The School for Scruff: 16.

[Back at Pudding Norton College]
I held my head under the cold tap. Finding that didn't cool me down enough, I took off my shoes and stepped fully dressed under a cold shower. My clothes were sopping wet anyhow.
Yes, I'd just finished another metalwork 'class'. I hated the subject more than I'd ever hated any subject before. But then it wasn't really a subject, was it? It was slave labour, pure and simple.
I made my way back to the dorm, where I changed into fresh, dry clothes beforeheading off for my next lesson.
I actually finished the day still alive and even still awake. I still went to bed early, alone.

And again the Outsider visited me.
"Bad news," she told me. "Your sister's been hurt. You have to get into the head's study and find out his timetable."
"He teaches..."
"Not that timetable..." Emily saw me smiling and groaned.
"You clown!"
"I know what you mean, his timetable of his plans," I laughed. "I'll try to get it for you. Is Sis badly hurt?"
"Just a badly bruised ankle," The Outsider reassured me. "She needs to rest for a couple of days."
"Did you tell her what they're doing to me?" I asked. "They're using me as slave labour to work a coining factory! You know I don't complain much, but it's horrid!"
"I know," Emily replied. "But it's a lot better than being black and smoky all the time."
She had a point, I thought. Whatever happened to me, it probably wasn't going to be as serious as what Ramdit Ghul had done to her.
"Okay, Emily." I stood up. "I'll try to find it. Why can't you?"
"Security at the Grange. I thought you might be able to get in as a pupil."
"I'll see what I can do."
I dressed quickly in my school uniform and left the dorm, headed in the direction of the headmaster's house. I'd seen it before, of course, and I thought it was rather nasty that WE had to sleep in buildings that were practically ruins, while Baron Von Zstrongarm had a mansion. It just isn't really fair. After all, he charged ten thousand a year for us to go!
I smiled winningly at the guard, who looked for all the world like a Nazi stormtrooper, and he let me in. At once I hurried to the study and, finding it deserted, began a frantic search.
Although the desk was unlocked, it had nothing of interest in. Even the safe, which I opened using skills Sis taught me, just had the usual stuff in it, no timetable of his plans. I sat down on the floor, pondering my next move.
Which is when I saw the strange piece of carpet under the desk. I pulled it up and smiled. There was a safe in the floor!
Working feverishly, I got the safe open in minutes and began to rifle it. I pulled out a file of documents, and saw a small piece of paper that looked kind of like what I was looking for.
It was! I closed the safe, replaced the carpet, and was about to get up when the door opened.