Light footsteps came up the stairs – too light for Myers’, now she thought about it – and then a voice said, ‘So this is what you all get up to! I knew there was something.’
Sophie Harcourt emerged from the stairwell.
Romily’s stomach turned icy cold: the sight of their enemy appearing in front of them was terrifying. She felt so vulnerable, not only because of the cigarette she had in her hand but because Sophie looked like a predator in her dark pyjamas, the same ones she was wearing the night they saw her with Martha Young. It was impossible not to remember her as she was that night: turned on, hungry, greedy for sensation.
Sophie stood with one hand on her hip, her chin thrust out and her eyes mocking. She looked at each of them in turn. ‘And smoking too! I’m surprised at you, Imogen. I always thought you were far too timid and goodie-goodie for that. But I suppose you’re copying Allegra, as usual.
Word
of advice, darling – try to get a personality of your own sometime.’
Imogen looked ill even under her coating of night cream, staring at Sophie, unable to say a word. Romily wanted to say something herself, something sensible and grown up that would defuse the tension that had just skyrocketed, but she could think of nothing. Then Allegra stood up, stubbing out her cigarette.
‘And what are you doing out and about, Sophie?’ Beneath her confident tone there was a nervous tremor in her voice.
Sophie blinked innocently. ‘I heard talking. I came to see what was happening and … oh, dear. I seem to have stumbled on the school’s favourite princesses all being very, very naughty!’
Romily saw with sudden awful clarity that she had to mollify Sophie, get her on side and stop her telling. And she had to do that before Allegra was tempted to try and frighten Sophie into silence with what she knew.
If Sophie gets any hint that Allegra has something on her, this will spiral quickly out of control and we’ll be in the headmistress’s office first thing, all landed in the shit
. She stood up as well, smiling. ‘Yes, you’ve caught us. Thank goodness it was you, Sophie, and not Myers. I thought we were really in trouble there for a moment!’
Sophie frowned, disarmed by Romily’s friendliness. Then she laughed. ‘Well, this
is
a turn up for the books, isn’t it? You’re at my mercy now, aren’t you? I could have you out of here by lunchtime tomorrow.’ She bit her lip and looked mischievous. ‘Gosh, it’s tempting.’
‘You won’t tell on us, will you?’ Romily said swiftly, still smiling. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Allegra stiffening, responding to Sophie’s challenge.
‘How on earth could you make it worth my while not to?’ She looked down her nose at Allegra and then Imogen.
You stupid girl
, Romily thought fiercely.
Can’t you see how pointless it is to take us on like this? No one can win. We need to find a way that we can get out of this situation
. But she kept her face serene and her voice calm. ‘We don’t have to turn this into a big deal, you know …’
Sophie turned back to her. ‘OK. If you really want me to keep quiet … well, I can think of a few things that might help. I’ve always fancied those Prada trainers of yours, actually. And your Rouge Noir nail polish.’
Allegra frowned and started to speak, but Romily quietened her with a look and said, ‘OK. They’re yours.’
‘You can’t let her blackmail us like this!’ hissed Allegra.
‘It’s fine, let it go.’ Romily raised her eyebrows meaningfully.
‘But she’ll never be satisfied and anyway—’ Allegra began, her dark blue eyes sparkling with fury on Romily’s behalf.
‘Allegra, no,’ interrupted Imogen fearfully.
‘What’s going on?’ Sophie demanded, eyes darting, noticing the tension between them.
Allegra took a step towards the other girl. ‘I don’t want Romily to give you her trainers and nail polish. There won’t be any end to it if she does. You’ll start demanding all her stuff.’
‘So what? She can afford it.’
‘That’s not the point. It’s blackmail.’
‘It’s put up with it or be expelled,’ Sophie said airily, ‘it all depends which you’d prefer, doesn’t it?’ Her eyes turned cold suddenly and her face hardened.
Don’t do it, Sophie
, Romily begged silently.
You don’t know what you’re starting
.
But Sophie went on regardless, her voice spiteful now. ‘You think you’re so great,’ she spat at Allegra. ‘With your title, and your castle, and your little tame pets.’ She shot scornful glances at Imogen and Romily. ‘The teachers think
the
sun shines out of your ladyship’s aristocratic arse, don’t they? Well, the rules are the rules and, if you break them, you pay like anyone else. Maybe you’ll find out at last that your title and Frenchie’s money and Mousie’s A grades can’t get you out of trouble after all.’
Imogen gasped and stared over at Romily, her expression appalled. They both knew that Sophie had thrown down the gauntlet. But she didn’t realise it.
Allegra stepped forward, even closer to Sophie now. She seemed very calm and cool. ‘You’re only revealing your own jealousy, you know. And you ought to be very careful before you start all this. We’re not the only ones breaking the rules, after all … are we?’
Sophie narrowed her eyes. ‘What do you mean?’ She laughed nastily. ‘Jealous of you? I don’t think so.’
‘Well, how did you find us?’
‘I told you.’ She smirked. ‘I heard voices and came to find out what was happening.’
‘I don’t believe you. I think you were on your way to one of your little assignations.’
There was a chilled silence after Allegra said these words.
It’s out now
, thought Romily. A dull horror enveloped her.
It’s begun
. She looked over at Imogen whose eyes were staring and huge in her gleaming, cream-covered face. Neither of them could move to intervene, only watch in frozen fascination as the other two squared up to each other.
Sophie’s mouth dropped open but she swiftly got control of herself. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You know very well.’ Allegra lifted her chin and gazed unflinchingly at her. ‘I mean your secret little meetings with Martha Young.’
The colour drained from Sophie’s face. ‘What?’ she whispered. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Yes, you do. You and Martha are
special
best friends –
Does
Arabella know, by the way? – and you like to get together and do what
special
best friends do.’
‘That’s not true!’ cried Sophie, her voice harsh. Colour flooded violently into her cheeks, staining them bright red.
‘You can deny it all you like, but we’ve seen you. All of us.’
Sophie looked round at Imogen and Romily, who couldn’t meet her eyes. That was much worse than if they had faced her off, it seemed. Sophie seemed to realise all at once that she really had been seen, at her most intimate, private moment, with all that it implied. She looked sick and then her face was transformed by fury. Her lips drew back in a snarl. ‘How dare you spy on me, you horrible bitch!’ She ran at Allegra, knocking her backwards so that they both flew towards the attic window, Allegra tripping as they went and falling back against the sill. Sophie sank her fingers into Allegra’s thick blonde hair and began to pound her head against the sill. Allegra tried to escape, scrambling on to the box she’d been sitting on and flailing at Sophie with one arm while trying to dislodge the hand from her hair with the other.
Sophie began to push her backwards on to the window sill, climbing up on to the box next to her.
Romily took a step forward, thinking,
She’s trying to push Allegra out of the window!
She could hardly believe it was happening and started over towards them, but she seemed to be moving at half speed and could only watch with horror as Allegra was pushed back on to the sill, her bottom perched on it, her back arching out of the window itself.
Imogen rose shakily to her feet. ‘Stop them, Rom, stop them!’ Her voice came out in a cracked whisper.
‘Yes, we’ve got to stop them,’ she said, as she saw Allegra struggling and wrestling with Sophie, whose anger seemed to have given her extraordinary strength. She moved quickly
towards
them, Imogen following close behind. Now she could see that Sophie had Allegra’s arms in such a tight grip that the skin was dead white where her fingers were digging deep into the flesh, and she was forcing Allegra back over the sill, into the yawning blue-blackness beyond.
‘Sophie, no!’ she cried, and grabbed at the other girl’s pyjama top, just as Imogen came up level with her and reached out too.
At that moment, awful things happened so fast that later they could barely remember in what order they’d occurred.
In the flurry, Sophie gave Allegra a huge shove, trying to send her weight over the edge of the sill. Allegra kicked out with her feet, knocking Sophie off balance and forcing her to release her arms. Then, and with all her strength, she grabbed Sophie’s arm and pulled it, using the other girl’s weight to counterbalance her as she hurled herself back into the attic. And as she vanished from under Sophie’s outstretched hands, the other girl flew forward.
Romily saw what was happening and with a gasp made a desperate attempt to hold on to Sophie’s top, scrabbling at the soft slippery cotton with her fingertips. She could see shock and amazement on the other girl’s face and then, with the grisly realisation that there was no way to prevent herself from tumbling over the sill and out of the window, an awful fear covered it and her mouth opened in a scream.
She was gone. A moment later there was a ghastly thud.
Imogen and Romily stood frozen for an instant before turning to each other in horrified disbelief. Allegra scrambled to her feet and peered out of the window. The other two joined her and they all looked out. A body lay, white and crumpled, on the gravel far below. A dark stain was spreading over the ground by the head.
Imogen screamed, an awful, stifled sound, stuffing her hands in her mouth, her eyes wide with shock.
‘Oh my God, oh my God,’ Romily said, over and over, very fast, her heart racing. ‘Oh my God, what shall we do, what shall we do …’ She looked over at Allegra, usually in control, their leader, but she was dead white, unable to speak, her whole body trembling violently.
‘Look,’ cried Imogen. She pointed to a figure running along the driveway towards Sophie’s prone body. ‘Someone’s coming.’
Romily’s head was in a whirl, adrenaline and panic coursing through her. ‘It’s a security guard,’ she said abruptly.
‘How do you know?’ Imogen asked.
‘I just do. Quick. We have to get back downstairs. The guard will help her, there’s nothing more we can do.’
‘We have to tell someone, we have to raise the alarm!’ Imogen said, her voice growing shriller with fear.
‘They already know! There’s nothing we can do! Look at Allegra …’
Allegra said nothing but began to shake harder, her teeth chattering in her head.
‘Help me, Midge,’ Romily said, taking control. ‘Take Allegra’s other arm. Let’s get back to bed as fast as we can. We can decide what to do in the morning. But they mustn’t find us here … they mustn’t!’
Chapter 6
THE DREAMS WERE
terrible. They woke her in the night, clammy with cold sweat and gasping. It was the look in Sophie’s eyes, begging, terrified, in the moment before she fell, that she couldn’t stand. Sometimes the broken body beneath the window got mixed up with an image of Xander lying at the bottom of the stairs after their father had kicked him there. Allegra had woken the whole boarding house one night with her jagged screams.
‘We have to tell,’ she said desperately to the other two as they marched endlessly round the games field, unable to sit still, needing to keep on the move. ‘I can’t bear it!’
‘We can’t,’ Imogen said starkly, her face pale and set. ‘Don’t you see? It’s too late. We should have told at the time. But we didn’t. We can’t tell now.’ She clutched her friend’s hand and held it tightly. ‘We didn’t even tell when Steele did her thing.’
Romily nodded solemnly in agreement with Imogen.
Allegra screwed her eyes shut and breathed in sharply. The interview with Miss Steele had been surreal. The night that Sophie Harcourt fell was now an awful blur in her mind but she remembered the atmosphere of panic as the lights came on, people began hurrying urgently around and an ambulance roared up the driveway, its siren wailing. Its blue light flashed across the wall of Allegra’s cubie over and over again as she lay under her duvet, shaking and wide-eyed.
Don’t let her be dead, don’t let her be dead
, she begged, but she knew what a fall from that height had to mean. Besides, she had seen the still, broken body lying on the gravel.
The next morning there had been wild whispers. At a sombre gathering of the entire school, Miss Steele had announced that there had been a tragic accident in the night. Sophie Harcourt was dead. A horrified gasp passed over the rows of girls and then there was a small thump. Martha Young had fallen to the floor in a faint. She was picked up by two teachers and taken to the sanatorium.
Miss Steele had explained that school business would continue as usual, in terms of lessons and examinations, but that the annual garden party would be cancelled and a memorial service held in its place. ‘And now, you are dismissed. Except for the fifth form. I would like you all to remain behind, please.’
Allegra had felt numb and light-headed, as though she was being deprived of oxygen, and she could tell from their white faces and frightened eyes that the other two felt the same.
Miss Steele had taken her time before she began to speak, eying each girl with a piercing gaze as though she could see the inner workings of her mind.
She knows, she knows, she knows
, thought Allegra, nausea churning through her. It was like living in a waking nightmare. Any second now, heavy hands would fall on her shoulders and she’d be marched away to prison.
Allegra McCorquodale, you are charged that you did hereby murder Sophie Harcourt
…
Miss Steele began to speak, slowly and calmly. ‘You girls think that we do not know the minutiae of what happens between you: who is friends with whom, what alliances have formed, what enmities. You are wrong. You would be most surprised to learn how much we know about your private
lives
– not because we are spying on you, but because you do not trouble to hide it from us.