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After a subdued breakfast of thick oatmeal, I continue to have my doubts about Lochkelvin. When the son of the Prime Minister seems to have it in for you, what can a girl do? What can girls do in an all-boys school?
Stick together and call out any bullshit.
Strike first.
It’s annoying but maybe Arabella had the right idea. Maybe theyareall bastards. It hasn’t even been a day and already I have detention, purely becausetheystruck first. Physically. With a paperplane.
Freya takes my arm in hers. “Don’t worry about it, Jessa. We’ll support you no matter what.”
“What’s your first class?” Li asks, consulting her schedule. “I’ve got history next.”
“History?” Arabella makes a face. “No one comes to Lochkelvin to studyhistory.”
“Ilikehistory.”
I stare down at my schedule. Part of me is still shaken about what just happened. It wasn’t even the lying that got to me, it was Headmistress Baxter’s insistence that it was somehow my fault. What made the twelve-year-old kid more believable than me?
Either way, I feel like I should trust my instincts more. I didn’t take to Arabella when I first met her, and now that I know how awful her aunt is…?
I try to walk away from her, but Arabella tugs the arm Freya isn’t holding.
“It’s politics for me next — I assume it’ll be the same for you, Jessa — I think the classroom’s this way.” She says all this in one huge rush, her eyes gleaming at the prospect of whatever world domination she has planned for politics class.
Freya pauses beside Becca. “I’ve got geography.”
“Ooh, same here,” says Becca, looking quietly thrilled.
Arabella gestures vaguely at her. “But you’re…”
Becca raises an eyebrow. “Royal? I don’tcareabout politics. And anyway, I was always the least important one, being born an hour after Loopy Luke.”
With a heavy sigh, Arabella looks at me with the kind of disgust her aunt held for me earlier. “Okay, so we’re the only two doing the subject Lochkelvin is most celebrated for. I had higher hopes, but fine. Everything’s fine.” She gives me an even glance. “We need to stick together, Jessa. I’m telling you. None of that stuff at breakfast would have happened if you’d just stuck by me.”
And if your aunt wasn’t an evil old toad, I want to add but I bite my lip. I really, really don’t want to get into any more trouble, and I certainly don’t want to start picking fights with the girls.
I’ve had my fair share of trouble already, and it’s only day one.
Work hard.
Stick with the girls.
Stay out of trouble.
Arabella drops my arm and the two of us walk side by side together. Still, this doesn’t stop the younger boys from whisper-shouting, “Lezzers!” at us as we pass.
I ignore it, for some reason kind of amused by how utterly pathetic every boy in this school is, but Arabella stiffens. “Just ignore them,” she mutters, but I have a feeling she’s not telling this to me.
“Great,” someone drawls in a voice that sounds instantly antagonistic. I’m not surprised to find Rory, his back straight and his eyes rolling up toward the ceiling. “We’re getting minorities of minorities of minorities. Whatisthis school becoming?”
What’s that, then? Gay, American and female. So witty. Much fun. In an equally dry voice, I point out, “Womenaren’ta minority.”
He presses his face close to mine and answers, quick as a flash, “They are at Lochkelvin. For good reason.”
I’m still scowling by the time we enter the classroom. Only a few people are there when we arrive, and unfortunately Rory’s one of them. My ankle is throbbing after climbing three flights of stairs to get here. Part of me wonders if all this stair-climbing is doing it any good. It has to be better than staying in bed and feeling sorry for myself, which had been my primary rehabilitation before Lochkelvin. Still, I’m glad to finally sit down—
Which is what I do, landing hard onto the floor with a slam. My cheek presses against the cold stone, my palms grazed and red. I blink up at the pair of shiny black shoes, followed by the long legs attached to them, and then to the broad blazered chest boasting the Lochkelvin crest. He’s so tall that I have to lean up to get a good look at him.
