Chapter 3

Chapter THREE By the time I arrived at Miss Spindlewick's Witch School for Girls, I was feeling very soggy and sorry for myself. I landed on the black tarmac of the playground with a skid and looked around for my best friend Carlotta, but she was nowhere to be seen. I guessed she must already have gone inside. I was a bit late

after all. I walked through the big, heavy arched doors and down the echoey, shiny corridor to my classroom.

'Oh, there you are, Mirabelle,' said Miss Spindlewick when I entered the room. 'You're late!' 'I know,' I said. 'I'm sorry, Miss Spindlewick. I...' But then I stopped. What could I say? I didn't want to admit that the reason I had got up late was because I hadn't put my potion kit away before bed, or that my broomstick wasn't flying properly because I had left it out in the rain. Instead, I shut my mouth and tried to look innocent.

Miss Spindlewick crossed her arms over her chest and looked at me disapprovingly. 'I've marked you down as late,' she said, which means you can stay in at morning break and sort the new spell books into alphabetical order in the library.' 'But...' I began. 'AND,' continued Miss Spindlewick, 'you can run along to Mrs Newt in the lost property office and change into something clean and dry. What in the name of leaping frogs has happened to your clothes?'

I opened my mouth to explain but then shut it again quickly. Miss Spindlewick can be quite fierce when she's cross. I shuffled backwards out of the door and along the corridor to the lost property office. I kicked the wall crossly as I went, doing it a little bit too hard by mistake. 'Oww!' I said, clutching my toe and hopping the rest of the way. This was turning out to be the worst day ever. EVERYTHING was going wrong! 'Morning, Mirabelle,' smiled Mrs Newt when I reached her office. 'Oh, you look a little bit worse for wear today. Fall in a puddle did you? I thought you were quite a good broomstick flyer!'

'I am!' I said, feeling crosser than ever. 'It wasn't my fault. It was my broomstick. It was too wet to fly properly.' 'Oh?' said Mrs Newt, looking confused. Why on earth was it wet?'