nurses and Matron are waking up.
‘What’s going on?’ Clara whispers as we press ourselves against the dark wall.
‘I don’t know.’
‘This way. Quickly.’ She yanks my arm and we race up the next flight of stairs. Her dorm is closest and she pulls me inside and shuts the door. Neither Eleanor nor Harriet stir as we hurry, breathless, to the far corner. We’re just in time, heavy heels betraying someone’s passing outside.
Bright lights shine through the window and wheels churn through the gravel. Clara’s dorm is further along from the main entrance than mine, but we peer carefully out through the curtains and just at the limits of our vision we can see a large truck pulling up, its huge headlights two moons in the night. The engine chugs steadily as the driver jumps down and heads to the back. The rough sound of steel doors opening. Voices.
‘What is it?’ I whisper. Can’t be more kids arriving, surely. Not in a truck like that. We all came in black vans.
‘Must be supplies,’ Clara says. We’re standing so close I can see every one of her pale eyelashes. Her mouth is slightly open and her breath mists the glass as she speaks. ‘We’re in the middle of nowhere. I guess they have to get all the food and stuff delivered. You haven’t seen this before?’
I shake my head. ‘First time.’
‘How long do you think it will take?’
‘It’s a big truck. A while.’
‘Then we’re stuck in here until it leaves and they’ve gone back to bed.’
‘Unless they don’t go back to bed, in which case we’re fucked.’
‘Let’s worry about that if it happens.’ She shivers. ‘It’s cold.’
She lets the curtain drop and goes to her bed, pulling back the blankets and climbing in. She’s right. Now that we’re still, it is cold, but the spare beds have no covers. I stand there, awkward, not quite sure what to do.
‘Well, come on, then,’ she whispers. ‘Get in.’ She looks at me, expectant.
I’m glad it’s dark and she can’t see my face as I wedge in beside her on the small mattress. I know I’m blushing furiously. My arms and legs feel too long, my mouth is dry, and although I was freezing seconds before, my skin is now too hot. She wriggles across to give me space and we lie side by side, staring up at the ceiling. Her hair, too much to be contained on half a small pillow, tickles my face, but it’s soft and almost warm.
‘That’s better,’ she says. ‘Better?’ Her head twists sideways slightly to check.
‘Yep,’ I say and then swallow loudly. I have never lain in a bed with a girl before. My body is a screaming mess of anxiety and excitement that I have no control over. I take deep breaths as quietly as I can. This reaction is stupid. My right side is pressed against her left and I can feel her toes against my ankle. Her skin is impossibly warm through my pyjamas, and I realise that this is the closest I’ve been to anyone in weeks. I can feel her body move slightly as she breathes, slow and steady and completely relaxed, while I struggle to shift air from my lungs.
‘When I was little,’ she whispers, her head leaning towards mine until our skulls touch, ‘until I was about ten or eleven, I always wanted to go to boarding school, the kind just for girls. I read all those stupid kids’ books where they had midnight feasts, broke the rules, made lifelong friends and had adventures. And now here I am. Not quite what I was hoping for. Funny, huh?’
She’s staring at the ceiling again, and that calms my awful self-awareness slightly. ‘Well,’ I say, ‘I don’t think you can get better lifelong friends than those you’ll make here – that’s pretty much guaranteed.’ My tone is light as I say it and she giggles beside me. For a moment I’m almost the old Toby again, the classroom joker, even if this is the darkest kind of humour.
‘You may have a point,’ she says. ‘Weird thought, though.’
‘I’m surprised you didn’t go to a posh boarding
‘What’s going on?’ Clara whispers as we press ourselves against the dark wall.
‘I don’t know.’
‘This way. Quickly.’ She yanks my arm and we race up the next flight of stairs. Her dorm is closest and she pulls me inside and shuts the door. Neither Eleanor nor Harriet stir as we hurry, breathless, to the far corner. We’re just in time, heavy heels betraying someone’s passing outside.
Bright lights shine through the window and wheels churn through the gravel. Clara’s dorm is further along from the main entrance than mine, but we peer carefully out through the curtains and just at the limits of our vision we can see a large truck pulling up, its huge headlights two moons in the night. The engine chugs steadily as the driver jumps down and heads to the back. The rough sound of steel doors opening. Voices.
‘What is it?’ I whisper. Can’t be more kids arriving, surely. Not in a truck like that. We all came in black vans.
‘Must be supplies,’ Clara says. We’re standing so close I can see every one of her pale eyelashes. Her mouth is slightly open and her breath mists the glass as she speaks. ‘We’re in the middle of nowhere. I guess they have to get all the food and stuff delivered. You haven’t seen this before?’
I shake my head. ‘First time.’
‘How long do you think it will take?’
‘It’s a big truck. A while.’
‘Then we’re stuck in here until it leaves and they’ve gone back to bed.’
‘Unless they don’t go back to bed, in which case we’re fucked.’
‘Let’s worry about that if it happens.’ She shivers. ‘It’s cold.’
She lets the curtain drop and goes to her bed, pulling back the blankets and climbing in. She’s right. Now that we’re still, it is cold, but the spare beds have no covers. I stand there, awkward, not quite sure what to do.
‘Well, come on, then,’ she whispers. ‘Get in.’ She looks at me, expectant.
I’m glad it’s dark and she can’t see my face as I wedge in beside her on the small mattress. I know I’m blushing furiously. My arms and legs feel too long, my mouth is dry, and although I was freezing seconds before, my skin is now too hot. She wriggles across to give me space and we lie side by side, staring up at the ceiling. Her hair, too much to be contained on half a small pillow, tickles my face, but it’s soft and almost warm.
‘That’s better,’ she says. ‘Better?’ Her head twists sideways slightly to check.
‘Yep,’ I say and then swallow loudly. I have never lain in a bed with a girl before. My body is a screaming mess of anxiety and excitement that I have no control over. I take deep breaths as quietly as I can. This reaction is stupid. My right side is pressed against her left and I can feel her toes against my ankle. Her skin is impossibly warm through my pyjamas, and I realise that this is the closest I’ve been to anyone in weeks. I can feel her body move slightly as she breathes, slow and steady and completely relaxed, while I struggle to shift air from my lungs.
‘When I was little,’ she whispers, her head leaning towards mine until our skulls touch, ‘until I was about ten or eleven, I always wanted to go to boarding school, the kind just for girls. I read all those stupid kids’ books where they had midnight feasts, broke the rules, made lifelong friends and had adventures. And now here I am. Not quite what I was hoping for. Funny, huh?’
She’s staring at the ceiling again, and that calms my awful self-awareness slightly. ‘Well,’ I say, ‘I don’t think you can get better lifelong friends than those you’ll make here – that’s pretty much guaranteed.’ My tone is light as I say it and she giggles beside me. For a moment I’m almost the old Toby again, the classroom joker, even if this is the darkest kind of humour.
‘You may have a point,’ she says. ‘Weird thought, though.’
‘I’m surprised you didn’t go to a posh boarding
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