Jessa, Maggie and Flynn gazed up at the twenty-foot Christmas tree in the Winsbury school hall, surveying its bare and unadorned branches.

They had volunteered themselves as WinterFest reps so they could spend more time together before the two-week Christmas holiday. Mrs Hoopey wasn’t lying when she promised being a rep would be fun, and Jessa and her friends quickly discovered why WinterFest had been talked about since the start of term. The best part about being a rep was that they could get involved in all the activities. Of course, there were some chores involved (which Jessa made very clear that she found incredibly dull), like taking tickets at the door for the Winsbury Concerts, and picking up rubbish in the park during the seasonal market (she particularly hated that job). Naturally, the task she was most pleased about was putting up the tree.

“My friend Hayley goes to a parapsych school in Lancashire and they don’t have any parties or anything, not even at Christmas,” Maggie said, taking lids off boxes to reveal all the different decorations inside.

“Oh yeah,” Flynn replied. “Winsbury is well known for the social events. That’s the main reason why most kids want to go here.”

“Really?” Maggie hooted. “You think they care more about parties than academics?”

Jessa laughed. “Yes. Duh.”

“So far, WinterFest is my favourite school event,” Flynn stated.

“Mine too,” Jessa agreed. “I want to go through the German market on the way home and get more of that Stollen bread.”

“And hot apple cider!” Maggie chimed in.

“And bratwurst!” Flynn added cheerfully.

Jessa climbed midway up the stepladder to arrange a string of lights near the top of the tree. “I’m excited about the music stuff,” she said.

“Me too!” Maggie swooned. “I can’t wait to play in the concert on Sunday. You won’t believe how good the wind band sounds right now. We’ve been practising like crazy. Stravinsky really knew his stuff.”

“I was thinking more about the rock gig,” said Jessa.

“Oh.” Maggie pondered for a moment. “No, I’m not so excited about that. Rock music is too loud.”

“I’m interested to see Parasyko,” Jessa said. “But I’m sure they’re not as good as everyone in school seems to think,” she took a long piece of tinsel from Maggie and trailed it up and over the bristling arms of the tree. “Gray’s a good guitar player, though, and I’ve heard Eli’s a great singer, so hopefully they’ll be decent.”

“So you haven’t actually heard any of Parasyko’s songs?” Flynn asked the girls.

“Nope, I haven’t,” said Maggie. “When Cecily was handing out download cards she deliberately didn’t give me one.”

“That’s mature,” laughed Flynn. “I’d have thought she’d want as many people as possible to hear it. Isn’t she supposed to be their manager?”

“Yeah right!” Jessa exclaimed. “She gives out a few download cards and calls herself a manager? No way. She’s just doing it because she wants everyone to think she’s cool.”

“Everyone does think she’s cool,” Flynn said plainly.

Jessa moved around to the other side of the tree with a box of shining silver and gold ornaments tucked under her arm. “It won’t last. Those people aren’t her real friends.” She climbed a few rungs of the ladder again to hang the ornaments higher up.

“She doesn’t really seem to have many actual friends, does she?” Maggie mused. “She’s always hanging out with Eli and Gray, but it’s the two boys who are best friends, and she’s just there. Cecily never hangs out with other girls, does she?”

“Do we have to talk about Cecily?” Flynn pulled a face.

Jessa and Maggie ignored him.

“I guess she’s friends with Amelia and Devi from Mrs Reid’s class,” Maggie continued.

“Those two are sheep, they just follow her around,” Jessa tutted. “And boys only like her because they think she’s pretty.”

“Which is different to actually liking someone,” Maggie pointed out. “You can be good-looking, but if you’re not nice to be around then people won’t like you, it’s as simple as that. I think it’s quite sad. Everyone deserves to have friends,” she said.

Flynn shrugged.

“I disagree,” Jessa climbed down from the ladder. “Cecily doesn’t deserve friends because she’s horrible to everyone. Boys only want to hang out with her because of her looks, and girls only want to hang out with her because there are boys there. She not nice to be around. Let’s face it, she’s kind of a bitch.”

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“Oh really, Jessa?” a voice appeared behind Maggie and Flynn. “Well, why don’t you come out here and say that to my face?”

“Cecily?” Jessa moved around the tree and into view. “What are you even doing here? Are you a volunteer?”

“Oh yeah,” Cecily said sarcastically. “Like I’d be in school if I didn’t have to be. So what’s up, Jessa? If you’ve got a problem with me, why don’t you say it to me, not behind my back!” she advanced toward Jessa.

“No, I was just, umm…”

“What? One minute you’re saying how much of a bitch I am and next minute you’re all quiet? That’s not like you, Jessamine. Come on, why don’t you tell me what you really think?”

“Fine,” Jessa snapped. “You’re mean and aggressive and arrogant. You act like you’re so much better than everyone else, and you make people feel bad. You’re a bully.”

Cecily’s eyes grew wild with resentment. “What gives you the right to judge me like that?” she snarled. Her face was so close that Jessa could smell her shampoo. “You’d better watch yourself.”

“Why? You can’t do anything to me!”

Cecily backed off with a smirk. “You have no idea what I could do.”

“Try me.”

“All right. For starters, maybe I’ll tell everyone that Mr Fletcher is in a relationship with your sister and that you three get special treatment.”

Jessa’s chest heaved. “We don’t get special treatment.”

“Hmmm. Or maybe I’ll be more creative. Like, maybe I’ll tell them about the time I was alone with Mr Fletcher in his classroom…” she lowered her voice to a whisper, “and he touched me.”

“Don’t you dare,” Jessa spat the words out.

“At first, I just thought he was being friendly!” Cecily mimicked the voice of an innocent storyteller. “He said how pretty I am, and that he always thought there was a connection between us. Then he locked the door...”

“Stop it.” Jessa’s hands shook.

“That’s when he put his hand on my leg…”

“Don’t you dare lie about that!” Maggie flew forward.

“I’ll do whatever I want.” Cecily stomped her right foot forward onto Maggie’s toes, pressing down through the heavy sole of her black leather boots.

“Ow!” Maggie squealed.

Flynn stepped forward in front of the two girls and looked directly into Cecily’s face.

“What are you gonna do, big man?” Cecily mocked.

“Just leave, Cecily. Leave us alone,” he spoke very calmly.

“Or what?” She pushed her face uncomfortably close to his. She slowly put her hand on his shoulder and pushed gently.

He stumbled. “Cecily, don’t push me!”

“You are all so pathetic!” she yelled and shoved him hard enough to knock him backwards. He fell just close enough to the tree to push it over, bringing down all the decorations that hit the ground with a smattering of clinks and clangs.

“ENOUGH!” a voice thundered from the doorway. Dr Mortlock entered the room. Her black patent shoes clip-clopped as she marched towards them. Maggie and Jessa helped Flynn to his feet, and the three of them tried to pull the tree back up.

“Leave it,” Dr Mortlock glowered down at them. “My office. Now.”

#

Jessa realised that this was the first time she’d ever seen inside the headteacher’s office. Based on Dr Mortlock’s severe personality, Jessa had imagined that her office would be dark and mysterious, but in reality, it was quite the opposite. The walls were white and plain. There were bookshelves full of books and binders, all curiously unlabelled.

“I never want to see that kind of behaviour again, do you understand?”

“Yes, Dr Mortlock,” the four of them responded.

“But can I just say something?” Jessa spoke up, to her friends’ obvious disapproval.

“Please listen to me very carefully, Miss Baxter,” the headteacher replied without answering Jessa’s question. “I truly don’t care for the topic of this disagreement. And I certainly don’t care who started it. Frankly, there are plenty more pressing matters I could be attending to right now than having this discussion.”

It’s barely a discussion, Jessa thought to herself.

“The Winsbury School of Parapsychology is a place for young men and women such as yourselves to learn how to function as citizens of an adult society. For this reason, I will not baby you in these petty discrepancies. I am leaving it to you to reconcile your differences. How you do that is your choice, but I will not accept aggression or violence in any capacity. So I suggest you find a way to end this like adults. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Dr Mortlock.”

“You are all dismissed for today. Miss Graves, your detention-assigned WinterFest duties will continue tomorrow as planned. Now all of you, get out of my office and go home.”

Jessa and Flynn waited in the school foyer for Maggie’s dad to arrive and pick her up.

“I can’t believe she got off so lightly,” Jessa shook her head. “It’s so unfair that we all got told off. It was so Cecily’s fault.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Flynn murmured.

“What?” Jessa turned to him.

“It wasn’t completely Cecily’s fault.”

Jessa’s jaw fell.

“We were talking about her, and she overheard,” said Flynn.

“Since when was it a crime to talk about someone?”

“Talking about someone is different to bitching about them.”

“But I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.”

“Jessa,” Flynn crossed his arms. “Cecily is a bully, you’re right. But being mean about someone else who’s mean is basically the pot calling the kettle black.”

Jessa huffed. “Well, I still think she should have got in more trouble for pushing you like that.”

“Dr Mortlock did choose a very progressive way to handle the situation,” Maggie said.

“But it’s not a punishment like Cecily deserves,” replied Jessa.

“The thing that bugs me the most,” said Maggie, “is that volunteering at WinterFest is her punishment. It’s a little insulting that she’s doing it for detention, and the rest of us actually wanted to contribute.”

“For someone like Cecily, doing something selfless is probably just as good a punishment,” said Flynn.

“Ugh, I hate her so much,” said Jessa.

“Don’t hate her,” Flynn said gently. “She’s not worth your emotion. She’s just a bulldozer. She can throw her weight around now, but it won’t get her very far in life.”

“We should just avoid her,” said Maggie. “We signed up to help, remember? And to see each other as much as possible before the holiday. So we can’t let Cecily get in the way of that.”

Jessa sighed. Maybe her friends were right. But despite their differing ideas, there were two things that were undeniable: Dr Mortlock was even more of a puzzle than they thought, and Cecily was much more capable of wickedness.