And so Allie found herself in the bizarre position of defending Katie Gilmore. Something she’d never thought she’d do in her life.
‘She says she could help. She seems really scared. I think…’ She sighed, forcing herself to say the next words. ‘I think she’d be useful. Even though she’s an evil cow, obviously.’
‘Oh God.’ Rachel sounded horrified. ‘Do we have to?’
‘Her parents are hard-wired to this school, and she has very strong connections to the board and to the students whose parents are on Nathaniel’s side,’ Sylvain said thoughtfully. ‘They think she’s on their side, so they tell her things. Allie’s right. She could be very useful.’
She gave him a grateful look and he held her gaze – the light from the window illuminated his eyes like cobalt glass. It was hard to look away.
The others were still arguing about Katie.
‘She’s vile,’ Nicole said.
‘She’s insulting,’ Rachel said.
‘Crazy,’ Zoe muttered.
‘But we should invite her to join.’ Carter looked around the group. ‘Right?’
With clear reluctance they all nodded. There was no getting around it.
‘Great,’ Allie said, not thinking it was great. ‘I’ll tell her.’
‘She shouldn’t come to all the meetings,’ Sylvain said. ‘I believe we can trust her but we can’t be certain yet. So we cannot have her there when we’re talking to Isabelle, or…’ His gaze glanced off Allie’s. ‘Like yesterday.’
‘Good point,’ Carter said. ‘She’s very connected to things, but she’s not Night School and she’s not Rachel so we’ll only invite her to certain meetings.’
‘God help us,’ Rachel said.
After dinner that night, they gathered again in a corner of the crowded common room to wait for Raj Patel.
Rachel, who had talked to the guards that afternoon, was adamant he would come but, as time ticked by, she grew antsy – looking up from her chemistry homework every time anyone walked through the door.
‘Worst case scenario,’ she said as ten o’clock passed with no sign of him, ‘he just shows up in my room and I have to tell him everything myself.’
‘If he does, just knock on the wall,’ Allie suggested. ‘Then I can come over and back you up. And also stop you from saying all the things.’
‘He’ll come soon.’ Rachel looked around hopefully. But the spacious room with its leather sofas, bookcases stacked with board games and books, and tables topped with chessboards, was populated only by chattering students. Someone was playing Clair de Lune on the piano in the corner as others gathered around urging him to play something more lively.
Allie turned a page in her unread history book. The music – like everything else going on – was distracting. She was falling behind on her work. It was impossible to focus with so much happening. Lessons just seemed to be a tiresome interruption in her otherwise interesting day, and yet she’d promised Lucinda she’d make good grades.
From beneath lowered lashes, she glanced over to where Sylvain sat across from her in a deep leather chair, his chin resting on his hand. He looked lost in thought; she wondered what was consuming him – she had a feeling it was Zelazny.
Nearby, Carter was writing a geography essay – his neat handwriting slowly filling the page. Ever since their talk in the garden, he’d acted with extreme normality towards her, including her in conversations and even smiling sometimes. Things still felt formal with him but at least he wasn’t ignoring her.
Something Katie said popped into her mind and she sat up straight, looking around the group brightly. ‘Maybe we should have a name.’
The instant the words left her mouth she regretted it.
The others stared at her blankly.
‘Excuse me?’ Rachel said. Nicole stifled a musical giggle.
‘Like, for our group.’ Allie squirmed in their collective incredulous gaze. ‘It’s just… Katie… called us a gang.’
‘I don’t think we need a name.’ Carter was trying not to laugh. ‘Most of the good ones are taken anyway.’
The others tittered. Allie could feel heat rising up her neck. She wondered if there was some way to dissolve into the floor. She glanced desperately at Sylvain, but he didn’t seem to be paying attention. There was no one to save her from this.
‘Besides, if we’re secret we don’t need a name because we can’t talk about us,’ Zoe pointed out. ‘Night School isn’t really a name – it’s, more like… a description. It’s at school and it meets at night.’
‘God. Just drop it. All right?’ Allie tried not to look at anyone. ‘Forget I said anything.’
‘So,’ Rachel said, deflecting the attention so Allie could recover, ‘we should be keeping an eye out for my dad. He has this way of sneaking up on you.’