The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star (4 page)

he teachers had gathered in the staffroom to deal with the problems that always needed ironing out on the first day back. It was also an opportune moment to have a calming cup of tea and a biscuit – or several biscuits in Miss Cackle’s case.

‘Everything seems to be running smoothly, Miss Cackle,’ said Miss Bat, dropping a handful of teabags into an enormous teapot. ‘Though I must say, Miss Drill, you were sorely missed helping with the first-years, especially in such dreadful weather.’

‘I quite missed them myself,’ said Miss Drill, re-pinning a fallen clump of her springy hair, ‘though I
am
looking forward to being class teacher to Form Four. Luckily, I’ll have Ethel Hallow to get things off to a good start.’

‘
Un
luckily, you’ll also have Mildred Hubble,’ said Miss Hardbroom drily. ‘So goodness knows what will be waiting round the corner.’

‘Look, everyone!’ said Miss Cackle, swiftly changing the subject. ‘The horrible weather’s completely changed – the sky is so clear now, you can even see the stars coming out.’

Miss Hardbroom craned her neck and peered out into the gathering gloom. ‘Did you see that?’ she said. ‘A shooting star just zipped across the sky, over there behind the gates.’

‘You must make a wish!’ exclaimed Miss Cackle. ‘Quickly, Miss Hardbroom, or it won’t come true.’

‘Oh really, Miss Cackle,’ said Miss Hardbroom grumpily. ‘Surely you don’t believe in all that silly nonsense?’

‘It is
not
silly nonsense,’ replied Miss Cackle indignantly. ‘Didn’t you ever make a birthday wish when you blew out the candles on your cake?’

‘We didn’t
have
birthday candles in our house,’ said Miss Hardbroom, sounding briefly wistful. ‘Or cakes, or cards, or anything frivolous
and
we only had one present – usually something useful, such as a new spell book; not like nowadays, when they have so many presents that they need a fork-lift truck to get them all home.’

The other teachers stared at Miss Hardbroom, imagining her as a child in a sensible black party dress, clutching her one present to her chest. It suddenly explained a great deal about her character.

‘Come along now, Miss Hardbroom,’ continued Miss Cackle brightly. ‘Make a wish anyway, just to prove it one way or another.’

‘Oh yes, Miss Hardbroom,’ giggled Miss Bat. ‘That would be such fun!
Do
make a wish.’

‘All right then,’ said Miss Hardbroom, feeling unexpectedly caught up in the spirit of fun and camaraderie between her fellow teachers. ‘If it means so much to all of you.’

‘You have to close your eyes,’ said Miss Cackle.

‘And don’t tell us what you’ve wished,’ said Miss Drill. ‘Or it won’t come true.’

Miss Hardbroom closed her eyes and wished. After a few seconds, she opened one eye and glanced at her fellow teachers. ‘What do I do next?’ she asked earnestly.

‘Nothing at all, Miss Hardbroom!’ said Miss Cackle, stifling a smile.

‘Oh,’ said Miss Hardbroom, feeling a little disappointed, as she had rather hoped for some sort of magic to accompany the wish.

‘Right then, ladies,’ she continued primly, her sense of fun departing as suddenly as it had arrived. ‘Enough silly nonsense. We have a
very
arduous term in front of us and only hard work and planning can keep us ahead of all the other schools if we want to win this competition.’

ext morning, Mildred was already awake when the rising bell clanged through the corridors. She had hardly had any sleep, mainly because the bats had been in and out of the bat flap all night. It made a clunking rattle each time one of them came in or went out, and as there were now eight of them, the flap was clunking and rattling the whole night long. To make matters worse, Tabby jumped out of his skin every time the bat flap crashed open and Mildred had to give him extra cuddles to calm him down. The bats had all finally come back in to roost along the picture rail, but it was too late for Mildred, who had only slept for about two hours altogether.

Maud put her head round the door, already in her uniform. ‘Up you get, Mil,’ she said cheerfully. ‘
Oh
dear, what’s up? You look awful.’

‘The bats have been driving me mad,’ said Mildred, yawning and stretching. ‘They were in and out like a fiddler’s elbow all night long. I know it’s nice to have glass in the windows, but I think I preferred it when there wasn’t any. I never heard a thing in the old days –
and
it disturbs Tabby.’

‘I haven’t got any bats at all in my room,’ said Maud, ‘so I was OK and I think Enid’s only got two. Never mind, Mil, you’ll soon get used to it. My auntie lives right next door to a railway line and the walls shake every time a train zooms past. When you first stay there it makes you jump every time it happens and you lie there waiting for the next one, but after a while you really don’t notice; it’s the same with chiming clocks – my auntie’s got one of those too! Where’s Einstein, by the way? Did you bring him with you?’

Einstein was the tortoise that Mildred had used for her animal transformation spell the term before and Miss Cackle had allowed her to keep him.

‘He’s gone into early hibernation,’ said Mildred. ‘He’s under the bed in the cat basket, tucked up in a blanket.’

She clambered out of bed and rooted around in her wardrobe for a shirt and her gymslip.

‘I do
like
the bats, Maudie,’ she yawned, ‘and it
is
less absolutely freezing with the new glass, but I sometimes wish the school was more
normal
.’

‘I know just what you mean,’ agreed Maud. ‘Any other school would be thrilled because they were getting some vital new piece of equipment, but
we’re
all delirious with joy because they’ve finally put glass in the windows. It’s like the Middle Ages at Miss Cackle’s.’

‘Don’t you sometimes sneakily wish we’d been sent to Pentangle’s?’ asked Mildred thoughtfully. ‘They’ve got lovely purple uniforms and the head girl gets to choose any type of cat she wants. The head girl at the moment’s got a beautiful cream and brown Ragdoll cat – not that I’d want to change Tabby!’ she added hastily. ‘Anyway, there wouldn’t be much chance of my being the head girl of
any
school so it’s not worth worrying about.’

‘Cackle’s is all right really,’ said Maud, trying to think the best, as usual. ‘It may not be very modern, but it gets there in the end and, anyway,
we
wouldn’t have met each other if we weren’t both here! Come on, grab your tie, and here’s your sash round the bedpost, and let’s go and see if Enid’s ready.’

Mildred smiled sleepily and felt a peaceful glow of happiness that someone as nice as Maud had chosen to be her friend.