The Beginning of Never (The Never Trilogy #1) (22 page)

"First thing you’ll have to do this morning is go
to the various stations of the activities you signed up for. Just identify the
seniors you signed up with so that you’ll be able to start your discussions,
then set up and fix meeting times. You can alternate if you registered for more
than one but please make sure you’re duly informed of all that goes on. So, for
now that’s it until a later briefing. Thanks.” she concluded and the whole hall
became rowdy again.

Elisa bounded off to find her groups but I stayed far
back in the pews, and watched the chaos as everyone tried to find where they
needed to be. Somehow, I fell asleep right there and jumped up when the
deafening sound of music boomed from the speakers in the court. Annoyed, I
stood up and returned to the hall.

I didn’t even bother getting out of bed the next
morning despite Elisa’s rants and threats. She eventually left when I didn’t
respond, but my joy was short-lived because Beverly burst into my room barely
an hour later.

She seemed entirely too eager and I knew I was in for
it. She ordered me to the court immediately, but since my plans of undisturbed
rest had already blown up, I took my time in getting ready.

She gave me a murderous look when I got to the arena
more than an hour later, and found her talking to some seniors from the other
houses. She immediately excused herself, and I followed her as she led me to
the middle of the court where some of the dancers were seated on the floor. I
knew who she tapped on the shoulder before he even turned around.

“Your cousin decided to stay in her room today,” she
said as Nathan turned around. He had a clipboard in his hand and had been
addressing the dancers. I frowned and turned to Beverly.

“What’s your problem?” I asked her. “Why are you
reporting me to
him
?”

“He’s the interim house head till Jimmy gets back,” she
said. “If you’d been here this morning, you would’ve heard the announcement.”

My eyes widened slightly in surprise, and my mouth
would have dropped open if not for the smug look on Beverly’s face. So I held
myself together.

“Leave her to me.” I heard Nathan quietly say, but she
refused.

“Absolutely not!” she argued. “I already announced that
any culprits would be assigned –”

“I understand that.” He interrupted. “But could you
just please leave her to me?”

“Fine.”
She said, looking
incredibly upset. Nathan had seemed pissed as he spoke so I couldn’t enjoy the
annoyed look on her face as she stormed off. I was certain that he was probably
irritated with me too, so I kept a straight face and avoided his eyes.

“Why didn’t you report here this morning?” he asked.

I met his gaze, and just shrugged.

“Could you go wait for me in the hallway?”

I nodded and walked away, just as he turned around and
resumed speaking with the dancers.

I took a seat on the floor to wait, and when he came out
a few minutes later, I didn’t even bother looking up. I was eager to see what
he would do, but he surprised me when he went to the wall opposite me, and slid
to the floor.

“What are you doing?” I
asked,
my tone somewhat hostile.

“I’m waiting for you,” he answered in a tired voice.

“Waiting for me to do what?”

“To tell me what you want out of this festival.”

“Well I don’t want to participate.”

“I get that, but I think you should. I probably
wouldn’t have myself if the housemaster hadn’t given me this responsibility,
but now that I’m here, I’m happy to be a part of it.”

I remained silent.

“I can’t punish you and you know that, but I’m asking
you to either choose one of the activities to be a part of, or accept the sloth
duty. Anything else will make you return to your house and I won’t allow that,
because it might get you in real trouble.”

“I don’t need you to protect me.”

“I’m not protecting you,” he said, and rose to his
feet. “Nora, I know you won’t accept ultimatums, so I’m giving you options.
Please don’t make me regret it.”

I looked away from him as he pulled the door open, and
re-entered the court.

*

By the end of the day, I was
sure he wanted to kill me. I’d chosen the sloth duty, but ruined every single
assignment I was given until I’d been kicked out of all the groups, and the
leaders were breathing down his neck.

I dropped a basket of supplies so carelessly on the
artists’ table that one of their plastic paint bottles overturned, and ruined
some of the sketches that they had been working on. Their yells had startled me
and at first I had rushed to apologize, but when a girl named Daisy had
insulted me, I’d lost my manners.

The dance group dismissed me when I continuously forgot
to pay attention to their movements enough to know when to pause and play the
music. I also kept mixing up their tracks. I couldn’t very well tell them that
Nathan was the reason for my distraction, so when they’d questioned my mental
ability to handle such a simple task, I’d stood up, and stormed off.

Beverly was leading the singing group but when she
caught me staring at Nathan as he addressed the drama group, she sent me to the
instrumentalists. I continued to stare from there too but when the racket they
made became so unbearably loud, I stood up to leave.

Unfortunately as I was heading down the bleacher steps,
I tripped on a wire that disconnected their electronic organ. That immediately
stopped all the other instruments, and distracted the entire court. Everyone
turned around at the sudden quiet, just in time to see me break my fall with
the two bleacher seats beside me, and then struggle to set myself upright.

Nathan responded after that. He immediately ran up to
help me, as well as Elisa.

“I’m alright,” I said to them, feeling so embarrassed
that I couldn’t take my eyes off the ground.

“Can you stand?” I heard him ask, and I nodded.

“It’s fine, I didn’t get injured.”

“Come with me,” he said, and I got to my feet. My
elbows and knees hurt a little bit but of course I wasn’t going to say
anything.

Elisa put her hands around me and led me down the
steps, complaining along the way about how I needed to be more careful. I felt
better when by the time I and Elisa crossed the middle of the
court,
people had gotten over it and returned to their
business. Nathan stopped on the way to respond to someone that had come up to
him with a request, so I and Elisa headed to the locker room alone to wait. He
came in a few minutes later, and asked her to please excuse us.

He came to stand in front of me, resting his back
against the lockers and with his arms folded across his chest.

“Stop looking at me like that,” I said a few seconds
later, when I couldn’t stand his stare anymore.

“How do you want me to look at you?” he asked.

“Don’t look at me all,” I replied. “Just go back to
your group.”

For some reason, that pulled out a soft laugh from him.
It surprised me.

“I thought you were pissed?”

“Oh, I am pissed, and you’re
crazy
.”

“What did I do? I tried to participate but everyone
just kept pissing me off.”

“That’s not what I heard.”

“Well, that’s how I felt.”

“Of course,” he mocked.

“Yes,” I asserted.

“So what do you want to do now?” he asked.

I sighed, because I was beginning to sound like a
chore, even to myself. “Fine, I’ll go stay with Elisa- whatever she’s doing.”

He shook his head. “No, what do
you
want to do?”

I frowned.
“Nothing.”

“You can’t say
nothing
.”

I glared at him, but it didn’t move him for even a
second.

“Let’s do it this way,” he said. “Marilyn has the
fashion group, so I’ll tell her to slot you in.”

“No, I’ll go stay with Elisa.”

“You’re not
going
to stay with Elisa.” He said sternly.

“And what right do you have to say that? I can go
wherever I want.”

“I’m the interim head, and I’m saying you can’t.
Elisa’s group is full.”

“No it isn’t.”

“Well, starting now it is.”

I stood to my feet. “You can’t do that.”

He took a step closer to me. “I just did.”

“This is abuse of power, but I’m telling you that I’m
going to stay with Elisa, and there’s nothing you’re going to do about it,” I
said and started to walk away, but he caught my hand and pulled me back.

“We’re not done talking,” he said in such an
intimidating voice that I had to force myself to remember that this was
Nathan
I was talking to, instead of the
interim house head.

I straightened my shoulders and said directly to his
face. “We are.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Are you doing this because
you know me?”

“As a matter of fact I am, and even if I didn’t, you
can’t just force me to do what I don’t want to do.”

He watched me for a few seconds, and then said.
“Fine.
You can do whatever you want to do.”

He turned around and left the room.

I’d felt guilty for causing him
all the trouble that I had, so after I left the locker room, I made up my mind to
just keep my head down and quietly remain with Elisa. She was occupied with the
poetry group, but after almost two hours of listening to them recite poetry in
French, I’d found my way out of there, and gone in search of Marilyn myself.

She was happy to receive me when I told her that Nathan
had told me to come over, and immediately after lunch, she put me to work.

She asked me if I could draw and when I told her I
could, she gave me the draft sketches on the final collection that they would
be presenting to re-draw. I took my time with it, and it held my attention
until later that evening when it was finally time to end the day. I avoided
Nathan as I left with Elisa, and then skipped dinner.

The next day, Elisa came over and I willingly went with
her. It was quite strange but I was actually looking forward to what Marilyn’s
group had in store for the day. We had our breakfast and then headed over to
the court to meet Nathan and some other seniors that were waiting to address
us.

Beverly was the first to speak, and she started by
giving an excessive summary of the songs she had chosen for her group’s
performance, and how well their try-outs were coming along. Other seniors
heading the other groups took their turns in explaining what they had come up
with the previous day and when they were finished, Nathan rose and addressed
us.

He quickly passed on information concerning updated
locations for the cuisine, fashion and marching band groups, and then sent us
all to work. I headed straight to the classroom where my fashion group had been
relocated to and continued with my sketches.

When I was done with the ones that Marilyn had given
me, I moved to the next page on the sketch pad and started one of my own. It
was a simple wrap dress, and as I was struggling with how to include the folds,
and the length to slant it at, Marilyn came over to peer from behind my back.

I slightly leaned away from the sudden intrusion, until
she came around to stand beside me. “That looks really nice,” she said with a
huge smile. “Do you have interest in fashion?”

I returned the smile. “I’m not sure.”

“Well you should be,” she said, and gave a small gasp
when I flipped the page back to reveal the ones that she had given to me to do.
“These are really good. Would you like to handle the rest of the collection?”

“Okay,” I said, and I was surprised to find that
actually felt excited to do it. “Have they started making them?”

“No, we’re going to begin today.”

“But, the show’s next week …” I said, not seeing how
the entire collection could be made in that time – they had eight pieces to
create.

She sighed and said, “I know. Someone’s coming over
from London today to guide us, and I foresee some sleepless nights. At least
they’ve started on the purses and all the equipment is here.”

I looked towards a table to see an instructor
surrounded by eager students as he explained something about seams.

“Do you want to join the modeling audition?” she asked.
“I think they’re about to start.”

“No,” I shook my head, quite content to continue my
sketching.

“Well, okay,” she said. “I’ll get the collections for
you. Brian needs to start them on the computers soon.”

She brought them over minutes later, and I proceeded to
occupy myself. It was evening when Elisa came to get me and we went for dinner.
I joined the people returning to the studios when we were done, while Elisa
went to hang out with Matthew.

I continued with my sketching and despite the noise in
the room from the machines and people yelling at each other, I was able to
completely immerse myself in the task. The place was littered with fabric, and
had posed mannequins almost everywhere you turned to in the room.

Everyone had something to do so no one idled away their
time. It was a busy space and as I watched the creation going on, I felt
contented at being a part of it.

*

Tuesday came by very quickly
and with it, the vigorous preparations for the first phase of the competition
that was scheduled to take place the next day. The drama, cuisine and art
groups were scheduled to perform so preparations were in overdrive. I was on my
sketching seat, and watching the models practice their runway walk when Beverly
came to get me. I frowned as soon as I saw her.

“I need you to sort some things out for
me
.” she said.

I asked her why she was coming to me.

“Because you’re on sloth duty,” she replied, her voice
thick with irritation.

I just shook my head and turned away to ignore her.

She jerked my shoulders towards her, making me turn
around on the stool. Furious, and completely fed up with her harassment, I got
to my feet and faced her.

“Did you just dare to put your hands on me?” I asked.
She took a step closer to me.

“Yes I did you brat,” she said. “Who the hell do you
think you are? I’m a
sen
–”

“Oh please shut up and go away,” I told her.

Somehow I didn’t see it coming, but I heard the gasp
escape my lips just as the slap landed on my cheek with a blinding smack. My
hand went up to my face in shock, and right then, my temper exploded.

Blind with rage, I grabbed the nearest thing that my
hand was able to find on the table and swung it at her. It was only when it
shattered against her head and knocked her down that I saw what it was – the
ceramic pencil holder that had housed my drawing utensils.

I heard the screams around me as she collapsed, and
laid
lifeless on the floor. I was struck dumb, and could do
nothing but stare down at her in a mindless daze. The outside noises slowly
began to dim until all I could hear was my own heart thumping inside of my
chest. People rushed to her, and out of nowhere I heard Nathan’s voice.

I looked up to see him walk in. He saw Beverly’s body
sprawled on the floor and immediately hurried over to her. After pressing his
finger to the underside of her chin, he lifted her into his arms.

“Lenora, come with me,” he told me, and it brought me
out of my stupor. We hurried out of the room and towards the clinic, and I
watched horrified, as he effortlessly carried her limp body. When we arrived,
he laid her on the bed and went to get the nurse who came in, and began to
check her. It wasn’t Laura, the nurse who had treated me, and this one didn’t
seem alarmed. After a few minutes, she straightened and asked us what happened.

Before I could speak, Nathan told her that Beverly had
fallen and hit her head. The nurse turned to examine her head.

She was about to head back to her office when I finally
spoke, my voice barely above a whisper. “Is she going to be alright?”

“She’s fine,” she answered. “She’s just knocked out.
She'll be awake in a couple of hours but with a painful headache. I’m going to
get the doctor.”

I shuddered as I released a heavy breath, and then
lowered my head. Nathan came to squat in front of me. He raised his hand to my
cheek.

“She’s going to be fine,” he said. I nodded morosely.
He then sat down beside me, and held my hand in his. The doctor came in to
check on Beverly and a few seconds later, Olivia ran in yelling her name.

A couple of her friends were with her as she ran to
Beverly’s side, but they calmed down when the doctor told them that Beverly
would be fine. She turned tear-filled eyes to me. “You’re so evil,” she said in
a voice so thick with hate that it cut me like a knife. I flinched. “How could
you do this?”

Then she turned away, her focus back on her sister, and
tears running down her cheeks. I couldn’t speak, and didn’t want to leave but
Nathan managed to drag me with him and out of the clinic.

“I want the key,” I said as we walked out into the
corridor. To my surprise, he nodded straight away but insisted that he’d come
with me. I didn’t refuse because quite frankly, I believed that the only thing
that was still keeping me standing was his presence beside me. I felt exhausted
to my bones at all that had just happened.

When we reached the stream, we sat down on the rock
that we’d stayed on the last time we’d been here. Still terrified, I watched
the rushing water until I eventually broke down in quiet sobs. Wrapping his
arms around me, he led my head to rest on his shoulder and then leaned his head
against mine.

He was silent as I cried, allowing me to let out the
fear that had gripped me until I eventually ran out of tears. I fell asleep to
the soothing motion of his hand as it ran up and down my arm.

*

We returned when it was almost
dark and by then, dinner had already started. Nathan forced me to go to the dining
hall and when I saw that it was less crowded than it usually was, I let out a
deep sigh of relief. I could feel the gazes on us as we walked in and took our
seats but instantly felt better, when Elisa ran over to meet us. Nathan left me
with her and stood up to get our meals. I was surprised to see her.

“I heard what happened. Are you okay?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be rehearsing your poem for
tomorrow?” I asked at the same time, and then shook my head to clear my
thoughts.

“I’m fine,” I said.

“Have you been with Beverly? I heard she’s okay.”

“She is?”

“Yes. She’s back in the hall now. I thought you were
with her.”

“No, I was with Nathan.”

“Oh,” she said, and I could see the questions in her eyes
but she chose to postpone them. Nathan returned with two trays in his hands.

“Thanks for taking care of her Alex,” Elisa said, and I
gave her a dark look. He smiled at her, and then turned to give me a spoon.

I took it and started eating and so did he, while Elisa
updated me on the progress in the studio.

“Nathan, when’s the kick off tomorrow?" she asked.

“Ten,” he replied, “but you’re all required to be there
by at least nine.”

“Okay,” she said and then turned to me.
“Lenora will you be able to participate tomorrow?”

I frowned at her. “Of course I will- why wouldn’t I
be?”

She shrugged, and then studied me before saying.

“I’d have expected you to do a bit more damage.”

“Elisa …” Nathan warned. She grinned.

“What? She’s been a pain in both our sides.”

“Don’t encourage this, and it wasn’t entirely her
doing. Beverly hit her first.”

Elisa’s mouth dropped open. “And you’re upset with her
for knocking Beverly out?”

“I never said I was upset with her,” he said. “I think
she did a fine job, but that doesn’t mean we should encourage it. It was a
terrible risk, and she might still be in trouble for it.”

“True,” she said and then looked at me. “But why does
she look so gloomy? I would’ve expected she’d be disgustingly smug by now.”

Nathan chuckled, and then checked to ensure that I was
eating properly. Elisa stayed with us and we listened to her as she spoke,
until it was time to leave. By then, I felt considerably lighter but they both
insisted that I returned to my room so the incident would quickly die down.

We walked out of the hall together but Elisa went on to
give us a little privacy.
 
He pulled me
with him away from the reflection of the street lamps, and to a dim area
beneath one of the massive trees that flanked the entrance. With a finger on my
chin he lifted my face to his.

“Are you better now?” he asked softly, and I nodded. He
studied my eyes to make sure and then leaned down to plant a soft kiss on my
lips. When Elisa started coughing in the distance, he smiled at her nosiness
and pulled me into a soothing hug.

After making me promise to search him out the next day
because he’d be too busy to get away himself, he let me go. I nodded, and waved
goodbye.

“You’re a bloody nuisance Elisa,” I called as I turned
to leave, and her resounding laughter brought a smile to my face.

*

The next day was a hectic one.
The art show was already taking place and there were officials to assess it,
but the play was what everyone was more interested in.

It was held in the school’s main auditorium over at the
Keep, and the hall had been darkened to look like a theatre. I was relaxed in
the back with a bag of popcorn, while the officials filled the front. Students
occupied all the other seats and we all watched on as the various houses came
one after the other, to present their plays.

Elisa had her French poem to recite immediately after
the plays so I was looking forward to that. Nathan on the other hand was
probably running around trying to organize everyone, so I felt a little lonely
sitting all by myself, but still, I managed to have a good time.

The plays soon ended and then the recitals came on, but
something strange happened. Lonsdale house didn’t have anyone to represent them
which
was
very surprising. So after it ended, I went
in search of Elisa. The performers were all backstage so I didn’t expect the
disconcerting silence that I met when I got there. The house’s seniors and some
officials were huddled together, speaking quietly in a corner.

I saw Elisa leaning against a table and watching them,
so I hurried over to her.

“What’s happening?” I asked when I reached her. I could
see the worry in her eyes.

“Kate’s missing,” she explained in a whisper.

I stopped cold. “What?”

“She was supposed to present their recital today, but her
roommate said that she’s been gone since yesterday. No one knows where she is.”

I turned to lean against the table with Elisa, and
joined in the gloom that had overtaken the room. Most people kept quiet but the
ones who spoke, did so in concerned whispers.