Dreams at Silver Spires (8 page)

It all seemed so simple when we'd been working it out, but now that it was almost time to put the plan into action, I was really nervous. And there was something making me even tenser. While we'd all been sitting on my bed talking about it the night before, I'd suddenly thought about the way Miss Gerard's shoes clicked, and I'd found myself calling her Miss Click instead of Miss Gerard, which had given us all a massive fit of the giggles. After that, the others had started saying Miss Click too, until it had kind of stuck. So now I was worried I might call her that by mistake while I was actually having my meeting with her, which would be totally disastrous.

In the shower I went over what I was going to say to Miss Gerard one more time. It felt like I was learning lines for a play or something, but I knew it was best to have something actually prepared, as I was so nervous. As usual, though, my mind wandered off after no time at all, and I found myself thinking back to Emily Peters and Stan. I wondered whether Stan had sent one of his photos to Emily yet and whether she was imagining me working away in my garden, trying to get it back to how it was. Whenever I got to thinking about that, I always wanted to hurry everything up so I could write and tell Emily it was all happening and it was great. But I knew that wasn't possible. You can't hurry nature. It has its own plan that no one should interfere with. That's what my dad says anyway.

I can remember one time when we were driving the tractor home together late one night in the half-term holiday last May.

“You get the ground ready and you sow the seeds, Ems,” he said. “And from little seeds come big results, you know. The secret is keeping in tune with nature's plan. That's the secret.”

I love it when Dad says things like that to me. Somehow, they always stick in my mind. If our teachers said such interesting things, I'd be in top sets for everything. Not that we're actually in sets for all the subjects – just science, maths and English – but still, it would be nice to be in top sets for just one of those three things. My science teacher did say she was very pleased with my work on soil recently, though, so maybe I'll get put up a set for that subject next term. I really enjoyed the work on soil, because I love anything to do with the environment. But geography is probably my best subject, even though I don't like what we're doing at the moment on maps. I prefer work on different types of land, like deserts and jungle and marshes and things. I quite like history too, especially as Mrs. Egerton is so laid-back. I think she's a bit of a scatterbrain, actually. Or maybe she's a dreamer, like me. She must be one or the other, anyway, because Bryony said she didn't even notice I wasn't in the lesson yesterday. So at least that's one thing I don't have to worry about.

By the time I was showered and dressed, all the others were awake, and I felt really honoured, because every single one of them offered to come with me to see Miss Gerard.

“Sorry, guys!” I told them a bit shakily. “This is something just for me.”

“See you at breakfast then, Ems,” they called, as I went off with my heart thudding like a bass drum. “Good luck!”

The words of my speech were still whizzing around in my mind as I walked along, breathing in the cold morning air and trying to keep calm. I looked up at the pale streaky sky and noticed that there was a bit of dim yellow sun pushing through. Straight away my eyes went to the spires, but they weren't silver yet. Maybe they would be later. And that made me think of Emily again. I never did get round to asking her whether she and her friends used to watch the sun make the spires gleam, like we do.

The other reason I love the main building is because it's so huge and grand and old. The only thing I don't like about it is that it's a bit dark for me. The furniture is dark, the beams are dark, and the little diamond windowpanes don't let in as much light as big windowpanes do – although there are lots of them, so that helps lighten it a bit.

At twenty to eight in the morning the building also seems deserted, and I felt as though I was trespassing as I stood staring at the noticeboard in the main reception hall. If anyone had been watching me they'd think I was trying to memorize every single word or something, but I didn't know what else to do as I waited for Miss Gerard to arrive.

The clock in the hall said exactly seven forty-five when I heard the front door open. I didn't turn round, just stood there, stiff with tension. I knew straight away that it was Miss Gerard from the click of her shoes on the flagstones, and immediately a nervous giggle rose in my throat. Actually it was awful that she was so punctual. It just seemed to make her all the scarier, somehow.

The clicks went all the way up the dark oak stairs and seemed to echo round the whole building. I could even hear her clicking along the top corridor, and then there was the click of her door shutting.

I swallowed and started counting in what I thought were seconds. When I'd got to a hundred and twenty I made my way upstairs and crept along the corridor, looking at all the doors. The one on the end had a plaque on it that said
DOMESTIC BURSAR
. As I stood outside I felt as though my heartbeat was the loudest thing happening in the whole building. I knocked gently, but there was no reply. She couldn't have heard me, so I knocked a bit more loudly and this time she said, “Yes, come in!” in a bit of a snappy voice.

I opened the door, anxious already that I'd got off to a bad start, and swallowed as my eyes took in the size of the office. Miss Gerard was sitting in a smart office chair on wheels at a huge desk, working on her computer, and I noticed how straight her back was. I also noticed her silky shirt, her smart jacket, her hair in a perfect bob, and the crisp expression on her face – there was no other word for it. In that second I wished I could turn and run away, because it seemed more obvious than ever that someone with an important job like domestic bursar would take no notice at all of a student who'd only been at Silver Spires for a term and a bit.

“Can I help you?” she said, and her eyes said,
I'm very busy and I'm waiting for you, so could you make it snappy?

It was too late to run away now. “I'm sorry to disturb you, but…” I said, and then something flashed into my mind. Maybe I should ask for an appointment to talk to her, so then she'd be expecting me and there'd be time for me to explain about everything. Yes, that's what I'd do.

Just say it, Emily…

“I was wondering if I could make an appointment to see you…”

She did something with her lips that made her look as though she was pouting but I realized this must be her expression for thinking hard, because she stayed silent for a few seconds as she slowly moved her glasses till they were balancing on the tip of her nose. Then she spoke in a rush, with all the crispness from her face coming out in her voice. “I think it might be better if you just tell me what it's about.”

“Er…” It was now or never. “Well, you see, I wanted to talk to you about…” My brain was whirring away, trying to remember what I'd decided to say first. “Er, you see, I'm interested in growing vegetables, because we do that at home and I'm used to it. And I was wondering about growing vegetables at Silver Spires. I mean…vegetables that we could actually eat…” Oh dear, this was coming out completely wrong. I'd better get to the point. “I know Tony asked if I could have a bit of land, but…”

She took off her glasses altogether then, and leaned back in her chair. “Yes, that's right, and I told Tony to go ahead and allocate you a small plot.”

“Only…I was wondering if I could have a bit more, please, because—”

She tapped her glasses on her lip. “As I understand it, you want to start a gardening club. Is that right?”

“Yes…a big one…”

She was sounding very brisk. “Well I might be able to extend it a little. I'd have to have a word with Tony.” She reached for a notepad and pen. “And perhaps I ought to speak to your housemistress. Which house are you in?”

“Forest Ash, but—”

“Name?

“Emily Dowd, but—”

“Year?”

“Seven.”

“Mrs. Pridham's the housemistress, isn't she?”

“Yes, only—

She was scribbling on her notepad. “I'll ask her to let you know when I've had a word with Tony. I'm not making any promises, and it'll take a few days because I've got a lot on at the moment and it'll have to work its way up the list.” She put her glasses back on and looked over the top of them at me. “All right?”

My brain was spinning.
No, no, it's
not
all right. I want more than just a little extra land. I want a proper compost, using food waste from the kitchens. And I want to change the whole way of catering at Silver Spires.

But how could I say that? Miss Gerard would stop listening before I got halfway through the first sentence. Maybe I ought to just keep quiet and go away. I tried to think what Bryony would do. I could practically hear her voice in my ear…

Just accept the extra bit of land, Ems, then come back in a few days when you've started the club properly.

I knew it made sense but I didn't think I'd have the courage to come back another time. It was now or never.

Speak, Emily. Just SPEAK!

“Er…I really wanted to ask about growing vegetables for us all…to actually eat…at Silver Spires.”

Her forehead seemed to suddenly jut forwards and her mouth pursed right up. At least she wasn't scribbling any more or firing questions at me.

I forced my brain to concentrate on the words I'd planned. “Er…you see, I know the school used to grow all its own vegetables, and now that everyone's trying to go green, I thought Silver Spires could too.” It had sounded mature when I'd tried it in front of the mirror, but here under the gaze of Miss Click, it sounded really babyish. The expression on her face told me that I hadn't got much longer to speak, so I gabbled the rest and kept falling over my words. “Fruit and vegetable peelings and apple cores could be turned into compost for the garden and you might have to still order a few things from outside but there are always enough seasonal vegetables so we could grow most of them here and—”

“Whoa! Hold it!” She gave me a kind of half smile. “There's the small question of manpower for a plan like this. In a nutshell, Emily, because I don't have much time: it's very laudable that you've thought about all this, but it would be far too labour-intensive. It would cost just as much, if not more, to grow food for as many girls as we have here. And we can't rely on students for something of such economic consequence. I don't expect you to understand the big picture, but there it is. Now—”

“It used to work fifty years ago. The students were keen then. I think we could make it happen again. In fact, I'm sure we could.”

I'd given myself a bit of a shock by interrupting like that and I swallowed and waited nervously.

The crisp look was right back. “I'm sorry, Emily. I can see exactly where you're coming from. But the answer is no.” She drew a deep breath, as though she knew she'd got a lot to say and she was determined to fit it all into one breath. “The school decided to go down the route of buying in its fruit and vegetables many years ago and it's proved easier, quicker and more reliable. And on the question of recycling the peelings, rotting them down into compost is a long process and it's also horribly smelly. So, for all those reasons, I'm afraid your idea is simply not an option now at Silver Spires.” She gave me a semi-smile, then took another breath. “However, perhaps you're still interested in expanding your patch just a little for the gardening club?” She was doing the pouting thing again, only this time her eyebrows were arched right up in a big question mark. And she was on her feet too. My time really was up. And my head was spinning as she fixed me with her questioning gaze.

If I say yes she'll think I'm happy with nothing more than a little gardening club, and yet I'm
so
not.

But how am I ever going to get what I want unless I start somewhere?

“Yes…please.”

“Excellent. Leave it with me.” She walked to the door and held it open for me.

“Thank you.”

“That's all right.”

Click. The door shut. My time was up.

I felt such an idiot telling the others over breakfast about my great meeting with Miss Gerard.

“Everything I said came out wrong and it was totally in the wrong order and she finished up by thinking I was happy with just a bit more land for my gardening club.”

“So didn't you get the chance to tell her about wanting to grow vegetables for use in the school?” asked Izzy gently.

“I tried but she wouldn't stop interrupting.” I sighed a big sigh. “And I obviously didn't say the right things to make her realize how important it was,” I said miserably. “She just went on about how much quicker and easier it was to buy in the vegetables and it was obvious that nothing I was ever going to say would make her change her mind.”

“Poor Ems,” said Antonia.

I sighed again as I thought back to my disastrous meeting. Then I spoke quickly, because I'd had enough of talking about it now.

“And she said that composts were smelly and took ages. And I said it had been done here before and she said I didn't get the big picture. The end.” I folded my arms and dropped my shoulders forwards in despair, which made all my friends murmur that I mustn't worry and it would all turn out right in the end, and things like that.

“Poor Ems,” repeated Antonia.

“At least she's letting you have a bit more land. And in time you might be able to expand even more when you show everyone what you can do,” said Nicole.

“Just take it one step at a time,” Bryony added.