who had a large cocky smile on his face. What did she care? She knew she'd be out.
"Ready?"
Matilda nodded. He rolled the ball, her foot came up to meet it and- she missed.
"STRIKE ONE!" The pitcher yelled. He was laughing now, but not with her. At her. She was getting annoyed. What did they expect? She looked at Hortensia one more time. Again, she made the strange hand signs. She stared blankly until. Oh. So that's why Hortensia wanted her to play. But that was cheating, wasn't it?
Matilda looked at her classmates who were laughing. It was just a game. It wasn't like anything was on the line. She bit her lip and thought it over. She couldn't use her powers if her foot didn't make contact with the ball.
Matilda nodded to the pitcher. She'd get it this time! She swung her foot and …missed again. There was more cheering and laughing.
"STRIKE TWO."
Again Hortensia gave the signal, and this time Matilda understood. What if she used her powers to slow the ball down a little? She nodded to Hortensia this time. The pitcher rolled the ball again, but instead of running forward, she followed it with her eyes and mumbled," Slow down. Slow down." It was barely moving by the time it got to her. She kicked as hard as she could. Yes! Contact!
Matilda ran as she watched the ball roll back towards the opposing team, now picking up speed instead of slowing down. The first player was in position to scoop it up, only the ball had suddenly changed direction! It rolled off to the right now as two more players scampered after it. Matilda came to a stop at first base, now breathing heavy and giggling like mad. Huh, this was fun after all. She broke her connection and let them scoop up the ball.
"Lucky kick." The first baseman said.
There seemed to be a lot of lucky plays that game for many of her teammates. Balls were kicked impossibly high and far, pitches were slow, and every once in a while, the ball seemed to hit an invisible rock in the dirt and change direction.
"You're right that was fun!" Matilda said as they walked into the cafeteria.
"I meant use your powers on your turn, not for your whole team!" Hortensia growled in her ear. "You little cheater."
Matilda looked down at her feet as they stood in line to get lunch. "Oh yeah, where's my shoes?"
"Oh, I traded them with some little kid, if you see him, he'll be glad to give them back." Hortensia said.
"What? He? How'd you get a boy to trade shoes with me?" Matilda asked. She didn't like where this was going.
"I may have told him I'd stick his head in the toilet if he didn't." Hortensia admitted.
"Hortensia!" Matilda grumbled. She let her head fall in her hands. "Why? Did you at least get a name, so I can give them back."
"Nigel, I think." Matilda could feel the color draining from her face. No! She didn't!
"You…threatened a kid…in my mom's class!?" She hissed. Ohh they were in deep trouble. Oh no! Oh no!
"Oh, was he in Miss Honey's class?" Hortensia shrugged. "What's the big deal? Just go to her classroom and give them back before she notices." She glanced at Matilda and frowned. "What's with you? You look like you're going to be sick."
"She already knows everything." Matilda whispered. She could feel her anger from across the school. She was tempted to slip off the shoes and make a break for it. No she couldn't do that, running would make her look guilty. Matilda hadn't done anything wrong. She thought it was a voluntary trade! Oh no, she was coming this way! "It was nice knowing you." Matilda whispered.
"What? What's she going to do, ask to trade back without saying please? Miss Honey's the nicest person here." Hortensia said with a scoff.
"Not if you threaten one of her students." Matilda said with a wince.
The cafeteria doors violently slammed open. There stood Miss Honey looking angrier than Matilda had ever seen her. She gulped. Matilda watched as her eyes scanned the room before stopping on her. She gulped again. Miss Honey had Matilda's shoes in her hand. She pointed at them, then at the space in front of her.
…..
"You want to explain to me why I found Nigel Hicks crying and wearing your shoes!" Miss Honey demanded. Both Matilda and Hortensia were shaking now from their chairs in the headmasters' office.
"I-I thought it was a voluntary trade. With a girl!" Matilda said.
"Do those look like a girl's shoes?!" Matilda looked down at her feet. Now that Miss Honey mentioned it, no. No they did not.
"And you've gotten them all dirty! What were you doing? Why did you even need them?"
"So she could play kickball with the rest of the class." Hortensia chimed in. "Nigel just happened to be the only small enough person I came across."
"So you threatened to put his head in the toilet!?"
"I wasn't actually gonna do it!" Hortensia said.
"It doesn't matter!" Miss Honey said sounding disgusted. "Go clean them off and give them back to him. I'd give you a detention if I could. This school has had enough bullies!"
"I think that's a fair punishment." Mr. Trilby said. "Hortensia, you have detention with Miss Honey after school. You're excused."
Hortensia hung her head, took the shoes, and left. Matilda sat in her chair, avoiding Miss Honey's glare.
"I'm disappointed in you, Matilda." Miss Honey said. Matilda gaped up at Miss Honey.
"All I wanted to do was read! I only told her I didn't have the right shoes, so she'd leave me alone. I didn't know what she did to get them!"
"Why didn't you just tell her you didn't want to play?!"
"Because no one cares what I want!" Matilda yelled back.
"That is not true, Matilda!" Miss Honey said firmly. "I care."
"Like you cared what I wanted yesterday." Matilda said darkly.
"Matilda! That is not- that's not even… just…just go back to class." Miss Honey said through gritted teeth. The two locked eyes for a moment and stared each other down before Matilda got up and headed for the door. "And Matilda…" She glanced back over her shoulder just as her hand gripped the door knob. "Meet me here after class lets out. You have detention too."
Miss Honey groaned as she heard the door slam. Oh, that girl! She knew just how to hit where it hurt!
"I don't like this, sir. I don't think I can do this." Miss Honey said into her hands. "I don't like punishing children."
"Then I'm more sure than ever I've made the right choice."
Miss Honey sighed as she made her way back to her classroom. She thought they were on good terms after last night, but apparently not. Jenny had been so sure Matilda understood the procedure had been for her own good. She tried to tell herself it was no different from any parent taking their kid in for a vaccine. Of course, they wouldn't be happy about it, but it still had to be done. It's not like she could just let a five-year-old make medical decisions for herself. It was ridiculous! Matilda would just have to get over it. Decisions being made for you was all part of growing up, yet…she couldn't shake the feeling this ran deeper than yesterday. And what was with that attitude? That was so unlike her! She hadn't planned on punishing her at all until she opened her mouth.
At least now Jenny didn't feel so bad about offering her up as free child labor. The only difference was now she would be telling Matilda to go through the expense reports instead of asking her. At least for today. It's not like either of them thought she could figure it out in less than an hour, or really, at all. Mr. Trilby had been studying them all week.
It really had been a dumb idea. "I know you, with your many college degrees, can't figure this out, Mr. Trilby, but how about letting my five-year-old take a look?"
Miss Honey shook her head trying to clear it from this afternoon's events as she stood outside her classroom. She took a deep breath, put on a smile, and went on with her afternoon.
…
It was almost an hour before school let out when Miss Honey first heard her classroom door open. She looked up, but there was no one there. She looked around the room. Had someone left? Miss Honey did a quick head count. She frowned in confusion. Everyone was present and accounted for. Maybe it was a draft? She got up and closed the door. Miss Honey got halfway back to her desk when she heard it again. She spun on her heel. The door was open again.
What was going on? She hadn't had anything weird happen in here since Matilda left…Oh… Miss Honey tiptoed back to the door and poked her head outside. There she found a small childlike figure, with their back against the wall, and head in their lap quietly sobbing. Miss Honey looked back at her class. They were all pre-occupied with their coloring assignments. She stepped out of her classroom, closed the door behind her, and joined the figure on the floor.
"Matilda, why aren't you in class? What are you doing out here?"
"I-I'm so-rry f-f-for wh-at I sa-id." the figure on the ground managed to choke out. Miss Honey bit her lip. The lights in the hallway were beginning to flicker. "I-I c-c-couldn't st-top think-ing ab-about it and- and- then I couldn-t b-b-breathe and o-one of t-t-the li-ghts in the cl-classroom blew!"
"Matilda, I need you to try and calm down." Miss Honey whispered. There was a loud, angry buzzing sound. She stared at the lights overhead. The three nearest them were beginning to surge brighter and brighter. She had to think of something. Miss Honey jumped to her feet, yanked Matilda to hers, and pulled her into the dark storage closet. "Shh shh shh, it's alright, you're alright."
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Matilda sobbed, arms now tightly wrapped around Miss Honey's waist.
"Shh, let's see if we can find a spot to sit down, and then we can talk." She moved her feet around to see how much room there was before sliding down and pulling Matilda into her lap. "Sweetie, what's been going on with you? I thought we were okay after last night."
"We are." Matilda muttered into Miss Honey's shoulder in between sniffles.
"Then why did you say that earlier?"
"I'm sorry!" Matilda cried.
"I know you are, but why did you say it?" Matilda remained quiet for some time. "C'mon, talk to me."
"I was angry." Matilda mumbled.
"You seem to be angry a lot recently, you want to tell me what's that about?"
"I can't explain it." Matilda said.
"Can you try?"
Matilda sighed. "It's like no one hears me, or is listening, or cares what I want."
"You said that earlier, but I don't understand what you mean. This isn't about yesterday, is it?"
"No, not really." Matilda mumbled before letting out her held breath. "My stomach feels great. I was even able to run without it hurting."
"While I'm certainly happy to hear you're feeling better, I'm still not following."
"I thought I wanted to go to normal classes, but they're awful! I never thought I'd ever dislike school so much."
Miss Honey frowned. "It's only been three days, Matilda, give it time."
Matilda let out a frustrated groan. "This is what I mean! No one's listening!"
Miss Honey held her tongue and sighed. "Alright, Matilda, I'm listening. What is it you're trying to say?"
"It doesn't matter if it's three days, or three months or three years! It's not going to work, I'm so frustrated being forced to stay with the class I want to pull my hair out! I could have read five chapters by the time it takes the class to get through one! I feel so trapped being stuck at the pace of the slowest learner!"
Miss Honey frowned as Matilda's words began to sink in. She was right. This wasn't something time would fix. Neither would moving her up another grade nor two. It wasn't even about not liking the teacher or wanting to be around her. Matilda just wasn't built for typical schooling of any grade level. It would only hold her back. She'd just run into the same problem again and again and again. What she needed was the ability to work at her own pace with a private tutor.
"I think I'm finally hearing you." Miss Honey said with a sigh. "You really were better off in my class. Oof." She felt Matilda crash into her and squeeze. Miss Honey held her for a moment before letting go. "Let's get out of this closet. You can stay with me the rest of the day. Actually," Miss Honey smiled mischievously. "You're going to serve your detention early."
"What?" Matilda asked in a high-pitched tone.
"Don't think you're getting out of trouble." They both stood up, and Miss Honey led her into the classroom and to her old desk. "Sit." Miss Honey went back to her desk, pulled out a weeks worth of projects and the necessary supplies and set them on Matilda's desk. "For your detention," Miss Honey said with a grin. "You'll be doing arts and crafts."