Plot
June Smith and Vera Forbes-Walker have been friends until June is voted School Captain and Vera Captain’s Friend. Vera is not settling for Captain’s Friend, so she sets out to discredit June and take her place as Captain.
Eventually Vera causes the Head’s god-daughter Marion to have a skating accident, with June being blamed. The Head, Miss Roache, decides that June will continue as School Captain, but only until after school governor Lord Sheppard visits the following Friday.
In sick bay, Marion feels guilty because she went skating without telling June and should own up to it. Moreover, she knows the accident was Vera’s fault for not warning her the ice was unsafe. Vera persuades Marion to keep quiet because if she confesses she could be expelled, even if she is the Head’s god-daughter.
On the day of the speech, Vera tricks June into going into the old studio, where she locks her in. But Marion sees this from the sick bay window and goes to let June out. After getting Marion back to sick bay, June goes to deliver her speech, which she has to do without notes as Vera’s trick caused her to leave them in her study. Miss Roache thinks it is an excellent speech. But thanks to Vera’s tricks, she still thinks June is not responsible enough to be School Captain.
So Vera and June are called into Miss Roache’s study to review the matter of the captaincy. Vera thinks the captaincy is as good as hers, but then Marion comes in to tell the truth about the skating incident. Miss Roache then tells Vera that she is about to become the first-ever girl to be expelled from the school. But June begs Miss Roache to give Vera one more chance, in order to prove she is sorry. Miss Roache is so impressed at this that she tells June that she really is a worthy captain. Vera is given her last chance, with a warning that she will be expelled next time, and stripped of her position as Captain’s Friend.
Notes
Appeared
- The Captain’s Friend – Tracy: #45 (9 Aug. 1980) – #54 (11 Oct. 1980)
The Captain’s Friend ends in Tracy 54 (Oct. 11 1980).
Can I ask how it ended, please?
Vera gets the Head’s god-daughter Marion involved in a skating accident, and blames June for it. The Head, Miss Roache, decides that June will continue as head girl but only until after the visit to the school of school governor Lord Sheppard the following Friday.
Meanwhile, in sick bay Marion has a troubled conscience because she knows she should have owned up to going skating without telling June, and that Vera knew but didn’t warn her about the ice being thin. When Vera goes to see her she tells her not to breathe a word about what really happened as despite being the Head’s god-daughter she will probably be expelled, if only because she is expected to behave better than any other pupil.
By Friday June has prepared and polished her speech when she sees a note on her pillow, apparently from Marion but really from Vera, asking her to meet in the old studio at half past two. After June has got changed for Lord Sheppard’s visit she decides to go to the studio fearing that Marion will get another chill as the studio isn’t heated. Vera locks her in. However, Marion has been looking out of the sick bay window and goes down to unlock the door and release June, and admits that she has been so wrong about Vera. June’s first thought is to get Marion back in the warm quickly. Then she goes off to give her speech of welcome to Lord Sheppard at three o’clock in front of the whole school, but from memory as her notes are still in her study.
The Head is seen thinking that it was an excellent speech but such a pity that June has so little sense of responsibility. After Lord Sheppard’s departure the Head has Vera and June in her study to deal with the question of the captaincy. Vera is sure that it is as good as hers when Marion walks in and defends June by telling the Head that she knew nothing about the skating. When the Head tells Marion that she was wrong to keep all that information to herself the girl says that she thought Vera must be right as she is a Forbes-Walker whereas June is only a scholarship girl! The Head tells Vera that she is going to be the first girl ever to be expelled from the school. Vera is terrified knowing that her parents will never forgive her. June intercedes on Vera’s behalf, asking for just one more chance for Vera to prove that she is sorry. Miss Roache says, ”Is that what you really want, June? How very kind and forgiving of you. You really ARE a worthy captain!” She goes on to tell Vera that she must never forget how much she owes June, warns her that she will be expelled at the first hint of any further trouble, and inevitably replaces her as the Captain’s Friend with Elizabeth Kalottu.
Thank you.