Author Archives: CuriousWriter

“Celia!” screeched Mrs. Baxter, as soon as the front door had swung open. The round door handle banged loudly against the wall, deepening the already-prominent dip that had formed there. Mabel visibly winced, but Mrs. Baxter didn’t even notice.             “Lionel! Celia’s here!” Mrs. Baxter shrieked, as though Mr. Baxter hadn’t been made to standContinue reading “Chapter 8”

Olive was standing impatiently outside number 14, Greenwood Drive, better known as Raymond’s house. She had a thick layer of make-up on her face, and she was doing something that Mary had told her about; called ‘casing the joint’. She was just angry that she had been waiting for almost five seconds. Honestly, would sheContinue reading “Chapter 7”

Albert Rowlings, standing at the back of the classroom in his grey school uniform and expensive shoes, looked absolutely shell-shocked. “No, no, no,” he kept saying quietly, his face growing whiter with every passing second. He seemed unable to accept that he had just heard those terrible words uttered from Miss March’s mouth, nor couldContinue reading “Chapter 6”

“Oooh, this is exciting! It is so very exciting! Isn’t that so amazing, Augustus, Adolphus, attending a real team meeting? Fancy it; we’re actually part of a team! And would you believe it, Olive said I might even be able to become a co-leader if I’m nice enough to her! What an honour, eh? AndContinue reading “Chapter 5”

“Right, children!” bellowed the tall, angry-looking farmer’s wife. “Quieten down now! Quickly, come along! Children, please! I’m getting a headache from all of this noise, and my throat will hurt if I have to keep shouting!”             But the children around her showed no signs of quietening down. The pale elder boy in the poshContinue reading “Chapter 4”

“Where on earth is Mary?” Olive demanded, tapping her shoes on the dirty floor.             She was sitting at a table covered in puddles of alcohol in her favourite pub, the Barmy Duck, opposite three other women, who sat nibbling peanuts or, in the case of Hetty Waters, sipping a tall glass of beer. TheContinue reading “Chapter 3”

Olive was assessing the train compartments in the way a bourgeois architect might evaluate the suitability of a building for some grand artistic project. Specifically, she was looking for a compartment that was not full to the brim with snivelling children. Olive was not a snivelling child, and did not care to associate with thoseContinue reading “Chapter 2”

“Olive! I’m going out. Augustus and Adolphus said they’d meet me at the cinema at half past eight because of the cool, hip new film that’s out. It’s meant to be fabulous. It’s meant to be cool. You ought to see it, actually. Oh, and I expect Brandon will be there. You know, Brandon, theContinue reading “Chapter 1”