Behind The Gym
It was a dull autumn day and Jill Pole was crying behind the gym.
She was crying because they had been bullying her. This is not going to be a school story， so I shall say as little as possible about Jill’s school， which is not a pleasant subject. It was Co.educational， a school for both boys and girls， what used to be called a “mixed” school； some said it was not nearly so mixed as the minds of the people who ran it. These people had the idea that boys and girls should be allowed to do what they liked. And unfortunately what ten or fifteen of the biggest boys and girls liked best was bullying the others. All sorts of things， horrid things， went on which at an ordinary school would have been found out and stopped in half a term； but at this school they weren‘t. Or even if they were， the people who did them were not expelled or punished. The Head said they were interesting psychological cases and sent for them and talked to them for hours. And if you knew the right sort of things to say to the Head， the main result was that you became rather a favourite than otherwise.
