Sorry

Sorry about the lack of paragraphs, they didn't copy and paste correctly

Dragon Dust by Jemima Helps

I awoke with a jolt as the ticket collector shouted, “Townsville! Last call for Townsville!” A few people hurriedly found a seat and were barely settled down before the train was off again, the puffing of it’s great steam engines gradually getting faster and louder as it rolled down the tracks. I rubbed my weary eyes with the heels of my hands and stretched my legs out under the seat in front of mine. I was leaning down to retrieve a chocolate from my bag when I noticed that the boy in the seat next to mine was staring at me. Feeling quite self-conscious, I pulled out the bag of chocolates, selected a caramel one, and re-opened my book. However, neither the sweetness of the chocolate nor the captivating story in my book could distract me from his scrutiny. “Why must he stare at me like that?” I wondered. “Have I something on my face? Is he even really looking at me?” I mulled it over for a moment before deciding that he was probably bored, and simply wanted someone to talk to. I sighed inwardly, as I wanted to continue with my book, but turned towards him, attempting to keep the exasperated expression from my face. “Hello. My name is Pandora Schwartz,” I greeted him in what I hoped was a friendly tone. “How do you do?” He looked surprised. “Oh, fine thanks,” he replied. “I’m Tobias Juniper. Where are you going?” I myself was surprised, not only at his audacity, but also his use of language. It wasn’t all that bad, I suppose. I simply would have thought that someone of his attire would speak in a more sophisticated manner. He was, after all, quite smartly dressed, however he gave the impression of being over confident. “Oh, I’m headed for Maybury. I am to attend a summer school there, at a place named Knucker Hall. My teacher is to be Dr. James Aloes, and in the letter that he sent, he informed me that the class is made up of a small group of specially selected students, and I am one of them!” I paused for a moment, thinking that he may interpret my excitement as self-flattery. “Of course, I am very honoured to be given this opportunity. I’m sure that I will learn a great deal.” He was looking at me strangely, almost as though something I had said amused him. I must have looked hurt, because he shook his head. “Hey, good for you. Dr. Aloes you say? At Knucker Hall?” I nodded. “Well! That’s where I’m going too!” My eyes widened. It was rather obvious that he was pleased with himself. I recovered, and smiled. “I must say, that is a relief. It will be nice to know someone when I arrive. Have you attended this class before?” He grinned. “Yes, I have. In fact, I’ve been going since I was nine. Last year, I was specially selected to hand rear a baby dwarf dragon. It was amazing, and I…” I frowned as he babbled on. Did he say dragon? No, he couldn’t have. “Pardon me for interrupting, but did you say dragon?” I asked. He nodded. “Yes, I did.” I was confused. “But… dragons don’t exist! They are only in fairytales, folklore. You must be mistaken.” I was stammering a little. Tobias smirked and said, “You really don’t know, do you? What did Dr. Aloes say in his letter?” I tried to remember. “He said that I had been specially selected to attend a summer school, at no cost, then he gave a return address. When I replied, saying that I accepted, he simply sent a letter to say that he was pleased, and listed the address. Why?” Tobias looked amused, and I was a little chagrined. Why was he so bothersome? “Dr. Aloes does teach all those boring school subjects, Maths, English, Latin and so forth, but he mainly teaches about dragons. It’s pretty interesting really.” I must admit, I was rather speechless. Could it be true? Dragons really exist, and I was going to learn about them? “That is amazing!” I exclaimed, barely keeping my excitement under control. “What exactly do we-“ Before I could finish my sentence, the train was hit by something large, rocking the train back and forth on the tracks, and causing many passengers, including me, to fall off our seats. “What on Earth was that?” I cried out, struggling to pull myself into a more ladylike position. Tobias gave me a grim look. “Something huge must’ve hit the train. As far as I know, there’s only one thing that can knock a steam train off its course, and that’s a European dragon.” I believe that I was in shock, as I couldn’t move at all, not even to pull my dress down, the hem of which was sitting far too high up my leg; it was higher than my knees! I am ashamed to say that my mouth hung open in a most unladylike manner, and it was only after a few long seconds that I was able to close it and sit back on my seat. “What do we do?” I asked Tobias, trying to keep calm as the train was shaken once more. “Try to get out of the train before she starts breathing fire.” It did seem like a grim prospect. Nevertheless, I was curious. “How do you know that it is a she?” He turned to me, surprised. “It flew past the window before, everyone saw it. The light colouring of her underbelly gave it away. It is much darker in males.” I was about to ask him another question when a burst of bright flame streamed through the open window, causing many seats to catch fire. I screamed as I saw Tobias, aflame, crawling along the ground before collapsing. I ran for the door, but was halted as another stream of fire shot through the window, catching my skirt.. Before I could stamp it out, the roof of the train buckled, and collapsed on top of me, killing me almost instantly. It was quite a pity, really

Description

So, this is a story that I had to write for English. As it's my best subject, I did quite well. I got an A+!! It had to be under 1000 words, so the ending is a bit odd.