| Subject: Story of Joanne - P1 Ch7 |
Author:
Rose
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Date Posted: 02:53:19 09/20/02 Fri
In reply to:
Rose
's message, "Story of Joanne - P1 Ch6" on 02:50:25 09/20/02 Fri
~Chapter Seven~
The Football Match
The next morning Joanne couldn't get out of bed. Gen, Poppy, and Amanda all tried to help her up, but she moaned, and fell back to the mattress, then she finally explained, “We did the partner run yesterday, and I think Belinda broke my back.”
“Oh, I'll get a teacher.” Poppy said, and ran out of the room.
Mrs Davenport, who was the Head of North House, came along looking very worried. “Miss Beckley, can you get up?”
“No, it hurts too bad.”
“Okay, I'm going to take you on a stretcher to the Medical Wing.”
“Wait! Let me brush my teeth first!” Joanne said, she was obsessed with dental hygiene. Poppy brought her toothbrush, and she quickly brushed her teeth in bed. Then she was carried through the common room, to her vexation, still in her ducky pyjamas. Actually they were kind of cute for her girlie side, but not for Joanne's tough girl appearance. The students in the common room stared at her.
“What happened?” Daniel asked.
“PE.” Joanne said shortly, and all of the first years knew exactly what was wrong.
When she got up to the medical wing, the old matron said, “My dear, what is wrong?”
“My back.” and she was flipped painfully over so she was lying on her stomach.
“What happened?” Asked Mrs Hilton, the school matron. “It appears to be badly strained. It almost seems as if a hippopotamus jumped on you.”
“Well, in PE we had to do the partner run.” Explained Joanne. “I got the lightest person in the class, besides me, and I think she probably weighed thirty pounds more than me.”
“That could definitely do it. You are such a dainty child, much like my granddaughter. I'll perform a back treatment, and it should reduce the pain, and help it heal quicker. But no more of this partner running, and avoid any back strain, like standing for more that 10 minutes.”
After a few relaxing hours treatment Joanne was changed into some clothes, then she went down to the Main Hall for the remaining 20 minutes of lunch.
“How’s your back?” Nicky asked when she got sat down.
“Not, too great, but better than before. Guess what, I have a note that excuses me from the partner run.”
“Lucky.” Three other first years near her exclaimed. As it turned out, the partner run wasn't ever used again.
Daniel changed the subject, pointing over to the West House table on the other side of the Hall. “Hey, Jo, check out Nicky and Bens' latest work of art! He hasn't noticed it yet.”
Joanne took a quick peek, and then choked into her juice.
Max was sitting with his back to the North House table, and fastened onto the back of his blazer was, magnified several times, the receipt of his rose purchases in Freedmen Square, plus a picture of Max handing them to Sheila, his usually pasty white face a sort of grey in the black-and-white photo.
“How'd you take that picture?”
Daniel laughed. “They didn't. It's kind of artificial. But Sheila helped--a lot!”
Joanne grinned. “How?”
Nicky smiled, eyes on a piece of melon. “Sheila has a useful habit of explaining just where a person was standing and where they where and how they looked when they said this and where their hands were...all kinds of useful things.” He perked up, as if struck with sudden information. “Hey, Ben, any posts about Canton Village weekends?”
Ben had become the news messenger now days.
“Nah.” Ben shook his head. “I even got into the teacher's lounge, but they haven't posted anything yet.”
“Darn. We're running out of firecrackers, and you know what we need then for.” Nicky said, nodding at Ben.
Joanne puzzled for a moment; “I thought first years weren’t allowed to go on those trips to Canton Village?”
“Yeah, but we tell Miranda to get some stuff for us.” Nicky quickly replied.
“And what do you need firecrackers for?” Joanne asked, curious.
Nicky shook his head. “Sorry, can't tell you. Anyway, you'll find out soon." He looked at his watch. “Oops, gotta go. See you people at dinner!”
“Oy!” Daniel called after him. “We've got our next two subjects together!”
“Like I said, see you at dinner!” Nicky turned out of the Main Hall and vanished from sight.
Daniel shrugged. “I guess Mr Lowe and Ms Furniss (History teacher) be missing out on their pranks. And I'd really looked forward to those; actually, I've been counting on them, since I haven't done my homework for either of them. Darn!”
That evening, in the common room, Amelia dropped a large, flat box at Joanne’s feet.
“Davenport told me to give it you, it’s from home.” And she trudged off to play a pool game with Rosa.
She peeked inside the box, and there was her outfit for the Halloween ball, 3 weeks away.
As it was nearly dinnertime, Joanne quickly went up to her dorm to put her outfit in her wardrobe.
Inside her dormitory, she found Amanda lying on her bed, sleeping. Joanne shook her shoulder. “Amanda, wake up! It's almost dinner time.”
The sleeping girl started, sat up in bed, and shook her hair back. “W-what? What time is it?”
Joanne smiled. “Six-thirty. C'mon, come down to dinner. How long have you been asleep, anyway?”
Amanda yawned. “Not that long, actually. I think only fifteen minutes.”
Pulling her off of the bed, Joanne grinned. “Well, come down to dinner, then! I'm starving!”
They went down to the Main Hall together. Both of them shot a quick look at Wheeler as they entered, but, for once, both he and Simpleton were prank-free. Slightly disappointed, Joanne and Amanda slid into their seats. Nicky wasn't there yet, but the minute the plates were filled, he ran to his chair, panting a bit.
“I got them, Ben.” was all the explanation he gave for being late, which wasn't much of an explanation. “Oh, hi, Jo.” He turned back to Ben. “We'll need to work on the formation, if we want this ready by Saturday.”
Joanne didn't ask. She had a feeling Nicky wouldn't answer or brush her off, and she wasn't in the mood for that right now.
Reaching over the table for a biscuit, her sleeve slipped back from her wrist, revealing an ugly bruise.
Ben's eyes widened. “Jo! How on earth did that happen?”
“Oh...” Joanne shrugged. “Nothing worth hearing about. I got knocked down the stairs this afternoon, then got caught between two other students carrying a metal box.” She pointed to her wrist. “That's how I got this. But it's all right, it's not that bad.” she said, trying to regain her hand out of Nicky's grasp.
He frowned, not letting go. “You really should go to Mrs Hilton. I'm not much of an expert on injuries, but I still think this might not be just a bruise.”
Joanne succeeded in pulling her hand away. “I'm all right, there's no need for the fuss! It's just a bruise.”
“Hmm!” Nicky said, clearly not convinced. “Hey, we have our first football match on Saturday! I forgot we have training tonight. Jo, want to come?”
She shook her head. “Sorry, I can't. I have a History essay to finish. I wish I could,” she added.
Nicky nodded, obviously disappointed. “Oh, yeah, right, I think you told me something about that yesterday. No big deal.” But he didn't look as if he really meant it.
Next Saturday finally came the football match would be in two hours, and Joanne was looking forward to it, as was the rest of the school. The tradition was that the students should wear a piece of clothing that resembled their house colour. As it was North against South. The colours were gold and purple. Most of the North House had bought gold clothes for this occasion. Joanne felt a bit left out, since she had never bought any gold clothing, as it clashed terribly with her hair. She ended up borrowing a gold dress from Poppy, which had a scarlet trim around the edges, sleeves, and neckline. It was a bit fancy, but she decided it would be the best she could do. She was planning to wear a jacket anyway, so the gold wouldn't flash too much. Picking out a gold ribbon to tie her hair back with and slipping into a long black duster, she ran downstairs to the common room.
Nicky, Ben, Daniel, and Nathan were already there, whispering by the fire.
Joanne sat down on the carpet, next to Daniel and Ben. They stopped their whispering abruptly to greet her.
“Jo! Ready for the match?”
“I'd better be, after all the work you guys have put into practicing. I can't wait!”
“Yeah, this'll be good. Especially if North Team wins--right, Nicky?” Ben shot a grin at Nicky, who was checking his sleeve for his watch. He nodded, and Daniel suddenly seemed anxious. “Nicky, if you get cold feet and tell anyone, even her”--he jerked his thumb towards Joanne—“I--”
Nicky rolled his eyes. “Calm down, you know I won't. She's a girl, she'd tell everyone. It's in their nature.”
Joanne's forehead cleared. “Tell what?”
Ben glared at Nicky. “Not one word, Nicky, not one word!”
Nicky shrugged. “You'll find out.”
“Please?”
“I'll say this much. Don't worry,” he added as the other three glared at him, “it's nothing dangerous.” He turned to Joanne. “It involves sparks.”
Joanne's eager face fell. “Wow, what wonderful news. I figured as much myself.”
“What?” Nicky jumped up. “When?”
“You four have to be a bit more secretive if you want anything to stay hidden. What formation did you work on?”
Ben, Nathan, and Daniel laughed at Nicky's dumbstruck face.
“Well, Nicky, even if she's no good at frolicking, she's still smart! I'd say that's a pretty good bargain.”
There was a loud ring in the common room, followed by Ms Furniss’ voice. “All football spectators, please come to the field now!” There was a mad rush for the common room door.
The heat hit Joanne when she first walked outside. “Wow! Where did that come from?” she asked Daniel, who was walking next to her.
He shrugged. “It's been like this all day. You mean you haven't noticed?”
“I haven't been outside yet. This is too hot for me!” Joanne unbuttoned the black duster and slid her arms out of the sleeves. Right beside her, Daniel threw up his arms to cover his eyes.
“What, do I look that bad?”
He shook his head, blinking. “No, you look great! I'm seeing spots, though.”
Joanne was a bit puzzled. “Why?”
He looked pointedly at her dress. Joanne looked down and the glare hit her eyes. “Oh. Ow!” She was blinking now, too.
By now Nathan had caught up with them. “Why'd you wear that? Whom are you getting all fancy for; it isn't Dan, is it?” Smirking at Daniel.
She stared at Nathan. “No! I didn't have anything gold, so Poppy let me wear this.”
He looked at her with a “yeah, right!” on his face.
“Really, you can go ask her!”
“All right, all right. Just--just put that black thing on till the sun goes away.”
Joanne glared at him and he shrunk back, cowering a bit.
“You wimpy rat.” Joanne whirled around and climbed up the bleachers.
Below them, the teams met; the captains shook hands. High up on a stand with the teachers, a South fifth year student was doing the commentating.
“And South and North's captains shake hands; Patel and Kemps, and... they’re off! The ball goes to Miranda Knight of North team, she gets slide-tackled easily--nicely done there, Gates.”--There were several cheers from the South end and many boos from North—“--anyway, Knight now charging with the ball dodges South Defenders Park and Newby, heads for the goals--come on there, Patton, save--oh no--one point to North team...”
Here he was interrupted with violent cheers form the North end and several half-hearted sighs from South. “And the ball goes to Ashley Washton of North team, dodges that brilliant slide-tackle again, oh, and yes! South in possession, there's Park heading for the goals--She scores! A point to South team!”
The game went on for half an hour. At about five, Joanne was exhausted from being in the sun so long and jumping up with applause every time a Northerner scored a goal. The score was tied at five to five, and it seemed like the game would never end.
Joanne pulled Daniel’s sleeve.
“How long do you think the match will last?”
He shrugged. “I think the Canton rules are an hour. ALL RIGHT, GO MIRANDA!”
Miranda had just scored, making the score six to five for North team and leaving Joanne open-mouthed. “Another 30 minutes? If I can last these next few minutes, I'll be glad.”
Several other people seemed to feel the same way, too. Mr Lowe was snoozing against Mrs Davenport's shoulder, and half of the school was wilting in the heat, which had increased as much as it was able.
“South in possession, Newby heading for the goals-”
And the commentating continued with Miranda managing to score again with the help of Nicky and Ben.
The last few minutes of the game finally came and the score was eight and eight.
Joanne watched intensely at the game, which seemed to move in slow motion as the last two minutes ticked away.
Nicky was soaring down the field with the ball whooshing before his feet.
1 minute left.
The ball went flying.
50 seconds left.
Phillip Newby jumped into the air, trying to intercept it with his head.
40 seconds.
Phillip misses and the ball flies towards Ben.
30 seconds
Ben looks towards the goal and gives the ball an almighty kick.
20 seconds
Joanne holds her breath as the ball heads towards the South team’s goalkeeper.
10 seconds.
Sara Patton, South keeper raises her arms, the ball heading straight for her.
5 seconds.
Joanne clenches her hands in anticipation.
4.
Suddenly Nicky’s head shoots towards the ball.
3
He hits.
2
It’s a…
1
“GOAL!” Screams the commentator.
Then the place erupted with cheering Norths, throwing scarves and hats into the air.
Joanne hugged Daniel and Nathan, and quickly noticed Daniel press a button on his watch; well she thought it was a watch until…
Firecrackers suddenly crackled from a steep grassy bank overlooking the football pitch. The sparks glowed in a dazzling gold light.
Then Joanne saw the sparks combined, for everyone to see, the words “North team wins!” and underneath that in smaller letters: “Not a surprise really, was it?”
The South team were too surprised and excited to boo at that last message, as everyone poured down to the field to congratulate the teams.
The North House had a mini celebration in the common room, but many were hot and bothered from the weird heat and went up to their dorm rooms earlier than usual.
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