Night School

Modern life still exists.

‘Please, have a seat.’ Isabelle gestured at a chair near her. ‘You must excuse me – I’m doing the accounts and it always seems to involve filling a village hall with papers, so I choose to work on it in the spacious environs of a classroom.’

Pulling off her glasses, she stood up and stretched before moving to the seat next to Allie. ‘How was detention this morning?’

‘Fine, I guess,’ Allie shrugged. ‘I mean, it was hard work but it was fine.’

Isabelle smiled at her kindly. ‘I think August was too stern with you, and I’ve told him so. I wanted you to know that. I didn’t want to undermine him by removing his punishment but I don’t think it was fair.’

Her words were so unexpected that Allie couldn’t think of anything to say – nobody had ever apologised to her for injustice before. She didn’t even know it was possible.

‘Thank you,’ was the best she could come up with, but Isabelle seemed to see on her face how much it meant to her.

‘August is known for his strictness, so I don’t want you to feel singled out,’ she continued. ‘He sees to it that a week never goes by without at least a few students working in the gardens or organising the old store rooms. But I’ve asked him to give you more time to adjust before he includes you in his punishment rota again.’

She studied Allie curiously. ‘And the incident last night – we should talk about that. Sylvain said some sort of wild animal frightened you in the garden?’

‘Well, we don’t know what it was,’ Allie said. ‘It crashed through the garden and … chased us, I guess. We thought we heard it growling, or something. What do you think it could have been?’

‘Sylvain suggested it could be foxes. We do have rather a lot of them around,’ Isabelle said.

Frowning, Allie tilted her head to one side. ‘We have foxes in London, but I’ve never heard one of them growl or seen one chase people.’

‘Well, this is the country,’ Isabelle said. ‘Foxes are wilder here – the ones in London are practically tame. A vixen can be very protective of her cubs. I’ve asked the ground staff to look out for any other sort of animal but I can’t think of what else it could have been. I’m very glad you are both OK.’

She sounded sincere, and Allie was gratified that she hadn’t made her sound like an idiot.

Isabelle was moving on to other issues now, though.

‘How are you, really? Are you making friends? Sylvain tells me you’re doing well, and that you and he are getting along famously, and I’m glad to hear that. He is one of our best students.’

Allie blushed. It was weird to think that Sylvain, who flirted with her constantly, discussed her with the headmistress.

‘I’m OK,’ she said, sliding down in her chair a bit. ‘I’m friends with Sylvain and Jo, and I’ve met a few other people. Everybody’s been sort of nice except …’

She bit her lip, and Isabelle looked at her encouragingly. ‘Except who? It’s OK to tell me.’

‘Oh you know.’ Allie crossed and uncrossed her ankles. ‘Katie Gilmore? She’s a bit bitchy.’

Isabelle sighed. ‘I will be honest with you, Allie. Sometimes I think Katie is one of the trials I was put on this earth to deal with. She’s been spoiled her whole life – I fear I’m being very unprofessional telling you this, but I think I can trust you. Because of her childhood, she has a hard time interacting with students who are not as privileged as she is – she’s been too sheltered by her family’s wealth. However, she is not immune from punishment, no matter how powerful her parents, so if she goes too far tell Jules or me.’ Isabelle polished her glasses with a clean cloth. ‘I wouldn’t mind seeing her working in the garden for a week. It would do her a world of good to get her hands dirty.’

Thrilled that the headmistress was being so honest with her, Allie giggled at the image then stopped herself. But Isabelle chuckled too so she knew it was OK.

‘Anything else aside from that?’ Isabelle grew serious again. ‘Your coursework is looking fine. You’re certainly doing very well in my class. Any problems academically?’

Allie shook her head. It was true the work was hard, but it was more interesting than the work at her last two schools and she found that, actually, she enjoyed it.

‘What about home life?’ Isabelle asked. ‘I’ve noticed that you haven’t asked to phone your parents since you arrived. Would you like to phone them? I’m happy for you to talk to them.’

Again Allie shook her head – more vigorously this time. ‘I don’t want to talk to them right now,’ she said, avoiding Isabelle’s eyes. ‘I want some time without them.’

When she glanced up, Isabelle’s expression was hard to read, but something told Allie she understood.

‘Of course,’ she said, adding, ‘but if you ever change your mind, come to me.’