The Haytorns Collection

By J. K. Jael

Rachell Carton is beginning a year in her new school, Haytorns. However, her friends soon discover that she has a BIG secret.

Rachell struggles with her hot temper and her two lives as a girl and a lion. With her hand, only Rachell can open a door that leads to the past and future.

How can Rachell not only turn back to a girl, but be a girl FOREVER?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joshua Ku
• Release date: May 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201567729

J. K. Jael

J. K. Jael, a twelve-year-old girl, has always been overwhelmed by wild imagination since before she could even read and write. She has endless stories in her monologues every day.  Overwhelmed by books when she started to read, she fell in love with reading. When the world was under lockdown, she completed her first book collection at the tender age of nine. This achievement won her the award for "Malaysia's Youngest English Novelist" in 2021.  Other than writing a few additional short stories, she spent her pastime completing the current book, "Veil of Shadow and Rain" over the course of less than a year.

Book preview

Trouble at Haytorns School

CHAPTER 1: Off to Haytorns School

Rachell Carton was starting in a new school, Haytorns, which was down in Brighton, South East England. Her school was on a cliff and she was so excited! She was now at the train station to go to Haytorns. Rachell stood beside her parents, who were both talking to the Head, Mr Wrightway.

‘Yes, I do believe, she will do well in fourth form,’ he was saying, ‘Ah—so you must be Rachell, you have to follow your head girl of the form.’ The Head turned to a tall, dark-headed girl. ‘This is Leah Carbbisons. LEAH! This is Rachell Carton. Take her to the coach—’

‘Then I’ll say goodbye, honey,’ Mrs Carton said. ‘I hope you will have good luck.’ She hugged Rachell and turned to go.

Leah slipped her arm into Rachell’s. ‘You’ll feel great in Haytorns,’ she said, looking pleased. ‘I suppose you’re in House A East Face? Great, come into this coach. Let me tell you, don’t freak, will you? The trip to Haytorns will take quite long, but don’t worry. The train provides some food. Oh yes, and did you know, Haytorns was founded in 1945?’

Rachell looked at Leah gratefully. Just then, a blonde, tall and extremely cheeky-looking girl entered the coach.

‘Leah!’ she exclaimed, ‘I can’t find Esme. I know that she is new, but she can’t—my word, who’s that?’ The girl glanced suspiciously at Rachell.

Leah laughed. ‘New girl, Cie, and how about I find Esme and you can take the new girl under your wing.’

Before the blonde girl could utter a word, Leah had slammed the carriage door shut. The blonde girl turned to Rachell. She smiled at her confidently.

‘Hallo,’ she said. ‘What’s your name? I’ll take you under my wing.’

‘Rachell Carton,’ Rachell said. ‘What’s yours?’

‘Cierra Blunts,’ Cierra answered. ‘People call me Cie for short. And my nicknames are Cheek and Smartykid. I’m not boasting, but I am good at most things. Anyway, do you have a large family?’

‘Well, yes,’ said Rachell plaintively. ‘My dad’s an inventor, you see. So our house is very large and Mum and Dad have loads of children. There’s Alexa, Liliana, and Gabriella. I’m the second youngest, and Gabriella’s the youngest. Alexa’s rather smart—and she’s still in Haytorns. Davies, Draydon, and Draxton are triplets—practical jokers, they are, inventing prank stuff and all that.’

Cierra listened closely. She loved pranks herself. Rachell went ranting on.

‘And there’s George and Lewis—graduated from Haytorns. Very old now. Finding jobs and stuff. Clemence, Scarlett, Hermine, Aubrielle and Austin are still in Haytorns though—Austin turned out to be a joker as well. Taken the triplets’ interest to heart. He’s rather interested in planets and something to do with space. He says he’s gonna be an astronaut when he grows up.

‘There’s Rosemary—she’s rather serious about work, like Alexa. We don’t hear her talk much; she’s always shut up in her bedroom, studying or something. She’s learning different languages so when she grows up, she can start her own business.’

‘Well then, she’ll have a choice,’ said Cierra. ‘I like the sound of your family. You’re all like a cheery and mad lot. I don’t have as much siblings as you have, of course. Do go on.’

The two girls talked a little more before they were interrupted.

‘Leah, here’s another one...oh is it you Cierra?’ a tall mistress said as she passed by. ‘Take care of this new girl, will you? And another boy.’

Cierra and Rachell turned to the two new kids.

‘Golly, hallo,’ said Cierra, ‘Haven’t you spoken a word before?’

The mistress was standing near Cierra.

‘Cierra, don’t be rude,’ she said. ‘Everybody knows that you’re really, well, rude.’

Cierra grinned, ‘Sorry, Miss Tracer. Don’t let yours then!’

Everyone laughed. Miss Tracer left and Cierra turned back to the new boy and girl. ‘What name?’

‘I’m Roger,’ said the boy.

‘I am Olivia,’ said the girl.

Rachell looked at Olivia. How she wanted her for a friend!

Cierra started talking about the school. ‘It’s a large school,’ she said. ‘Pretty big. It’s fine, I tell you, but not everything goes smoothly with Mam’zelle. She has a fierce temper herself. Then there are those F.E.P. examinations—First Examinations Preparations—in seventh form. Then S.U.P.—Science Upper Preparations—and M.U.P.—that stands for Maths Upper Preparations. Bit easy, really,’ she said unconcernedly. ‘My older sister’s taken M.U.P and my, she finished it all up in ten minutes!’

Rachell listened, interested. She opened her mouth to ask her question, but Cierra went ranting on.

‘And then there are those S.E.P.s—Second Examinations Preparation—that’s what they are. That’s about all, really. You take them about at the age of fourteen or older—or sometimes thirteen, if you’re smart enough.’

‘Is there a school village, then?’ asked Olivia.

‘What? Of course,’ said Cierra scornfully. ‘What do you think by heart, then? How can you not have a village? It’s called Willboard.’

Olivia fell silent. She, Roger, and Rachell looked uncomfortable. They were still not used to Cierra’s sharp tongue that voiced out whatever she felt. Cierra looked perfectly comfortable, though scorn occupied half her face.

‘Can we go down to Willboard whenever we want to?’ asked Roger, breaking the awkward silence.

Cierra whistled. ‘Look here, you can’t go to the village like mad; but as long as you get permission from the teachers, you can go.’

‘Well then, I’ll go every day,’ said Roger unexpectedly.

‘I bet you can’t,’ said Cierra. ‘We have classes, remember?’

‘Oh yes,’ said Roger, who had completely forgotten in his excitement to visit the shops. ‘Can we go alone?’

‘In pairs,’ said Cierra. ‘The school won’t risk any danger.’

‘When do we arrive?’ asked Olivia, gathering up her courage again.

‘From the station to the school, it’s about a hundred and fifty kilometres,’ said Cierra. ‘Takes about two and a half hours.’

‘A very long way,’ said Roger. ‘I always get car-sickness.’

‘Well, this is a train, not a car,’ said Cierra.

They talked about themselves a lot. Then the train whistled, making them all jump except Cierra, who was comfortable with everything.

Then Roger shouted, ‘Ahoy there! Oh, I say! Oh, I say! Isn’t that Haytorns, perched on top of the cliff?’

Everyone ran to look. Cierra gave a yelp.

‘Yes, that’s it, that really is,’ she said excitedly, jamming her finger at the window, pointing at it. ‘You wait ’til you get in there! There’s ancient things, it’s mighty big, so you’ll have a lovely time looking at everything.’

The train soon came to a stop. The school was perched on top of a cliff. It had a fine view of the sea and there were three farms in the school grounds where does, rabbits, cows, chickens and goats lived.

Rachell jumped out of the train. Her school! Her new school! What fun she would have there!

CHAPTER 2: Arriving at Haytorns

It was a short walk from the train station to Haytorns. All of them cheered when they met up with their friends. Cierra slapped another girl on her back.

‘Hey, Gweneth!’ she said, ‘Haven’t seen you in the holidays! I say, who’s that?’ She turned to a sulky-faced girl with a pretty face and shiny pink lips.

‘Bomb!’ Cierra pulled a face. ‘Hey you, new girl, you can’t come to school like that. No lipstick in Haytorns. Your name, please!’

Rachell looked at the ‘glossy’ girl. Then she asked Cierra politely, ‘Cierra, could you take me and the other new kids to our dorms? I need to unpack my trunk. It’s so heavy.’

‘All right,’ Cierra said, ‘Come on, we are in Dorm 19.’ She lifted her own trunk up and started clambering up the stairs.

‘How do you know?’ asked the glossy girl.

‘Shut up, I know because I got a list,’ snapped Cierra. ‘Bye!’ she called to Gweneth.

‘Bye Cie!’ Gweneth called. ‘See you at supper time!’ She skipped away to her own dorm.

Rachell, Olivia, Roger, and the glossy girl followed Cierra up the stairs to the dorm. Leah was already there with some other kids.

‘Hallo Leah!’ Cierra said.

‘There!’ she said, ‘What kept you? You knew the train would be late, Cheek. Couldn’t you just jump into the carriage? Come on, who is that?’ Leah pointed at the ‘glossy’ girl.

Cierra chuckled. ‘Dunno. What’s your name, glossy? You can’t come to Haytorns like that. Rub the pink off your lips.’

‘Wynterr Haylens,’ she said proudly, then added, ‘I thought the boys are supposed to head to their own dormitories?’

‘I see,’ said Cierra, approvingly. ‘But aren’t you supposed to be following them? I thought you’d like that.’

All the girls laughed.

‘Like what?’ asked Wynterr.

‘Never you mind,’ said Cierra.

Roger headed off to his dormitory, where he got scolded by the head-boy.

‘YOU!’ the head-boy said, ‘If you do that again, I’ll blow your head off!’

While Roger was getting a kicking, Rachell and the other girls started unpacking their trunks. Rachell opened hers. She took out a face flannel, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, night dresses, a cap, and nail clippers. She was about to go to supper, when Cierra cried, ‘You’ve got to wash, filthy!’

Rachell turned to wash.

Cierra looked at her. Maybe she’s homesick, she thought. Oh no, she’s happy. Well, I hope I’ll have some fun with her!

DURING SUPPERTIME, Rachell got to know the names of some of the boys and girls in her form. One of them was Colly, a fat girl with small piggy eyes that looked like grapefruits in her face.

Gweneth wasn’t around—she had been volunteered to help in the kitchen—so Cierra turned to Rachell.

‘Want a cherry?’ Cierra asked. ‘I grow cherries in my family’s farm, but my sister’s mice kept stealing the cherries, so I picked some for Haytorns first, then left the mice to it!’ She laughed.

‘Your sister keeps mice?’ Rachell asked back. ‘I mean, I don’t keep mice, my sister is scared of mice. I say, look at Wynterr! She doesn’t have a special friend, does she?’

Wynterr was being humiliated by some girls. It seemed like Colly had let out some of her pet mice and Wynterr had let out a terrible squeal, making everyone laugh at her. Colly had laughed so hard and more mice escaped from the cage. Wynterr didn’t want to squeal, but she couldn’t help it.

Cierra looked amused, but she didn’t laugh.

Rachell regretted it quickly because she didn’t have a special friend yet either.

The bedtime gong gonged and the kids had to get into bed.

Rachell hurried to her dorm in case Cierra noticed what she said. She thought that Cierra hadn’t, but Cierra had.

When the girls were in bed Cierra whispered to Rachell, ‘Do you have a special friend?’

Rachell looked at her in bewilderment. She suddenly knew Cierra’s true colours. Cierra was taunting her. She blushed, turned away, and said no more.

Cierra shook with laughter and flounced away.

Rachell dropped onto her bed. Well, she thought, unexpected things happen sometimes.

CHAPTER 3: First day in Haytorns (and a new friend)

The next day, both new and old kids scrambled around finding classrooms and pulling out books from their bags. Rachell rushed too, though she knew where her classes were, for Leah had shown her round. What Cierra said the day before was still on her mind, no friends! Then the maths teacher, Mr Batraney, started the lesson.

Suddenly, a wail broke out. ‘Mister! There’s a nail on the floor! My leg’s bleeding!’

‘Ah!’ Mr Batraney cried, ‘You should see Warden! You are bleeding, Esme.’

Esme refused. ‘No, no, it’s a little pain.’

Mr Batraney went to fetch the school doctor. Esme burst into tears.

Warden arrived with a flaming, angry face.

‘You shoulda cume tow mii!’ she raged, ‘Not tha pest of Es-may! Thot girla, vory naoty.’

The class burst into roars of laughter. They could not understand a word Warden had said! Rachell laughed too. She realized that Warden was German. She knew a bit of German.

‘Hör auf zu lachen!’ Warden said.

‘It’s so funny, Warden,’ a boy said.

‘Pardono?’ Warden snapped. ‘I speak German. I fluent in German. Speak the language!’

Rachell had to help. ‘Warden,’ she said, ‘They say it’s funny, es ist so lustig.’

‘Ah!’' Warden said, ‘Rachell good. Esmay, komm mit mir.’

Esme looked at Rachell desperately. ‘What is she saying?!’

‘She says go to the hospital wing with her,’ Rachell said.

‘But I don’t want to!’ wailed Esme.

Warden took out her syringe and started on Esme. She gave a wail and Warden slammed the door after the both of them. The whole class exploded into fits of laughter. Mr Batraney clicked his tongue in exasperation.

‘Come on kids, we hardly did any maths,’ Mr Batraney said, exasperated. ‘Where’s your homework?’

DURING BREAK, RACHELL wondered who she should make friends with. Cierra and Gweneth only wanted each other, Esme was with another girl, the twins Katlyn and Phillip were pulling a prank...well, what about Olivia? The girl was sitting on a bench, staring at the hedge. Rachell went up to her.

‘Hello, Olivia,’ she said, ‘Do you want to come with me to the swimming pool? We...we can watch the eighth formers dive. If not, I’ll go with Cierra,’ she added, forgetting what Cierra had said to her.

‘Cierra, huh? I’ll come, of course,’ Olivia said. ‘Cierra’s not a good girl,’ she added importantly.

Rachell gleamed. ‘How do you know?’

‘I went to the same elementary school with her.’ Olivia started pouring out her history. ‘She was mean to all the kids there. Once, I saw her attacking a boy, and he broke his leg. The teachers there expelled her. She was sent away from four schools for the same thing. She lied to the headmasters too, but our Head didn’t know that. Cierra’s parents lied too, thinking that Cierra is a perfect girl. I really wanted to tell her this, but it would be bad. Please don’t tell her I told you.’

‘Okay,’ Rachell agreed.

They were talking for a little while when Esme walked towards them on one leg, her bad leg held a few inches off the ground. Rachell looked surprised. Esme looked weary.

‘Esme, I thought you were in the hospital wing,’ said Rachell. ‘Your leg looks like a bomb, and—’

‘Correction, Warden’s BEEN treating me like a bomb,’ Esme wailed. ‘I don’t understand her! What’s aufrrecht sit zen and sei bitte ruhig, and—’

‘Essmayyy!’ Warden had come to fetch Esme. ‘Verlasse den Kranken flügel nicht. Bad girla.’

‘But I don’t want to,’ Esme wailed again.

‘Aufseher, Esme aber ich will nicht.’

Rachell said, ‘Esme, you’ve got to go with Warden.’

While Rachell and Olivia watched the eighth formers dive, their form teacher, Mr Simon called them up.

‘Fourth formers this way! And I must say, Stewart, don’t be late for the music lesson!’

Rachell and Olivia raced up the steps of the school into the hall, passed the hospital wing (where Esme was still wailing), and into the music rooms. They saw Roger planning a trick.

‘Now we watch that pest Cierra,’ Rachell said. ‘Well, I’m sitting by the window. I’m going to open it so the wind can bristle over me. I like that.’

Olivia seated herself next to Rachell. ‘This desk is good,’ she said opening a drawer and stuffing her music books in. ‘I hope Mr Lones won’t tell us to learn arpeggios! I’m bad at that only.’

‘Lucky you,’ Rachell retorted, ‘I’m bad at the whole thing. Now here Lones comes!’

‘Silence!’ Mr Lones boomed. ‘Today, we will learn arpeggios. Where is Stewart?’

But Stewart did not turn up.

‘Now, we also have a musical at the end of term. The musical is the story of James and the Giant Peach. All of the House A children will take part,’ Mr Lones said. ‘So—’

Suddenly, Stewart banged the door and it almost fell down.

‘Stewart!’ Mr Lones yelled, ‘I’ll not have students late. You are fifteen minutes late, I don’t know how to deal with you. Students who are late will normally not be punished but you shall. Stay in during playtime and do extra work.’

Stewart stared at his feet. ‘I lost my way,’ he said.

‘A lame excuse,’ said Mr Lones drily. ‘That’s no excuse. Stay in for an hour on lunch and playtime and do extra work for one hour more.’

‘Can’t I do it in prep?’ asked Stewart.

‘No,’ snapped Mr Lones. ‘You deserve it. You shall stay in during prep too.’

‘We do have an hour’s break,’ said Rachell after the class.

‘Oh yes indeed,’ Olivia agreed. ‘I’ve seen our timetable. Oh, let’s march round the Hall a bit. We can sit and talk and there are lots of boys and girls to make friends with. Stewart can be our friend after his prep. My—look, never have I seen such a feast before!’

The two youngsters grabbed a seat in the dining hall and ate hungrily. Stewart was not there. He finished his prep and was marching up and down in the Hall like a soldier until Rachell and Olivia found him.

Rachell immediately asked, ‘Do you want to be our friend? You can grab a few boys though. How about your brother Timothy? He’s a great git, isn’t he? Well—’

‘Yeah I think so,’ Stewart said gratefully. ‘Anyway, I was informed that all fourth formers are to go to their own common room.’

CHAPTER 4: In the common room

Soon Stewart, Rachell , Olivia and Timothy (when Stewart had got him) went to the common room. Leah was waiting impatiently for them.

‘There you are!’ she exclaimed. ‘You’ve been so long. We’ve been waiting five minutes. Come on, we have something to plan. It’s that musical thingy. Every year, Haytorns has two musicals. But not for the third formers. Anyway—’

‘Wait, how do you know—you didn’t attend the music class,’ Olivia pointed out.

‘Because, oh we had a Prefects meeting,’ Winsey, another friend of Cierra’s, said. ‘Don’t be an ass, Olivia.’

‘Right, let’s get back to the musical,’ Leah said. ‘I am going to write the whole script out, while Alexa will compose the ten songs.’

‘Ten songs!’ Timothy cried. ‘That’s a lot!’

Cierra threw a look at him. ‘That’s a lot to you ’cause you’re a stupid little brat. Top pupil, aren’t you, and can’t write songs yet! Well, I’ve done twenty songs in two days before I came to Haytorns.’

Timothy was stunned, but had the sense not to show it.

Leah talked to Cierra sternly, ‘Mind your rudeness Cierra. I know you haven’t composed twenty songs before, so be quiet.’

Cierra snapped back, ‘I won’t guard myself if you won’t. I don’t think we should get on.’ She stuck her tongue out.

Leah looked doubtful. ‘I’ll deal with you later. Back to the musical. Anyway, as I was saying, we need to get the musical ready on the last day of term. So actually, there’s...let me see now...hmm...’ Her hand strolled down a piece of paper, ‘...ahh, it’s quite a few more months. Yep. So we will have three rehearsals every week. Alexa, got the list?’

Alexa nodded.

Wow, Haytorns students are all fast, Rachell thought.

Alexa started reciting the people and their characters.

Alexa read the list. ‘James Henry Trotter, Stewart. Please list it in a paper, Stewart. Aunt Sponge, Colly. Aunt Spiker, Cierra. Old man, Timothy. Centipede, Olivia. Miss Spider, Rachell! Well that’s good. Grasshopper, George. Earthworm...lucky chance, Esme! The ladybug—that’s you, Leah. Seriously, a lady’s got to do it. So, tonight, rehearsal’s on.’

THAT NIGHT, RACHELL and Olivia walked across the main hall.

‘Alexa didn’t tell us where to go,’ Olivia said. ‘Surely, not the common room?’

Rachell stared at her. ‘True,’ she said at last. ‘We could be muddled—well, how ’bout the hall? Not the main hall, the second one. Leah must have put it up on the school board, just go, go, go, go.’

So the two friends headed to the schoolboards. Rachell read one aloud, ‘The fourth formers’ rehearsals are taking place in Ballroom 2. Wowwie, they hold dance parties?’

‘Don’t be silly,’ Olivia said. ‘They hold events there. Didn’t you know?’

CHAPTER 5: The thief

Several weeks later , Rachell was informed that she’d be in charge of the books. Everybody cheered, but not Wynterr.

One evening right before rehearsals, when Rachell looked for her writing paper, it was missing!

‘Olivia, I’ve lost my paper!’ she said to Olivia. ‘Whatever’s happened to everyone? I heard Cierra complaining to Leah that her hairpin was missing and then Esme said she lost her brooch. I mean, who would want to steal a belt, hairpins, and writing paper?’

‘Let me think,’ Olivia said. ‘Yesterday, I left my hairbrush and comics on my desk. The comics are gone, but it—’

‘Rachell!’ Cierra ran up to her. ‘Please, I think someone took my geography book. I’ll need it later. The teacher will certainly scold me! Oh, now my bottle is gone. Blow!’

‘This isn’t right,’ Olivia told Rachell. ‘But who would steal them? Look—Timothy’s lost his backpack. Well, let’s just ask Leah later. Quick—we have a rehearsal now. Come on, let’s go.’

After the rehearsal, the fourth formers met in the common room.

‘Well,’ Leah said. ‘We’ll have to tell the Assistant Headmaster, Mr James. We’ll go tomorrow.’

But later that day, Rachell boiled with rage when the tie that she meant to give to her father disappeared. If you walked past her dormitory, you could hear her raging and fuming to Olivia.

‘The thief won’t need it,’ Olivia always said patiently. ‘Who wants a tie?’

‘Maybe she wants to give it to her father,’ said Rachell, outraged. ‘Now, where’s my book gone? My notes—all my notes!’

Olivia left her. Rachell was really boiling with rage when she realized that a tail was swishing behind her. A tail! She felt to rub her nose when she touched fur on her nose. She ran to pick up a mirror and looked at her reflection.

Half her face was a lion’s face.

‘AAAAAH!’ she screamed.

‘What’s the matter?’ a girl poked her head in the dorm. ‘Is something bothering you?’

‘Nothing!’ shouted Rachell. The girl went out, whistling. Rachell calmed herself down and the lion-face disappeared. Her tail disappeared too.

Relieved, she flopped on the bed, panting heavily.

THAT SAME AFTERNOON, Cierra was passing by the fourth form common room, her head buried in her maths book. She was whistling an irritating tune and was about to go into the common room when she spotted Wynterr reaching for Rachell’s locker.

Cierra narrowed her eyes. She saw