Activities Week

By Jemma Castle

-1-
Also by this author:

Tower Princess
Children of Lochlann Part 1
Cockleshell Pony
Skith
Apple-Stalk
Talent Show
Local Horseshow
Warticah
The Grey Knight
The Ancient Button
A Horrid Faerie Tale
The Magic Carpet
Girl and Catteratta
Eternal Spring
Ngeba’s Story
The Genie
The Magic Banana Tree
Tiny and Bozo

-2-
 AGES 9 up

For Young readers

Written and illustrated by Jemma Castle

This book is a work of fiction. Any reference to historical events, real people, and real locales are used fictitiously.
Other names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to
actual events of locales or persons, living or dead, is purely co-incidental.

Copyright © 2009 Jemma Castle

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means or manner whatsoever (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without
the written permission of author. Except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.

The moral right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with
relevant Copyright, Designs and Patents Acts.

This book is available subject to the condition that is shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out
or otherwise circulated without the author’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is
published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Summary

Katie could not believe her eyes when she looked the time activities week timetable.

It was the last two weeks of the school term and their usual timetable had been replaced with a variety of activities to
fill up their time.

She blinked her eyes and then rubbed them repeatedly to make sure she was seeing and not imagining what was
written on the piece of paper that had been sent home in their school bags. For each and every activity there was a
parental permission form and a medical form that needed to be signed. It was quite a pack of papers…

ISBN: -

-3-
Katie could not believe her eyes when she looked the time activities week timetable.

It was the last two weeks of the school term and their usual timetable had been replaced
with a variety of activities to fill up their time.

She blinked her eyes and then rubbed them repeatedly to make sure she was seeing and
not imagining what was written on the piece of paper that had been sent home in their
school bags. For each and every activity there was a parental permission form and a
medical form that needed to be signed. It was quite a pack of papers/

Some of the activities were fairly common like the usual ‘whole school clean up’. There
were also a couple of school trips, like a trip to the local fish factory, a trip to the Kiddies
Parliament, a Fish Walk along the coastal path in the main village but there it was again,
staring back at her/.Magic Class. Instead of the usual PE / swimming sessions and art -
there was instead a ‘Magic Class’.

This should have been thrilling, but instead a sense of apprehension rose in Katie and a
hard, uncomfortable lump formed in her throat. The name of the Magic Teacher was Miss
MacMann, her class teacher and she had bulging eyes and long stringy hair.

-4-
What Miss MacMann knew about magic was unknown but the entire year so far, she had
made Katie’s life a misery and Katie had a horrible feeling that this activity would turn out
no different.

It should have been so exciting but it seemed so off track that it was hard to believe.

Katie looked at the parental permission form and the list of required items that parents
were to provide their children with in order to them to participate.

/a broom, a small black cooking pot, a pack of herbs, a dead fish, a tub of Vaseline, a
pointy hat and a robe/it carried on and on/.

She flicked back to the timetable. There were none of the usual dance workshops; no
music lessons/.she could not believe her eyes.

“Mum” she shouted, running in to the kitchen clutching her school letter. “Mum look at
this” she screeched.

“What wrong, darling” her mother exclaimed, nearly jumping off her chair. Her mum had
been busy doing the minutes for a meeting and had been deep in thought.

-5-
“Mum, read this,” she shouted, unable to contain herself. “Look at our ‘Activities Week’
timetable.

“Hmm” mumbled her Mum, glancing briefly at the waving piece of paper. “It looks nice,
dear but I am just very busy at the moment”.

“Mum, look at the timetable” she insisted. It was so annoying when her parents were too
busy to listen to her.

“Honey,” her mother replied “I really am too busy for this, let me look at it later, really
now!”

“Mum,” she blurted out, “You really need to look at this, its really important.

“Alright, alright, what is it” her mother gasped in annoyance.

“Well, look at my timetable, don’t you see anything unusual for the last two weeks of
school”.

-6-
A brief pause followed and then her mother laughed out loud.

“Well if you don’t want to do the school clean up this year, I totally understand and I don’t
see why you should have to clean up after all those messy children who don’t know better
than to litter, if only their parents taught them some manners and how to be decent, this
type of thing would never be necessary and anyway that’s why people like the janitor are
employed and paid to do things like this” she went on and on, “What they really need is
a fine system and for it to be properly implemented and then the school would be
presentable and not in the unhygienic state that it is, really using child labour and
expecting children to pick up slimy, sticky litter all over the school property is just not
right/.”

“MUM” she interrupted, jumping up and down, hardly able to contain herself, “It’s not the
school clean up, just look,/.it says we are doing Magic Class!” she blurted out.

“Katie, what ever are you talking about?” she asked, sighing very loudly. “I really don’t
have time for jokes” she stated.

“Mum, look at each day of the week, there is a magic class and you and Dad need to fill in
the parental consent form and there is a list of what we need, and//we also have to

-7-
bring in the medical form to say that we are fit and healthy enough to do the class” she
continued.

“My goodness!” exclaimed her mother. “Whatever next?” “That is just too peculiar for
words”

Silence/..

“Well dear, what do you think of this” queried her mother after a while.

“Its so exciting, who can believe it, Magic Class/it’s the best thing really and I am sure I
know more than all the other kids put together but look who’s taking the class/.its Miss
MacMann///.,” she faded off.

“Oh dear, well that’s no good, the class probably wont even go ahead you know. How
many times is she even at school and when she is actually in the class then she is just
awful to you, isn’t she, Katie” complained her mother.

“Yes, Mum I know, but it is exciting anyway, I looked at it few times to make sure I was
not imaging it” Katie laughed.

-8-
Her class teacher has barely been in class for months. Miss MacMann had successfully
applied for the post of Depute Head Teacher and now paid very little attention to her class
and especially Katie. In fact, her class teacher made a point of making it known that she
detested Katie. The trouble was that Katie and her family had moved in to the area and
were regarded as incomers and all the other kids were related to the teacher but Katie
was not. That meant that the teacher was just not interested in her. Miss MacMann
would not answer Katie’s questions and made a point of ignoring her raised hand in class,
no matter what. Even if Katie felt ill and tried to get her teacher attention she was rarely
successful.

One time when Katie had managed to get her class teachers attention, Miss had just
glared at her and bulged her already bulgy eyes. Miss had said that everyone got
headaches and she herself had a headache and saw no reason why she should have to
contact Katie’s parents to fetch her early from school. This said, despite the fact that
Katie had also had a rash and a high temperature and a splitting headache. Miss had
insisted that she have a drink of water from the tap in the girls toilets and then Miss made
her sit in class whilst Miss talked very loudly on the phone to the Head Teacher about
why she did not feel like having a Parent Evening this term. It had gone on and on and
eventually when the bell rang for the end of school, she had got knocked over by 2 rough

-9-
boys pushing to be first out of class and onto the school bus. By the time she had
reached her home she had been in a state of tears and after a visit to the doctor’s surgery
had been told that she had swine flu. She had been off school for 3 weeks, really ill. Her
mother had been furious at Miss MacMann.

Miss was only in class for 2 mornings of the week and the rest of the time the phone rang
incessantly in class and they were only given worksheets to do with no help, except the
teacher’s favourite relatives. On other days they were babysat by a very, very old retired
teacher who could not answer any of their questions and who usually fell asleep and
snored loudly thorough out class. Mrs MacMann was the baby-sit teacher's name. In fact
the Head teacher was also Mrs MacMann and even her little brother’s teacher was
another Miss MacMann. Most of the children were also MacMann. It was a very peculiar
place, indeed.

Katie wondered whatever they were going to do in Magic Class, anyway. Card tricks
perhaps, like silly illusions?

“Whatever are we going to do for a broom” exclaimed her mother, interrupting Katie’s
deep thoughts.

-10-
Katie nearly jumped out of her skin.

“A broom, Mum?” she shouted. “So you are going to let me do it?”

“Yes, dear, I see no reason why you should not do it, you have a natural flair” her mother
said thoughtfully. “I do wonder though/.and think it very strange that in a place such as
this where the people are so very churchy that they should include something like this, it
does make one wonder” she continued.

“Perhaps, Miss MacMann is a real witch?” Katie laughed. It made sense somehow; Miss
was really horrid and only lacked a wart on her chin. Miss was quite young but her scowl
had aged her face and it was lined with deep sneer lines. She had a very ugly voice too
and Katie pictured her teacher up on a hill, mixing her cauldron and chanting a spell
during full moon. It was just so funny.

There was such a mix of people around elsewhere in the country and very many had
reverted back to the old Pagan ways, in other parts of the country. But in this little village
the people were obsessively religious and looked down on anyone who did not spend all
their spare time in church. In fact the church bell rang so often during the week and
Sundays that there was barely time to do anything else.

-11-
Strangely though, the people were anything from good, nice people and it would have
been more accurate to describe them as old hags. They were the most gossipy,
unfriendly bunch of people Katie had ever come across and she longed for her old friends
to play with.

In other places they had stayed, there had been a lot of young, pretty white ‘witches’ not
at all like the evil old crones of some of the old fairy stories. They were interested in
incenses, crystals, aromatherapy oils, energy healing and were really nice people.

“What a funny thing this timetable was” thought Katie and she burst out laughing.

Seconds later her mother was in fits of giggles too and they laughed until their sides
ached.

“I just don’t know what to think” confessed her mother.

“Me neither” agreed Katie.

-12-
Together they looked at the list of items to take to the Magic Class. Tomorrow was Friday
and their forms were due in. The activities started on Monday after the weekend.

“Nothing like giving parents a decent warning is there? “complained her mother. This was
quite usual as there was often no communication from the school for months and then
they would launch and attack of school letters sent in bundles home in the school bags.

“I wonder what your brother will be doing?” puzzled her mother aloud.

Her brother was not home from school yet as he had stayed for football. Katie herself
should have been at the Fun Session at the local pool but last week there had been a
very distressing thing that happened and she had decided not to go this week. Fun
Session was always on a Thursday and usually the highlight of Katie’s week.

Last week she had arrived and changed in one of the small cubicles. She had neatly
packed her bag and when her friend, Mia had not arrived, she had gone through to the
pool. Mia had been very ill a lot lately and she had not been at school that week. There
had been 5 girls in the pool and they were from a neighbouring school that shared the
Local Authority Fitness Centre.

-13-
The girls had ignored her and turned their back on her. She had felt hurt but had enjoyed
herself with all the pool equipment that came out on Fun Session days. When the
session had ended, she had noticed that the girls were gone. She had dripped her way
back to her cubicle and /her bag was gone. Her heart had sunk as this was not the first
time something like this had happened. These girls also came to her dancing class at the
local hall and they often hid her clothes in the dustbin. Feeling a bit cold she had peered
in dustbin but it was empty. Then she looked through all the cubicles to see if she could
find her bag. It was gone. She was horrified and felt so angry but still it was difficult to
keep her eyes for watering.

Outside she could hear some girls laughing loudly and she tensed up.

She had gone into the shower to warm up and then gone through each and every cubical
but there was nothing.

What was she to do? She had no towel and could not catch the bus home in her
costume. She had gone back to the lifeguard who had brought some clothes from the
lost property for her to wear home and had phoned her mother to come and fetch her.

-14-
The next day, when she got to school, her entire class had been in hysterics and pointing
at her and it was only when she went into her class that she had found her empty bag on
her school desk. The contents of her bag were scattered around the room with her
underwear hanging off the fluorescent light, high up on the roof.

She had wanted to disappear but could not leave her underwear hanging up there. She
had spun around and glared at the kids in her class. She had shouted at them and told
them to get out and that this was not funny and then she had slammed the door shut.
She had with the help of her school desk reached the light and retrieved her underwear
and with a sigh had repacked her bag.

She was furious but acted as though nothing happened and when Miss MacMann had
come into the classroom, she had been reading.

Still the horrible girls had really got to her and she did not want to tell her parents as she
knew they would be furious.

She hoped that Mia would get better quick so that they could go to Fun Session next
week.

-15-
Katie brought herself back to the present with a start. Her mother was holding the
weirdest thing she had every seen and she cringed.

“Oh, I know it’s not the best broom but it will have to do at such short notice” her mother
sympathised.

“Mum, there is just no way, no way at all,/.in fact I would rather just not do it at all if
that’s the case” she complained.

She stared at the ‘thing’ her mother was holding. It was her late great aunts walking stick
with a square broom screwed into the bottom. Auntie Agatha had struggled to sweep the
floor as she had got older and also needed her walking stick to get around so she had got
Katie’s Dad to screw the broom foot onto her walking stick. When she went out to the
shops she had just sat down in her favourite chair and unscrewed it and off she went.

Katie gasped, “It even smells like a dead person, Mum”.

“Oh, Katie, that’s an awful thing to say, Auntie Agatha, was a very nice lady and you know
very well there are no shops here in the village and Daddy’s car is at the mechanic

-16-
waiting to be fixed so we can’t even go into town. It’s really the schools fault for being so
disorganised and not giving parent enough time to prepare”.

“I suppose that it’s all just a bit of fun to run in line with the new movie that’s just come out
– ‘Witch Secrets’. It’s a big hit with all the local children and I suppose they are just
playing along. It’s really a bit of dress up and playing silly tricks” she continued.

“So not real magic at all” mumbled Katie, really disappointed now. “I suppose I was silly
thinking that it would be real magic in a place like this”.

“I tell you what; I will send the school an email and see if we get a response.

Katie’s mum settled back to her worn chair and keyboard and logged in to her email.

“Give me the school letter so I can get their email address” she asked Katie.

Soon all Katie could hear was the tick tack of the keyboard as her mother wrote a very
long email to the school.

“Let’s have a cup of tea, will you dear?” her mother asked.

-17-
Katie sighed and went over to the kettle. It was an old whistling type that worked directly
off the gas stove. She filled it up with water from the hot tap as that made it boil quicker
and she pushed the dial. A flame shot out and the gas ignited.

Katie picked up her book and settled on a chair at the breakfast table. She tried very hard
to concentrate on the story but could not help her thoughts from wandering to the dreadful
walking stick broom her mother has taken out of the junk cupboard. Very soon the kettle
was whistling away merrily and Katie got up to make the tea. She washed two drinking
mugs. She poured the rapidly boiling water into each mug and put a spoon of sugar and
fruit tea bag in each, to draw.

“Mum, here is your tea” she said. She felt very down and it showed in her voice.

“Oh honey, don’t sound so down” her mother mentioned taking her attention away for her
laptop screen. “It’s really not so bad, and I was thinking about a robe,/you can use my
old black graduation robe,/it will fit you now and I will just sew up the hem quickly over
the weekend. You can wear those new boots we bought you and you will really look the
part. We just need to find a hat for you to wear” she continued.

-18-
“Yes, Mum” Katie mumbled staring at her book.

This was really not going well.

Katie came from a long line of practicing pagans and was well educated in all the pagan
festivals and all the names of the herbs. They even grew all the herbs in their little
garden. Living here had been very awkward really and they kept mostly to themselves
and did not do much but it was, as she reminded herself, only temporary.

They had come up here to deal with her Auntie Agatha’s funeral and it had seemed such
a pretty little village that they had thought to stay a while. Her father was able to work as
a Physics Teacher in the Secondary School and they had thought it would be nice to
settle down here. But the village was very closed minded and far from quaint it was just
unpleasant. People had been very unfriendly and had treated them as if they did not
exist. Katie and her brother had most been excluded from everything that went on and
even their parents were not happy. They had thought to stay it out for 2 years and hoped
things would settle down and improve but her and her brother had been bullied
mercilessly and as a family they had decided that they would move away in the autumn.
This is why this last activities week was a good end to the school year. When the other
children went back, her and her brother would stay at home and home school until they

-19-
moved. Her father had already found a suitable position in a school about 80 miles away
and then they would not have to deal with these people anymore.

They had quite a few friends there already and there was a nice esoteric group of people
who celebrate all the old festivals. There was a big revival with a lot of re-enactment.
Katie loved all the old myths and legends that abounded in magic and all the mythical
creatures in the stories. She had every mythical book she could find in her bookcase in
her room and loads of books withal the old faerie tales in them.

Her mother’s laptop gave off a loud, melodious sound as a new message entered her
email box.

“It’s from the school, that was quick” exclaimed her mother.

Katie jumped up and stood behind her mother trying to read the message.

To: JJ MacKimble
From: Soaray Community School
Date: 3 June 2010

-20-
Message: Thank you for your email date 3 June 2010.

We hereby advise with regard to the Activities Week that the Magic Class takes the form
of a humorous look at magic in general with play along sessions for entertainment only.
Obviously magic does not exist and these sessions aim to prove this in an entertaining
way. Children will be enacting extracts from the popular book “Witch Secrets’ and there
will also be a guest appearance from the author who is originally from Soaray. The outfits
and items on the list are for dress up purposes and for harmless fun. It is really a sort of
early Halloween for the children and sweets will be provided free of charge by the school
to add into the fun.

Regards
Mrs MacMann
Head Teacher

“So that’s it, as we thought. Unfortunately with nothing real about it, sorry dear” said her
mother. “Still a bit of fun and best to make the most of it, I will sign off all the forms
straight away. Its getting on already, look at the time, shall we look at what we are having
for supper?” she asked.

-21-
“Sure Mum, we don’t have any homework anyway and tomorrows Friday and Miss is not
even in class again” replied Katie.

Katie and her mother started preparing supper. It was a chicken salad. Katie washed
and chopped the salad and put it in a bowl and her mother put the chicken in the
microwave to defrost.

That moment, there was a loud crash at the door and in thumped Kyle dragging his
school bag behind him. AS he walked sullenly past Katie he aimed a well placed kick on
her shin and she cried out.

“What ever is wrong, Katie” her mother asked.

“Kyle kicked me in the shin, it’s really sore” she whimpered.

“”No I did not” glared Kyle.

“Yes you did” insisted Katie.

-22-
“Will you two stop it” shouted her mother. “Kyle don’t you even say hello? How was your
football and why did you kick your sister” she asked crossly.

“I did not kick my sister and I am fine and football was OK” he mumbled wandering off
down the passage.

“You, come back here right now” insisted his mother.

“Now, say sorry to your sister as I know you did kick her and let’s start again. We will
pretend that you did not barge in her and ignore us” advised his mother.

“Ok, ok, sorry Katie” he said. “Hello mum” he continued and started walking out of the
room.

Katie’s mum looked at Katie and said, “Sorry Katie, I’ll go and have a word with him. Why
don’t you go and tidy up before tea time, Dad will be home from work soon”.

Katie grabbed her book and stomped up stairs before her mother, giving her brother a
smack on his back before diving into her room and slamming her door.

-23-
“Children” exclaimed her mother, coming up the stair.

Whilst her mother had a word with Kyle, Katie settled down to have a quick read of her
book. She could not help eavesdropping though and heard how her brother had had a
horrible time at football. The coach and let the usual favourites chose their teams and
Kyle and another 2 children had not been chosen. They had been sent to be reserves
and sit on the side. One of them, a nasty little boy called Donald had poked him in the
eye. Her mother was furious as this happened quite a lot. The other day at school, Kyle
had even come home because Donald had thrown a stone at him and it had hit him just
above his eye, causing a big lump. The school had been unable to find their first aid kit
and the janitor had put a wet tissue on his bleeding forehead. Her mother had refused to
sign the slip sent home as she found the way the school handled things to be very bad.

Katie sighed to herself and could not wait to leave this horrible place. In the meantime
there was a boy she fancied and her thoughts turned to him. He was going to be in the
Magic Class and she wanted to make sure she looked as pretty as possible. She got up
and started looking at ways to do her hair.

“Have you finished your room yet, Katie as Daddy has just got home”, she heard her
mother call out.

-24-
“Yes Mum, almost finished” she called and hastily grabbed all her clothes and hid them in
the bottom of her cupboard. She drew up her duvet that had been left crumpled in her
rush to get to school this morning and scoped a mess of things into her top drawer. Then
she opened her bottom drawer and took out a hidden stash of chocolate digestive biscuits
and settled down to continue reading her book.

Some time later they were called down to tea and she greeted her Dad and told him
about their activities week over tea.

Kyle was really upset as he did not have Magic Class on his activities week and they had
football. Kyle had a brilliant wizards outfit and he wanted to wear it. He hated football
and thought the coach was unfair to him. The coach was related to all the other kids,
except 3 of them and those 3 never got to join in a good way. Katie’s Dad agreed that
Auntie Agatha's broom was all they could come up with at such short notice and said she
could take one of the old pots.

“its really just a bit of fun which is more than they usually do and you did love that book
they are basing this on, did not you Katie” he said.

-25-
“Yes Dad” she replied. Picking up her plate giving her parents a quick hug and kiss she
said “I’m off to be early, as we have PE for 2 hours tomorrow. Goodnight Mum,
Goodnight Dad”.

-26-
Friday passed quickly.

Mia was back and that had cheered Katie up. They had talked about the Magic Class but
Mia did not know about it and had asked Miss for the forms. They had planned to meet
up on the weekend and get their outfits ready as it was still the most exciting thing to
happen in ages even if it was not really magic like in Sabrina.

Kyle walked home after school, holding Katie’s hand, which was unusual. He had been
bullied and his eye was swollen up and his school tie was missing.

“What happened to you, Kyle?” she asked giving him a hug.

“Donald jabbed me in the eye with his pen” he grumbled.

“Gosh are you ok, did you tell the teacher” she exclaimed looking at his eye.

“I did tell the teacher and it’s really sore but she just told Donald not to do it and carried on
teaching” he explained. “I hate this school” he shouted stamping his feet as they walked.

-27-
Katie was straight up to her room to change and finish her book and the neatly hemmed
black robe was on her bed with a note from her mum.

“Tea is in the oven and Dad and I will be back late as we have to go to a meeting, Mary
is next door if you need anything or you can text me as I will leave my phone on silent”
Love Mum xxx

Katie phoned up Mia but Mia was in tears as her mum had refused to sign the forms for
Magic Class. Her mum was really upset that the school was even having a magic Class
and thought it was really evil.

Katie replaced the phone, feeling very sorry for herself and her only friend in this village.
Mia was grounded for the rest of the weekend for arguing about the Magic Class. She
picked up her book.

She was in bed by the time her parents got home, reading and her brother was still up
playing on the Wii. She mumbled a quick thanks to her mum for the robe and went off to
sleep.

-28-
The rest of the weekend went quite fast. Katie managed to read 7 books between things.
Saturday afternoon was nice and her Dad took them all out with the kayaks and they had
a paddle on the lagoon which was nice. Sunday was dreadful weather and none of them
went out. Her mum was busy doing minutes and her dad was marking end of term exam
papers for Secondary.

Kyle went out with a boy who called for him and came back in tears after having his
bicycle dumped in a dirty water ditch near the football field. He spent the rest of the
weekend on his DS or watching TV.

Sunday evening Katie got down one of her bags from the top of her cupboard. She was
going to wear everything black. The packed her black robe, which she though was
actually ok, a witches hat from the Halloween box in the attic, a small cooking pot that
they used for camping weekend and it was very black, a bottle of mixed herbs and a small
tub of lip balm. She carefully re-read the list/..a dead fish/..what on earth,/..there was
not way she was going to do that and re attached the list to her notice board above her
dressing table.

-29-
Katie felt really sorry for Kyle and wondered if his bad behaviour at home was not just due
to him being bullied at school. All people deal with bullying differently and she read and
tried to remain pleasant but perhaps her brother was having a much worse time that he
even came out with. He was only just 7 and the kids were really rough and unfriendly.

Early Monday morning her alarm on her mobile went off and she was out of bed in a
flash. She dressed in her outfit and admired herself in the mirror. She put on some
mascara and lip gloss and practiced blowing kisses to the boy she fancied.

She took everything off and dressed in her school uniform and folded her outfit and put it
back in her black bag.

She knocked on her parents’ door and said her good mornings.

“Will you get Kyle up” begged her mother. Her mother had a dreadful headache after
typing too many minutes and her Dad was still fast asleep.

-30-
Katie woke her brother up and got his clothes ready. He was in a bad mood, probably
from too little sleep and he kicked her when she brought him his school clothes.

“Ouch, you horrible little boy”, she exclaimed. “I am just helping you and you are always
so awful,/I am not making you any breakfast” she shouted as she stormed off
downstairs.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

“What wrong” came her mothers voice from upstairs.

“Kyle kicked me” shouted Katie, “and it’s really sore.

“No, I did not”, shouted Kyle

“Yes you did”, shouted Katie

“Children”, exclaimed Katie’s mother from upstairs.

-31-
Katie peered through the fridge. Not much there. Some homemade jam from a
neighbour, that looked like it was going mouldy despite not being opened, some
mayonnaise, a jar of nearly empty olives and some tomatoes. On the top section of the
door were 2 eggs but she knew they were the rubber bouncing eggs that her brother had
put in the fridge for a joke as he played this joke every second day.

She closed the fridge with a sigh and looked at the bread bid. Some old rolls and a bag
with 3 slices of bread in it. Looks like they needed to go shopping today after school.

She opened the top cupboard and brought down the cereal. Her favourite, muesli with
strawberry pieces and yoghurt drops. Taking a bowl out she reopened the fridge and
brought the 2l milk out with a clunk. Seconds later she was in strawberry heaven
munching away on her muesli.

After breakfast she wandered upstairs to fetch a book to pass the time before school.

“Please check on Kyle, sweetie” called her mother.

Kyle was still in bed and Katie shouted at him, “Get up you lazy head, its time for school”.
Kyle started whimpering and she pinched his bottom. “Get up NOW”, she insisted.

-32-
Then before he could kick her, she moved out the way and ran into her room. She
slammed her door and put on her Jedward CD. Then she crouched down next to her
overfull bookshelf and looked for a good book to pass the time and her eyes fell on a little
lime green book that her cousins had given her for Xmas. It was called “Simple Spells”.

She opened it up and on the first page she came to was a big, bold heading is a weird
font:

“How to fly” it announced. She picked up her improvised broomstick and placing it
between her legs, she carefully muttered the spell.

“Hoverfly, Hoverfly
Go where I will
When I’ve had enough
Bring me back still.”

She gasped as she rose up into the air and promptly fell off very loudly onto her bed and
crashed to the floor, bumping her head on her side table.

-33-
“What’s going on” shouted her father.

“Sorry Dad, she shouted back, “I just overbalanced, /everything is ok”

“Can’t I ever sleep late” he shouted back stamping in to the bathroom and slamming the
door.

“Are you alright, Katie” she heard he mum’s weak voice coming down the passage to her
room.

“Yes mum, I am fine, thanks. Sorry Mum”, she replied.

Katie got up and locked her door. She was shaking.

She looked at the clock in her room and it was just 8am. She only had to leave for school
in nearly an hour. She leapt across to her window and yanked it open as wide as she
could. Then she looked out across the street and it was empty. People rarely left their
houses before 9am. Most people here rare left their houses except to go to church; in
fact she often wondered what they did at all.

-34-
She readjusted her hair and glanced in the mirror, pursing her lips. She had a plan. She
grabbed the spell book and memorised the spell and closed the book and put in her
trouser pocket and buttoned the pocket closed.

She picked up her broom and climbed out the window onto the small roof above the front
door. Glancing downwards she as very thankful that she had decided to wear her school
trousers today and she climbed onto her broom. She could have sworn it actually did fly
for a few seconds before she fell off.

She took and deep breath and started reciting the spell:

“Hover fly, Hover Fly/..”

The broom lifted up more smoothly this time and she looked in the direction that she
wanted to go. The broom responded and soon she was sailing through the air across the
bay toward the house of the boy she fancied.

It was pretty cold up in the air and the wind was up a bit, making her ride a bit bumpy but
she soon got the hang of things. It was a bit like riding a pony really except she had no
reins. The broom seemed to read her mind though and she laughed out loud. This was

-35-
so fun and nearly collided with a very surprised seagull that squawked at her and pecked
her on the leg. Ouch, she cried and grasped her leg, nearly falling of into the sea below.

The broom rolled with her and then righted itself catching her nicely and she squealed
with glee “I love you broom” and the broom purred loudly like a cat. She nearly fell off
again.

Then she regained her senses and realised that she was going to get caught and then the
little village would really gossip and she did not want to go there right now. She circled
over the boy’s house without seeing any signs of life beside his two barking dogs and
then she though very clearly that she wanted to be back home in her room. A huge blast
of wind hit her in the face and she was flung backwards. Then suddenly the broom
stopped altogether and she was flung through the window of her bedroom

“Gee Whiz that was quick, she gasped in surprise. This was going to get some getting
used to. Then she laughed again, climbing in and closing the window. She glanced
about but saw no one and she pulled the curtains and sat down on the floor, bracing
herself against the wall and held her breath in amazement.

-36-
“What’s wrong” she heard her mother cry from her room.

“Nothing Mum”, she managed, I just closed my window as the winds blowing a bit, sorry”

Katie picked up her bags and her broom. She looked at the broom. It looked very
embarrassing but it really was a real flying broom. Her Auntie Agatha must really have
been a witch. Her mother had hinted at things fairly often and told them little stories of
relatives but she never was quite sure/..

Holding steadily onto the broom-walking stick and with her bags over her shoulder, she
bustled into her mothers’ room and gave her mum a peck on the cheek.

“Bye Mum, I am going to school early today, hope you feel better,” she said.

“Are you sure you are ok, Katie?” her mum asked

“Yes, I am fine, just excited” replied Katie

-37-
“Have a nice day, dear” said her mum

“Take it easy. Love you Mum and say bye to Dad for me” Katie said as she left the room,
narrowly missing her wee brother, who predictably kicked out at her. But Katie was on
form this morning and move out the way and her brother off balance fell down the stairs,
taking a tumble as he went down, “Thud, Thud, Thud”.

“Boys do everything loudly” Katie thought to herself as she listened to the inevitable whine
cranking up.

“Are you ok, Kyle?” she asked, holding her hand over his mouth to keep him quiet.

She looked him over and he looked ok, despite the tears welling in his eyes.

“Now, shut up or you will make Dad upset” she hissed. “Serves you right for always
kicking out at me, teach you a lesson,” she added.

Kyle looked hurt and she removed her hand.

-38-
“Shut up, I am warning you,” she threatened. “Now are you still in one piece”, she asked
more gently.

Kyle looked sheepishly at her and they both burst in to the giggles.

“What’s going on down there” her Dad shouted from the shower.

“Nothing Dad,” they replied in unison.

Katie got up and went in to the kitchen. She poured some cereal for her brother and told
him “See you later and don’t be late for school”.

She ran for the early bus and just caught it. It was a struggle to get all her goodies down
the passage and the bus driver looked at her as if she was mad.

She realised that she was panting quite a bit and looked a bit strange with all her things
and the walking stick broom. She settled down on the front seat reserved for old people
and invalids and looked down.

No one else got on the bus and she got off at the school and set off for her class.

-39-
The kids were friendly this morning and a few shouted “Hello Katie” to her and she
shouted a greeting back.

A few gathered around her as she was walking and peered at her things, asking
questions. Some of them had not brought anything and some had. Some of the kids had
not even read the book and had been forbidden from taking part but they were excited
nevertheless.

Katie had a plan. She said loudly, “Why don’t you all get your brooms and we will
practice in the playground”.

Ian made a rude remark about her broom and she swung it at him connecting with his gut.
A big whoosh emitted and had the other kids in hysterics.

“You deserved that Ian”, shouted Barry and Katie glowed with happiness.

“Thank you Barry,” mentioned Katie and the other kids went “woo woo woo”.

Katie blushed and said, “beat you all to the playground” and ran for her life.

-40-
Soon all the kids gathered around her and looked at with expectation. She was the
leader for a change and it felt wonderful.

“Ok, everyone, stand in a line and hold your broom next to you”, she announced. “Those
that don’t have broom can be assistants and first aiders” she continued.

As soon as they had stumbled into a line, she stepped forward and inspected them. What
a mixed bunch they were but each of them had a special gleam in their eye and it was
easy to see that there was magic in the air. Katie smiled and they all smiled back.

Then she looked at Barry. He looked down and tried to hide his broom behind his back.
Katie really felt for him and knew how embarrassed he must feel. Her broom was bad
enough but he only had an old mop.

“Don’t worry about your brooms, people” she announced. “Its all about what’s inside that
matters, what’s in your heart and do you really want to fly and then you can do it, it does
not matter what your broom looks like at all”, she continued.

“Here, look at me, this is what you do” she instructed.

-41-
The kids all looked at her in admiration and even Ian and his brother Donald were smiling
and looking excited. One of the children had found some brooms in the janitors’ spare
cupboard near the toilets and 2 kids also had mops.

“Excellent then, that’s the spirit”, she said proudly. “Now what you do it step over your
broom and repeat after me//

“Hoverfly, hoverfly
I really want to fly
Show me how
Right now”

There was a screech in the air and much laughter as the brooms all rose up in the air a
little and shuddered and some of the pupils fell to the floor in surprise.

Katie herself did not move at all, as it was not a real spell and she just smiled.

“Now follow me, young witches” she announced. “Single file and let’s go” she continued.

-42-
Katie led them on a merry chase around the playground, each child cantering around as
children do with toy horse poles, but instead they have broom sticks. Then she came to a
halt and they all bumped into each other one by one and most fell down laughing.

“That’s good enough for now” she said, smiling.

“Now let’s get all the black pots for a potion” she instructed.

The children dropped their brooms and mops in the middle of the playground and
laughing they ran to get their pots.

“Ok now we need our assistants, please” she asked.

The children who had been forbidden to take part in the magic class, lined up. The
numbers were clear, each magic student had an assistant and they all looked happy.

“Ok, let’s collect the ingredients, each pupil needs 5 leaves, 4 stones, 1 flower and a
surprise ingredient that fits in to your pot” she instructed.

-43-
There was a flurry of activity and Katie felt like a natural born leader. She set her assistant
who was Mia off to fetch her ingredients and Mia was laughing when she came back.
There was such a good feeling in the playground and instead of the usual fighting and
children getting bullied or hurt, everyone was happy.

Katie looked over everyone’s ingredients as she waited for Mia to return. The surprise
ingredients were the funnies. Ian had taken off his tie, Donald had added a shoelace,
Barry had picked up a bouncing ball, and Beth had added a hairclip and it went on and
on.

“Now repeat after me”, she started and she took out her little spell book from her pocket.
It did occur to her that this might not bee a good idea but she was having too much fun to
stop now.

She opened the book on the first page and read out aloud “Love potion”. Giggles erupted
from the playground and Katie smiled and glanced at her watch. It was 8.35.

“Now children” she said using her best ‘Miss MacMann’ voice, “there is not much time left
and you must do your very best to finish this spell before the bells goes. There will be no
golden time if you don’t complete this task”.

-44-
There was a loud gasp. The children were stunned No golden time. That was the treat
of the week and children lost their golden time for being very naughty in class.

“Repeat after me” Katie continued.

“I add a flower for love

5 leaves for spice
To make the love nice
4 stones for strength
To make the love last
And one more item
To add a surprise

Mix them together and say

SO MOTE IT BE”

Katie glanced at her pot as Mia mixed all the ingredients together. She looked around; all
the other pupils were mixing their ingredients.

-45-
“Now, say it and think of the one you love most” she announced loudly.

“SO MOTE IT BE” they all cried in unison.

The sun came in that moment and a fine mist rose from the ground around them and in to
the air. It certainly was magical. Katie started at her pot, it looked like it was steaming
and the most wonderful smell of roses was coming from it.

“WOW”, shouted the pupils as the air filled with the most wonderful flower aromas and the
mist thickened as the sun evaporated the moisture around them.

Katie knew she had to do something to break the spell.

“It’s just a joke” she said “but the sun came out so it looks great.”

The kids all looked at her in wonder and she felt proud.

“Come lets tidy up, that’s enough fun for one playtime and the bells about to go” she
announced, bringing them all back to reality.

-46-
Katie poured the liquid in her pot over her fingers and then turned the leaves and stones
out onto the tar of the playground. The other kids did the same. Beth’s voice rose above
the rest and she asked “cant we keep it”.

“No, it’s just a joke” insisted Katie, “just a joke” and she ran and picked up her broom and
put both it and her pot with her bag.

Then she grabbed a very surprised Mia’s arm and dragged her off to the toilets.

“How did you do that” Mia gasped.

“What?” Katie smiled.

“That magic stuff? I never knew you could do magic” Mia exclaimed.

“Oh, Mia you are so silly, that was just a joke” Katie insisted.

“But,/but/.Katie did you see all the kids?” Mia asked.

“Yes, I did Mia, wasn’t it fun” gleamed Katie.

-47-
A very loud school bell rang and they both jumped. Washing their hands and faces they
ran to their class. All the kids were pointing at Katie as Miss MacMann minced up to the
classroom.

“Now now children, don’t point, it’s rude” she instructed.

The children all looked at Katie and she put her finger on her lips and said “SHHHHHH”
and winked at them behind Miss MacManns back.

-48-
Katie quickly found her place. Her seat was at the front of the class right in front of Barry
and he leant over and whispered in her ear, “That was very good; I never knew you came
from a magical family, best keep it secret, hey”.

Katie blushed and gasped. She could not look at him. She felt pleased and worried at
the same time but the rest of the class seemed to have settled down and Miss MacMann
was taking the register for the day.

“Katie MacKimble, are you here or not” yelled Miss MacMann in her ear. It was very loud
and Katie jumped and banged her knee on the bottom of her desk. Her chair scraped
loudly.

Katie shook her head and looked at the desk. “Yes Miss” she mumbled. She had been
lost in thought and had got such a fright when Miss had yelled at her. She rubbed her
knee and her eyes watered.

Miss was always so horrible to her, it always to her. She was just daydreaming. She
always did her work and tried her hardest but the second she did the smallest thing wrong
she got yelled at in front of the whole class. Her happy feeling evaporated and she
looked down at the desk.

-49-
She felt a jab in her back but felt too upset to look around. Ian sat next to Barry and he
was always picking on her. Last week Ian had even grabbed her necklace and broken it.

Then she felt something slide behind her ear and she shuddered with anxiety. What trick
was Ian playing on her now? It felt creepy and she wondered if it was an earthworm or
something?

As non-chalantly as she could she slid her hand up to her ear and removed the offending
item,/it was a flower/

“What on earth?” she wondered to herself.

Then another jab and a crumpled ball of paper hit her desk. Her head shot up and she
looked around. No one else seemed to have notice and she picked up the paper ball and
opened it.

It read:

Do you like your flower? From Barry

-50-
Katie felt a slow, hot blush spread from her neck to her scalp. She knew she must be
glowing bright red and did not know where to hide. She slowly put the note in her pocket
and wondered if they were playing a trick on her. Secretly she fancied Barry and had just
the other day put a flower in his school tray, but there was no way he could have known it
was her. Anyway she put the flower back behind her ear.

Another jab in her back/today was going to be a long day.

Suddenly a loud smack on her desk, brought her back to reality, it was Miss MacMann.

“Can you answer my question, Miss MacKimble?” she demanded.

Oh dear, this day was going to be longer than she thought.

“I am sorry Miss, what was your question?” she mumbled.

“I asked if you liked playing teacher?” smirked Miss

“What do you mean, Miss” she asked slowly.

-51-
“Well, I was hearing about your magic lesson this morning before school, and I want you
to know that I don’t find your impersonating me to be very appropriate, Miss MacKimble”
she spat.

Katie thought very carefully before she responded to the challenge.

“Miss, we were just playing a bit before school, Miss/.” replied Katie.

“That’s quite enough of your cheek, no golden time for you,” growled Miss MacMann.

Katie raised her head and stared at her teacher. That was just plain unfair as all the kids
had had fun which was sorely lacking in this school. It seemed to be illegal to have fun
and be children. But taking away her golden time was too much. Golden time was a time
she used to draw. She loved to draw and they had not had an art teacher for most of the
year.

Miss could not stare her down and looked away first. She minced to the other side of the
class to be near her favourite relatives, Mary and Rosie.

-52-
“Before you line up for activities week, will you all hand your signed parental consent
forms and medical forms to Mary and Rosie here?

Those that are not allowed to participate in our first activity will remain in the class for Mrs
MacMinnie who will be giving you an additional RE Lesson instead.

“Any questions?” she blurted. All the pupils kept quiet.

Once the forms were collected and Miss had looked at them briefly she continued.

“Children we are now going to move through to the gymnasium and start the first activity
of the day” she announced. “We will be giving you tasks to do, so you must bring along
the equipment that was on the list that was sent home” she continued.

There was a loud scraping of chairs and half the children left the class in an awful hurry to
collect their items for Magic Class and then they stood in line, well rehearsed and
marched down to the gymnasium in single file singing, “This is the way we march to class,
march to class, this is the way we march to class, early in the morning//and they sang
it over and over again.

-53-
Once in the gymnasium they had to sit down on the floor whilst Miss advised them that
although the activity was called Magic Class and based on the best selling book “Witch
Secrets” there was in fact no such thing as magic and during this week, she would prove
this fact with a variety of self determining tasks that the pupils would perform.

Katie could not help rolling her eyes and when she did she noticed Barry looking at her
and he rolled his eyes too and winked at her.

She was too astonished to react and just looked down in embarrassment.

“Now stand up next to your brooms or mops, what ever you have brought, it really does
not matter”, droned Miss MacMann.

Katie was learning to dislike Miss MacMann more and more each second.

All the children stood up and Katie jolted with fright. Certainly she had felt a buzz from
her Auntie Agatha’s broom/walking stick and she briefly remembered her adventure this
morning. It was so faint that she was sure she had imagined it. There was no
way/..anyhow her father was always telling her she had a very vivid imagination, not in a

-54-
bad way, but a very vivid imagination. To tell the truth she was quite fond of her
imagination. It was what got her through horrible days at this school.

“Now we are going to learn how to fly on a broomstick” announced Miss. “As you will all
have read in the book, witches have been using broomsticks to fly for centuries, that is
until they were all burned a the stake” she moaned on and on/

“But before you learn to fly, I am going to teach you the real use of a broom, just in case
you have forgotten, and that task forms part of the ‘Whole School Clean Up’ which follows
this lesson. I personally find it more appropriated to shuffle the events today and you will
attend to a section of the school clean up right now” she told the waiting pupils.

“Grasp your brooms firmly by the handle and sweep with thorough, regular strokes the
whole floor from left to right. Those with mops will watch and then mop the floor when the
sweepers have finished. We will have two teams in this competition – 1. Sweepers 2.
Moppers. We shall treat it like a game, so keep smiling children and the ones who do
their task the best and the cheerfulness will get additional golden time” she concluded.

Katie felt ill. She just knew she was going to vomit. In fact she thought that she must be
allergic to Miss MacMann. She looked up and stared at her for the second time that day

-55-
and laughed out allowed at the thought of a great big hairy wart that looked like it was
poking out of her chin.

“What exactly is so funny, Miss MacKimble?” her teacher demanded to know, inclining
her head and bulging her eyes extra big.

“Nothing Miss, I just have a frog in my throat, sorry Miss” replied Katie.

“Enough” dismissed Miss with a wave of her hand.

On your marks, get set and go/.

Katie was speechless and unable to move. She just stood there and looked at the other
pupils sweeping the floor in amazement. This was supposed to be Magic Class and here
they were sweeping the gymnasium!

Suddenly she became aware of a person chanting her name and then more pupils joined
in, “KATIE, KATIE, KATIE”. IT was like a war cry. She looked back at the pupils. It was
the moppers and there they were cheering her on like she was on their team.

-56-
“Oh, what the hell” she thought to herself as she started sweeping half heartedly.

Automatically the head of the broom, spun off the walking stick and shot across the floor
and knocked Miss on the ankle.

“What on earth are you doing, Miss MacKimble” she demanded to know.

“Sorry Miss,” Katie said. “Its just that this broom is not really strong and it’s very old and I
only brought it for the Magic Class/.”

“That’s enough, you will then join the Moppers” she announced.

“But Miss, I don’t have a mop” stated Katie.

“Well then you will be a polisher and you will polish the floor after the mopping. Go and
sit down next to the wall and behave yourself” replied her teacher.

Katie strolled over to her teacher and picked up the broom head, and then she slowly
screwed it onto the walking stick and stared at her teacher very slowly.

-57-
Miss bulged her eyes at her as usual and Katie turned away, unable to face her monster
of a teacher.

Disenchanted she settled down next to the wall and slouched. A hand came up to mouth
unnoticed and she started chewing her nails. It was a bad habit, she knew but the way
her teacher treated her she could not help it. Even the nail biting stuff her mother had
bought her could not stop her. It was a reaction to the bullying that came in this school for
them pupils and the teachers.

As she relaxed she heard the ‘Sweepers’ chanting for the ‘Moppers’ and felt rather sad at
being left out. Then someone sad down loudly next to her and said hello.

It was Barry. His mop had fallen apart and he was also delegated to polishing team – just
the 2 of them. How romantic thought Katie and then she burst out laughing. Barry
laughed too and suddenly it did not seem so bad anymore.

Soon it was their turn and they both finished in fine style with a smile on their face. Katie
had lost her flower from behind her ear in the frantic bid to finish first and Barry had
picked it and brought it to her. Look after your flower he said as he gave it to her.

-58-
Katie looked at him and then she looked at the flower. It was still fresh and new, it
seemed amazing. She looked up and smiled at him and he smiled back.

To be continued/..

-59-
Words: 8657

-60-