Year 10 At Tibcot - A Mel, Tab, Mewla & Cathy story

Chapter Thirteen


  The snow didn't stop overnight. If anything, it got worse. Another thick white blanket covered the street when I got up and it was still coming down when Mewla and I left the house.
  Cathy was already at Tab's house when we called for Tab, and they were both ready. Mewlip and Tom were ready to go too (Mewlip had stayed at their house last night) so we all left together.
  "Oh for God's sakes Tom, stop it!" Tab laughed, as we walked along. Tom was scooping snow up from off the low brick walls outside people's houses and throwing it at his sister.
  "Let's get him, girls!" Cathy laughed, throwing some back.
  "Yeah!" we all shouted, and we were soon having yet another full-scale snow fight as we went along.
  Somehow we managed to get to school on time, and we made our way noisily along the warm corridors to our tutor room.
  We all burst in through the doors. Purbelle, Mewlarka, the Johnson sisters, Tibbicca, Tibleau, and Mewbellinne were in there.
  "Woohoooo!" Cathy yelled, laughing, as soon as she caught sight of Mewbellinne. "What a laugh! We just had the funniest snow fight!"
  It made me laugh how Cathy would start showing off and acting the clown if there was someone she didn't like.
  "Um, yeah, it looks like it!" Tibbicca laughed. We were all wet and our coats were covered in snow.
  "Well I think a trip to the toilets is required!" Tab said, taking off her jacket and getting her brush and make-up bag out of her bag.
  "You're telling me!" Mewla said.
  "You're not kidding, are you?" Mewbellinne muttered maliciously from over at her desk.
  We ignored her.

***

  First lesson was Drama, which we knew would be fun. Miss Philmew is another of our really nice teachers, always up for a laugh. I remember when Mewlarka started as a new kitten - Miss Philmew made her stand up in front of the class and recite lines, and do little improvisations with some of us, and I knew that Mewbellinne would have to do that too. I whispered this to Mewla as we sat while Miss Mewola took the register, and she giggled.
  Mewla told Cathy and a wicked look danced across Cathy's face.
  "I've got the most amazing idea for an impro with her if we have to do that." she said.  "Just follow my lead if we get asked to do it. But it means we'll have to be nice to her just for this morning."
  "OK!" Tab said. "I'm game!"
  "Right." Cathy said, nudging us all and winking. She turned around. "Mewbellinne! We've got Drama now - come with us and we'll show you where the Drama Room is!"
  Tibbick Johnson looked over at Cathy as if she had gone mad. Cathy winked at her and she smiled knowingly. I went over to Tibbick.
  "Cathy's got a plan." I said. "Being nice to Mewbellinne is just part of it."
  "I guessed as much when she winked." Tibbick said. "We'd better tell everyone else."
  By the time Tibbick and I had finished, the whole class knew about Cathy's plan. Mewbellinne had followed us to Drama looking rather surprised. I think she thought that her storming out yesterday had done the trick and we all wanted to be her friend now.
  "So, um, what did you do last night?" she tried to make conversation as we all trudged through the thick snow.
  "Who - me?" Cathy said, turning slightly to face Mewbellinne.
  "Yes."
  "Nothing much, just did some homework and stuff." Cathy said.
  "Yeah, me too." Mewbellinne said.
  Cathy was dying to laugh. She bit her glossy lip as we went along. Mewla cottoned on and nudged Cathy. Cathy snorted with laughter and tried to turn it into a cough.
  There was such a blanket of thick snow outside the Drama Room that we couldn't open the outer doors.
  "Tom! Be a sweetie and clear this snow away for me!" Cathy called silkily. Tom laughed and pushed through the crowd to where we were standing by the door.
  "Of course my darling." he laughed, kissing her cheek. They were both doing it just to annoy Mewbellinne. She stood there watching it all, taking it all in. I nudged Tibbicca, who was standing next to me, and she stifled a laugh.
  "Good lord!" Miss Philmew hurried up, and laughed when she saw Tom clearing the foot of snow away from the doors. "Thankyou for that, Tom!"
  "Quite alright." Tom grinned, standing aside and holding the door open for Miss Philmew.
  We all filed in. After putting our bags down, Cathy went straight over to Miss Philmew and told her about Mewbellinne. I could tell by the look on Miss Philmew's face that she didn't think much of Mewbellinne's attitude. Mewbellinne was standing at the side of the Drama Room looking sulky as usual.
  "Right - Cathy has just told me that we have a new kitten now." Miss Philmew said to everyone. We all stood and faced her. Purla nudged me. We all knew what was coming next. "So this means................" Miss Philmew smiled at us all.
  "Games!" Mewbile yelled.
  "Well, kind-of." Miss Philmew said.
  Mewbellinne looked horrified.
  "Mewbellinne, we do this with all the new kittens - we do a few impros, little sketches, etc, to break down your inhibitions and make you more comfortable with the rest of the class. It can't have been easy for you, starting new."
  "I think I can safely say it hasn't been easy for any of us." Cathy said loudly, and we all laughed.
  "Impros?" Mewbellinne said. "What are im........."
  "Improvisations, dumbass!" Alimew piped up from the back of the crowd. "God - didn't you do any Drama at your posh school?"
  "Yes, of course we did!" Mewbellinne retorted. "We used the correct names for everything there, though."
  "Oh, rubbish." Cathy muttered. "Miss Philmew, can we start?"
  "Be quiet everyone." Miss Philmew said. "Now - everyone sit down and face the stage area, and Mewbellinne, you stand up there." Miss Philmew pointed to the stage area. "What we're going to do is, I choose two people from the group and they come up there with you, and they start off a little sketch, and it's up to you to include yourself in the sketch as much as you can."
  Mewbelline looked even more horrified.
  "Miss Philmew, do I have to?" she said.
  "Yes, of course you do!" Miss Philmew said. "Go on - up you go."
  We all sat down, giggling, and Mewbellinne walked up onto the stage area. She stood there looking daggers at us all, especially Cathy.
  "Right, Cathy, as you seem to be feeling lively this morning, you can go up first, and, um, I think, Purla." Miss Philmew smiled.
  Cathy and Purla leapt up. I had to turn away to hide my giggles as I saw the look on Mewbellinne's face.
  "Follow my lead." Cathy whispered to Purla as they went up. Purla nodded discreetly.
  "God - how long is this queue?" Cathy was immediately in waiting-for-bus mode.
  "Um, yes, it's so long." Mewbellinne wasn't even in character. She still had her coat on.
  "Just a minute." Miss Philmew got up and stopped them. "Mewbellinne, we are in a Drama class, acting, not standing ready to hit the winter sales. Take your coat off! How can you do anything if you're standing there as if you're ready to leave?"
  Mewbellinne took off her coat and went to put it with her bag. Miss Philmew rolled her eyes and Purla and Cathy laughed.
  "Look at her." Purla nudged Cathy, as Mewbellinne came back over. She was acting. "I bet she's a model or something."
  Mewbellinne realised that Purla was acting and she smiled prettily to herself as if she was a model.
  "Could be." Cathy said. "She looks haughty enough."
  The smile vanished from Mewbellinne's face and she scowled.
  "Yep - definitely." Purla said, biting back a laugh.
  Cathy winked at Purla, then turned to face Mewbellinne, who was standing next to her.
  "So, where do you model?" she asked. "I bet it's somewhere like..............." she stopped.
  Mewbellinne looked at her, waiting for her to finish the sentence.
  "Say, your eyelashes are coming off." Cathy said, staring at Mewbellinne's right eye with such a serious look on her face that we all burst into laughter.
  "What? Where?" Mewbellinne came out of character immediately and ran across the Drama Room to her bag, where she whipped out a compact mirror and stared at her eye.
  "I was only joking!" Cathy laughed. "It was part of the play!"
  The whole class was in hysterics again.
  "Well I didn't think it was very funny!" Mewbellinne retorted, slamming her compact shut and shoving it back into her bag. She stomped across the room to where Cathy and Mewla were standing, and then, to everyone's surprise, the reached out and slapped Cathy across the face!
  Cathy, who never cared about anything, and who always gave as good as she got, never flinched, and promptly slapped Mewbellinne back. She stood there with her paws on her hips, as Mewbellinne stared at her, horrified.
  "Don't slap me again." she said coldly.
  "You deserve it!" Mewbellinne said, and she slapped Cathy again.
  Cathy was so enraged that I thought she was going to hit Mewbellinne around the face again. But instead, she got Mewbellinne in a headlock and pushed her down on the floor!
  "Go Cath! Go Cath! Go Cath!" the class began to chant.
  Cathy was hitting Mewbellinne hard, and Mewbellinne was kicking at her with her high heels.
  "Girls! Girls!" Miss Philmew leapt up and ran over to the stage area. Purla was standing at the side, not wanting to get involved. "Stop it! Stop it this minute!"
  Cathy let go of Mewbellinne and stood up, brushing her tousled hair off her face. Mewbellinne knelt up, brushing the dirt off her clothes.
  "I can't believe this!" Miss Philmew said. "What on Earth is wrong with the pair of you?"
  "She's had it in for me since I started here!" Mewbellinne said indignantly. "She done nothing but cause trouble for me!"
  "Well basically Miss, ever since Mewbellinne got here, she's been rude and critical of everyone and everything! She was rude to my mates within two minutes of arriving, she's criticised every teacher we have, and she really upset Mr Thomson in Art yesterday!" Cathy said, glaring at Mewbellinne. "And what's more, everyone here will vouch for that and back me up! Right guys?"
  "Yeah!" the whole class yelled.
  "You've humiliated me every minute since I arrived!" Mewbellinne tried to stand up for herself. "Every lesson has been the same - you've made nasty comments, made fun of me, and generally made me feel bad!"
  "And how do you think Mr Thomson felt yesterday? And Mr Purrleck?" shouted Cathy. "And Purbelle, when you made that nasty comment about her being Spanish? And Tibleau, whenyou said her glasses were too big? You're a spoilt little b***h, Mewbellinne!"
  And with that, Cathy leapt at Mewbellinne again, and started pulling her hair.
  "STOP IT!" Miss Philmew yelled. "And Cathy, don't use that language again!"
  Cathy slapped Mewbelline once more, then got up, pulling her clothes straight.
  "I've had enough of you two." Miss Philmew said. "You especially, Mewbellinne. I'm afraid I have to agree with Cathy in some ways. You came in here this morning with a bad attitude, and you didn't even prepare for the class! I had to tell you to take your coat off before you started! It's not very good, is it?"
  "No Miss." Mewbellinne looked at the floor.
  "But that still doesn't excuse either of your behaviour, or your language, Cathy."
  "No Miss." Cathy said. "I'm sorry."
  "I don't hear Mewbellinne apologising!" Tibbicca piped up.
  "OK Tibbicca, I'll deal with this." Miss Philmew said. "I'm going to send both of you to see Mr Mewan."
  Cathy's eyes went wide and the cheekiest smirk I have ever seen appeared on her face. As soon as Tab and I saw it, we burst out laughing.
  "Something funny, Mel?" Miss Philmew said.
  "No Miss." I said, biting my lip. "Sorry."
  "Off you go then." Miss Philmew said to Cathy and Mewbellinne.
  "See you later guys!" Cathy was grinning from ear to ear as she and Mewbellinne left the room.
  "Why is Cathy grinning so much?" Purlibya crawled round and sat by me.
  "Cos Mr Mewan is young and gorgeous and he fancies her." I said. "She left her bag in his office yesterday after we took that letter up and when she went back to fetch it, they, um, well - I'm not saying any more."
  "Oh my God!" Purlibya laughed. "So she's not exactly going to get told off, is she!"
  "Well, maybe in front of Mewbellinne, but I'm sure he'll, um, apologise afterwards." Tibbicca grinned.

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