by Carmen Reid
'It's just such a shame about Nif . . .' Amy tailed off. She didn't want to kill off the happy reunion mood in the dorm. She decided to change the subject. 'Why don't you tell us all about your date, Gina? Then all about your holidays, and then I'm going to tell you all about mine.'
'Yeah, well, don't hold your breath waiting for my news,' Min threw in. 'The all-Asian suburbs of Durban, South Africa, were not packed with adventure this summer.'
'You must be the only girl who comes back to school to have an exciting time,' Amy teased. 'Was it really that bad?'
Pretty, studious Min – real name Asimina Singupta – who was still wearing the green and gold sari she'd put on to wave goodbye to her large family at the airport many hours earlier, sat down on the end of her bed and began to play with her thick plait of hair.
'When I wasn't cooking or babysitting or visiting the numerous Singupta friends and relations, I had to do homework!' she told them.
'No!' Amy and Gina both chorused together. It was unthinkable that anyone should have to do homework during the summer holidays, and anyway, Min was easily the cleverest girl in their whole school year.
'The biology thing?' Gina asked. Both Min's parents were doctors and it was their dearest wish that their eldest daughter and all their other children should follow in the family footsteps. That's why she'd been sent all the way from Durban to St Jude's. The old-fashioned, long-established school worked its 450 day and boarding pupils hard and ensured that they all got the best possible exam results.
However, Min's weak spot was biology, mainly because she was so squeamish: just talking about a blood cell could make her feel faint.
'I thought that was all sorted out last term,' Amy chipped in. 'You're going to do physics and chemistry and specialize in medical research and radiotherapy and that kind of thing.'
'Yeah, but I'll still have to take biology right through school, so they want me to do well. They were just trying to help, I suppose. I got a letter from the Banshee during the holidays,' Min confided to her friends, 'and it wasn't exactly good news.'
'Uh-oh,' Amy sympathized.
The St J's headmistress, Banshee Bannerman – well, technically Mrs Patricia Bannerman – wasn't one of Amy's favourite people. It wasn't that there had been many run-ins. No, run-ins with the Banshee were a speciality of her other best friend and former dorm-mate, Niffy. As far as Amy was concerned, it was just a question of keeping a low profile wherever the Banshee was involved.
'You know how most of us are sitting nine S-grades this year, and some of us are doing ten? Well, looks like I'm going to be doing eleven.'
'Eleven!' Gina exclaimed. 'But that's crazy! You'll just be slaving away over your books the whole time.'
'Yeah,' Min agreed joylessly, 'but according to the Banshee's letter Miss Ballantyne was devastated to hear I wasn't doing history any more, so would I consider rejoining her class.'
'Boring!' Amy exclaimed. 'You know what this is all about, don't you? The great school league tables. You're bound to get an A in history, so that's one more A on the chart for the great St J's. God! I've had such a pure, dead, brilliant holiday!' She stretched out across her bed and kicked off her high-heeled boots. 'I have no idea why I've come back to this dump. My lovely dad says I can leave after Highers if I want to, so only two more years to go after this one!'
'Were you in the Gulf for the whole vacation?' Gina asked, admiring Amy's even golden tan.
'Dubai, Saudi and Egypt,' Amy replied. 'My dad quite fancied checking out the nightlife in Iran too, but I told him it wasn't going to be that interesting, what with all the burkas and no booze.'
'Is he thinking of opening up some clubs over there?' Gina asked.
'In Dubai, definitely. Everything else was just tourism and looking for new ideas. He's importing all these amazing Egyptian tiles to put in the toilets of his new club in Glasgow. All holiday I got to stay up till three or four in the morning with him. Then we'd get up late, swim in the hotel pool and do it all over again. I loved it!' Amy confided.
She was the cherished only child of a nightclub- owning multi-millionaire from Glasgow and her devoted dad was already keen to teach her all about his business.
'And what about Gary?' Gina wondered. 'Did he come with you?'
'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-fashioned.
'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 twang.
'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, N
iffy 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 café. 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 cocktail 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 assembly 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.'
Unfortunately Amy had been spotted in the classroom minutes before as she was tearing up the paper squares.
'Missing your friend, are you? Playing her little game?' It was Penny Boswell-Hackett, the day girl who just had to have a go at Amy whenever she could. 'Poor little Amy – who are you going to snuggle up with at night now that your best dormie has left?'
'Shut up,'Amy had snarled back in fury. 'Just because you don't know what a best friend is – just because you probably have to pay those two to hang around with you . . .' She'd pointed at 'Piggy' and 'Weasel', the two girls who always tagged along with Penny.
'Bitch,' Penny had hissed back. 'Well, at least we've all got a chance of getting into the Scottish hockey team now that your overgrown clod of a friend is out of the way.'
'Wrong again!' Amy had been delighted to correct her. 'Niffy's travelling up especially for the trials. It turns out you don't have to be a snooty St Jude's girl to compete for the national team.'
'What's that round your neck?' Penny had flicked a casual finger at Amy's beautiful, prized necklace, which glinted from the open neck of her school blouse. 'Something tacky you picked up at the Barras?'
As the Barras was a well-known Glasgow street market, Amy was understandably furious. But her pithy reply had to be put on hold because just then their new form teacher walked in, called for silence, took the register, then marched her Upper Fifth B class down the corridor to assembly.
Walking along, Gina realized she'd forgotten how dark the school was. Even though the windows were big, they were set way up off the ground so you could only look out at the sky, which was a dull grey. In the corridors the floors were also dark grey, the walls greenish and panelled up to waist height in dark wood. Compared with life in California, it was like being underground.
After the school hymn, the Banshee took to the stage. She'd clearly had an invigorating holiday. Her stride, unhampered by her pleated skirt, seemed even more purposeful than usual. It was obvious that she must have been a lacrosse, hockey and tennis champion in her day. She would definitely have been team captain and head girl, her reports praising her 'leadership qualities'.
Gina glanced down at her list of words. Each time the Banshee said one of them during her speech, Gina would get ten points. 'Relish, challenge, address, smart, and the bonus ball for a hundred points: Santa.'
She looked at the tall woman behind the podium, who swept back her short brown bob, gave a curt smile, took a breath and then launched into her sermon. There really wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that she was going to say 'Santa', was there?
After welcoming everyone back, telling her holiday anecdotes and announcing various staff changes, she added: 'Also, you'll be delighted to hear that there will be three Christmas balls at the end of this term: for Years Five and Six, Three and Four, Two and One. I'm afraid our younger girls will still have to make do with a visit from Santa. I hope that isn't too insulting.'
Amidst the polite tittering this brought, Gina was grinning: 100 bonus points! She put a big tick across her score sheet, while Min gave her a despairing glance and scrunched up her square of paper.
'I give up,' she whispered, earning herself a glare from Amy. Was she somehow insulting Niffy by doing this? she thought crossly. Niffy wasn't dead! Amy was going to have to lighten up about it!
Neither the tittering nor the paper scrunching was loud enough to drown out Penny's comment from behind them.
'Obviously the little cross around my neck is a family heirloom. It's Georgian. It's been in the Boswell-Hackett family for over a hundred and forty years. There are portraits of great-aunts of mine wearing it. Some people just haven't got any family history. Well, certainly not any that you could be proud of.'
This was clearly aimed at Amy. Min and Gina could almost see her hackles rising. Gina put her arm on Amy's to restrain her and Min whispered a firm: 'Don't!'
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But Amy, riled by the suggestion that she shouldn't be proud of her family, turned and hissed at Penny: 'Put your silly little bit of Georgian tat away! I'm wearing a grand's worth of Brand. New. Bling. Don't even pretend you're not jealous. Yeah, there are a total one point five carats in my new jewellery box – because I'm worth it!'
As the class filed out after the first assembly of term, Min couldn't help saying to Amy: 'Well, that's great. Let's just start the year off on a really good footing with Penny and her cronies. I don't suppose there's any hope that the great rivalry between you two is going to settle down or blow over?'
'Big. Fat. Chance,' Amy assured her.
Chapter Seven
'OK, I know this is not exactly fun, but there's no need to get vicious,' Gina said; Amy had just sprayed her with a shower of earth.
'I can't believe this!' Amy all but shrieked back. 'And it's not even a punishment! It's supposed to be some sort of hobby for us all. Gardening? We're fifteen! Not sixty-bloody-five!'
'Shut up, both of you, or it will just go on for longer.' Min had her head down and was hoeing steadily through the little patch of flower garden that had been assigned to the three of them.
The Neb – 'clearly menopausal', according to Amy – had decided that great improvements had to be made to the rather sad lawn, shrubs and patches of flower beds that surrounded the boarding house. The school's groundsman was clearly not up to the job, so she had decided to introduce the girls to 'the delights of gardening', as she'd put it in her dining-room announcement.
'Just an hour or two once a fortnight, that's all I'm asking of you – hardly more time than you currently spend doing the weekend washing up,' she insisted.
But there were unmistakable groans. The weekend washing up was bad enough, with its mercilessly strict rota which always seemed to throw up your turn unexpectedly and at the worst possible moment.
Tonight it was the turn of a small group of Upper Fifths to be handed hoes, rakes, spades – and orders to tidy up the flower beds.