Night School

‘Are you a total pervert? How on earth did you get up here? And how did you find my room? And …’

Sitting on the ledge outside her window, Carter laughed and held up his hands. ‘Come on, Allie. I’ve lived at this school my whole life. I know every inch of it. Including the roof. Which is, by the way, super-easy to get up on and I’m kind of surprised you haven’t tried it yet.’

Allie looked for any sign that he was lying to her but saw nothing but exasperation.

‘Did you come here from your room?’ She paused, looking around. ‘Where is your room anyway?’

He pointed across the building. ‘Look, the guys’ dorm is on the top floor of the main building. My window is the third one there on the top floor, do you see it?’

She counted the dormer windows and nodded.

He turned back towards her. ‘It’s easy to get here from there.’

Suddenly she had a flashback to a few weeks ago. She stared up at him.

‘You’ve been here before.’ Her voice was accusing. ‘When I first came here, I thought I heard somebody outside my window late one night. It was you, wasn’t it?’

He had the grace to look embarrassed. ‘Oh balls. I didn’t think you heard. Sorry about that.’

‘You freaked me out, Carter,’ she said. ‘What were you doing here?’

He squirmed uncomfortably. ‘I was … actually on my way to see somebody else and you opened your window and nearly knocked me off the roof. I’m not a peeping Tom or anything.’

Remembering Jo’s warning that he broke girls’ hearts, Allie wondered who he’d been going to see. She studied him speculatively.

Who the hell are you anyway, Carter West?

Having him on the defensive made her feel more in control, and she crossed her legs and rested her elbows on her knees. ‘So, why are you here now, Carter? On your way to see some other girl again?’

He leaned against the window frame, avoiding her eyes. As he did it, he dislodged a pebble from the ledge, and she could hear it clicking its way to the ground three storeys below.

‘No. Of course not. It’s not a big deal or anything. I was just … worried about you, I guess,’ he said finally. ‘It’s been a pretty terrible night and you get these panic attacks, so I just … you know … worried.’

They held each other’s gaze for a moment, but his eyes were so limitlessly dark they seemed to summon images of last night’s awful events. She covered her face with her hands to block them out.

‘I keep seeing Ruth and remembering … It was bad, Carter. Really bad. It was dark but I could see that her throat was cut. There was so much blood … And then the footsteps. I thought I was next.’

‘What footsteps?’

When she looked up he was staring at her. For the first time it occurred to her that in all of the chaos she’d never had a chance to tell anybody about what happened outside.

When she filled him in, he kept returning to the footsteps she’d heard. ‘You’re quite certain the footsteps came from within the school and then headed away?’

Allie nodded – she could see that his mind was working.

‘How many footsteps did you hear? I mean, how many people do you think there were?’ he asked.

‘One, I think, but I’m not certain. I was too frightened. Carter, who could have done this? Do you think it could have been a student? Or … a teacher?’

Until now, the idea had not occurred to her, but suddenly it all seemed appallingly possible. She hoped he’d laugh at her, or tell her she was being stupid. But he didn’t.

Instead, he rubbed his eyes. ‘I don’t know. I don’t think so – but I don’t know any more.’

‘Why didn’t they kill me too?’ Her voice was plaintive as she finally said the words she’d been avoiding since last night. ‘Why am I still alive?’

Carter looked out over the school grounds. He didn’t speak for a long moment. When he did, his voice was rough. ‘I don’t know, Allie. But if it’s possible the killer saw you, and maybe thinks that you saw him … Well. You need to be very careful from now on.’

It was a warm morning but Allie shivered. She lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘Carter, what is going on?’

His eyes locked on hers, and she could feel how much he wanted to tell her something, but the moment passed and he shook his head.

‘I can’t, Allie. I just can’t.’

She was so tired she couldn’t bear to argue – she’d had almost no sleep in two days. Resting her head on her hand and closing her eyes, she yawned.

‘I want to stay awake and fight off murderers but I’m too tired,’ she murmured. ‘It really sucks being alone right now, Carter. I wish you could stay.’

A long silence passed between them, but she’d dozed a little and didn’t notice until Carter spoke again.

‘Scoot over,’ he said.

She made room for him on the desktop and he climbed lithely through the window then closed it behind him.