Night School

Jo glared at her. ‘Don’t try and trick me, Allie.’


As she spoke, Allie heard movement just below them. Before she could react, Carter appeared nearby, climbing nimbly up onto the roof beside her.

‘Hey ladies.’ His voice was studiously casual. ‘How’s it going.’

Through her tears, Jo beamed at him. ‘Carter West! I love you Carter West. You’re so handsome and you have those deep dark eyes. I would have chosen you if I hadn’t chosen Gabe.’ Then she looked confused for a second. ‘No, I would have chosen Lucas if I hadn’t chosen Gabe. But if that didn’t work out I’d choose you. Definitely. Or maybe Sylvain.’

Carter didn’t hesitate. ‘And I’d have chosen you too, Jo. Because you’re the prettiest girl at the school.’

Smiling shyly, her face red and puffy, her hair standing on end, Jo said: ‘Really? That’s the nicest thing anybody ever said to me. Give me a hug.’

Jumping to her feet without warning she wobbled wildly, her arms pinwheeling. Allie gasped and reached out for her, but Carter was at Jo’s side in an instant, wrapping her in a bear hug and laughing with her.

‘Careful Jo, we’re up a bit high here.’

She ignored his words. ‘I love you Carter West. You’re much nicer than Gabe.’

He gently lowered her down to a sitting position again, his eyes on her all the time. ‘You know Gabe loves you, right? Would you talk to him if he came up here?’

‘Gabe doesn’t love me. He doesn’t tell the truth about anything. He’s a liar like everybody else.’ She gave Carter an appraising look. ‘But I’m not sure if you’re a liar too.’

She rose unsteadily to her feet, brushing Carter’s hands away when he tried to stop her. ‘Carter, you know what Gabe is. Allie doesn’t know anything. But you do.’ She turned to Allie. ‘Gabe is important – much more important than me or you or Carter. He’s in Night School – do you know what Night School is, Allie?’

Carter was frozen, staring at Jo as if he didn’t know what to do. Allie shook her head. ‘No. What is it, Jo?’

‘It’s a bunch of boys and girls pretending they’re knights or soldiers or gods, or something. They think they’ll be kings of the world.’ Jo pointed at Allie. ‘They don’t like you, did you know that? They think you’re dangerous. I keep telling them they’re wrong, but they won’t listen! Where’s my bottle?’

Spotting the bottle at Allie’s feet, Jo took a quick step towards her. Climbing to her feet, Allie picked up the vodka and looked wordlessly at Carter but before they could decide what to do, Jo lunged for it.

Carter reached out for her but it all happened too fast; a loose tile caught her foot, and she lost her balance. Falling out of control, she rolled down the steep slope of roof, and with a piercing cry, disappeared.

The vodka bottle fell from Allie’s nerveless hands, rolled off the roof and hit the ground below with a crystalline crash. In the awful moment that followed Allie could hear a voice screaming far away and realised it was her own.

Carter stared at the space where Jo had been, his face empty. And one second seemed to stretch beyond the limits that physics allow.

Then they both heard a scrabbling sound from the edge of the roof. Before Allie could react, Carter had thrown himself to his stomach and begun inching down the steep roof to the edge. Allie followed suit, and they both saw bloodied hands trying to hold on. They lunged for Jo at the same moment. Carter grabbed Jo’s left wrist, and a few seconds later Allie had her right hand. Over Jo’s shoulder, Allie could see the steep fall down to the ground.

Now she could hear a high-pitched whining sound from below the rooftop, as if Jo were too frightened to cry. The blood on her hands made them slippery and as Allie struggled to hold her Carter shouted tersely, ‘Get her wrist.’

By now, Allie had Jo’s arm in her grip, but because she was facing down the steep slope of the roof she had to use all of her strength to hold onto Jo without falling off herself. Pulling her up was impossible. Carter’s face was purple with effort, but at this angle even he was having difficulty.

‘OK, let’s try something different. Let go of her arm,’ he said, panting. ‘I’m going to try and swing around so that I’m sitting up. Then I can get some traction to pull her up. Grab me around the waist and hold on.’ Catching her eye he added, ‘Don’t let us fall, Allie.’

So frightened she couldn’t breathe, Allie nodded her understanding. Holding Jo’s arm in an iron grip, Carter swung himself into a sitting position with a groan of effort. As soon as he was ready, Allie let go of Jo’s arm and, moving as quickly as she could, scrambled into position behind Carter, bracing her feet hard into the roof tiles. As Allie wrapped her arms around his waist, he shouted, ‘On three, pull me back as hard as you can. One, two …’

At three, Allie dug in her heels and heaved.