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‘Is she…?’ asks Tris.
Mother’s face loses all expression, like when things are very bad at home. ‘I believe so.’
I gasp and Tris presses a fist to his lips, which have gone completely white. ‘It was self-defence,’ says Tris, his words catching.
Mother strokes his hair, too hard.
‘She’s been flirting with me all term – hasn’t she, Frankie?’
I stare at him.
‘Did you or your friends ever see any of this?’ Mother says, watching me.
I shake my head.
‘Are you sure?’ she says, holding my gaze.
‘There was that time,’ says Tris, ‘after we gave her that necklace, and she held me back, to thank me personally.’
I don’t remember this.
‘You saw, didn’t you? Or was it just Mina and Lydia? She tried to kiss me. Then there was the time she followed me into the store cupboard. She… she tried to touch me. You told everyone.’
We told everyone. It wasn’t true. But now… Is it true now?
Tristan’s eyes go wide again. ‘How long will they take to get here?’
‘Eakin said twenty-five minutes.’ Mother checks her watch. ‘That was five minutes ago.’
‘Oh God,’ says Tris, and he almost falls back into the fountain but I catch him.
‘Don’t worry, darling boy,’ says Mother, hugging him, pressing his face into her chest. ‘You’re just a child. She attacked you. It was self-defence.’
He nods. ‘I know. It’s just…’ He looks up at her and he looks so young I can barely believe it. He looks over at me.
‘I’m sorry,’ he says, to me, to Mother. He shakes his head. ‘I forgot about the tape.’
‘What tape?’
‘We were filming the session.’
‘But that’s good – that’s great,’ I say. ‘It’s evidence.’
‘But it…’ He starts crying. ‘Oh God,’ he says.
My mother closes her eyes. ‘Frances, tell your friends to walk back to our house – the back way. You’re going to get the tape and go out the back of the school and destroy it the moment you get home. Has anyone seen you here tonight?’
I nod, thinking of the boarders. ‘But the tape is good for us,’ I say.
‘No,’ says Tris. ‘It doesn’t look good.’
‘I thought you said?—’
‘It won’t look like it really was. We… we were acting.’
Acting what?
Mother squeezes my shoulder. ‘You’re going to get that tape, Frances. I have to be here when the police arrive. But you and your friends, you weren’t here when I arrived. You got tired of waiting and left before I got here. You decided to walk.’
