Night School: Legacy

‘Do you think she’s faking it?’ Allie whispered. ‘I mean, Isabelle’s making her see a shrink and everything.’


Rachel didn’t seem reassured. ‘I don’t want this to sound mean, but Jo’s a master at manipulation and deception – anybody who grew up the way she did would be. And she’s just had this huge awful thing happen in her life yet she’s still normal, bubbly Jo.’ She shrugged. ‘Something doesn’t seem right. She could have one of her meltdowns. So, just … keep an eye on her.’

Allie nodded. ‘I will.’

‘And be careful with all this,’ Rachel gesturing vaguely, ‘stuff you’re getting involved with. Watch your back.’

‘It’s not like I’ll be alone,’ Allie pointed out. ‘I’ll have your dad to look out for me.’

She didn’t like the look Rachel gave her.

‘Just because he likes you, don’t think he’ll treat you any differently from anyone else. He’s tougher than you think.’

‘I’m ready,’ Allie promised, wondering if she was.


‘Welcome to Cimmeria Academy. All new students please line up on the left. Returning students on the right.’

Isabelle stood on a small white platform at the far end of the great hall. She wasn’t shouting, but her powerful voice somehow soared above the din of two hundred chattering students. It was the first day of the autumn term, and Allie and Rachel stood in the queue on the right wearing identical crisp, white, long-sleeved shirts with dark blue crests, tucked into short, dark blue pleated skirts.

‘God, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s good to be back in this stupid uniform,’ Allie said, straightening the hem of her skirt.

‘I hear you.’ Rachel wrinkled her nose. ‘And yet I disagree.’

The two studied the new students in the queue across from them.

‘They all look so young and nervous,’ Allie said. ‘Did I look like that when I started?’

‘Of course not.’ Rachel flipped her long, curly ponytail over one shoulder and quickly changed the subject. ‘The place looks incredible, doesn’t it?’

‘Totally.’ Allie followed her gaze up the walls, panelled with oak, and out into the hallway, where the polished wood floors shone and the chandeliers sparkled without a speck of dust. ‘I can’t believe we did it. All that work …’ She flexed her fingers and admired her healing blisters. ‘There’s still loads to do but at least the main stuff is finished.’

‘And can I just say, TFFT,’ Rachel replied. ‘I’ve had enough book sorting and stacking, painting and sweeping to last a lifetime.’

The last ten days had been intense and non-stop. Walls had been scrubbed and painted, heavy Oriental rugs taken away to be cleaned then returned, floors polished, and furniture moved in and out of rooms endlessly. Each day involved a haze of work that had left her too tired at the end for anything except tumbling into bed. Many rooms were still being worked on, but enough of the building had been restored to allow the term to start on time.

‘Allie.’

She turned around to see a girl studying her expressionlessly as the sunlight highlighted her long red hair and illuminated her milky white skin.

‘Oh,’ Allie put her hands in her pockets and tried to look casual. ‘Hi, Katie.’

Katie seemed uncomfortable – she fidgeted with the hem of a dark blue jumper that Allie was certain must have been tailored to fit her so annoyingly perfectly. ‘Can I talk to you for a minute?’

Allie and Rachel exchanged an intrigued look. ‘I’ll hold your place.’ Rachel nudged her.

Allie followed Katie to a quiet corner.

‘You know what happened last term, with you saving everybody and everything?’ Katie said.

Thinking of a thousand sarcastic responses, Allie nodded and kept her face blank.

‘And we worked together and it was all good?’

Another nod, this one suspicious.

‘Well, it was important, and I’m really glad we did it, but I don’t think we should be friends, OK? I mean … despite that stuff. It was great, and you weren’t as big a moron as you usually are but I can’t really hang out with you. I don’t really like you, to be completely honest. Well, most of the time, anyway. So what I wanted to say was, please don’t expect us to be best mates or anything.’

Speechless, Allie tried to decide how to respond. An unwelcome thought crossed her mind that it seemed wrong that someone could be so pretty and so … awful.

A long uncomfortable silence passed. Then finally, shaking her head, Allie turned and walked away. ‘Whatever.’

When she returned to her place in the queue, Rachel’s eyebrows shot skyward, but Allie shook her head in disgust.

‘Anyway,’ Rachel said, ‘where were we?’

‘I think we were talking about what amazing workers we are,’ Allie said, but then the absurdity of her conversation with Katie overwhelmed her and she burst into a sudden bout of uncontrollable giggles.

Rachel looked puzzled but soon was laughing along with her. ‘I don’t know why I’m laughing exactly but I have a pretty good idea.’