Night School

Not all that private, then.

Closing the door behind her, she leaned against it trying to listen but could hear nothing through the solid wood.

Turning, she ran up the stairs to the girls’ dorm, stopping at room 335.

She knocked, then jumped back when the door opened almost instantly.

Jules was, as ever, immaculate – her uniform crisp and her hair perfect. ‘Allie. What can I do for you?’

If she was surprised to see her, she didn’t show it.

‘I want to visit Lisa,’ Allie said, ‘but I don’t know where the nursing ward is and I figured you would.’

‘I heard she woke up at last,’ Jules said. ‘Go to the ground floor and all the way through the classroom wing. Then up the staircase at the end. It’s on the first level you’ll come to. You’ll know it when you see it.’

Allie hesitated, wishing she trusted Jules enough to really talk to her. When she didn’t move the blonde prefect raised her perfectly arched eyebrows and asked, ‘Is there something else?’

‘It’s just …’ Allie twisted the hem of her shirt around one finger, ‘Carter told me you gave him my message last night. And I wanted to thank you for doing it. You didn’t have to.’

Jules crossed her arms loosely. ‘You’re welcome. Although I’d feel better if you’d told me the truth about why you wanted him. And now, with all that’s happened with Jo Arringford I’m wondering if I should regret my decision.’

‘But all I did was try to help Jo!’ Allie burst out in protest. ‘I didn’t give her vodka or take her up on the roof. I just tried to save her life. I don’t see why that’s so awful.’

‘Well, why didn’t you come and get me first?’ Jules asked.

‘Why would I do that?’ Allie replied. ‘You’d only try to get her in trouble.’

Jules looked exasperated but also, Allie thought, a little hurt. ‘You and Jo are my responsibility while you’re on this floor, Allie. You should never put yourself in danger like you did today. And Carter told me about your panic attacks – why didn’t you ever tell me? I’m not here to get you detention or yell at you. I’m here to help you. But no matter what I do you treat me like I’m your enemy.’

This came as such a surprise that for a moment Allie was struck speechless. ‘I just … I thought you hated me,’ she said at last.

‘I’ve never hated you,’ Jules said. ‘You just always seemed intimidated by me and angry, and I didn’t know how to make you see that I’m not the enemy.’

‘But you’re friends with Katie Gilmore, and she really does hate me.’

To her surprise, Jules gave a brief laugh. She held up her hand apologetically.

‘I am friends with Katie and, yes, she does hate you, but she’s just jealous. She likes Sylvain and Sylvain likes you, and that hurts her feelings and makes her mean. She’s used to getting what she wants. But you should know that has nothing to do with me. I tell her all the time she needs to grow up and leave you alone, but,’ she shrugged, ‘she’s her own person.’

Her expression grew more serious. ‘Don’t judge me by her behaviour. Judge me on my own.’

Sheepish now, Allie rubbed the toe of one foot against the other. ‘I’m really sorry, Jules. I’ve been a complete arse.’

‘It’s OK,’ Jules said. ‘I should have sat you down and talked with you before. I’m the prefect, and I should know how to handle this sort of thing. But I’d really like it if we could put that stuff behind us.’

With a challenging look she held out her hand. ‘Friends?’

After a split second of hesitation, Allie took it. ‘Friends.’

‘All right, now go to Lisa – she’s probably lonely over there by herself,’ Jules said, stepping back into her room, adding in her more normal officious voice: ‘And no more rooftop excursions, please.’

As Allie hurried along the route Jules had described to the nursing ward, she replayed her conversation with Jules in her head.

How could I have been so wrong about her? Was I that wrong, really?

She remembered Carter and Sylvain both laughing at her for not liking Jules – they seemed to think she was great, although Sylvain had agreed she could be difficult.

But difficult isn’t bad.

It used to bug her that they defended her, but maybe if she’d completely misjudged Jules it all made sense.

She tried to remember the things the prefect had said that upset her, and suddenly all she could remember was her baffled expression when Allie got angry or upset.

But still, it seemed odd that Jules suddenly wanted to be her friend. Jo’s drunken words from the rooftop rang in her ears: ‘They don’t like you … They think you’re dangerous.’