This warning certainly had the desired effect of quietening me down.
I tried to pay attention to the lesson and be quiet, hoping my better behavior would get me out of the hole I’d obviously dug myself into.
No such luck.
The bell rang and Mrs Newman said:
“OK, everybody but Helen, off you go. See you after the break.”
The rest of the pupils drained out of the classroom, and very soon there was only myself and Mrs Newman left.
Eventually, she said:
“All right, Helen, come up here to my desk.”
I did so, and she turned her own chair around so that she was facing the blackboard and I was at her right side.
“I will not have silly girls like you disrupting my class, and stopping the other children from learning,” she said firmly.
“What’s going to make you behave, Helen?”