12 the days go by

the next excitement was that sally came back! darrell was overjoyed. she hugged sally, and they both began to talk at once.

“it’s good to be back! i did hate not coming at the beginning of the term!”

“oh, sally, i have missed you! there’s lots to tell you.”

“you wrote awfully good letters. i’m longing to see bill and zerelda. wasn’t it a shame missing everything!”

everyone was pleased to see sally back—everyone that is, except alicia. alicia had got used to having darrell for her companion and friend. now she would have to share her with sally—and she might not even be able to share her! darrell might not want to bother with alicia, with sally back again.

so alicia greeted sally rather coolly, and made quite a show of being friendly with darrell, hoping that darrell would still want her for a friend. but darrell forgot all about alicia for a few days, she was so pleased that sally was back.

there was so much news to exchange, so much to discuss. sally marvelled at zerelda and her ways, and heard two or three times all about how she had been taken from the fourth form and put into the third. she marvelled at bill too and her prowess in the gym and on horseback. she thought mavis and her voice were more difficult than ever to put up with. she was amused at the way gwendoline followed zerelda around and was not taken much notice of!

“oh, darrell—you don’t know how good it is to be back again!” said sally, happily. “i kept on and on thinking of you all—working in class—joking with mam’zelle dupont, and being ticked off by mam’zelle rougier—and playing lacrosse, and having fun in the gym, and roasting chestnuts by the fire in the common-room. i was absolutely homesick for school!”

“well, now you’re back again at last,” said darrell. “i chummed up with alicia whilst you were away, sally. betty’s in quarantine for whooping-cough and isn’t back yet, so she was on her own and so was i.”

sally didn’t very much like the idea of darrell being friends with alicia. she felt jealousy creeping up in her. jealousy was one of sally’s failings. she had conquered it for some time—but it came slipping into her heart again now when she saw how friendly alicia was with darrell. she didn’t like it at all.

so sally was as cool with alicia as alicia was cool with sally, and darrell was surprised and grieved about it. she had hoped that once sally had settled in, she and sally and alicia might be companions till betty came back. it didn’t seem to darrell to be quite fair to throw off alicia entirely, as soon as sally came back.

darrell told sally about alicia’s proposed trick. sally didn’t seem to think it a good trick to play at all!

“it’s silly to play a trick like that on miss peters,” she said. “for one thing, she’ll guess it’s a trick and will deal out awful punishments—and for another thing i don’t much like those tricks that make people have sneezing fits. i think they’re a bit dangerous.”

“oh, sally!” said darrell, really disappointed. “i thought you’d be so thrilled. don’t be so prim and solemn! i believe it’s just because it’s alicia’s trick you don’t like it!”

sally was hurt. “all right—if you like to think things like that of me, you can,” she said. “i suppose you think i’m jealous of alicia. well, i’m not. i can quite see why you like her so much—jolly, witty, amusing—all the things i’m not!”

now it was darrell’s turn to look hurt. “you’re silly, sally,” she said. “yes, you are! you know you’re my friend and i only went with alicia and alicia with me because you and betty were away. don’t spoil things, sally.”

“all right. i’ll try not to,” said sally, with an effort. but jealousy is a very hard thing to fight and an even harder thing to defeat. try as she would sally could not stop herself from being a little spiteful about alicia, and she was so cool to her that alicia, tickled to see her jealousy, began to play up to darrell even more.

“oh dear!” sighed darrell to herself one afternoon as she ran out for a lacrosse practice, “why is it that alicia is always so specially nice to me in front of sally—and why has sally changed so much? she is jealous, i know—but does jealousy change people such a lot?”

darrell wasn’t at all jealous herself. it was not in her nature, so she couldn’t really understand sally’s feelings. she saw both sides very clearly. sally didn’t like alicia and wanted darrell’s entire friendship. alicia didn’t see why she should give up darrell’s companionship completely just because sally had come back. why not a threesome till betty returned?

“well, i shan’t think about either of them!” said darrell, as she caught the lacrosse ball very deftly, spun round and sent it cleanly and swiftly to another player. so she didn’t bother about anything except giving her whole attention to the fun of running and catching and throwing.

molly ronaldson was really pleased with her. it was not only darrell’s swiftness and deftness that made her pleased, but the girl’s keenness. she had never missed a practice, she had come out in the coldest weather and the bitterest winds. she was a good sport—and molly ronaldson had no higher praise for anyone than that.

“darrell rivers, count yourself as third reserve for the third match-team,” she said, as she went off the field with darrell. “i’ll put the notice up on the board this evening. there’s always a chance you might play in a match, so keep up your practice. in this term there’s such a lot of illness and people often fall out by the dozen.”

“oh, molly—thank you!” said darrell, finding it quite difficult to speak, she was so overcome. “i won’t let you down—i’ll not miss a single practice, even if it snows! i say, i do think it’s super of you!”

“no, it isn’t really,” said molly. “i’m thinking of the team. you’re good enough—so in you go—as reserve first, with a faint chance of playing in a match later on.”

darrell rushed indoors, walking on air. luckily she didn’t collide with mam’zelle round the corner this time. all she did was to bump into a bunch of fourth-formers, who scattered in alarm at her headlong rush.

“darrell rivers! are you mad?” said lucy.

“no! well, perhaps i am a bit!” said darrell. “i’m third reserve for the third match-team! molly’s just told me.”

“that’s jolly good,” said ellen. “congratulations! lucky thing! i’ll never be in any match-team, and i’m a fourth-former.”

everyone seemed pleased and clapped darrell on the back. she rushed to the third form common-room to break the news there. most of the girls were there, sitting about, reading, playing games or sewing. they looked up as darrell burst in.

“here comes the hurricane!” said alicia, with a grin. “shut the door, for goodness’ sake, darrell. there’s an icy blast blowing round my legs already.”

darrell slammed the door. “girls, i’m third reserve!” she announced. “molly’s putting it up on the notice board tonight.”

alicia, who had been a little annoyed at darrell’s success at lacrosse that term, made up her mind to be pleased about it this time. it wouldn’t do for her to be sour over this and sally to be sweet! so she leapt up, thumped darrell on the back, and yelled congratulations as if there had never before been anyone in the reserve.

she would hardly let sally get near darrell. jean was pleased too, and irene and belinda came round to marvel. even mary-lou added her bit, and zerelda smiled and looked pleased, though secretly she wondered how anyone could possibly be so thrilled about such a peculiar thing. altogether it was quite a triumph for darrell, and she basked in the admiration with delight.

sally was cross to see how pleased alicia apparently was, and how darrell welcomed her delight. “oh dear!” she thought, “i am getting horrid! i can’t even make myself say all the nice things to darrell i’d like to say, just because alicia got there first!”

darrell was rather surprised that sally didn’t seem as pleased as she had expected her to be. “aren’t you glad, sally?” she asked anxiously. “it’s an honour for the third form, you know. do say you’re pleased!”

“of course i’m pleased!” said sally. “it’s—it’s fine. you’ve done jolly well, darrell.”

but she didn’t sound very whole-hearted about it and darrell felt faintly disappointed. never mind! alicia was thrilled—and so were the others. perhaps sally was still feeling a bit out of things, having come back so late in the term.

the next excitement was a notice put up on the board, next to the notice about darrell, to say that miss hibbert, the english mistress, was going to start rehearsals for “romeo and juliet”. all third-formers were to go to the art-room to be tried out for parts.

“blow!” said gwendoline, who didn’t like miss hibbert because she had so often ticked her off for being affected and silly in her acting. “i was hoping she had forgotten about the play. it’s such a waste of time.”

“oh no, it isn’t,” said zerelda, who had brightened up very much at the notice. “acting is marvellous! that’s a thing i really can do. i did lady macbeth over in . . .”

“yes, we know you did,” interrupted daphne. “we ought to know by now, anyway! you tell us often enough.”

“i suppose you fancy yourself in one of the chief parts, daphne?” said alicia. “what a disappointment you’ll get! anyway, if zerelda’s so good, she’ll play juliet—if she can get rid of that american drawl!”

zerelda looked alarmed. “do you think my way of speaking will stop me having a good part?” she asked.

“well—i can’t imagine shakespeare’s juliet talking with a pronounced american accent,” said alicia. “still—if you act the part well enough i don’t see why you shouldn’t get it!”

zerelda had been rather subdued lately, but now she came to life again, with the hope of starring in “romeo and juliet”! she paid a tremendous lot of attention to her appearance and spent as much time as she dared in front of her looking-glass. she also tried to get rid of her american drawl!

this amused the class very much. zerelda had never made the slightest attempt before to speak in the english way and had laughed at the english accent and called it silly. now she badgered everyone to tell her how to pronounce the words the way they did.

“well, try to say ‘wonderful’ with the d in the middle, instead of ‘wunnerful’, for a start,” said darrell. “and say ‘twenty-four’ with the t in the middle instead of ‘twenny-four’. and couldn’t you say ‘stop’ instead of ‘starp’ and ‘shop’ instead of ‘sharp’? or can’t you hear the difference?”

zerelda patiently tried to master the english way of speaking, much to miss peters’ astonishment. she had felt quite pleased with zerelda’s efforts to keep up with the work of the form, but she was still annoyed with the girl’s constant attention to her hair and appearance. nor did she like zerelda’s still grown-up air, and her habit of appearing to look down on the others just because they were schoolgirls.

“now i’ll show them all!” thought zerelda, studying the part of juliet with great attention. “now they’ll see what i mean when i say i’m going to be one of the greatest of all film-stars!”