by Anne Digby
When it was time for him to leave, just before tea-time, she'd walked with him as far as main school. He'd wheeled his cycle alongside.
'I'll show you the short cut. There's another gate down on to the beach, from the copse behind Juniper House. It'll save you about half a mile.'
Rebecca was also keeping an eager look-out for her friends. The first coach from the station had just trundled past them and quite a few taxis as well.
As they crossed the cobbled yard at the back of Juniper House, they saw a taxi pull up. A short figure in a woollen dress got out with a small suitcase and paid the driver. It was Naomi Cook, back from the half-term holiday with her family, and not looking any the happier for it, Rebecca noted. Presumably that rusted old van of her father's had finally packed up as expected.
Deeply preoccupied, intent on reaching the junior boarding house, Naomi passed within a few metres of them, head down.
Cliff, who'd been in the middle of telling Rebecca a joke, suddenly turned his head and called:
'Hello, Ruthie. Want a lift?'
Startled, Naomi glanced round, stared straight through Cliff without recognition, then hurried on her way. She hadn't even noticed Rebecca.
'Cut it out, Cliff!' said Rebecca. Cliff acting stupid, as usual! 'Go away! I'm not with you – I don't think I know you!'
'I thought it was a kid at our school!' Cliff said, pretending to look hurt. 'Now, where was I –?'
He finished the joke and it made Rebecca laugh, a lot.
It was only after he'd gone that the unlikely thought entered her head, only to be dismissed as she raced back to Court House to see if her friends had arrived.
THIRTEEN
ACTION COMMITTEE TRIUMPH
It was Saturday afternoon. 'The six' were aching from head to foot. Holly Thomas was with them and she was aching, too. As a special privilege today, they'd let her join in the activities of the Senior Action Committee.
Or, rather, in-activities. They'd been hiding uncomfortably in the thick shrubbery at the back of Juniper House for well over an hour now!
From this hiding-place they had a perfect view over the cobbled courtyard behind the junior boarding house, across to the back door.
If the thief were someone from outside school, this would be their most likely point of entry. It would be so easy for them to come up from the beach, through the little wicket gate and then the copse. They'd hardly be likely to use Juniper's main entrance: the big double doors which fronted on to the school quadrangle. They'd be too easily seen.
The oak table in the hall, where Holly's Walkman had been left and, later, the chocolates, was visible from either entrance.
'lf it's an outside person,' Holly had said dubiously, and Rebecca had glared at her.
Now, on a low wall by the back door, the bait had been temptingly placed.
'What shall we club together and buy then?' Tish had asked that morning. 'We can't do chocolates again, that's corny.'
'I'm not sure we need to buy anything, after all,' Rebecca had replied. She'd been giving the matter careful thought. 'I think your Gold would do very nicely, Tish.'
'WHA–AT? I don't want that pinched!'
The 'Gold', as it was called, was the brilliant red and gold striped scarf, with gold tassels, that only members of the school's First Hockey Eleven were allowed to own.
'We're going to be keeping watch, aren't we, Tish?' Mara had said, her brown eyes shining with excitement. She'd seen Rebecca in this sort of mood before. Mara, more than the others, sensed intuitively that Rebecca had some kind of secret theory of her own. Perhaps she already knew who the thief was!
She even seemed to know what time the thief usually came: not very long after lunch on a Saturday afternoon. Why else had she kept insisting that this was the best time to keep watch?
So here they were.
And there, on the little wall by the back door, was the gold-tasselled scarf.
But the sense of excitement that Rebecca had engendered was beginning to wear thin, even with Mara.
They'd been here since a quarter to two and it had now just turned three o'clock! At regular intervals juniors had passed in and out of the rear door, going about their business, walking straight by the scarf. As for an outside person, the only outside person who'd come by was the dairyman with ten huge crates of milk for the weekend.
'I'm stiff,' complained Elf.
'I'm fed up with having to crouch down all the time!' agreed Margot.
'My bad leg's hurting,' said Holly. She was very slightly lame. 'I don't think the thief's an outside person! If it's someone who's inside Juniper already they won't even see Tish's Gold! They could be indoors pinching something else right now.'
'Do shut up, Holly,' said Rebecca edgily.
'Oh, Rebecca,' said Mara anxiously, 'what about our maths?'
The first GCSE mock exam the previous day hadn't gone particularly well for either Rebecca or Mara. And another maths paper loomed on Monday.
Being reminded of exams completely unsettled everybody, even Tish.
'Oh, blow this for a bit of fun,' she said. 'We've all got plenty to do, especially you, Rebeck! Why don't we just pick up the Gold and go?'
'The junior action committee'll just have to work a bit harder, Holly,' said Elf apologetically. 'You'll have to go it alone.'
Rebecca felt a crushing sense of disappointment.
It looked as though her outlandish theory was just exactly that. Bizarre! She'd been leaping to conclusions, hadn't she, on very little evidence? Thank goodness she'd resisted the temptation to tell the others. Her own common sense had told her how silly the theory was . . .
'OK?' said Tish. She stood up from her hiding-place, her head showing over the top of the bushes; yawned and stretched. 'I'll just go and collect the Gold, shall I, and we'll call it a day – Hey?'
Rebecca had suddenly seized her by the arm and was dragging her back out of sight.
'Get down, Tish!' she hissed. 'Quickly! I heard something!'
A clanking sound, in the copse. There was someone there with a large bicycle, leaning it against a tree.
The small figure then came up through the copse from the direction of the beach, darting from tree to tree, furtively.
They all ducked and froze like statues as, a minute later, the girl appeared in the cobbled courtyard in front of them and tiptoed to the back door.
She glanced around, saw the scarf and started to finger it.
She looked around once more, to see if the coast was clear, then started to roll it up into a neat, tight bundle.
'Naomi Cook!' whispered Holly, breathless with excitement. 'May Ling was right all along!'
'And you were wrong, Rebeck,' whispered Sue, amazed.
Tish, seeing her precious scarf disappear, rolled up, inside the girl's denim jacket, yelled out:
'CHARGE!'
The other six surged out of the bushes, ran across the courtyard and grabbed her. She wriggled and squirmed and threshed around, but she couldn't escape.
'Got you, Naomi!'
'Hand over that scarf, please, it's the only one I've got.'
'You rotten little thief, Naomi! Where's my Walkman?'
Rebecca brought up the rear, taking her time.
'Let's have a look at her,' she said. 'Stand back a bit, can't you, Holly?'
The girl stopped struggling as Rebecca confronted her and gazed into her face. Yes, all the familiar features: small and pale, framed by fairish hair. Tearful.
But the expression was different. Sullen; rebellious.
'You're not Naomi, are you?' said Rebecca, indignantly. 'You're her twin sister, Ruth.'
'What of it!' cried the girl, and she burst into tears.
The rest of the Action Committee watched open-mouthed as Rebecca took the girl firmly by the arm and led her into the building, through to Miss Morgan's office.
Ten minutes later Miss Morgan's car left, with Ruth Cook inside and Mr Cook's old bicycle tied to the car's roof-rack. The junior housemis
tress drove to a big housing estate on the far fringes of the town, recovered Holly Thomas's Walkman, Jay Larcombe's blazer and an unopened box of chocolates from their hiding-place in Ruth Cook's bedroom, and then returned to school.
Naomi meanwhile was still at netball practice.
When Cliff had called Naomi 'Ruthie', it struck a chord. The names Ruth and Naomi had started running through Rebecca's mind. Weren't they in the Bible? Weren't they famous for being completely inseparable? That same evening, quoting from the book of Ruth, Sue had confirmed her recollection.
The Ruth and Naomi in the Bible hadn't been twins, of course, but daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. But they'd been inseparable! If Mr and Mrs Cook had had twin baby girls, wouldn't those names have been rather appropriate? Or was she just letting her imagination run away with her . . . ?
She'd rung Cliff, on the Wednesday night, asking him casually if he knew Ruthie's surname. She wasn't going to suggest that the girl might be a thief, it was such a crazy thought, really!
'Her surname? Haven't a clue!' Cliff had replied. 'She's just a kid I've teased once or twice at school for looking such a misery boots. Nothing like that other girl, really. I don't know why I thought it was her! What would she he doing visiting Holloway Prison, anyway?'
'Oh, Clïff!' Rebecca had smiled.
That should have been the end of it.
After all, it was just too fantastic to imagine that Naomi had a twin sister and had kept it secret. That would be ludicrous. If you had a twin you'd be bound to talk about her at school.
Yet the thought persisted. Partly because of the girl she'd caught the merest glimpse of, cycling up the lane that day. And partly because of the two words Cliff had used: 'misery boots'.
A picture had flashed into her mind. Of a sullen face pressed to the rear window of that rusted van, somewhere off the motorway, when she'd been coming back to school at the beginning of term.
Such an uncharacteristic expression, she hadn't even been sure that it was Naomi.
Well, supposing it hadn't been? Supposing she did have a twin, called Ruth, and that had been Ruth's face at the window, refusing to get out of the van, refusing even to come out to the coach and see Naomi off?
All this simmered in the back of Rebecca's mind as she pored over her books, preparing for her mock GCSEs, bracing herself for the first exam on Friday.
And it wasn't till Saturday morning that it hit her – what May Ling had said in Moffatt's!
'I thought it was Naomi, it looked like her. But the face, well maybe . . . maybe it wasn't Naomi's expression.'
How crushing Rebecca had been. But was it possible? Had the little Chinese girl hit the nail right on the head?
There was no more time to be lost!
Rebecca had insisted that the Action Committee (senior version) be revivified! She'd dragged them – reluctant except for Mara, and of course young Holly, murmuring about their mocks – back into battle.
And they'd triumphed again!
FOURTEEN
FIFTH YEAR FRIENDSHIPS
'What an amazing story!' sighed Mara, on the Sunday afternoon.
Tempted by the watery sunshine, 'the six' were sitting out on the balcony, spilling down the fire escape, too, taking a break from their books. It was spring that had brought them outside. Spring was arriving! The snowdrops had gone, the crocuses were dying back and the first flowering of daffodils had begun, splashes of yellow in the Court House garden down below.
'Amazing,' agreed Margot. She sat at the top of the metal staircase, her long legs drawn up, chin resting on knees; 'It's like something out of a book.'
'The Book of Ruth,' said Sue.
'What was that quotation, Sue?' asked Tish. 'Give it to us again.'
'Ruth, Chapter One,' said Sue. 'Ruth pleads with Naomi:
'''Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried.'"
They all fell silent.
'What I can't understand, Rebeck,' said Tish, after a while, 'is why the School Governors didn't offer to split the top scholarship between them, seeing they scored identical marks.'
'But they did!' explained Rebecca. She'd had a long, long talk with Naomi the night before. 'And put some more money towards it as well, as much as the bursary fund would stand, to make it a two-thirds scholarship each. But that meant Mr and Mrs Cook would still have to find something. It was impossible for them. The twins thought it was silly that one of them shouldn't benefit and have the free place so –' Rebecca swallowed hard. 'They tossed a coin. Would you believe it? A coin. And Naomi won.'
'But that's terrible!' said Tish, in horror.
Rebecca nodded.
'Yes. They thought it was a brilliant idea at the time but it was stupid. They'd no idea how much they were going to miss each other. On top of that, Ruth's school was terrible and she got bullied, and she got more and more resentful that Naomi had been the 'lucky' one. And Naomi got more and more miserable because she felt so guilty that she'd won the toss. Miss Morgan kept trying to get her to talk about her twin, but she'd start crying every time the name Ruth was mentioned, so Miss Morgan gave up. It was a no-go area.'
Rebecca continued: 'Well, anyway, the family moved down here after Christmas, they were so worried. They knew Caxton High was a good school, because they've got some relatives here, on the same estate. And they thought the twins would feel better, knowing they weren't so far apart.'
'But it just made things worse?' hazarded the others.
'Yes. So near and yet so far! That was the effect it had on Naomi. And of course poor little Ruth, catching glimpses of Trebizon uniform around the town, well – it just constantly reminded her! Made her feel even more furious. Also, they'd made these secret plans to meet in Juniper's copse on Saturday afternoons, the only time Ruth's dad doesn't miss his bike because he's always glued to Grandstand! And that soon turned sour –'
'Because Naomi got roped in for netball practice?' exclaimed Elf. 'Why didn't she make up an excuse to Jay?'
'Because she's too honest,' said Rebecca.
They all looked at her.
'You always said she was honest,' admitted Sue.
'I think I must have seen Ruth once!' Margot suddenly realized. 'Going into Woolworths. I thought it was Naomi. I thought she must have got permission.'
Rebecca gazed into space. She reflected that Ruth must actually have been carrying the Walkman, that day she saw her from the car, with Robbie. In the big toolbox on the back of her father's bike!
'So then Ruth started coming anyway,' said Tish. 'D'you think she planned to pinch things?'
'I'm sure she didn't,' said Rebecca. 'I think she just hoped each time that Naomi might cut netball practice and stick to the original plan. Then this compulsion would come over her: the need to compensate, for not getting her fair share! After all, she'd won the scholarship, too – so why shouldn't she take something of Trebizon back home with her!'
Later, Rebecca discovered that once or twice, secretly in her bedroom at nights, Ruth had dressed herself in Jay Larcombe's blazer, plugged Holly's earphones in and listened to the Walkman, the unopened box of chocolates beside her. Pretending she was at Trebizon! Pretending that she and Naomi were there together, having fun, and this was their dormitory.
'I've got to go now,' said Rebecca, looking at her watch. She got to her feet. She'd promised to help Naomi pack her trunk. 'See you at the tea party then? Four o'clock. Don't be late, or I'll kill you.'
'What d'you think we are?' protested Sue.
In spite of all that had passed, the little leaving party that Miss Morgan gave for Naomi, in her own flat, was not an unhappy occasion. She'd rustled up some delicious eats from the school cooks: little flaky sausage rolls, cheese-flavoured crisps, platefuls of iced fairy cakes and a huge chocolate sponge with cream in the middle.
&
nbsp; Naomi was dignified and composed, at peace with herself at last. How much better she looks now! thought Rebecca.
The 'six' had been invited, Tish's Action Committee, as well as its junior version – Holly, Harriet, Sara and May. And Jay Larcombe. And two girls from One Alpha that Naomi particularly liked and had wanted to be there.
'I was going to put you in the netball team next week, Naomi,' Jay said regretfully. 'You'll make Caxton High's junior team, I'm sure.'
'When you come and play us, we won't know who to cheer for,' May Ling added sweetly.
Holly Thomas, discomforted by the whole situation, had agonized with Sue about making a present of her new Walkman to the twins. 'Their parents would never let them accept it,' Sue had pointed out.
But earlier, while they were packing the trunk, Rebecca had given Naomi a leaving present, two of her tennis rackets.
'Are you sure?' asked Naomi, gazing at them in delight.
'Of course I'm sure!' Rebecca had exclaimed. 'I get them free!' At least I did, she thought – remembering. She smiled. 'You and Ruth should try it. It's not a bad game. And you'll like Caxton High,' she added. She knew it was a good school; as good as Trebizon though very different. 'My friend Cliff will keep a look-out for you. I'll get news of you through Cliff.'
'Does that mean we can still be, well, sort of friends, Rebecca?' Naomi had asked then.
'Always!' nodded Rebecca.
After the party, Rebecca waited behind to help load Naomi's things into Miss Morgan's car. It was time to see her off.
As they stood by the car, there came the sound of footsteps across the cobbles. Rebecca turned and saw Miss Welbeck. The principal had walked all the way over from her house to say goodbye in person.
As juniors crowded at the windows to watch, Miss Welbeck took Naomi's hand. Rebecca thought how elegant she looked, in a beautiful designer suit; the wavy hair, touched with grey, framing the scholarly face.
'Goodbye, Naomi. Our loss will be your new school's gain. You are going to do very, very well, you know. I expect great things of you. I expect to hear your name spoken in years to come.'
As the car drove away, Rebecca and Miss Welbeck watched in silence.