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Don’t pay too much attention in class. Don’t wear your uniform too neatly. Stay away from Penny. Don’t get on the wrong side of the Fox … you don’t know what she’s capable of. Don’t be as wet as you usually are – just look in the mirror, remember you’re trying to be me.
And Ivy, I give you full permission to read my diary – in fact, you MUST!
I stuffed the diary into my pillowcase, my heart racing. This was madness.
How could Scarlet possibly have known this would happen? She’d said I had to go along with the deception, and it seemed I had no choice but to do as she said. I shuddered at the thought of disobeying Miss Fox, too.
I couldn’t believe the web of lies I’d found myself in. All to escape shame for the school, to stop the other pupils from panicking about the ‘unfortunate circumstances’.
Who could I turn to?
Aunt Phoebe.
Of course! I ran to my bag and pulled out a pen, paper and ink. I flattened out the sheet on the dressing table and hastily scrawled:
Dear Aunt Phoebe,
Help! This has all been a huge mistake. I don’t know what’s going on here but they want me to pretend to be Scarlet. This can’t be right. I’ve found her diary, and somehow she knew this would happen. Something terrible is going on here.
Could you come and get me? Or tell Father? Please, this is important!
Ivy
I folded the letter into an envelope and wrote Aunt Phoebe’s address and URGENT in big letters.
But then, almost immediately, my excitement began to fade. How exactly was I going to send a letter? I didn’t have a stamp, nor did I know where to find a post office. If pupils needed to send letters from the school, they probably had to give them to a teacher. And if Miss Fox got hold of it, well …
That was a chance I couldn’t take. I had to trust Scarlet’s words. They were all I had left.
I forced myself to change into her uniform. The fabric was scratchy and didn’t smell like her at all. I looked in the mirror, but something was wrong … I loosened the tie, tugged on the hem of the dress and pulled the stockings up unevenly – there, not too neat.
Once I was dressed, I unpacked my few possessions before remaking Scarlet’s – my – bed, and finally collapsed on it, exhausted. But as my eyelids began to drift shut, I noticed a shadow fall across the room.
“Hello,” said the shadow.
I looked up. The girl barely filled the doorway. She was small and so mousy that she looked like she might beg for cheese at any moment.
I was about to offer an equally timid “hello” in reply, but then I remembered. I had to be Scarlet now …
“Hello!” I said, jumping up from the bed and forcing a cheery smile on to my face.
The mousy girl took a small step backwards. “Um, good afternoon. MynameisAriadneI’mnew.”
“Sorry?”
The girl inhaled a long, deep breath. “My name is Ariadne. Ariadne Elizabeth Gwendolyn Flitworth.”
“Oh … um, sorry,” I said, wincing.
“It’s okay, I’m used to it,” Ariadne sighed. She held out a small hand, nails bitten to extinction.
I looked at it for a second, and then shook it with nervous enthusiasm. “My name is Iv— Scarlet. Nice to meet you.” Oh dear, I thought, as I unhooked my hand from hers. I’m not very good at this.
Ariadne stooped to pick up her luggage, a little convoy of suitcases trailing after her. I watched her pick up each one and gingerly lift it over to her side of the room. I didn’t think to offer any help. It seemed like some kind of strange ritual.
“Are you new as well?” Ariadne suddenly asked.
“Me? Oh no,” I replied, my mind racing. “I was here last year.”
Ariadne looked around the bare room curiously, so I babbled on.
“Well, I was quite ill for a while. Some kind of flu, they said. Had to take all my things back home. They, erm, didn’t want everyone else to catch it.”
“Oh, of course,” said Ariadne, tucking strands of mousy hair behind her ears as she shuffled back and forth. “My father decided to send me here, because he had to go away on important business.” She didn’t say this in a proud or boastful way – more like repeating something she had heard many times. She finished laying out her suitcases and turned to face me, blowing a stray hair out of her face. “Um, I don’t suppose you could show me where the lavatories are?”
Oh good grief. I could hardly say that I had forgotten where the lavatories were. I hadn’t even looked at the map yet and I couldn’t remember seeing any signs on my way through the school either, but surely there would be some on this floor.
Ariadne was still staring at me so I quickly said, “Of course, they’re just … down here,” and motioned for her to go out into the corridor. As I followed, I glanced back at the bed, checking that the diary was fully concealed in my pillowcase.
Classes must have finished for the day as uniformed girls were milling about in the corridor. As I walked along, Ariadne trailing behind me, the whispers started. There were sideways glances and staring eyes and hands over mouths.
Oh, Scarlet, I thought. What have you been up to here?
The gauntlet seemed to stretch forever. I quickened my pace, and I heard Ariadne’s rushing footsteps as she tried to keep up.
Finally, I came to a door marked ‘Lavatories and Bathrooms’. “In here,” I said to Ariadne, holding the door open. Then I ducked in behind her, and shut the world out.
Ariadne walked into a stall and pulled the door closed. I could still hear the commotion from outside, but it was muffled as if it were far away. I leant against the wall, trying to conceal my panic.
The lavatories were cold, with giant windows of dappled glass that let in weak light. The walls were a horrible mint green, and the paint was flaking with damp. But it was still luxury compared to Aunt Phoebe’s outdoor privy and tin bath.
I went over to the sinks and wrenched at a tap, hoping to rinse some of the embarrassment off my face. At first there was nothing, then a tiny dribble. I wrenched harder, and a torrent of water shot out, splashing my dress.
Brilliant. Just brilliant.
“Scarlet?” the sound of Ariadne’s voice drifted over the wooden door.
I was concentrating on wringing out my uniform and almost didn’t reply. “Ah – yes?”
“What were those girls staring at?”
I tried to imagine what Scarlet could have done to elicit such a reaction, but it could have been anything. Even her best behaviour was probably too outrageous for this school.
Before I had a chance to answer I heard the lavatory flush and the bolt of the door slide back. Ariadne appeared at the sink next to me and began washing her hands.
“Do you think they were staring at me?” she said, looking flustered. “It’s because I’m new, isn’t it? They probably think I’m strange, or ugly, or dull, or … or … all of those things!” She sunk down onto the floor in a heap, her dress billowing out over her legs.
I almost laughed with relief. “Actually I think they were probably staring at me. Because … because I was away for so long. They probably thought I ran away to join the circus.”
“Are you sure?” she said, blinking up at me.
I wasn’t sure of anything. “Absolutely. They probably didn’t even notice you were there.”
I suddenly realised that what I had said might have been a little insulting. But Ariadne was standing up, a quivering smile spreading across her face.
“You’re right. Of course you’re right.” She looked at me expectantly, as if to say ‘what next?’.
I didn’t want to go back into the corridor again, but we couldn’t stay in the lavatories forever. So I took a deep breath and walked out. The crowds had thinned a little, but heads still turned to look at us as we passed. I sped up again, hoping that I wouldn’t lose Ariadne in the throng.
When we got back to room thirteen I breathed a sigh of relief and retreated to my bed. I felt for the reassuring lump of the diary inside the pillowcase. I would have to hide it back inside the mattress as soon as possible.
Ariadne began methodically pulling items from her many suitcases. Dresses, skirts, blouses. Each item of clothing was already perfectly folded, yet she spread everything out and folded it back up again. It was oddly relaxing, watching Ariadne unpack. I enjoyed the moment of quiet.
“Well, look what the Fox dragged in.”
I looked up.
A girl stood in the doorway. She had curled copper hair, a pale blue hair bow and a face full of freckles. The face might have been pretty, were it not wearing a scowl.
So much for quiet.
Ariadne walked over to her and held out a hand. “Hello!” she said. “I’m Ariadne. I’m new.”
The girl completely ignored her and carried on glaring at me. “They shouldn’t have let you back in, you know. You don’t deserve to be here.”
I stared blankly at her and then I went for the first reply that popped into my head.
“Why?”
“Don’t try and pull the innocent act on me, Scarlet Grey. We all know what you did.”
“We … we do?” I asked.
“Ugh. You make me sick,” she spat.
“What’s your name?” piped up Ariadne.
The girl blinked at her. “What? Oh. Penny, short for Penelope.”
“My name’s Ariadne. It’s not short for anything. It’s Greek. She helped Theseus defeat the Minotaur!” She stabbed the air with her arm. “Pleased to meet you!”
Ariadne was clearly trying to make up for her earlier shyness. I wasn’t sure that this was quite the way to do it.
“I’m sure you are.” Penny narrowed her freckle-rimmed eyes. “Anyway. Some of us have friends to go and talk to.” She turned on her heel and started to stalk out of the room.
“If they’re friends with you, I probably don’t want to talk to them,” I said without thinking.
Ariadne was staring at me, open-mouthed.
That was not a very Ivy thing to say. In fact, it was a very Scarlet thing to say. A strange mix of unease and pride crept over me.
Penny leant back into the room. “You’d better be careful around her, Ariadne,” she hissed. “You never know how you might end up …” She slid a finger across her throat ominously and then stalked away.
“What was that about?” asked Ariadne.
“I wish I knew,” I said.
But, to be honest, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know at all.
(#ulink_2ebffa6e-9fb4-5ce2-8f0d-a47d4b3f401b)
t six o’clock it was time for dinner. I had spent an hour listening to Ariadne telling me about her beloved pony, Oswald, and her dog, and her chickens. The whole time I was becoming more and more aware that I hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast. I would have to go down and find food, but that meant facing more people who knew Scarlet. Surely they would see through my pretence?
I left the room with Ariadne chattering away behind me. There was no need to worry about where the dining hall was – all I had to do was follow the stream of girls flowing down the stairs. I tried to disappear, to not to think about their staring eyes.
“… and we’ve got this huge duck pond full of fish, you know, really really huge. It even has a bridge across it.”
“Do you have any brothers and sisters?” I asked, turning to look at her as we walked.
Ariadne blinked, her train of conversation derailed. “No. It’s just me and Mummy. And Daddy, sometimes. I wish I did, though. What about you?”
“Um, yes. I have a sister. But she … goes to another school. And some brothers, I suppose. Stepbrothers, really.”
Ariadne sighed. “How lovely.”
“You haven’t met them,” I said.
The dining hall was an enormous noisy room with rows of tables, all filled with girls. There was a long hatch in the wall that looked into the kitchen, and through it the cooks were spooning steaming food on to plates. Whatever the food was, the whole room smelt strongly of stew. Ariadne and I joined the back of the dinner queue. I’d never seen so many people in one place.
Everyone was talking at once, and the air was filled with the sounds of knives scraping and glasses clinking. I wanted to clamp my hands over my ears to block it all out.
Then I spotted Miss Fox, who looked very much like she wanted to do the same. She was standing at the far end of the hall, tapping a wooden cane against the side of her leg. I swallowed, uneasily.
I took a tray and a cheap-looking china plate from the pile. One of the cooks, her hair messily poking out of a white cap, lifted her ladle and spooned a large pile of gloopy brown stuff on to the plate.
“Sorry, what is it, please?” I asked.
“Stew,” she replied, flatly.
“What kind of stew, Miss?”
The cook just stared at me and then turned to serve Ariadne.
As I headed into the middle of the room, I stopped and froze, realising I didn’t have a clue where I was supposed to sit. But then, out of the corner of my eye, I swore Miss Fox pointed with a barely noticeable flick of the cane. Empty seats.
Ariadne followed me to the table and we sat down. She poked her food around the plate with a fork, apparently trying to make sure it was dead.
“Welcome back, Scarlet!”
