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“Are you serious? A hundred francs?”
Light from the chandelier above her bed catches Hazel’s shining dark hair in a half-halo as she nods her head without saying a word.
“They’re like four francs a pack, maybe five down in Zermatt.”
“Sure they are,” Hazel says with a dark smile. “Assuming you can leave the grounds. Can you leave the grounds?”
“That’s robbery.”
“That’s business. Supply and demand. That’s what gets people like us to places like this.”
Hazel isn’t wrong, but she is an asshole.
“Alright. Fine.”
“Fine, you want the cigarettes?”
“How much is one? If a pack of twenty is a hundred, then one should be five francs. Right?”
“Plus a handling fee,” Hazel says. “So. Ten.”
Storm does not appreciate this lesson in capitalism, but she buys one cigarette from Hazel. Not to smoke. Just to have. Just so she feels like Laura didn’t win today.
Going back to her room, she stashes the cigarette and matches beneath the mattress, feeling a deep sense of satisfaction. She’s still her own person. She still makes her own decisions. And they’re still really fucking bad.
Storm is not the only one with a head full of trouble. In very short order, her classmates join her, drawn by their own curiosity and guilt.
“Hey.” Penners strides in, trailed by Melissa. “What happened? Are we in the clear?”
“Ohhhh,” Storm sucks a breath in through her teeth. “Yeah. Okay. You’re going to both want to take some leave.”
“Why?” Penners asks the question with a taut kind of panic, drawing herself up into a statuesque position somewhat reminiscent of a meerkat.
“Why!?” Melissa repeats the question, but in a gasping tone as she tucks up and behind Penners as if that is going to do her any good.
“Yeah, J… Miss Strict got the truth out of me. So you guys can expect to be called to her office sooner or later. Do you have leave? I would seriously take it.”
“But what about when we get back? Won’t we still be in trouble then?” Melissa says, chewing her nails.
“Maybe. Or maybe things will have moved on since then? This place seems like it’s on the verge of falling apart.”
“It is not!” Penners is instantly offended. “This is an institution with a storied history going back over a hundred years. My mother went here, and her mother before her. It’s not going to fall apart before we get back from leave!”
“That depends on how long you take leave, and how fast it falls apart.”
Storm is feeling philosophical, mostly due to the fact she’s already braved Jane and experienced the consequences of her actions. Now she’s doing Penners and Melissa a solid by letting them know what’s coming for them.
“I say we just go to Miss Strict and explain ourselves,” Penners says. “She might be understanding if we make a confession.”
Storm disagrees with that assessment immediately. “She’s definitely going to cane you both for lying to her. To be very honest, I think I made it worse for you, if anything.”
Melissa starts to cry softly, which makes Storm feel really rather bad.
“Do what I’m saying. Go on leave. You’re allowed leave.”
“It’s Monday, Storm,” Penners says. “Maybe if it were the weekend we could go.”
“Then make yourselves scarce. There’s no more classes for today. So just stay out of the way until tomorrow. Skip dinner, and then skip breakfast. I’ll bring you some food. I know! You can hide up in the attic. It’ll be fun!”
