"I'm not back chatting Miss, I just wanted to…" Mrs Allworth's shoulders lurched forwards enlarging her body and her eye fiercely began to spasm. Her fists were clenched as she stood menacingly close, almost consuming Molly's table. Mrs Allworth's fits came to rest on her hips and she snarled when she spoke again.

"Right, get out of your chair this minute you impudent child and get yourself and your work to the font of the classroom this minute and sit at the desk in front of mine!" Mrs Allworth's knobbly finger was now unwrapped from her fist and pointing toward the front of the room where the teacher's desk was placed.

"Yes, Miss" Molly replied.

"Yes, Miss" Mrs Allworth sarcastically echoed Molly's response. Molly decided there and then that she would be polite but not submissive. She stood quietly, put her shoulders back and began to walk towards the desk. She placed her things on the table and sat down in the chair.

Mrs Allworth began to look about the room once the instruction was given so meanly to Molly. All eyes were upon Molly as she moved to the front of the room.

She chirped her instructions to the rest of the class as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened, like she was a happy little songbird. "Now class, let's get back to work shall we" and she clapped her hands together joyfully like a small child, "that's right, focus and do your work children, lovely…, good job…, excellent…, excellent"

Mrs Allworth took her place at her desk and glared at Molly. "Right, Miss" she splatted, "you appear to have a problem with authority, don't you?" asking the question, but not really expecting and answer – it was more like a statement.

"No Miss" Molly answered, keeping Mrs Allworth's gaze with her own, trying to keep emotion out of her eyes. "No Miss" Mrs Allworth echoed again. "We'll see… Don't worry yourself; I'll be watching every move you make Miss Molly"

Suddenly Mrs Allworth's attitude changed and she began to speak to Molly as she had done to the class only a few minutes before.

"So, Molly dear, why don't you just write a letter to Mr Jacobs and let him know what's been going on and I'll put it in an envelope and pass it on to him for you shall I?" Molly was confused by the strange change of character.

"Will you be reading it Miss?" Molly asked innocently.

"No Molly, I'll just give it to the office staff and they can pass it on to Mr Jacobs when he's feeling a bit better"

One thing Mrs Allworth did well was that she didn't yell. Sure, she banged on a table but you'd never really hear her yell. Her meanness came from the way she spoke to you with vehemence in her tone. She was a mistress of making you look bad even as she was being horrible to you. She always managed to pretend that she was being nice and was an expert at this, especially when there were other teachers about.

Then it dawned on Molly, the Principal Miss Watson must have been close by making her daily rounds of the school and would be passing their room. A soft knock came on the door.

"Good morning Mrs Allworth. Good morning class" Miss Watson's soft voice broke the silence of the classroom.

"Good morning Miss Watson" our voices replied in unison.

"Mrs Allworth, what a lovely class you have here today! I see you are working with one of our star pupils this morning as well" Miss Watson smiled warmly at Molly. Molly returned her a smile awkwardly.

"Yes a lovely class and a star pupil Miss Watson" Mrs Allworth replied sweetly.

"Very good, keep up the good work children" Miss Watson beamed her smiled around the classroom and left to move on around the school. The children all responded "yes Miss Watson", and with that she was gone.

"Star pupil indeed" Mrs Allworth returned a death stare back to Molly. "You don't stand out in my books young lady. Now start writing." Mrs Allworth tossed a piece of A4 paper from across her desk to Molly and sat back with her arms folded, surveying her class disdainfully. Her previous mood had returned.

The bell was about to ring for recess and Molly had just completed her letter to Mr Jacobs. She placed it in the envelope she had been given only minutes before and handed it to Mrs Allworth who eyed it suspiciously and placed it in the middle of her desk. The bell rang and the class was dismissed for recess.

"Oh Molly, you poor thing"… "What's wrong with her?"… "Are you ok?"... "What is she making you do?"… "Why are you sitting up the front?"… "What did you do?"… "You always read!"… "She really doesn't like you, does she?"…"How can she possibly treat you….?"… "What if we…?"… Her friend's questions and answers were resonating through Molly's mind and she couldn't think straight.

Molly covered her eyes and began to sob.

Between recess and lunch Molly slowly paced herself with her work so not to get too far in front of the other children. She continued to sit at the front of the classroom under the watchful eye of Mrs Allworth. The letter addressed to Mr Jacob's letter still sitting in the middle of the teacher's desk.

After lunch Molly was told to return to her own desk for the last hour of the school day. She obediently did as she was told. They were to complete in silence, a crossword using geographical terms. Molly noticed that the envelope had gone from the table.

Finally, the day was over and the afternoon bell rang. Molly grabbed her bag and quickly left the classroom so as not to be caught behind with Mrs Allworth. Molly happily waited on the bus with Jack for the others to come on board, to be surrounded comfortably in the mayhem of what was to be the normal ride home.

Alice, one of Molly's class friends walked to the back of the bus where Molly and Jack were seated.

"Molly" Alice began. "You know that envelope you left on Mrs Allworth's desk today, was that important?"

Molly though Alice's question was a bit odd, but answered her honestly. "Yeh Alice, it was a letter I wrote to Mr Jacobs…, for his eyes only why?"

"I was leaving the classroom this afternoon and I saw Mrs Allworth take it out of her bag and she tore it open as soon as you left" Alice knew there was something wrong when Molly's face turned white as a sheet. "She must have read some of it while I was still in the room and she let out this scream and started to rip at it and I bolted out the door to get to the bus and away from her as quick as I could" Alice was becoming a little agitated herself telling the story to Molly but continued "I don't think she was very happy with what was on the letter… are you ok Molly?"

"Yeh Alice, thanks for letting me know, ta!"

Alice walked back to the front of the bus where she came from, concerned for her friend.

Jack saw that his sister was upset and held her hand. Molly squeezed his hand, thanking him and he rested his head on her shoulder until they were almost to their stop.

Molly sat staring out the window of the bus remembering what she had written…

Tuesday 16th March 2010

Dear Mr Jacobs,

I'm sorry that you had a heart attack last Friday and that you are not a 100% at the moment.We are all very glad though, to hear that you are feeling much better and that you will hopefully be back at school next week sometime.

For the last couple of days we have had Mrs Allworth and we all hate her so much…