Night School

Allie’s cheeks burned, but she faced him squarely. ‘You shouldn’t treat any girl like that, Sylvain. Ever.’


To her astonishment, he lowered his head. ‘You are right. Absolument. Please accept my apology.’

‘I … I’m just … Sylvain, don’t,’ she stuttered. She didn’t want to forgive him. She wanted to stay angry at him. But then a thought occurred to her.

‘I have to know one thing,’ she said. ‘Did you put something in my drink that night?’

He looked horrified, and at that moment she knew the truth.

‘My God. Of course not. What do you think I am?’ he said.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I just had to know. Because things all got so blurry.’

‘Cimmeria wine is strong,’ he said. ‘If you’re not used to it and you drink it too fast it will go to your head. And I let you drink too fast, that much is true. And I did try to use that to my advantage. That was wrong of me.’

His humility and apparent honesty left her with no choice.

‘I accept your apology, Sylvain,’ she said. ‘I’m over it.’

Before he could reply, she added, ‘Look, I’m going to run away before anybody else calls me a murderer or apologises for practically date-raping me, OK? I can’t take any more excitement before nine o’clock.’

Just before she turned to run for the stairs, he said, ‘Be careful, Allie.’ His eyes were intense. ‘There is real danger around you at the moment.’

‘Oh good,’ she said wearily. ‘I was hoping you’d say something like that.’

*

Allie would never have used the word, but she hid in her room for much of the morning. By lunchtime, though, she’d finished all of her homework and was looking around for something to do. And she was hungry.

Unable to face another meal in the crowded dining hall, she sneaked down just before most students arrived for lunch and grabbed several sandwiches, packing them away in her book bag with bottles of water and an apple.

But as she walked down the hallway to the front door, a group of younger students passed her and she heard one of them whisper, ‘There’s the murderer’. Some giggled and others gawked at her fearfully.

What could she do? She couldn’t fight them all. So she pretended not to hear, and kept going.

When she walked down the front steps a few seconds later, though, one of Katie’s friends passed her and made a wide circle around her as if she were toxic.

‘Gross,’ the girl said, looking her up and down before hurrying away.

Her chin up, Allie kept going. But the lawn was crowded with students stretched out in the sunshine and she imagined that she could hear whispers and laughter all around her. Before long she was running across the grass and into the tree-line.

Away from them all.

At the summerhouse she stopped to catch her breath. It was completely empty – she could see nobody at all. Sitting on the steps, she dropped her head to her knees and breathed slowly until she calmed down.

Why did this always happen to her? For a brief moment she’d thought she’d found a place where she could just … be. Where she was safe. Where she was almost accepted.

But it was always the same.

Everybody turns on me. Everybody leaves me.

She wanted to cry but she couldn’t. Staring into the trees, she allowed herself to think about Christopher. He hadn’t just gone. First he’d shut her out. Treated her like there was something wrong with her. Like he didn’t love her any more.

Now it was happening again. Only this time it was everyone.

Well. Almost everyone.

She had Carter. And maybe she should trust Rachel. There was something inherently good about her. And at least for now she still had Lisa, too. And maybe even Lucas.

So … she wasn’t alone this time.

After a while, she realised she really was starving. Relishing the peace in the glade by the summerhouse, she spread her blanket on the grass and ate her sandwiches in the warm sunshine – completely alone. No whispers, no laughter, no craziness. Later, she stretched out with her head on her bag. She was asleep within minutes.

When she woke up, the summer sun had moved lower in the sky, and she was now in the fast-cooling shade.

Gathering her things she headed back up to the school building with some reluctance. Her afternoon of peace had been so pleasant, she wasn’t ready to deal with the situation she was in.

Nearing the building she realised it was later than she thought – the lawn was empty of sunbathing students and in the hallway she could hear the buzz from the dining hall. It must be after seven; everyone was at dinner.

Climbing the stairs to her room she felt a pang of hunger, then remembered that she’d thought to set aside a sandwich and some biscuits for dinner.

I won’t have to face anybody until tomorrow morning.