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“But Margaret is being very good,” said Caroline. All the same, she obediently put the pig on the floor under the table.
Aunt Glenda sneezed reproachfully. These days she was obviously allergic to soft toys too.
* * *
ALTHOUGH XEMERIUS had promised to guard the chronograph with his life (at this point I laughed, if not very heartily) and tell me at once if Charlotte was trying to get into my room, I couldn’t stop wondering what would happen if the Guardians got their hands on the chronograph. But brooding was no use. I had to get through the day somehow and hope for the best. First on my to-do list: I got off the bus one stop early to find a cure for my weariness in Starbucks.
“Can you add three espressos to a caramel macchiato?” I asked the guy behind the counter.
“If you give me your mobile number,” he said, grinning.
I took a rather closer look at him and grinned back, feeling flattered. With his dark hair and long fringe, he reminded me of one of those good-looking guys from a French feature film. Of course he was good-looking only until I compared him with Gideon in my mind, which stupidly I did at once.
“She already has a boyfriend,” someone said behind me. It was Raphael; his green eyes were twinkling at me when I turned around, frowning. “Anyway she’s too young for you, as you can easily tell from her school uniform. A caffè latte and a cranberry muffin, please.”
I rolled my eyes and took my specially strong brew with an apologetic smile. “I don’t have a boyfriend, as it happens, but right now I do have … well, kind of a time problem. Ask me again in another two years.”
“I will,” said the guy.
“He won’t, you know,” said Raphael. “Bet you he asks every pretty girl for her phone number.”
I simply walked off, but Raphael caught up with me. “Hey, hang on! Sorry I disturbed your flirtation.” He looked suspiciously at his coffee. “Do you think he spat in this?”
I took a large sip from my paper cup and promptly burnt my lips, tongue, and the front of my palate. When I could think again, I wondered whether an intravenous coffee injection might not have been a better idea.
“I went to the cinema with that girl Celia from our class yesterday,” Raphael went on. “Terrific girl. Amazingly pretty and funny, don’t you think?”
“Uh?” I said with my nose in the milk foam. (The company of Xemerius was beginning to infect me.)
“We had a lot of fun together,” he went on. “Only don’t tell Lesley. She might feel jealous.”
I had to laugh. How sweet—he was trying to manipulate me. “Okay. I’ll be silent as the grave.”
“So you really do think she might be jealous?” asked Raphael eagerly.
“Oh, sure, green with jealousy. Seeing that there’s no one called Celia in our class.”
Raphael rubbed his nose, looking awkward. “That blonde? The one throwing the party?”
“Cynthia.”
“I really did go to the cinema with her, though,” said Raphael, unhappily. The school uniform, with its unfortunate combination of dismal yellow and navy blue, looked even worse on him than on us. And the way he ran his hand through his hair reminded me of Nick and appealed to my maternal feelings. I thought he’d earned a reward for not being as arrogant and high-handed as his big brother.
“I’ll break it to Lesley gently, okay?” I offered.
He smiled hesitantly. “But don’t tell her I got the names mixed up.… Oh, better not tell her anything … or maybe—”
“You just leave it to me.” As we parted, I gave his tie a little tug. “Hey, congratulations! You tied it properly today.”
“Cindy did it for me,” said Raphael with a wry grin. “Or whatever her name is.”
* * *
OUR FIRST CLASS that day was English with Mr. Whitman. He acknowledged my apologies on behalf of Charlotte with a nod, although I couldn’t resist drawing quotation marks in the air with my fingers around the word sick.
“You should have brought it with you,” Lesley whispered, as Mr. Whitman handed out our marked homework from last week.
“What, the chronograph? To school? Are you crazy? Suppose Mr. Whitman discovered it! Poor Mr. Squirrel, he’d have a heart attack. Quite apart from the fact that he’d tell his friends the other Guardians right away, and then they would hang, draw, and quarter me, or break me on the wheel, or do whatever else their stupid Golden Rules say is the penalty for a case like mine.” I handed Lesley the key to the chest. “Here you are, the key to your heart. I really wanted to give it to Raphael, but I suppose you wouldn’t like that.”
