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

Chapter Fourteen


  Mewbellinne came back first. We were all carrying on with the plays we were working on in our little groups, except that my group was just allowed to sit and chat quietly because we were waiting for Cathy. Purla, Tibbicca and Tibleau had perfected their play so they were sitting with us.
  The door opened and she came in, looking rather sheepish. She closed the door softly and looked round the room to see who was sitting with who, and who she could go to.
  "Where's Cathy - I wonder!" Purla laughed.
  "Mewbellinne - where's Cathy?" Miss Philmew asked.
  "Still with Mr Mewan." Mewbellinne said. "He sent me back. He said he wanted to have a chat with her, and that I was to come back and tell you."
  "Have a what with her?" Tibbicca called cheekily.
  "Ssshhh!" I laughed, hitting her.
  "Right, OK." Miss Philmew said, shooting a suspicious glance at our group. "Go and join Purlibya and Alimew. I hope you're working, Tibbicca's group!"
  "Yes we are, Miss!" Tibbicca called, laughing. "We're just getting some invaluable advice from Mel and Tab!"
  "Yeah - probably on what to wear out tonight!" laughed Miss Philmew.
  "No - acting advice!" Tibbicca laughed, her eyes wide in mock innocence.
  "Hmmm." smiled Miss Philmew. "Now - Purlibya's group - I want to have a chat with you about including Mewbellinne into your group." and she picked up a chair and went over to the other side of the Drama Room to talk to them.
  After about another fifteen minutes, the door opened, and Cathy strode in. She was still smirking.
  "You look very cheerful, Cathy." Miss Philmew said. "I hope you didn't get away with it." she smiled.
  "I think I can safely say that I got what I deserved." Cathy said meekly, then she came over to us.
  "Well?" Tibbicca said, moving over so Cathy could sit down. "What happened?"
  "Oh, honestly!" Cathy laughed. "And what makes you think anything happened?"
  "Well considering Mewbellinne came back, like, half an hour ago, and said that Mr Mewan wanted to have a - what was it again?"
  "A chat." I laughed.
  "Yeah - that's it - a chat with you, I..........."
  "Oh, OK then!" Cathy laughed. "We......."
  "Actually, don't tell us, we don't want to know." Purla grinned.

***

  After Drama, we had Chemistry.
  "You know what - I'm in the mood to play a joke on Mewbellinne!" Cathy said, as we walked to the Science block.
  "Yeah, as we never ever ever do that usually!" Tibbicca laughed.
  "Name Mrs Mewlham's biggest pet hate in lessons." Cathy grinned, rooting in her bag.
  "Um....." Mewla said.
  Cathy pulled a bag of paprika crisps out of her bag and we all laughed.
  "All we have to do is open them, plant them in the drawer of the lab bench where Mewbellinne is going to sit, and then someone just needs to smell them!" Cathy said.
  "But how do we know where Mewbellinne is going to sit?" Tab asked.
  "That's easy!" Cathy said. "There aren't exactly loads of lab benches in the lab, right? So all we have to do is make sure that everyone sits down first and takes up all the spaces, then we plant the crisps in the bench that's left, and she'll sit there!"
  "Come on then!" Tab laughed.
  "I saw Mewbellinne going into the Humanities block with a Post-It note in her paw, so maybe she's going to see Mrs Fisher about something." Tibleau said. "Maybe Mrs Fisher wants to see her about not coming to class yesterday afternoon. You know what Mrs Fisher is for sending Post-It notes!"
  "That'll keep Mewbellinne busy for a bit then!" Cathy said. "Come on!" and we all ran up to the Chemistry lab.
  When we got up to Chemistry, Francis, Tom and Mewlip were the only ones in there. Mrs Mewlham was standing behind the white board, and we didn't see her at first, as we shot in.
  "You're keen this morning girls!" she said, as we hurried over to our desks, threw our coats off, and put our bags down.
  "Hi Miss!" Cathy said, catching her breath.
  I went over to the boys and told them what we were going to do.
  "Good!" Tom said. "Little madam! After Drama this morning, Mewlip went over to her and asked if she was OK after that incident, and she thought he was trying to come on to her! So she said "Sorry Mewlip - I couldn't get with you, you're not gorgeous enough."!"
  "Oh my God!" I said. "The cheeky little......"
  "Mel!" Cathy called me. "Go by the door and tell everyone where to sit. I'm using this bench here."
  The bench that Cathy had chosen was at the side, and was quite near to the back. It only seated two.
  Cathy opened the drawer of the bench, then opened the crisps, scattered a few loose in the drawer, then placed the bag in the drawer and closed it. She opened it again to see if they smelt and the strong smell wafted up and made her wince. She laughed.
  "Perfect!"
  By the time I had finished, everyone knew what was going on and they had all sat down and taken up all the benches. There was no sign of Mewbellinne.
  "Aren't you supposed to have a new kitten in your class?" Mrs Mewlham asked.
  "Yeah - she'll probably be here in a bit." Purla said. "I think she's seeing another teacher about something."
  "I warn you Mrs Mewlham - she's very rude and she thinks she's better than everyone else!" Cathy said. "And she won't do anything unless she really has to!"
  "Thank you Cathy." Mrs Mewlham said. "But allow me to be the best judge of that."
  "Sure." Cathy said amiably.
  Ten minutes later, Mewbellinne arrived.
  "Sorry." she mumbled, and looked round for a free bench. We all tried not to laugh, and we all looked anywhere but at her. She spotted the bench we had set up and stalked up to it.
  "Christ - I hope she doesn't open the drawer before we say we can smell the crisps." Cathy whispered to us.
  Mrs Mewlham handed out our Chemistry textbooks and wrote the exercises on the board. We all got paper and pens out and started to work. Mrs Mewlham sat down and started marking some work.
  About fifteen minutes later, there was a sudden rustle near the back of the room. Cathy froze and Mewla choked back a giggle.
  "Oh no!" Cathy hissed. "She's gone and found them! Have a look Mel - I can't bear to!"
  I turned slightly on my stool and peeped to the back of the room. I couldn't believe my eyes! Mewbellinne had indeed found the crisps, but she was eating them! She took one out of the bag, looked round furtively, slyly put it into her mouth, then closed the drawer quietly!
  I snorted with laughter and collapsed on the desk.
  "Cath - she's eating them!" I laughed. "She's actually eating them!"
  "Even better!" Cathy laughed. "Come on - time for a bit of fun!"
  Cathy looked up and dropped her pencil on the floor. Tibbicca looked up and Cathy winked at her. Tibbicca nodded and nudged Purla, who then winked at Tibbick, who then winked at Alimew, and it got passed round the room until everyone was grinning secretly, waiting for Cathy to start.
  "Phwoar - paprika!" Cathy said.
  Mrs Mewlham looked up at once.
  "Not again, Catherine!"
  I turned and had a sidelong glance at Mewbelline. She was looking distinctly uncomfortable, and was trying to get on with her work and not look shifty.
  "Honestly - no joke this time!" Cathy said. "I honestly can smell paprika!"
  Mewbellinne looked at Cathy.
  "Purlibya - what does Cathy mean by no joke this time?" Mewbellinne called.
  "Well, we're not allowed to eat in class, and we played a joke the other day with some food." Purlibya said. "That's all."
  "Pooh." Mewla wrinkled up her nose. Francis laughed.
  "I can actually smell them." Tab whispered to me. I nodded, grinning.
  "Get Mrs Mewlham over here - then she'll smell them." I said.
  "Miss - just come here and smell!" Cathy said. "If you can't smell anything you can put me in detention for a week!"
  Mrs Mewlham sighed and got off her stool. She came over to us, and as soon as she got in the middle of all the benches, she wrinkled up her nose.
  "OK, Catherine, I believe you." she said. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this."
  Mewbellinne was the only kitten who wasn't looking at Mrs Mewlham. She was bent over her work, and obviously, that looked more suspicious than anything. Cathy caught Mrs Mewlham's eye and jerked her head over in Mewbellinne's direction.
  Mrs Mewlham strolled up the lab, not making it obvious that she was heading for Mewbellinne's bench. Suddenly she moved to the side of the bench.
  "Mewbellinne, open your bag." she said.
  "What?" Mewbellinne looked up, her face scarlet.
  "Open your bag. I want to see if you have any crisps in there."
  Mewbellinne opened her bag. No crisps.
  "Now open your bench drawer."
  Mewbellinne opened the drawer slowly. The smell wafted up again and Mrs Mewlham pulled a face.
  "Right." she said. She pulled out the half-eaten bag of crisps. "Get all those crumbs out and then come up to the front."
  Mewbellinne scraped all the crisp crumbs out and then stalked up to the front. She threw them in the bin, then turned to face Mrs Mewlham.
  "It's not acceptable, eating in my lessons." Mrs Mewlham said crossly. "Did you do that at your private school? No?"
  "Miss, I found those crisps in there - they weren't mine." Mewbellinne said, twiddling her fingers.
  "That makes it even worse." Mrs Mewlham glared. "Just because you found them in there, doesn't mean that you should eat them. Disgusting."
  "I'm sorry." Mewbellinne said.
  "Hmmm. I'll have a word with your tutor." Mrs Mewlham said. "Go back to your bench and carry on with your work."

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