Night School

You’re losing it, she scolded herself, before taking a calming breath and joining the throngs.

The smell of food mingled unpleasantly with the acrid scent of scorched wood and plaster. As she looked around for a familiar face, she noticed that several of those around her had visible bandages. One hopped on crutches.

In the dining room, the night’s chaos had all been cleared away, but the tables had not been reset for supper with the usual crystal and china. Stacks of plates stood on every table, and students were handing them around to each other. No candles glimmered (after the fire she was glad of that). Everyone sat quietly as if nobody knew quite what to say.

She noticed with relief that Jo, Gabe and Lucas were at their normal table and she headed straight for them, but then Carter walked up beside her.

‘Hey.’

As she turned to look into Carter’s dark eyes her stomach flip-flopped. Suddenly shy, she shoved her hands in her skirt pockets.

‘Hey back.’

‘Did you sleep OK?’

He’d showered and changed – his cheeks were still rosy from the water, and his hair was damp on the ends. The tiredness was gone from his face.

She nodded, trying to stay cool, as if boys slept in her bedroom every day. But heat rose in her cheeks, betraying her. ‘Did you? When did you leave?’

‘An hour or so ago.’

He had a way of talking so quietly that she was forced to lean closer to him in order to hear. It made even ordinary conversations like this one feel intimate.

‘I needed to change,’ he continued. She was hyper-aware that her arm was rubbing against his. ‘I didn’t want to wake you – it took you so long to fall asleep.’

The tension between them was unbearable. One of them was going to have to look away, but Allie didn’t want to be the one.

What’s happening to me? she wondered. I can’t fancy Carter. I just … can’t.

‘Yeah,’ she said breathlessly. ‘I mean … I had to change too.’

Looking around, Carter noticed that most of the room was seated. ‘We better go or Zelazny will start shouting.’

He steered her to the table and waited until she was seated then, to her surprise, pulled out the chair next to her. He never sat with her group at meals, and she tried not to show on her face how pleased she was.

Gabe had no such qualms.

‘Carter!’ he said, leaning back in his chair with a teasing smile. ‘You do us an honour.’

Carter shrugged. ‘Oh, you know how it is, Gabe. Sometimes I just need to be close to you.’

Jo, who still looked tired, leaned towards Allie. ‘Did you sleep?’

‘Eventually,’ she said. ‘You?’

‘Not really.’ Jo gave a weary smile. ‘But I think I might be starving. Does that make me a bad person?’

‘I hope not,’ Allie said. ‘Turns out death and destruction can really negatively impact a low-calorie diet. Who knew?’

‘Any news on Lisa?’ Carter asked.

Lucas was the one to answer. ‘I tracked down Eloise an hour ago and she said Lisa’s awake and doing OK. We should be able to visit her soon.’

Allie felt herself smile for the first time since last night. The mood lightened, and for a while conversation buzzed in an almost normal way.

Then Lucas’ voice rose above the hum. ‘Hey, did everyone hear about the announcement?’

Allie glanced around the table, but she could tell nobody knew what he was talking about.

‘What announcement?’ Carter asked.

‘Isabelle’s making some sort of big announcement tonight about what happened. There’s a rumour that they’re sending everybody home, shutting the place down for the rest of the summer.’

‘No!’ Jo sounded stricken and Allie glanced over at her, surprised by her vehement tone. Gabe put a hand on her arm and she looked up at him with wild eyes. ‘They can’t send us home. They can’t.’

‘I’m sure they won’t.’ Gabe’s voice was soothing and Allie looked away as he tried to calm her.

The doors at the end of the dining room opened and the staff emerged in their usual orderly black-clad ranks, carrying steaming bowls and platters. Even though she was ravenous, Allie watched with strange disinterest as they set food on the table. Eating seemed so pointless, somehow, after all that had happened.

Sensing movement, she glanced down to see Carter serving stew onto her plate. He caught her eye and smiled guiltily.

‘Mmm … Delicious stew,’ he said lamely, and she surprised herself by laughing.

He slipped vegetables on her plate next, but when he handed her a roll she held up her hands in surrender. ‘All right, all right. Stop. I’ll eat. I promise.’ She took a dutiful bite, chewing with false enthusiasm. ‘OK?’

Now busy clearing his own plate, Carter ignored her sarcasm. In fact, that first bite had tasted pretty good and Allie found the second went down even easier. In the end she emptied her plate and sopped up the last of the gravy with the roll, then sat back in her chair with a satisfied sigh.