Part 15 (1/2)

Sheer, raw panic.

Everyone froze.

Darius snuffed the candle. Charlotte gripped Laura's hand in terror.

”h.e.l.lo? Who's in there?”

Jenkins obviously hadn't got the key to the padlock. The front windows which looked across the fields were shuttered so he couldn't see in from that side at least. They heard him walk around the building to the back windows.

The stillness. The terror.

Eight of them stuck in the freezing darkness of the wooden building facing exposure at any moment.

The broken window wasn't shuttered but it was closed, and it was a smaller window than the front ones. The moon was also s.h.i.+ning on the front ones rather than the back. If they remained in the shadows, completely still, and Jenkins couldn't see in clearly then perhaps, perhaps he wouldn't see them.

Except the smoke. The d.a.m.n cigarette smoke. It must reek in the night air, Laura thought. Would he have a torch with him?

She closed her eyes; it was actually hard to breathe properly. The fear in the room was sobering. They had felt invincible but the reality was instant expulsion if they were discovered: catastrophic for the St Duncan's Sixth formers who were mid-way through university applications.

The eight of them waited for several minutes. Jenkins had gone past the window and round to the front again, rattling the door one more time.

”If there's anyone in there I'm calling the police.”

Then there was silence.

Cat-like, Susie made her way to the front windows and managed to peer through a tiny c.h.i.n.k where the wooden shutter had warped.

”He's gone. He's half way back to the gate.”

Laura felt like crying. There were plenty of oaths under people's breath.

”We'll have to get out quickly, he might come back with reinforcements,” Julian said.

”And the key.”

One by one they clambered out of the window as quickly and quietly as they could. Darius and Julian pa.s.sed the remainders of the feast through, mainly empty bottles and crisps.

”Hold on,” said Susie. ”Someone has to p.i.s.s in there.”

”What?” Charlotte looked at her as though she was mad.

”Jenkins knows there was someone in here. They'll be over this place with a toothcomb first thing tomorrow, probably with the police too. We need to make them think it's a tramp.”

She grabbed an old rug from the pavilion that they'd been sitting on, and trampled it into the mud below the window. Then she poured some beer dregs on it and tossed it back into the room. ”That's his bed. Now throw in a couple of f.a.g ends and one - no two - empty bottles. Now one of you boys go in and do the business.”

At a nod from Julian one of the three rugby players went back in. They all waited for him.

”In the corner and a bit on the blanket. Let's hope that does it,” he reported on exit.

”Short of throwing a battered old hat and a spotted kerchief on a stick to completely over-egg the pudding, I should think we're done,” Darius said.

Laura was simply horrified by the whole situation. It was bad enough to sneak out but to foul the place up was unbearably wrong.

She wasn't even aware, nor did she really care, how the boys got back to the gate. She, Charlotte and Susie hurried off back to Michaelmas House trying to keep to the shadows as far as possible. They took their shoes off at the bottom of the fire escape to climb up with minimum noise. They crept into the dorm where Margery was gently snoring and slid into their beds, fully clothed.

Everything was flas.h.i.+ng in Laura's mind when she tried to sleep. She kept imagining the worst scenarios. And what was Mr Rydell going to say if she got expelled? She hadn't been able to tell him about the party as they hadn't spoken alone since half term How she wished she could be with him now: safe, holding her, soothing away the fear.

24. Covering tracks.

They were disarmed the next morning by a surprisingly sincere apology from Susie. ”I should never have dragged you guys into it, it was totally unfair. I know you didn't really like the idea. I thought I had it all sorted and I didn't. Actually that's not quite true, I knew it was a huge risk which was part of the fun, but it was totally unfair to put that on you.”

”It's ok, we agreed to come and it was your birthday. You don't owe us an apology,” Charlotte said.

”I do. And the tramp thing, it's foul to have done that on school property. I never meant that to happen but I was running out of ideas.”

Laura had woken up that morning feel less revulsed and more relieved by Susie's strategy. ”I think it was smart, actually. Otherwise they would start sniffing around and the pressure might get too much.”

They all knew she meant Margery. Not that Margery would tell directly, but she might give the game away by her reaction to any questioning.

”Who ended up winning by the way?” Charlotte asked.

”I was ahead by a mile, more's the pity. The boys will be toasting old Jenkins for years to come.”

”We'll look on this one day and laugh,” Laura said. ”Happy birthday by the way.”

”Thanks. It will be a happy one if we continue to get away with this,” Susie said.

Charlotte looked at Laura anxiously. ”Will you tell Mr Rydell?”

It was something Laura had been uncertain about. She had had so little time to speak with him since half term and Susie's plan had been so last minute.

”I'll probably mention it, but not every detail.”

”He won't tell will he? He might feel obligated.” Charlotte was worried.

”Of course he won't tell. If he felt some overwhelming moral duty to report misbehaviour he'd start with himself. Keeping quiet about an illicit party pales in comparison to s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g one of your pupils, doesn't it?” Susie said.

Laura felt conflicted. She realised that it could compromise him to tell him certain things. He still had his duties as a teacher and it was dangerous enough for him to be in a relations.h.i.+p with her. She couldn't make him complicit in their rule-breaking as well.

”You know thinking about it I don't think I'll say anything. Not now anyway. Maybe ages later in the future when it really doesn't matter anymore,” she said.

After all, he must have secrets he didn't tell her. He must hear things about her friends from other teachers, or know things that he didn't burden her with. Ultimately it was Susie's secret: her birthday, her idea, and she who had done her best to save them all from disaster.

Susie was in two minds about attending detention that day. It was her birthday after all, and spending valuable leisure hours cooped up yet again did not seem appealing or fair. She knew that the flawless work in her Geography exercise book was a growing gun.