Night School

‘Isabelle wouldn’t usually let this sort of thing get so out of control,’ Rachel agreed.

‘Maybe she’s trying not to show favouritism,’ Lucas suggested. ‘Everybody knows she has taken a special interest in Allie.’

‘Whatever.’ Allie stacked her bacon onto her bread. ‘All I know is I’m going to kick Katie’s arse if she comes anywhere near me today.’

Taking a gigantic bite she looked up to see Carter shaking his head.

‘What?’ she said with her mouth full.

‘Nothing,’ he said.

‘I think what he’s thinking,’ Rachel said, grinning, ‘is that’s our girl.’

‘Could I have everybody’s attention please.’ Isabelle’s voice rang out over the dining hall rumble. Silence fell.

Standing at the front of the room in a lavender cardigan open over a crisp white skirt and blouse, a silk scarf over her shoulder, she looked sterner than Allie could ever remember seeing her. ‘I would like to remind all students that bullying is grounds for expulsion on a single offence. I trust I won’t have to mention this again.’

As she turned and walked out, her footsteps echoed in the crowded room.

When Allie pointed at herself and mouthed, ‘Is that about me?’ Rachel, Carter and Lucas nodded.

Later, as they walked to class, they were divided over whether or not Isabelle had done enough to put an end to the gossip. Rachel didn’t think so, but Carter and Lucas thought she’d done all she could for now.

Walking into biology class, she saw that Jo, freed from her house arrest, was already at their table – her pixie-ish blonde hair neatly combed, and her expression subdued.

Allie didn’t know how she was going to handle this. She couldn’t really let on what she’d overheard last night, because how could she explain hearing it? And she couldn’t ask to move to a different seat – Jerry would want to know why.

The best thing to do, she decided, was take the high road.

If you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all.

So she sat down next to Jo silently and turned her chair slightly so it faced away from her. Clearly Jo had decided to take the high road too, though, and they sat, side-by-side, without saying a word for seven long minutes until Jerry stepped up and began his lesson.

After class, Allie shot out of her seat and into the hallway. And she never looked back.

At lunch, Jo and Gabe avoided their usual table, sitting off in a corner of the dining room instead. Allie joined Rachel and Lucas, who, she observed, were sitting together more and more these days.

‘Hey,’ she said, dropping her bag. ‘What’s up with them?’

Rachel and Lucas exchanged a look she couldn’t quite translate.

‘The gossip,’ Rachel said after a second, ‘is that Jo was so drunk she now can’t remember what happened on the roof. And so she has decided that she believes the gossip about what happened on the roof.’

‘Oh brilliant,’ Allie said, plopping down into a seat. ‘So she now thinks I tried to kill her?’

They nodded in sync.

‘This would be funny if it weren’t happening to me.’ Allie sighed.

‘It’s not happening to me and I don’t think it’s funny,’ Rachel offered.

‘You don’t believe her?’ Allie asked hopefully.

‘No way,’ Lucas said.

‘We know her too well,’ Rachel said. ‘Look, I’ll try and talk to her later, see if I can talk some sense to her.’

‘Or at least get her to remember what really happened.’ Carter pulled out the chair next to Allie and sat down. ‘Like how she got so trolleyed she nearly killed us all. If you ask me, it’s pretty convenient that now that everybody knows something crazy happened that day she suddenly can’t recall behaving like a lunatic on day release.’

‘It’s not like her not to remember,’ Lucas said, frowning. ‘When she’s done this before she’s always remembered what happened.’

The doubt in his voice gave Allie an icy stab of worry. What if even Lucas and Rachel start doubting me? Then it would be just Carter and me.

As if he knew what she was thinking, Carter brushed the side of her head with his lips.

‘Don’t let her get you down,’ he whispered, and she found herself smiling at him in spite of everything.

She was aware that Lucas and Rachel were both watching them with dawning recognition, and that the whole school would soon know that they were together.

‘I’m good,’ she said, her voice firm. And she meant it.

For the rest of the day, Allie could not say she was bullied. Instead she was treated like a ghost – as if she wasn’t there at all.

Nobody outside of her immediate group of friends spoke to her. Even when she passed Katie in the hallway, she merely turned her head away and flounced by.

As Allie walked to her room after classes ended, Jules stopped her in the hallway. ‘I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry for how everyone’s behaving,’ the prefect said. ‘I spoke with Isabelle about it yesterday, and she has given Katie and two of her friends written warnings about this.’