The School for Scruff: 19.

[Girl in Grey note. Scruff and me are off to Scotland today. I wish I didn't have to leave Emily behind, but my old school friend is of a nervous disposition.]


School continued as normal. Emily didn't show that night, and I stayed in the dorm, thinking that the Baron might be lying in wait for me if I tried to get into his study again. I think I made him suspicious of me.
I actually got up early the next morning, and I was already dressed when Matron came round. I was almost out of clean clothes already, I discovered. It didn't help that someone had stolen one of my blouses.
Baron Von Zstrongarm gave a wonderful rant, I mean speech (no, I mean rant) at the assembly. He was trying to inflame us against the United Nations and everything it stood for. Which mostly meant peace, stability and things like that, as far as I could tell.
One of the lessons was cancelled. Apparently something had happened to the teacher, something that might have involved a very savage dog. We got to help the Baron by moving some pieces of machinery from one shed to another.
Amazingly being at Pudding Norton College actually made me miss my old school a little. Okay, there was no bullying to speak of at Pudding Norton because of the guards and the savage discipline of the teachers, but I like real food, a bed with a mattress on it, and housekeeping staff who clean your things for you. Even my bandage was getting very grubby, and I was worried it might start doing me more harm than good. After all, I'd worn it in two cells which hadn't been very clean - not that anything was. The dorm was practically derelict!
That being so, I was almost glad when we got the afternoon off to do our washing. I was issued with a mug of soap flakes, a washboard, and a tub of very hot water to do my washing in. Sis says she wishes she'd been there to see, and Emily says she was and it was the funniest thing she ever saw. I ended up sopping wet from head to toe (don't ask), with my hands rubbed raw and my forearms aching from some sort of allergy.
So I was glad when it was all over and I could just change into my pyjamas and lie down on my bed, staring out of the window.
"Scruff!"
Emily made herself visible and sat down on my bed. Her glowing red eyes looked intently at me.
"Scruff," she repeated, "we're in trouble."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I got into the Baron's office just after you were caught, and I got away with the timetable. It's more advanced than we thought. He already has agents inserted in key positions, agents who could plunge the world into chaos at his bidding. We have to stop him!"