in the tower 2

"We finish school for vacation and what's the first thing we do? Go back to school!" Jacky rolled her eyes at Luke. "This is all your fault."

"Hey, I didn't know it was a school. Don't blame me."

"I'm not," said Jacky. "It was a joke. Can't you tell when someone's being sarcastic?"

"Apparently not," Luke muttered.

"Vacation? What vacation? School never stops. There is no such thing as vacation," the teacher said sharply, looking between the two children. "Who ever told you such rubbish?"

"Clarke, I haven't seen these two children before. Have you?" the teacher with a woolen scarf said.

The teacher scratched his thin hair and straightened his already straight collar.

"Come to think of it, no. They must be new. Are you children new?"

Exchanging glances, knowing there was no escape, Jacky and Luke both shrugged.
"Yeah, we're new," Jacky said.

"New or not," said Clarke, "shrugging is an ugly habit and you should know better than to shrug at a teacher. Also the word is 'yes' not 'yeah'."

Both children shrugged again.
"Ok."

At Clarke's fierce frown, Luke said, "Sorry, we forgot. We'll try not to do it again."

"I should hope not," Clarke fussed.

"We do it all the time at home," said Jacky, annoyed at being told what to do. Teachers!

"And where, pray, is home?"

The children shrugged again.

"Outside?" Jacky pointed.

Clarke sighed, exasperated.
"Outside? Nobody lives outside, save those slave to the Queen."

Luke almost shrugged again, but caught himself in time.
"Well, we came from outside. Sorry our manners aren't as polished as you'd like."

Jacky grinned at him, whispering, "Nice sarcasm, Luke and here I thought you didn't have a sarcastic bone in your body."

"I'm not being sarcastic," Luke whispered back.

"You are aware, I hope, in the outside, that whispering is rude?" Clarke harrumphed. "No wonder your manners are so atrocious. Listen to all those contractions!"

"What, pray, are contractions, sir?" asked Jacky, ignoring Luke's elbow jabbing into her side.

"I see, that we are going to have to start from the beginning with you two."

"Clarke," said the other teacher, "perhaps we'd best take them out of that horrible room to start with and find them beds and stationary."

"An excellent idea, Rillese. Come children. You may call me Master Clarke."

"And I, Mistress Rillese," said the lady, rewinding her scarf. "Come along now and tell us your names and ages. How did you end up in that room?"

"We just wandered there, I suppose," said Luke. "It was an accident. My name's Luke. I'm 14. So's Jacky."

Clarke shuddered.
"Well Luke and Jacky. We are going to break you of the use of contractions - that is after we have taught you the meaning of the word. Now, come along and don't dawdle."