Oxford Blood (The Cavaliers: Book One)
Page 49
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The next week brought the election. Catherine won President easily, and Harriet topped Standing with a little help from the vampire vote.
By the time the campaigning had finished, all of the first years had began to tone down the summer fun and make at least a token effort to begin revising for Prelims, the end of year exams that would test everything they’d studied since October. The hot, crowded library didn’t encourage study, and every time Harriet tried to remind herself of the finer points of the Reformation or women throughout history, her mind wandered back to how to stop the Cavaliers’ party. She had no viable ideas, and despite his promises, Tom wasn’t being much use. When she tried to revise the first term’s Civil War work, she couldn’t stop the flashbacks.
Although not openly hostile, Caroline seemed to be avoiding her. Olamide had practically doubled the amount of time she spent studying, something that Harriet barely believed possible. She appeared to be channelling all of her hurt over the breakup with Callum into her work. Ben didn’t have Prelims. He’d done well in the Summer Eights rowing competition and now spent most of his time lounging around in the sun and going to parties, to the envy of everyone else.
The exams themselves almost came as a relief. Harriet dressed up in sub fusc, the required outfit – white shirt tied with a ribbon, black skirt, black tights and shoes, and of course, the gown.
Students wore a white carnation for the first exam, a red one for the last one and pink ones in the middle, all purchased by friends and given as a sort of good luck gift. Josh brought her a white one, Olamide a pink and Tom gave her a deep red carnation.
The exams took place in huge rooms in Exam Schools, a suitably grand building full of oil portraits of Victorian aristocrats, which overlooked the nervous students. Harriet wondered whether any of them were paintings of people she knew.
Somehow, Harriet pushed her worries about everything else out of her mind for the duration of the four three-hour exams. Her answers could have been better, but in the circumstances, just getting through the exams left her flushed with pride.
The sense of joy and freedom when the exams finished almost overwhelmed Harriet. All of the history students went for drinks still wearing their gowns. In her excitement and relief, Caroline even forgot about avoiding Harriet, and they had a civil if rather drunken conversation in the Grand Cafe. She wouldn’t be swayed on the subject of the party.
“We shouldn’t fight,” Caroline concluded. “Let’s just forget we had this argument. I accept that you weren’t trying to stop me going out of spite, but I’m going, and that’s that. Are you going to go or shall I see you the night after at the ball?”
Feeling slightly sick, Harriet nodded and hugged her. Afterwards, Caroline made her excuses and went off to her rehearsal of A Streetcar Named Desire.
The party was the next night, Midsummer’s Eve, and it seemed sure to go ahead as planned.
Chapter Fifteen