Companions at the Chalet School

The Chalet School has three new pupils. Sarah Jane is ambivalent; Ace has been coerced by the Doctor, and Jo is just thrilled to be at boarding school at last. Meanwhile, Barbara Wright joins the school as a mistress. Mysterious weather and strange doings make this a term to remember.

Warnings: Spoilers for Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane
Notes: Thanks and hugs to my wonderful (and numerous) betas: Paranoidangel, persiflage_1, atraphoenix, ladyvivien, purpleprimate and brewsternorth and hugs to seleney936, who read it but didn't have time to beta and all the people who suffered through my angst about finishing it.

Art by mad_jaks (LJ | e-mail | comment | notes) and mizz_destiny (LJ | comment)

Chapter 1. School Days

"Come in," Jo Grant called out at the rap on her door. She turned down her radio and sat up on her bed, dislodging three pillows and half a dozen comics. Ignoring the chaos, she smiled as her mother entered.

Mrs Grant shook her head at the mountains of stuff on the floor. "I don't know how you find anything in this mess." She reached over and switched off the radio. This would be a big change for her daughter, and she wanted to make certain that she had the girl's full attention. Absently picking up and stacking the comic books, she took a deep breath and asked, "How would you feel about boarding school, Jo? It would mean being separated from me and Daddy for a while, and obeying many more rules than we've ever expected you to."

In fact, Jo's upbringing had been very lax. Mr and Mrs Grant were inclined to indulge her a bit, usually giving in when she asked for some special treat. She wasn't completely spoilt, but she was apt to tease to get her way.

"Boarding school? Really?" Jo couldn't believe her good fortune. She had wanted this forever. She had rows and rows of gaily jacketed school stories on the shelves in her room, testament to her obsession, but up until now, her parents had resisted, saying that she was too young and that the local school would be good enough.

Jo almost bounced with excitement as her mother explained. "Your dad's being posted overseas to India, and I thought I'd go with him. Your brother will be staying at his school and you'll go off to the Chalet School in Switzerland. We've made the arrangements and I've got the prospectus right here." She passed Jo the booklet. "With us so far away, it won't matter so much if you're in England or in Switzerland, and I went there myself. It may have changed somewhat, but many of the staff members I remember are still there."

Mrs Grant glanced around the room at the chaos: clothing on the chair and floor, rough drafts of school work from the previous term mixing with comics and letters to friends on the desk, and all the other clutter of a girl who'd never been taught to pick up after herself. "At the very least you'll learn tidiness. You'll only have a cubicle and you'll be expected to keep it neat."

Switzerland. Jo's eyes widened. If anyone could die of happiness, she felt, at this very moment, that it might happen to her. "I s'pose I can manage, if I really must, Mummy. And keeping neat and tidy. I expect they'll want me to do that too." Her appearance belied this. The curly blonde hair was short enough that it never became too disordered, but her blouse had pulled loose from her skirt, and she'd lost a button somewhere along the way, leaving it all askew.

"I expect they will." Mrs Grant pressed a kiss on the top of her daughter's head. I'm glad you're so happy about this. We were afraid you might not want to be away from us."

"Mum, it's boarding school. I've wanted this forever." She jumped up and embraced her mother. "Thank you. I'll do my best and I won't let you down."

"I'm sure you will," her mother said with a smile. "Now, here's the prospectus. Why don't you look at it, while I go down to get ready for the party tonight."

For once, Jo didn't tease to be allowed to come to the party instead of having dinner early and being banished to her room. After her mother left she danced about, singing, "I'm going to boarding school. I'm going to boarding school. I'm going to boarding school in Switzerland." It sounded so much more exotic than going to school in Cornwall or Sussex. Even though her mother had gone to the school, she had been stuck at the English Branch.

She flopped down on her bed, turned the radio back on, and started studying the prospectus and singing along with the Beatles latest single, ignoring the text in favour of the photos of smartly dressed girls, and what looked like a pretty school.

The uniform wasn't bad- her books had prepared her for something unflattering, but the style looked almost modern- or at least as modern as a school uniform could get. And the girls seemed to be having fun. There were pictures of them putting on a play - a holiday pageant, according to the caption- doing crafts, participating at a fair in fancy dress.

The next page was sport, which she would have ignored except that there were pictures of girls in snow suits and dark glasses skiing. She had always wanted to learn how to ski, but there was never enough snow in England. There wasn't likely to be skiing in the summer term but if she stayed there, surely there would be a chance next year.

Jo started to read the page, to see whether it had been a school trip, or was offered as an extra. She hoped that if it was an extra, she could persuade her parents to pay for lessons. Deep down, she knew she could. Her parents usually gave in eventually. Boarding school had been an exception up until now.

Suddenly she realised that she hadn't read anything but the captions and turned back to the first page.

The school was old, she discovered. It had been founded in Austria before the Second World War, moved several times during the war, and now they had a branch in Wales and one in Switzerland, plus a finishing branch.

She skipped the boring bits about lessons to get to the more interesting things, like where she would sleep. The picture of the cubicle was inviting with brightly coloured floral curtains. She'd always wanted a sister she could whisper to at night; now she would have several.

Jo continued flipping through the pages. This was going to be fun and for once, she couldn't wait for school to start.

"Shouldn't you be in school?" There was a youngish man in a pinstriped suit sitting at the table with the clock in pieces in front of him. For some reason he didn't look out of place in the kitchen, as most boarders did, surrounded by her aunt's beakers and Bunsen burners, which she used interchangeably with the Aga stove.

Sarah stared for a moment, before saying, "You must be the new boarder." Her aunt been interviewing people for the last fortnight and it was about time she found someone she approved of. All Sarah cared about was that the other boarders didn't decide that it was their job to tattle on her or discipline her.

"Doctor Smith. I hope I'm not too much of a nuisance. Not the new boarder, though. I'd come to consult with your aunt about something and noticed your clock was broken." He made a slight adjustment to the gears.

She smiled at him, wondering whether he had lost his comb. He didn't look like a hippie. "I'm Sarah." Which was silly, because her aunt must have told him about her.

"Pleased to meet you." He grinned back at her. Sarah Jane Smith, aged fourteen. Even shorter than she'd been when she'd sneaked into his TARDIS all those years ago, though he'd recognised her in an instant. "You didn't answer my question."

So much for evading nemesis. "I'm skiving. Aunt Lavinia was busy, so I took the train up to London." Without telling her aunt. "School's finished in a fortnight, though. I dunno if I'm going back." After Andrea's death, her aunt had asked if she felt comfortable returning to the school for the next year and she had said "yes" out of a sense of pride, but she hated every minute she spent there and everything reminded her of her friend. "We weren't happy with each other at all. I objected to a curriculum from the middle ages and they objected to me mixing chemicals together and causing a stink to get out of darning lesson. Darning lesson. Why aren't they teaching us car repair? That would be much more useful." Sarah made a face. "I don't know why they were so upset, but I couldn't see the point in sticking around. "She supposed she could have lied, but whatever her other faults were, she was honest.

"Was it deliberate?" His eyes definitely twinkled and she thought he might understand. Aunt Lavinia had tried after Andrea's death, but Sarah had never felt like her aunt knew what she was going through.

"Of course." Sarah looked insulted. "My aunt is a scientist. I know my way around a lab." She started rummaging in the fridge for a snack. "So, what are you doing?" Having found a hunk of cheese and an apple, she sat down to watch him work. "Would you like an apple?"

"Fixing the clock. It was losing time." He'd started putting the pieces back together with a speed that surprised her and made her wonder if it would actually work when he was done. If she had done it, her aunt would have grounded her for a week. Even if it had worked afterwards.

Suddenly the door flew open. "Sarah Jane Smith, come here this instant." Lavinia Smith stopped abruptly when she realised her niece was actually in the room, calmly eating an apple.

"Yes, Aunt Lavinia," Sarah said, a little too sweetly.

"Did it ever occur to you to call me, rather than just wandering off without a word to anyone?"

"Why? What did I do this time?" Sarah asked calmly. She noticed Dr Smith looked awkward, but her aunt thus far hadn't noticed him and Sarah wasn't about to remind her that they were discussing this in front of a total stranger.

"Let's just say this was the last straw," her aunt said grimly. "He's informed me that you won't be permitted back for summer term. I know Andrea's death was hard, but you could try to be friendlier with your other classmates and perhaps focus on your school work instead of getting into trouble." She sighed dramatically. "Not that it matters. I've accepted a position at a Sanatorium in Switzerland, working with some of the top names in TB. You'll be going to the school associated with the San. Perhaps a change of scenery will do you good."

"But I'm not ill. Why can't you just teach me yourself?" Sarah caught herself before her tone descended into a whine. She prided herself on being a little more mature than that. Especially in front of strangers. "And what about the new boarder?"

"The school was started by the head of the San's sister-in-law. Some of the students have relatives at the hospital, and the staff keeps a rather strict eye on the health of the girls, but from what I understand, it's a very good school. High academic standards." Lavinia patted Sarah on the shoulder. "From what Jack Maynard was telling me, they've got several girls who had problems at other schools, who seem to have found a place there and I made certain they had a good science curriculum before I made the arrangements." She reeled off several famous scientists who had been at the school. "And as for the new boarders, I've actually been interviewing to rent the place out while we're gone."

Sarah frowned, but she didn't argue. She knew that if she didn't go there, she'd end up at some other school. One school was the same as another as far as she was concerned. At least this way she'd be close to her aunt. She wondered if she'd be able to see her during term time.

"Fine, that's settled then," she said slightly petulantly. "I'll try to get along, Aunt Lavinia, for your sake." Her aunt was clearly excited about the opportunity. How many times had Sarah heard her rave about Jack Maynard's research? Sarah was not going to spoil this for her, no matter what her personal feelings were.

Dr Smith had been following this conversation with interest, and now he interjected, "Jack Maynard, brilliant scientist. I worked with him at one point. Not that he'd remember me. Long story that. Might be best if you didn't even mention me to him." Especially since they hadn't actually met yet. Best not to mention that to Sarah and her aunt yet either.

Lavinia looked at him thoughtfully, and started asking questions about Dr Maynard and his work, which Dr Smith answered readily. From there the conversation ranged into more technical areas. Sarah listened with half an ear and concentrated on finishing her snack. Some of the discussion went over her head, but she had picked up enough science from her aunt's explanations and books to follow most of the conversation and Dr Smith turned out to be a very entertaining speaker.

He was extrapolating on some of the recent advancements in biological research, when Aunt Lavinia finally interrupted him." But you never did tell me why you were here- or who sent you."

Dr Smith looked taken aback and a bit flustered. "I- well, um- Dr Levinger sent me over. Said you might be available for a consultation on an influenza strain I was trying to track down."

It sounded to Sarah like he had come up with this story on the spur of the moment, but her aunt seemed to accept it readily enough, and as Dr Smith made a lovely distraction from her jaunt to Covent Garden, she wasn't about to suggest otherwise.

"I'm afraid it won't be possible. Sarah's new school starts their summer term less than a fortnight after the spring term here finishes, so all my research will be put aside for the moment while I prepare for the move. Afterwards, I'll be focusing almost exclusively on TB."

"I understand completely, Dr Smith."

Sarah giggled slightly. Somehow she hadn't remembered that her aunt was also Dr Smith.

The other Dr Smith rose to hang up the clock, which now seemed to be working perfectly. "It has been a pleasure, Dr Smith. Sarah." He shook both of their hands energetically. A very great pleasure indeed. And if I may? A gift for Sarah. Perhaps it will make her new school a little more bearable. No, don't open it now. Save it for after you start school." He handed her a box about the size and shape of a cigar box. "It's a puzzle box, but I'm not going to tell you the solution. I suspect you're bright enough to figure it out for yourself. Don't worry, it's not anything the school would view as contraband. I don't think." The last bit was muttered, but Sarah heard it quite clearly.

"Thank you." Sarah grinned at him. She hadn't smiled this much since- but best not to think of that. "Will we see you again?"

"You might." He winked at her. "I always show up when I'm least expected."

Her aunt walked him to the door and Sarah examined the box while they were gone.

Later, after she served her punishment (which involved helping her aunt sort through what they would be taking with them to Switzerland instead of curling up in a corner with a book and trying to block out the world) she went to bed. She didn't fall asleep immediately, but for once it wasn't thoughts of Andrea that consumed her. Instead she had the prospect of a new school and Dr Smith's gift to occupy her mind.

If nothing else, her aunt clearly wanted Sarah near her. As the girl had always suspected that Dr Lavinia Smith's scientific work came first and her niece second, this made her feel a little better about herself. She wasn't, after all, being sent away which she had feared, deep down. She wasn't going to lose someone else. That being decided, she rolled over and fell into a more peaceful sleep than she had had in weeks.

"You can't be serious, Professor? Boarding school?" Ace gave him a dark look. She'd thought she was done with school for good. Travelling with the Professor had taught her so much more than she could ever learn in any stupid school. She ignored him, focusing instead on the new batch of Nitro-9 she was mixing up.

"We need to know what's going on inside the school and I can hardly pass for a teenage girl, Ace." The Doctor twirled his umbrella, being careful not to disturb any of the equipment in the lab. "Or even a school master. The only male teachers in the place are music teachers, and I doubt they're interested in having an instructor to teach the spoons." He hung his umbrella over a chair, and pulling his spoons out of his pocket, gave her an impromptu demonstration.

"Probably not, Professor," Ace replied, carefully measuring out chemicals. She wondered if she could get away with blowing up this school like she had her previous one. At least, given that that was about fifteen years in the future from when she'd be, she wouldn't be starting this school with that on her record.

The Doctor studied her carefully. "You'll be under cover. Perhaps that will take the sting out of going back to school. And the moment we're done, I'll take you out again."

"You promise, Professor?" Ace looked dubious. "I suppose I'll have to go all girly in a uniform. I'm keeping my jacket though."

"I don't think so, Ace," he said gently. "It's 1965, your jacket would be anachronistic and you'd probably get into trouble for not wearing the school uniform. We can't risk having you thrown out the first day, now, can we? I've put your uniform in your room."

"But, Professor...." She glared at him.

"Ace, I'm sorry, but it's settled. I need you to be my eyes and ears inside that building or we'll never figure out what's going on." He gave her that smug look he always got when he'd done something clever.

She turned on her heel and walked out of the lab. It wasn't until she was in her room with the door closed and locked that she allowed her self to let loose with a string of words that no girl her age should be familiar with. She was willing to wear a dress if pressed, but the thought of a strict Swiss boarding school was just too much. She hoped the Professor had been serious about taking her out as soon as the problem was solved. This merely strengthened her resolve to sort this out as soon as possible and go back to travelling the universe in the TARDIS.

Joey breezed into the staff room just as the mistresses were about to start the first organisational meeting of the term. With a cheery hello, she pulled up a chair and dropped a choice box of chocolates on the table. "A gift from one of our distinguished alumni." She blinked, suddenly. "Barbara Wright. When did you get here? Have you joined the staff here, then? I thought you were staying in England."

Barbara grinned at her. A former pupil of the school, her people had elected to keep her at the Welsh branch for her last year when the school moved back to Switzerland, but they had managed a finishing year for her at St. Mildred's before going in for a history degree at Oxford. "That was the original plan, but Stacie Benson mentioned that you were in a fix, with Miss Charlesworth's accident last term. I'd always wished I'd had more time out here, so I jumped at the chance."

Not that she'd reveal this to anyone at the school, but they had helped her out of a huge bind. When she and Ian had arrived back in 1965 with two years lost out of both her life and CV, she had known that all she'd have to do was contact her old school with a plausible story and that they'd give her a job. Ian had more of a struggle, and he still hadn't found a position, though he had hopes of a place next September.

"I was called to India because of a family emergency. Ian offered to accompany me and there were several times I was very happy to have a man to manage things. We became very close. But somehow the notification to the school went awry so that when we returned we no longer had our positions. We won't marry until we've got a bit of a nest egg put by. Until then, I'm all yours." She and Ian had worked out this story together and Barbara chafed slightly at the implication that she was so helpless that she needed a man for such things, but they had decided that given the time and the culture it would be more plausible than them both having simultaneous emergencies.

She flashed her ring under Joey's nose to distract her from any gaps in her story. It worked like a charm and for the next few minutes, the chatter was all about Ian and their plans for the future.

When Miss Annersley finally called the meeting to order, she gave Joey a look."I presume you're staying."

"Hence the chocolatey bribe. Felicity is nowhere near as talkative as the other three were, so nowadays if I want to hear the news, I need to get it from the source." She gave the Head a grin before selecting a choice chocolate, and passing the box around.

"Well, to get things started we've got three new girls this term. I know we don't normally take new students during the summer term, but this was unavoidable. Two are fourteen and the third's fifteen but they all tested well enough to be put into Inter V, which is good as that's a small form this term."

Kathy Ferrars grimaced at that. "Maybe slightly smaller than usual, but I wouldn't call it small." She didn't even bother mentioning that her form was filled with troublemakers already. Everyone at the table knew that.

"You have twenty-three and this will only bring it up to twenty-six. Vb and IVa are both over twenty-five already, so I'd rather not put them higher or lower. If they can't manage the work, I'll put them down, but only as a last resort." The Head glanced down at the papers in front of her. "The fifteen year old is Ace McShane. I somehow don't think that's her given name, but her guardian was most insistent."

"I'd turn a blind eye to it. If it's the name she and her guardian are most comfortable with, it's not worth fighting over," Joey commented.

"Exactly my reaction. Her guardian is a bit unusual, an eccentric professor, and while she has been to school before, since she has been in his care he's been tutoring her. He didn't say as much, but I suspect that like Verity Carey and Rikki Fry, she's been taught along strange lines. I don't quite know what to expect from her. She was quite strong in some areas, and very weak in others. She seems to have competent, but not fluent French and German, so that's a plus." The school was trilingual, and lessons were taught in all three languages.

"The second student is the daughter of one of our former pupils, Amanda Grant, who used to be Amanda March. Her father has been stationed in India and his wife will travel with him. Since the girl had expressed an interest in going to boarding school, they decided it was better to send her here than to take her with them. Her name is Jo Grant, so we've got another Josephine in the school." Miss Annersley gave Joey an impish grin.

"The third and last pupil, is the niece of Dr Lavinia Smith, who will be joining the research staff at the San."

"Jack's been raving about her work. I gather it was a coup to get her." Joey stole another chocolate, and waited for the Head to continue.

"She's been responsible for her niece, Sarah Jane, since her brother and his wife passed away in a car accident when Sarah was young. Originally, she was going to leave the girl at the school she was attending to finish out the term and bring her out next year- but Sarah had a friend who died in an accident a year ago. Before then, the girl had a similar record to Ted's. Bright, but prone to mischief- the same sort of nice naughtiness, with a dash of thoughtlessness in the mix, but the death of her friend seems to have thrown her badly off track. She was present when her friend died, and Dr Smith believes that she's blaming herself for failing to save Andrea and her behaviour is growing more and more reckless. I'm hoping we'll be able to help her through this before she completely falls apart." She paused. "Dr Smith specifically inquired after our science curriculum, as Sarah wasn't being challenged enough in her old school."

"That particular problem might take care of itself, then. Between lessons in three languages and our curriculum, she should find herself too busy to get into mischief. Do either of them speak French or German? I know you said Ace did," Kathie asked curiously.

"Jo's mother mentioned that Jo had a knack for languages and that she was fluent in French, but I suspect from the way she talked about her daughter, that Jo has both of her parents wrapped around her little finger. There's no way to know if that's parental exaggeration or truth until she gets here, but she seems to have basic grammar down. She has almost no German," Miss Annersley replied crisply. "And while I get the impression Sarah was more interested in mischief than her work, she seems to have picked up a reading facility for both languages from reading her aunt's scientific journals. She's ended up with a vocabulary that's mostly scientific, and her oral exam was riddled with mispronunciations."

"So it will be an uphill battle with all three," Kathie said with a sigh. "You don't make my life easy," she added lightly.

"All I hope is that this will be a peaceful term," Rosalie said. "Last term was outside of enough, between the blizzard, the mudslide, and that silly girl, Emma."

"She's settled down quite a bit since that scare," commented Miss Bertram.

"After what happened to Miss Charlesworth, I should hope so. The doctors say she might never walk without a cane," Jo said sombrely. "Though perhaps it was the best thing for her. Perhaps next time, Emma will think before she leaps into any scrapes of that sort."

"Now I know I'm back at the Chalet School." Barbara grinned at the rest of the teachers. "You'll have to tell me more of the juiciest stories, so I'm not caught off guard."

"Most certainly. Why don't you come to tea on Saturday at Freudesheim and I'll fill you in on the worst of it? And as for the rest of you," Joey's eyes glinted with humour, "remember that in a month or so, I'll be very busy, so try to have a quiet term for once. I won't be around to butt in, and sort out any problem pupils."

"I can't believe you're taking this on, Joey. Weren't eleven enough? Plus all your wards- I don't know how you're going to manage. You won't have the Trips to lean on soon."

"They'll finish the year at St. Mildred's. But somehow what happened during the winter term with Clara convinced Margot that the nunnery wasn't for her, and better she realised that now than later on down the road," she said rapidly, quelling their exclamations of shock. "If she doesn't have a true vocation, she shouldn't be choosing that life." Margot was the youngest of her triplets, and had shocked everyone the year before by deciding that she was going into orders, as before that she had a history of scrapes and a sharp temper. "She's accepted a place at a hospital in Cardiff, where she'll study to be a doctor. So she'll be home next week and will give me a hand, at least until I'm back on my feet. She's arranged to be a day student at St. Mildred's - the weather shouldn't be a problem at this time of year - and swot up on biology and science on the side in preparation for her course."

"You're right, of course, Jo. If she's not suited for the work, leaving was the best choice. How is Jack taking it?" Miss Annersley asked thoughtfully.

"He was very quick to offer her a post at the San when she finished her studies, if she was interested. I suspect that was what he had hoped for when she first expressed an interest in medicine. None of my older boys have shown an interest, and he's very happy that one of the girls has. She'll be on hand if you people need a hand with the sale. Which is just as well, as I probably won't be."

"That reminds me- there was a letter in the last post from Tom Gay. Not only will she be providing her usual doll house, she'll be bringing it out herself." Tom was a former pupil of the school, who had become best known for the amazing doll houses she constructed, even before she left school. She had continued the custom, sending a new house each year to be raffled off. It was always one of the moneymakers of the sale, which raised funds for the San.

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