Pegasi and Prefects by Eleanor Beresford Read Free Book Online

nice little thing.
     
    It’s an unwritten rule at most schools that new girls don’t push themselves forward. Rosalind Hastings seems to have taken this to heart, to the extent that she almost becomes invisible. She probably would, I speculate, if she’d had the right gifts. She seems, in fact, outright frightened of the other girls. It puzzles me, a little. She seemed shy on her first day, certainly, but a girl who could approach another girl’s pegasus like that didn’t seem to be quite the scared rabbit she appears to be now. I see a fair amount of her outside of lessons, although not really to talk to, as Diana is always inviting her into the study. She doesn’t seem so bad, then, just rather quiet. In class or the grounds, though, she shies away from anyone other than Diana or Valerie who speaks a word to her. Cecily has tried, on several occasions, to be kind, with no results, and Frances complains bitterly about having such an unfriendly study mate.
    Strange kid. I can’t quite see why Diana has taken her up with such a rush. Surely Val, who is pretty and graceful and gossipy, would have more appeal to someone like Diana.
    Diana, for her part, obviously doesn’t see the point of unwritten rules. I tell myself she only gets away unscathed because the Sixth are too grown-up to snub her like the lower forms would. The real truth is, Valerie Lincoln isn’t the only one in the Sixth trailing after her; half the girls from the other Houses seem to have lost their hearts to her on first sight. Within days the existing sets in the form have reshaped themselves into those who have no time for Diana and her airs and graces and those who worship at her feet.
    As her study mate, I’m in the perfect position to watch the waves settle as she passes. She is as charming to her admirers as she is contemptuous to me. Not that they are all allowed equal time in the sunshine of her presence. She allows pretty, dainty little Valerie to dance attendance on her, doing her darning and helping her with chores. Frances is occasionally treated to the sunshine of her smiles and a share of her jobs when she chooses. Rosalind Hastings, however, is Diana’s boon companion. Sometimes, I catch sight of Rosalind’s heart-shaped face and remember the way Ember responded to her, and it seems a bit of a pity that she’s taken up with someone I dislike so much. It seems impossible to befriend one of Diana’s supporters. Diana’s elegant and hostile presence forms an insuperable barrier to striking up a conversation with any of the girls in her wake.
    Not that I don’t have my own pals, in any case. It’s a pity that neither of them feel about fabled beasts the way I do but then, Gifts are rarely common to friends. It’s unreasonable of me to care.
    All that is properly my concern about the new girls is their performance at games. Neither are very promising. Diana is neither brilliant nor a slacker, not a potential team member but holding up her end well in Form games and Swedish exercises. Rosalind is a complete washout; Matron informs me that she is excused from games on the basis of delicacy. Looking at her pale complexion, I think she would be better off outside than cooped up inside all day, especially if she’s delicate. It’s not really my concern, of course.
    I only come to a real understanding of how different Diana is to your usual new girl when the roles are assigned for the end of year school play, ten days after the start of term.
    Esther has always been considered one of the leading lights of the Drama Guild, which is taken very much in earnest at Fernleigh. She’s clever enough to memorise lines with ease, has a certain flair for the dramatic, and, to be perfectly frank and at risk of expanding her already considerable vanity, is acknowledged as one of the beauties of the school. She’s had several key roles in the annual school plays and we all assumed she was just waiting until she was in the Sixth, which naturally has