The Dance in the Dark. Sophie Cleverly

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       Chapter Nine

       IVY

      Scarlet flung open the door of room thirteen and strode in.

      She found me sitting on the bed, arms folded. “Where have you been?” I demanded.

      She looked at me crossly. “I was ill, remember? I went to the sick bay.”

      I stood up. “Except you didn’t. Ariadne and I hurried up there as soon as we could to see if you were all right! Nurse Gladys said she hadn’t even seen you!”

      My twin just glared at me. She hated being caught out in a lie. “It doesn’t matter,” was all she said.

      “It does matter,” I shot back. I wanted to tell her that I was afraid something had happened to her again. The things I’d been seeing and hearing around school had only made it worse.

      “Leave it,” she warned, throwing herself on her bed.

      Suddenly, I noticed something strange. “You weren’t wearing your ballet outfit before!”

      Her face was in her pillow, but she tipped it towards me. “I said, it doesn’t matter. I just wanted to do some ballet, alone, all right?”

      “Fine,” I said. “Well, I’m going to tell Ariadne that you’re not sick, and then I’m going to have a bath and brush my teeth, alone.”

      “I don’t need to know every detail of your life,” she grumbled.

      Hmmph. I got up, picked up my things and headed towards Ariadne’s new dorm. It was some way down the corridor, in the section with the larger dorms for first years.

      Unfortunately, I forgot that visiting Ariadne also meant going past Penny’s door.

      I shut my eyes and held my breath as I walked, as if this would somehow protect me. But as soon as I approached, Penny’s door was yanked open. “So is your sister terribly ill, or do I need to tell everyone that she’s just pretending? I don’t know which I’d prefer.”

      “Shut up, Penny,” I said, and kept on walking.

      “So she’s fine?” Penny put on a mock expression of horror. “And she lied to a teacher?” She pulled out her prefect book and waved it at me. “I’ll be writing that one down.”

      I dug my shoes into the threadbare hall carpet. “Mr Bartholomew’s gone. You’re not his stupid prefect any more.”

      “I’m still a prefect, Grey,” she snapped back. “Which means I can do no wrong.” She smiled sweetly, the sweetness of eating too many chocolates that leads to you being sick. “See you soon.” She slammed the door.

      I gritted my teeth. Ignore her, I told myself as I walked on. Count to ten.

      Thankfully, once I got to my tenth step, Ariadne came out of her dorm, carrying her Rookwood regulation towel, toothbrush and soap. Relieved, I hurried over.

      “Ariadne!” I called out. “Scarlet’s fine. She’s in a complete huff, but otherwise unharmed.”

      “Oh, phew,” my friend said, tucking a lock of mousy hair behind her ear. “Where did she go?”

      “No idea,” I said. “Something to do with ballet. She won’t say.”

      Ariadne shrugged, nearly dropping her towel in the process. “Are you coming to the bathrooms too?”

      I nodded. “Let’s go together. I don’t want to run into … anyone. Else.”

      Ariadne looked at me strangely, but she didn’t say anything.

      I stepped out of the chilly little room with the bath in it, shivering in my nightgown. Ariadne came out of the one next door, but she somehow looked a lot better than I did.

      “Aren’t you cold?” I asked. “Those lukewarm baths are awful.”

      “Oh, Daddy used to make me take cold baths for my ‘health’,” she said disdainfully. “I find these much more pleasant.”

      I laughed, and she grinned.

      We headed back to room thirteen. I knocked politely on the door, just in case Scarlet was changing. “Go away,” came the muffled voice from within.

      Hmmph. СКАЧАТЬ