'...in this sentence, we see the biggest example of the subject-verb agreement'

Miss Wilson tapped the whiteboard and looked around the class. A room of bored faces looked back at her or gazed dreamily out the window. Miss Wilson sighed inwardly. She could hardly blame them. She felt much the same.

She rapped the board a bit harder, jolting some of them awake.

'If the subject is singular, then the verb must be...?' she asked hopefully.

A blank silence was the answer.

She doubted they even knew what she was talking about.

'Come on everyone, this could be life or death one day'

She couldn't immediately think how, but it made a couple of kids snap out of their stupor, nevertheless.

Oliver was secretly reading a book underneath his desk.

He knew the answer. He knew all of them but didn't bother to raise his hand. The last time he had done so, someone had flicked hair ties at him until one had looped around his finger.

'Singular, guys, singular' Miss Wilson sighed 'Any questions?'

Oliver felt a movement next to him, looked up, and to his surprise, saw Jacob with his hand in the air.

Miss Wilson was caught off guard as well. She blinked a couple of times before asking, 'Yes Jacob?'

'What's the Assembly for?' he asked, pointing at the schedule.

Oliver felt something hit the back of head with a soft splat. He reached around to find a scrap of exercise book covered in pink yoghurt. He glanced around to see Hannah's gang all pointedly looking away from him.

Miss Wilson was half disappointed, half relieved.

'The Assembly is for some visitors who want to come talk to you all' she explained.

A few more kids began paying attention.

'They're from a school you may consider going to after you leave here'

There was an outbreak of murmuring at this. Pretty much everyone in the room was set on going to Sheppardton High. They'd never heard of anyone coming to their village on a school visit.

Splat. Another piece of yoghurt paper struck Oliver, this time in the back of the neck.

'Direct hit' he heard a boy whisper off to his left. Someone else suppressed a snort with difficulty.

'Now while I know most of you are planning to go to the local high school,' Miss Wilson continued 'you should all still consider this'

'After all, there's a good chance your life will take you away from Sheppardton. Going to a school far away will build character.'

Oliver wondered if Jacob's parents were sending him away to 'build character'.

'And plans can change. Mine certainly did' she finished, almost in a mutter.

Miss Wilson stared into space for a second or two, before snapping out of it.

'So, I want you all on your best behaviour and listen to what the visitors have to say. Now, if we can get back to the exercise...'

And within seconds, the class had sunk into stupor once more.

Splat.

*

'I'm going on ahead' Jacob said. It was break, and he was headed for the library.

Oliver was busy trying to scrape the yoghurt from his exercise book.

'Want any help?' Jacob asked

'No, just go' Oliver said

As Jacob was leaving, Hannah and her gang were heading for the door. As both reached the door at the same moment, the group unceremoniously pushed him aside. Irritation flashed across his face as he followed them out.

Now Oliver was left alone in the room. His math book looked like it had been in an arts and crafts store explosion. He tried peeling apart the pages.4r

'What a mess!'

Oliver looked up. Miss Wilson had silently come up behind him and was gazing into his desk.

'I wondered why you didn't answer the questions earlier, instead of reading. Now I see.'

She picked up his grammar exercise book, trying to avoid touching the yoghurt and glue that dripped off the spine.

'I'd ask if you had an accident, but I know you don't eat this much yoghurt, so...'

She pulled out Jacob's chair and sat down. After regarding Oliver for a few seconds, she asked 'Going to Sheppardton High after you leave here?'

'Probably' Oliver admitted

'Same school as your sister, right? She could look out for you'

Oliver didn't answer. He extracted the remains of his refill pad, wondering if it could be saved.

'You know,' Miss Wilson said 'you should listen to what the visitors have to say today. I think you'll be interested'

'My dad can't afford to send me to school somewhere far away' Oliver replied gloomily

But the teacher smiled.

'I don't think that'll be a problem. Besides, isn't Jacob going away too?'

'To a school in the city. But my dad could never pay for me to go' Oliver fished out his pencil case. Like his bag, it was falling apart, and he kept losing his sharpener.

'Things have a way of working out in the end, you'll find' Miss Wilson said 'And I think you’ll do quite well at the visitor's school'

She paused for a moment.

'Why don't you go out to break? I'll clean this up' she nodded at his desk.

Oliver stood up and picked up his book. As he walked towards the door, Miss Wilson called after him.

'It worth remembering that some people are destined to go far in their life'

She winked at him

'And others will just fall flat on their faces'

And with that, she turned to the yoghurt mess, humming quietly.

*

The assembly hall was set up with rows of wooden benches facing a stage.

Actually, it technically wasn’t an assembly hall at all. Some years ago, a teacher had spearheaded an effort to bring more sports other than rugby to the area. And so, he had pushed for the hall to be converted into a basketball court.

Due to his enthusiasm, he hadn't noticed the lack of interest among the students. Two weeks after renovations were complete, the new and expensive court had seen a total of three students try it before drifting back to the rugby pitch. An irritated Mrs. Kendall had then bought some benches so they could at least hold assemblies there again.

The teacher had quietly disappeared.

Without the dull green carpet, the hall got cold easily. In the summer, this was actually quite pleasant. But in the winter, it became an icebox.

Oliver's knees were turning blue as he huddled on the edge of the wooden bench. He wrapped his jacket tighter around himself. Jackets weren't allowed during assembly, but Mrs. Kendall long since gave up trying to enforce this.

Jacob was sitting next to him. They were in the back row of benches.

They always sat far in the back after Hannah and her gang had sat behind them once and spent the whole assembly kicking their seats.

Today, however, they were sitting directly in the middle of the hall, whispering to each other.

At the front of the hall, two teachers were setting up a microphone on the stage that had been rolled out.

This raised eyebrows on some of the children when they had walked in.

Normally, the teachers just talked from underneath the pristine hoops. They never bothered with the stage except on special occasions.

And the microphone for less than thirty people?

They were definitely trying to impress.

'These visitors must be something' murmured Jacob 'look, even Mr. Murdoch's wearing a tie'

He was indeed. They Year 3 teacher had replaced his tattered rugby jersey and scowl with a shirt, tie, and a shave.

The door into the hall opened and Mrs. Kendall strode in,

The murmuring abruptly stopped as she climbed onto the stage and faced them all.

She stood silently for a second before speaking.

'I'm sure you're wondering why you're here' she began 'but as your teacher may have told you, we have some visitors here today who wish to speak with you all. These visitors come from a very special school that some of you may wish to attend starting next year'

She paused, her eyes flicking from child to child.

'I think they can explain better than I can, so everyone please welcome our two visitors from Mulberry Academy’

Everyone applauded politely as the door opened and two people walked in.

One was a woman, wearing a crisp grey suit and high heel shoes that clacked on the hard wood floor. On her lapel was a crimson pin connected to a fine golden chain that disappeared into her jacket.

The man who walked with her was wearing a suit as well, but his was a deep purple. His tie was a bright sky blue over a light grey shirt.

There was a splutter of suppressed giggles.

Oliver glanced to see Hannah’s gang struggling not to burst out into laughter. Several of them stuffed their fists into their mouths.

Hannah, however, wasn’t laughing. There was no smirk, no sneer as her eyes followed the visitors.

They hopped up on stage with considerably more grace than Mrs. Kendall had done. The principal offered them the microphone.

The two muttered between themselves before the man stepped forward and took it, facing his audience.

‘Hi everyone’ he said, and immediately jumped as the sound reverberated throughout the hall. Someone had obviously set the volume too high.

Everyone winced and put their hands over their ears. Two of the teachers were hurriedly trying to fix the speakers and arguing with each other.

But the next second, the man’s voice rang out clear and strong.

‘Is that better?’ he called out with no apparent need for the microphone.

As he looked up, Oliver thought he saw a flash as the man quickly returned something to his pocket.

‘Right, now’ the man continued ‘great to be here, haven’t been to the country in, oh, ten years. Work keeping me busy and all that. When they told me I was doing the school visits this year, I thought I’d inhaled too many fumes. Downside of working in a lab all day, you know. But then it turned out the usual fellow had gotten down with pneumonia. I told them a stretch in the country was just what he needed, but they told me ‘Carson, you’re not a doctor, you’re a-’

The woman cleared her throat.

‘But perhaps now is not the time, no…’

He trailed off, then seemed to shake himself and continued.

‘My name is Carson Dee, and I’m a teacher. I’ve come to discuss my school with you.’

He paused.

‘You may know my school as Mulberry Academy. But its full name is, of course, the Mulberry Academy of Magic’