Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR To Ariana's relief, the rest of the day was less eventful. By bedtime, there'd only been one further sighting of an animal from the woods that had wandered into the school grounds, a timid three-antlered deer. From her bedroom window, Ariana saw one of the gardeners lead the deer away. Ariana closed the curtains and went to the bathroom. When she came back, everyone was crowded around Matilda's bed, their heads close together as they giggled over something. Seeing Ariana, Violet nudged the others and they all pulled

away, returning to their own beds. Ariana wondered what they'd been looking at. "Hi, Ariana," said Violet quickly. "We wondered where you'd got to. Would you like a piece of chocolate? It's got a strawberry filling." She held out an opened bar of chocolate. "No, thanks. I've just cleaned my teeth." "I'd better do mine," said Matilda. Her cheeks were pink and she was holding something behind her back, before quickly shoving it into a drawer. "Now, where did I put my washbag?" "Is this it?" Ariana picked up a flowery bag stuffed halfway inside a fluffy cat slipper that she'd just noticed was under her bed. "Yes, it is!" Matilda replied, not quite meeting Ariana's eye. "And that's my cat slipper! I've been hopping around all week without it. Thanks, Ariana." Matilda set off to the bathroom and the rest of Diamond dorm followed her, clutching

washbags and toothbrushes. Left on her own, Ariana stared at the pile of Matilda's clothes heaped on the floor. It was as much of a mess as it had been that morning. Carefully, shaking them out to check for spiders first, she picked the clothes up and put them on Matilda's bed. Matilda was so untidy. She hadn't even bothered to shut her drawer properly. But as Ariana leaned over to close it, she noticed something sticking out from the top, a drawing of a girl with braids. Ariana froze. Was that her? She pulled it out. It was her– there was no doubt about it. Matilda was a very good artist. Too good! Ariana's eyes smarted as she studied the way Matilda had captured her, arms waving wildly, her mouth a huge "O" of surprise. In the picture, Ariana looked truly terrified as she sat atop a winged unicorn while a butterfly flew around her head. Is that how the rest of Diamond dorm saw her– a scaredy-cat, frightened even of

butterflies? Ariana shoved the picture into the drawer and slammed it shut. She got into bed, pulled the duvet up to her chin and shut her eyes tight. When the rest of Diamond dorm came back from the bathroom, Ariana pretended to be fast asleep. The following morning, Ariana came in from the bathroom to find Rosa sitting on Matilda's bed, giggling over a picture in her sketchbook. Ariana stiffened. Was it another drawing of her? She was beginning to really wish she was in another dorm. "Look at this!" Rosa said, holding the picture up. It was a picture of Matilda after she'd been stuck in the bog on the cross-country ride. Her hair was hanging in mucky straggles and she had mud dripping off her nose. "And there's one of Freya." She held up a picture of Freya looking like a mad inventor, blonde plaits

sticking out wildly as she tinkered with a machine. "And she did one of me too!" She held up another picture. It showed Rosa with her hands on her hips, nose in the air, bossing everyone about. It was a very good likeness. "You are so brilliant at drawing," Rosa told Matilda. She posed like her picture. "It's just like me when I'm in a bossy mood. Isn't it, Ariana?" Ariana didn't say anything, feeling it would

be rude to agree. She sat down on her bed, her thoughts racing. Last night she'd thought Matilda had been mean to draw that picture of her, but she'd actually been doing pictures of everyone in the dorm and no one else seemed to mind. In fact, judging by their grins, they all thought it was funny. "I've got one of you too, Ariana," said Matilda slightly sheepishly. "Do you want to see it?" Ariana nodded and Matilda pulled the drawing from her bedside chest of drawers. Ariana tensed, waiting to feel hurt like she had the night before, but to her surprise she didn't feel upset. Now she knew Matilda was drawing everyone, she was actually able to see how funny the picture was. "It's good," she admitted. "Really good." Matilda looked pleased. "But I'm not actually scared of butterflies, you know," Ariana added. "Duh! I know that!" said Matilda, rolling her