All my project notes were gone.

I searched through the paper on my bed, inside my trunk, everywhere. I even crawled across the entire floor just in case. They weren't there. Paper didn't just grow legs and walk away. If it did, my trunk would have been a lot cleaner; someone took my notes. There was only one person in the entire school that I knew who would be stupid enough to take notes from someone, especially if they were the last one in the room before they disappeared.

Victoria knew she couldn't beat me on her own, she knew she was too far behind to stand any chance. Just like everything else, she had to resort to underhanded tactics in order to win and stealing my project notes definitely constituted as underhanded tactics. She had cheated.

"Victoria?" Katie asked, watching me stuff everything except the notes I didn't plan on using back into my trunk.

"Who else? She was the last one in here and all of a sudden, my notes are gone? It can't be a coincidence," I said.

"Report her to Mrs Maddox. She went through your things which is against the rules and stealing is also against the rules. You might get an extension on the presentation if you report your notes being stolen."

"No way. Mrs Maddox hasn't believed a word I've said about Victoria since day one and unless we can prove she did it, we're not going to be believed. We have to go about this a different way. "

"How?" Katie gave me a quizzical look.

"I still have the notes from before, all I have to do is turn them into a speech and give the presentation. This is sneaky. I'm not letting her get to me."

"You have two weeks. That's a lot of work."

"I know. It'll be fine."

"Don't push yourself too far, Flick."

"I know what I'm doing. Trust me."

Katie gave me a look, as though not sure what to make of my claim, but I didn't care. Victoria's plan had been to try and knock me down, force me to give in and not go against her with the presentation and allow her to win the competition between us. I wasn't going to back down from her petty behaviour and I certainly wasn't going to give in if she felt the need to cheat rather than face me honestly. If she had disposed of my project notes, then she was nervous to face me. Who was I to not allow her the opportunity?

I pushed myself off the floor and sat at the end of my bed, crossing my legs and flicking through the never-ending collection of notes. Before, I had thought the notes to be a curse, especially as it took me so long to narrow them down into one coherent project. Without meaning to, I had prepared for a situation such as this one and had something to fall back on now my original notes were gone. I just had to find a way to make it memorable.

Despite my promise to Jo and knowing I would have let her down by not returning to help her, I threw myself into collecting my notes and sorting through them. Notes that didn't fit into any potential category were put to one side and the ones that may have been of some use to the other. I was willing to miss dinner, stay up all night and even find a way to miss some of my lessons if it meant I could finish the project in time. I had to do it and I would do anything if it meant wiping the smug smirk off Victoria's face.

When the supper bell finally rang, Katie had to drag me from the bed and force me to the dining hall for something to eat. I wanted to spend the entire evening sorting through my notes but my stomach, and Katie, had other ideas. She wedged me between her and Grace so I couldn't get away whilst Betty and Jo sat on the other side of the table.

"Where were you? You said you would help me with my science work after your run," Jo said.

"I'm sorry, something happened," I said, diving into my supper so I could get back to the dormitory and try to fix the mess Victoria had created.

"Like what?"

"My project notes. I put them in my trunk, and they have grown legs and walked away. Oddly enough, Victoria, Dorothy and Louise were the only ones in the room before and weren't there when we returned."

"You think she stole them?"

"Either that or they did actually grow legs and we'll find them running around the grounds giggling."

"It's two weeks until the presentations, what are you going to do?" Betty asked, taking a sip of water.

"I gave my other notes. It'll just be really close to the wire now."

I nodded, shovelling another forkful of food into my mouth. With two weeks until the presentations, I didn't have the time to sit around eating or even talking to other people. I needed to pull my imaginary socks up and get to work if I wanted it done within the time frame. The problem was that I would be going against Dad and everything he had said to me growing up and when I agreed to go to Maddox. He told me not to get caught up in my work, to have some fun and take a break from it all.

How could I take a break with a two-week deadline?

The truth was that I couldn't, even if it meant putting a hold on helping Katie and Jo with their O-Lebel study. I had to get the presentation right to prove something to Victoria and if that meant putting my work over my friends, then so be it. For once, I had a feeling my restless energy and inability to sit still would come in handy. Even if I was working up to the day of the presentations, I was determined to get it done.

After supper, I returned to the dormitory to sift even further through my notes, much to Katie's annoyance. She thought I should wait until the next day to go through it all, but it couldn't wait. The two weeks would fly by and the one thing I knew I didn't have much of was time. I needed to sort through it all and figure out where to go from that point onwards. It took me weeks to narrow down my topic, I didn't have weeks this time around. I had a day at best.

I sat cross-legged on the bed and grabbed the remainder of the stack from before, flicking through it at lightning speed to try and put the paper to one side. One of the things that kept popping up in my notes, one of perhaps the most interesting natural disasters in living memory, was that of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii. It had been one of the first things I had read about and had always been a point of interest for me.

Not only that, but it had another form of potential. It allowed for a little bit of science and something a tad more creative, even if that wasn't my forte. If I could do it, I could beat Victoria once and for all. But it would be close. A little too close for comfort.

The door to the dormitory opened and I looked up from my notes briefly, watching Katie walk across the room and perch herself on the edge of my bed. She looked across the bed at the notes and then the pencil which I had started tapping rapidly against the notebook on my lap. She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Jo isn't very happy with you," she said.

"Because I couldn't help her with her science study?" I tapped my pencil a little faster.

"You promised her, Flick. You could have taken fifteen minutes this evening to go over it with her and then come straight back here."

"This is more important. If I don't do well on this project, not only does Victoria win the competition, but even if she didn't, I wouldn't be able to come back next year. My entire scholarship rests on this presentation and I now have two weeks to replace weeks of work. I wanted to help, but I need to get this done. If I don't, I won't be here next year."

"I get that, but you said you would help and she's struggling. We can help you with your presentation if we can, you don't have to do it all on your own."

"You and Jo have your O-Levels to study for. I took enough of your time early on and your exams are important. I can help her at break tomorrow, but I need to do this. Besides, it's an independent study project. I have to do it on my own."

"It's impossible. You can't do almost six months of work in two weeks."

"I don't have a choice."

Katie huffed and rolled her eyes, climbing off the bed. She looked at me for a few second and then left me alone in the dormitory once again. I opened the notebook and started scribbling away at a page, writing new notes and formulating a brand-new plan that would probably take longer than two weeks were it not for the time limit. First things first, I needed to speak to both the gardener and someone from the kitchen to acquire an old bucket and a glass bottle. The creative side of it would be a little trickier.

I worked whilst the other girls started to return to the dormitory. From my bed, I could hear the mutterings from the other girls and the sound of them walking to the bathroom to change and back again. They started to settle into low conversations across beds, joking and giggling with each other about practically nothing. I blocked them out and focused on what I was doing and just how I needed to split the little time I had to make it work correctly. It would be a lot of juggling.

"What are you doing? I thought you were done with your project," Emma said. She climbed into the bed beside me, lying on her side and looking at me.

"So did I. Something happened."

"Does that something start with a V?" I nodded. "Thought so. She looked happy earlier compared to how she was in English this morning."

"I have two weeks to do a new project from scratch because of her."

"You seem to have a pretty good basis already from these notes. You'll be fine."

"We'll see. You might find me rocking in the corner in the morning."

Emma laughed and switched her nightstand light off, rolling over and moving the blanket around a little. The other girls continued to talk about themselves but a select few opted for an early night, Victoria, Dorothy and Louise amongst them. I thought that to be a little odd, usually, they were the last to go to sleep, not the first. Still, it meant they weren't looking at me and I could focus in peace. The last thing I wanted was Victoria to know I was trying to redo my project. If she had, my new lot of notes would probably walk away as well.

Miss Jones appeared not long after I had finished my list. She walked the length of the hall, sending students to their own beds and asking people to put their books down and switch their lights off. When she got to the window, she paused to look at me. I dropped my notebook and notes on top of my trunk, climbed into bed and the switched the light off. I listened to Miss Jones' footsteps watched the room go dark as she switched off the light.

With the light off, I listened to the sounds in the room and waited for them to settle. Once the room fell silent with nothing but the occasional snore or creak of a bedspring, I kicked the blankets off my body and swung my legs over the side of the bed. I moved as quietly as possible and gathered up my notes from my bed, tip-toeing a short distance to the window. A thin slither of moonlight travelled through the window and I used that small piece of light to continue working.

I knew Katie would be mad at me, but this was more important.

Sleep would have to wait.

~~~

First Published - August 2nd, 2020