As my eyes adjusted to the light indoors, I saw Mrs Knight standing in front of one of Elsie’s prefect friends. The headmistress’s arms were crossed in a very clear display of displeasure.
“Calm down, please, Betty,” she was saying.
“This isn’t fair!” The girl screeched at her. “I’m a prefect! I’ve got to go!”
Mrs Knight didn’t budge. “You aren’t entitled to go. Mr Bartholomew chose you as a prefect, yes, but you’ve forged your permission letter.” She glanced over at the new Rookwood secretary on the front desk, a lady named Miss Jarvis, who had slanted spectacles and always looked a little annoyed. I wondered if she’d been the one to discover the forgery. “That is unacceptable behaviour, as is the fuss you are making right now.”
I gulped nervously. Thank goodness we hadn’t tried forgery.
Betty scrunched her hands into her dark hair as if she were about to pull it out. “I paid the fees out of my own pocket! You have to let me on that bus!”
The headmistress was frowning intently, which was about as angry as she got. If Miss Fox had been there, Betty would have been dragged off for a caning before her feet could touch the ground. “You can have your money back, but you have broken the rules, madam, and now you will have to live with the consequences. And you can have a detention for talking to me in that manner too.”
Betty clenched her fists and stormed off without another word, leaving us all there staring after her. Mrs Knight sighed, though I couldn’t tell if it was frustration or relief.
As Betty left the room, she nearly bumped into Miss Bowler, who was striding in carrying an enormous bag. “Watch where you’re going, Smith!” Miss Bowler bellowed after her. She dropped the bag on the floor with a thud and then appeared to notice all of our startled faces. “Something the matter?”
“Miss Smith forged her permission slip,” Mrs Knight said, her voice heavy with disappointment. “She is no longer coming with us.”
“Well, I never!” said Miss Bowler. “Students these days! They think they can get away with anything …”
As Miss Bowler ranted to a somewhat stunned Mrs Knight, Scarlet pulled Ariadne and me into a circle. “I’ve just had an idea …” she said, keeping her voice lowered.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Betty’s off the trip. But her space has already been booked,” Scarlet began.
“But we’re about to leave,” Ariadne said, flapping her arms. “Nobody’s going to get permission from their parents now!”
“Yes,” said Scarlet. She looked pointedly out of the vast open doors of the school. “But what about someone who doesn’t have parents to ask?”
I suddenly saw what she meant. This was Rose’s chance to join the trip!
“Oh, Scarlet,” Ariadne grinned. “That’s brilliant. Go and ask!”
“You’re coming with me.” Scarlet grabbed us by one arm each, and tugged us over to where the two teachers stood.
“… and that’s why they should bring back the stocks!” Miss Bowler finished, with a final flourish of her muscular arms. Then she noticed us. “Yes?”
“Is there a problem, girls?” Mrs Knight asked.
“Mi-iss,” said Scarlet, in the voice she used when she was trying to get something from a teacher. “We couldn’t help but overhear that a place has just become available … and we wanted to ask if Rose could come?”
“Who’s Rose?” said Miss Bowler in a pantomime whisper to Mrs Knight.
“The girl who helps at the stables,” the headmistress said, as this was the way most people referred to Rose these days.
“Oh, right, right,” Miss Bowler said. “The funny one who’s forgotten how to talk.”
Mrs Knight frowned. “Well, I’m not sure about this …”
“You said the hotel’s already been booked,” Ariadne pointed out. “And you don’t need to ask her parents because she doesn’t have any.”
Mrs Knight looked questioningly at Miss Bowler, but the swimming instructor just shrugged at her. “All right, I suppose she might as well. Your aunt sent a very generous sum that would more than pay for Rose’s place, in fact. Well, tell her to go and get her things, then. Quickly now.”
Scarlet took this a bit too literally, and turned round to face the outside with her hands cupped to her mouth. “ROSE!” she yelled. “MRS KNIGHT SAYS YOU CAN HAVE BETTY’S PLACE ON THE TRIP! GO AND GET YOUR THINGS!”
Which was entirely the wrong moment, because as Rose spun round in surprise, Elsie Sparks walked in. And she looked furious.
Elsie went right up to Mrs Knight, not even looking at us. “Miss,” she said quietly. “Is it true? Betty is off the trip? She just came to me sobbing.”
The headmistress was clearly losing her patience. “Yes, Elsie. Betty broke the rules. We’re taking Miss … Rose instead. Now if you’ll excuse me, we need to go and meet the bus.” She hurried off out of the front doors, Miss Bowler striding after her.
Now Elsie was glaring in our direction. “You little rats,” she said.
“What?” I replied. “What did we do?”
“Betty should be coming with us. Not your weird silent friend. You’d all better watch your backs!” And with that, she swung her bag up on to her shoulder and stalked off outside.
Ariadne stared after her. “Should we be worried?”
“She should be afraid of us,” said Scarlet, clenching her fists. “I’m going to get Rose and we’re going to have a great time. Elsie Sparks can go hang.”
The bus had arrived, the same one that had taken us to the ballet last term. It smelt of leather seats and petrol.
Scarlet had taken Rose to get her few possessions, which largely consisted of things that Violet had stolen for her which hadn’t been claimed back. I think the only things she truly owned were the clothes she stood up in and the golden locket that hung round her neck.
Ariadne and I had climbed on board, lifting our bags into the luggage racks above our heads (Ariadne’s took us several attempts, since it seemed to be full of bricks). We sat near the back, as far away from Elsie and her friend Cassandra as possible, since they were already shooting glares at us. Mrs Knight was standing at the front of the bus, holding the list of names up like a shield as she tried to sort out who was supposed to be there and who wasn’t. Already some girls had tried unsuccessfully to get on board and Miss Bowler had sent them packing with detentions.
Nearly all the seats filled up, except the two beside us that we had saved.
Ariadne looked at her watch. “It’s time to go!” she said. “Where are Scarlet and Rose?”
Typical, I thought. Scarlet had been the one counting down the seconds until this trip and now she was late. “Come on,” I whispered out of the window.
Miss Bowler climbed on board. “Who are we missing?” she bellowed down the aisle. “Grey and … whatsername?”
“Yes, Miss,” I piped up. “They’ll be here soon!”
“They’d better be,” she muttered, but even a mutter from Miss Bowler was rather loud. “The driver is waiting.”
I peered down the aisle at the driver, who was a fairly young man in a flat cap. He didn’t look like he was waiting. He looked like he was quite enjoying reading his newspaper and eating a biscuit.
After