Part 3 (1/2)

'No, Gary stayed at home . . . I don't know if all is well there,' Amy answered cautiously, 'but I'm keeping right out of it.'

It was only a few months since Amy's dad had come out . . . not just to her, but also to himself. There was no denying that her dad's boyfriend was an addition to her family that Amy was taking some time to adjust to. Before Gary, there had been just the two of them and, to be completely honest, Amy had preferred it that way.

As she turned her head to smile at Gina, the light bounced against her sparkling necklace and Gina exclaimed, 'Show me! Show me all your new jewels.'

With a little scream of excitement, Amy answered: 'Yes! One grand's worth of tax-free bling! I thought you were never going to ask!'

As Gina and Min crowded round her bed for a closer look, she took the dainty diamonds from her ears, undid her many gold and diamond bracelets and handed them over for inspection. Then, proudly, she unhooked her necklace.

It was a substantial gold pendant in the shape of a palm tree, worked in green and gold and studded with diamonds of different sizes, all winking and twinkling even in the light of the sixty-watt bulb hanging under a drab pink shade above their heads.

The St Jude's boarding house was so boring and unglamorous compared to the lives all three of these girls enjoyed back home: Amy lived in a huge white penthouse with jacuzzis, marble floors and a stunning view of the Glasgow city skyline; Min's family home was bright and showy compared to this shabby Victorian building which, although it had been repainted over the summer holidays, still looked worn and old-fas.h.i.+oned.

'Real diamonds?' Gina asked, running her fingers over the sparkling jewellery, although she didn't for a moment doubt it.

'Oh yeah, you'd better believe it, baby,' Amy confirmed, mimicking her friend's Californian tw.a.n.g.

'Will the Neb let you wear these around the boarding house? Will she even let you have them at school?' Min wondered.

'She will not be told,' Amy said. 'How's she to know they're all real?'

Just then the door burst open and a younger girl rushed into the room. Amy, Gina and Min looked at her in surprise.

'Amy!' the girl gushed. 'I just found out you'd been moved to the Iris dorm. I'm just down the corridor in Snowdrop, so we're neighbours!'

'Hi, Rosie . . . er . . . great!' Amy replied, but she didn't sound quite as enthusiastic about this. 'D'you know Rosie?' she asked, looking round at Gina and Min. 'She's in the year below us. Her dad was doing some work with my dad, so we were out in Dubai together and we . . . er . . . hung out.'

'It was so cool!' Rosie confirmed, and began to describe all the things she and Amy had done together. When she finally decided it was time to get back to her unpacking and left the room, Amy turned to Gina and Min.

'My new best friend,' she sighed.

'Well, isn't that a good thing?' Min asked her.

'She's nice,' Amy admitted, 'but I can't be as much of a friend to her here as I was when we were on holiday I've got my own friends, and anyway, she's in the year below . . . You know, it's just not cool.'

'We could all do with a new friend or two now that Niffy is no longer here,' Min added, sounding irritatingly like a teacher.

Just the mention of Niffy's name was enough to bring a cloud of gloom over the dorm.

Niffy had been the other member of the dorm gang last year. No, she'd been more than the other member. She'd been a founding member, a lynch pin. This little dorm of just three beds seemed half-empty without Niffy's long, gangly frame and large personality. She and Amy had always shared dorms since they'd started at St Jude's as boarders when they were eleven. Min had joined them two years later, then Gina last term.

But now, for the foreseeable future, Niffy was living at home and attending a local school because her mother was ill.

'Did everyone hear from Niff in the holidays?' Amy asked.

'Yeah,' both Min and Gina answered. There had been emails, texts and even the odd phone call.

'She sounds OK,' Amy ventured, 'doesn't she? Anyway, she'll be in Edinburgh later this month for the Scottish hockey team trials.'

This news brought a groan from Min. 'Oh no! I'm supposed to be doing that as well. I'm never going to find time to do all this! I'll have to fluff it . . .'

'You're going to try and get into the Scottish hockey team?' Amy asked her. 'On top of your eleven GCSEs?'

'I know . . . can't be done, can it?'

'No!' Amy insisted.

'We're still going to visit Niffy on the first long weekend, aren't we?' Gina asked. She was totally intrigued by the prospect of visiting Niffy at her home the one she'd heard so much about. Blacklough Hall, the ancestral pile, was apparently incredibly grand but falling down around its owners' ears. Gina also wanted to meet Niffy's beloved horse, Ginger, and all her dogs. Maybe they would see her big brother, Finn, as well. Yes, a trip to Blacklough was definitely going to be worth making.

'Yeah, of course we'll see her as much as we can. Poor old Nif,' Amy said, sounding slightly choked.

'She'll be back soon,' Gina soothed. 'I just know she will.'

Twirling her long blonde hair around her finger, Amy knew what would cheer everyone up: 'So . . . have I told you that I met Jason in the holidays?'

This reference to one of the most handsome but infuriatingly off-hand pupils at the boys' school, St Lennox, brought mock screams from both Min and Gina.

'Jason!' Gina asked with wide eyes. 'Did you guys go on a date?'

Amy would only smile and nod, refusing all encouragement, threats or bribes to spill any of the details: the date had been so magical and so brilliant that telling anyone anything about it would just spoil it.

Gorgeous, dark-haired, impossible-to-pin-down Jason had actually travelled to Glasgow, her home town. They'd spent the afternoon in the city centre, visiting all the chicest shops and spending two whole hours just talking as they sipped drinks in the loveliest cafe. Then, holding hands all the way, they had gone back to the huge flat Amy shared with her dad, where Jason had been suitably impressed.

He'd admired the stunning view, the striking modern art and the designer furniture. He'd met her dad and totally taken in his stride how young he was and the fact that Gary was introduced as his boyfriend.

The moment he asked with gentle curiosity where Amy's mum was (to which the reply was: 'She had me at seventeen and gave me up to my teenage dad and his parents; I haven't seen her since'), he'd understood not to ask more. Maybe this was because he had a complicated family story himself, involving parents and step-parents across three different continents.

After dark, her dad had taken them in his chauffeur-driven Jaguar to his newest nightclub; they'd been ushered straight through to the VIP section, where they'd danced and schmoozed till two in the morning.

Jason had left on the train the next morning, after a late brunch out on the terrace. Both of them had drunk one half-strength c.o.c.ktail too many to want to brave the rooftop jacuzzi.

Her dad hadn't exactly warmed to Jason, but as Amy pointed out, he needed to give him a chance and get to know him better.

That aside, the whole date had been wonderful so it was an inexplicable, terrible shame that Amy hadn't heard a single word from Jason since.

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Chapter Six.

Gina, Min and Amy took their seats in the large wood-panelled a.s.sembly hall, where the names of former head girls and team captains were displayed in gold letters; they each carried a pencil and a little piece of paper.

At all the headmistress's big speeches new term, end of term, leavers' day they had always played Banshee Buzzword Bingo. It was Niffy's game, and today they were going to play it in her honour.

'If we didn't play it,' Amy had all but hissed, handing out the squares of paper, 'she'd be horrified.'