EXCOLO: THE BOARDING SCHOOL YEARS

[al-shairan.livejournal.com]

Excolo, a sleepy town on England's southwest coast, is in the 1950s home to two boarding schools - Water Towers, for young ladies aged 11 to 18, and St Excolo's, for boys from 13 to 18. They have adjacent grounds, separated by a fence. Both schools were founded in the nineteenth century and have all kinds of marvellous features like tower rooms, ivy-clad walls etc. It is the beginning of September.

School started up again only three days ago but I am having so much fun. I knew I suffered through the dreadful years of being one of the plebs for a reason. I smooth down the gold sash of Sachs house and adjust the pin on my blazer that tells everyone I am house captain, and I smile. It's not as if it were really a surprise when I got the position. The only disappointment is that I'm not head girl, and that makes me frown as I make sure my knee socks are pulled up. Oh well. There are plenty of perks to being house captain, such as only having to share a bedroom with one other girl. The other sixth formers are in triples or quadruples, ugh. And living in a dormitory was just rotten.

It's the end of the day, and homework hour has finished, so I go up to the sixth form common room to see if anyone interesting is around - unlikely, but I have to be optimistic. I have brought my tuck box with me and a copy of Young Romance so I can eat biscuits whilst seeing whether John ends up with drippy Jane or if he chooses that minx Eliza. I think I already know the answer, which is also the reason most of the teachers think I'm such a sweet girl. If you're going to be a minx, you'd better hide it well. And I do.

EXCOLO: THE BOARDING SCHOOL YEARS part 2

[al-shairan.livejournal.com]

Now over at St Excolo's...

"Granger, I told you to polish my shoes," I say, looking at them.

"But I did, sir!"

"There is a smudge on the heel, look," I say, exasperated. "It just won't do, Granger." I think I might have to get a new fag. Granger is decentish, but he always looks like he's about to burst into tears, which is rotten when he's toasting bread for me. It gets salty. I rap him on the knuckles with a ruler and tell him to make sure my spare trousers are pressed, and then I go off to the common room. So many things to take care of! Now, I'm glad I'm Head Boy, but it does mean I have to deal with the plebs. At least I get to give them a bibbling if they deserve it.

I sit down in the windowseat of the common room. It's quiet in here because homework hour isn't quite finished. As Head Boy I don't have to sit with everyone else to do my homework. I'm trusted to work in my room, which is wizard. I look out of the window. I can just about see the sea from here, crashing against the rocks.