By Midnight

by Mia James

  ‘Okay then. Show me your favourite place. Tomorrow?’

  ‘Excellent!’ said April, hoping she didn’t sound too enthusiastic. She paused, her hand on the gate’s handle. Is he going to kiss me? she wondered, but Gabriel turned away.

  ‘I’ll call you, April Dunne,’ he said.

  ‘You don’t have my number,’ she replied.

  ‘I’ll find it,’ he said, as he walked back towards the square.

  ‘Hey!’ she hissed, running after him. ‘Your jacket!’

  ‘Thanks.’ He smiled. ‘Now you’re looking after me.’

  Last chance, she thought, gazing up into his eyes. Last chance to say goodnight properly.

  Their fingers brushed as he took his jacket, but he backed away and pulled it on.

  ‘You’d better get inside,’ he said and disappeared into the shadows of the trees. Shivering and disappointed, she reluctantly turned and ran up the path. Inside, she slipped off her shoes and began to tiptoe up the stairs.

  ‘Psssstt!’

  ‘Who’s there?’ gasped April, clutching at her chest in fright.

  Her father put his head around the door of the living room. ‘Hi, Dad,’ she said, breathing out. ‘God, you almost scared me to death.’

  ‘Sorry,’ he grinned, the smile quickly fading as he saw her wet dress, her smeared make-up and rain-flattened hair. ‘God, what happened? You didn’t walk home in the rain did you?’

  ‘Just the last bit,’ she shrugged, hoping he wouldn’t make a big deal about it. ‘But I’m fine, honest.’

  He raised an eyebrow quizzically.

  ‘A good night, then?’

  ‘Yes, yes it was. In the end. I’ll tell you in the morning.’ She smiled, then ran back and gave him a hug.

  ‘Hey!’ he hissed as April ran back up the stairs. ‘You looked amazing tonight. Before you got dragged through a hedge backwards, anyway.’

  ‘Thanks, Dad.’ She blushed.

  ‘Okay, darling, sleep tight.’

  I’m notgoing to sleep at all tonight, she thought as she ran up the stairs, peeled off her wet dress and jumped into bed. But she did sleep, and it was Gabriel Swift who filled her dreams.

  Chapter Eleven

  She tried not to think about Gabriel all of Monday at school, but by lunchtime, April had to admit defeat. She’d spent the morning mentally dissecting every last detail of every conversation and look from the night before, worrying over whether she had done the right thing asking Gabriel out, fretting that she had put him off by being too pushy, wondering why he hadn’t kissed her, remembering how Milo had. Of course, she hadn’t heard from either boy, but that hadn’t stopped her checking her phone for a message or missed call every five minutes since she had woken up and she kept catching herself smiling like a lunatic when images from the party popped into her mind. To be accurate, it was mainly images of Gabriel in the moonlight, although April was also enjoying reliving the kiss with Milo; she got shivers just thinking about it. After all, what girl wouldn’t enjoy having two boys chasing her when usually there were somewhere around zero? There’s no reason he would call me so soon, is there? she had to remind herself. I mean, it was only a casual arrangement. And it’s not like it’s a date or anything - or is it? Did I even really ask him out?

  By the time the midday bell sounded, April was desperate to talk to someone about it. She’d coasted through her History lesson, surreptitiously checking her phone under the desk. She’d had about six texts from Fiona, all variations on ‘Must talk!’, ‘Urgent!’ and ‘Where are you?’, but she wanted to talk to Caro about Gabriel first. Caro had been at Ravenwood for years - surely she must know something about him. She was sure Caro would be waiting for her in the dining hall, equally keen to talk about the party, so she was quick to gather up her books, grab her bag and head for the door. She almost made it.

  ‘April? Can I have a word?’

  Miss Holden was calling her back. Oh Christ, not another lecture, surely?

  The teacher closed the door and took out a file. ‘I want to talk to you about your homework,’ she said, putting the folder on her desk. ‘How would you say you are getting on in History?’

  ‘Well, I’m trying to keep up, but it’s been hard. I’m enjoying it though, I think.’

  ‘You think?’ said Miss Holden, pulling out an essay April recognised as her own. It was covered with red ink and April’s heart sank. ‘I’ll be frank, April, this isn’t good enough. It would be enough, perhaps even good, in a regular school, but Ravenwood isn’t a normal school, is it?’

  ‘You can say that again,’ muttered April.

  ‘And that sort of attitude is doing you no favours either, young lady,’ said the teacher. ‘I appreciate that you may not have chosen to come here, but you’re here now and there’s no point in wishing it otherwise. If today’s lesson is anything to go by, you’ve had your head in the clouds all day. Again. Do you want to stay here, April?’

  April couldn’t think of anything to say, so she looked at the floor.

  ‘I’ll take your silence as a yes.’ The teacher sighed. ‘Now, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do.’ She picked up April’s essay and, in one brisk movement, tore it in half.

  April looked up, her eyes wide. ‘But I spent hours on that,’ she gasped.

  ‘Not enough of them, apparently,’ said Miss Holden, dropping it in the waste-bin. She pulled another sheet from her folder and handed it to April. ‘This is your new assignment, regarding the church’s role in social engineering in the Middle Ages. I’ve included a reading list, most of which can be found in the school library. It would do you a power of good if you actually read some books, rather than paraphrasing whatever you find on the Internet. I expect much, much better, April, so show me what you can do.’

  April looked from the sheet to Miss Holden and back again. There were seven or eight books on the list - did she expect April to read them all?

  ‘That’s it for now,’ said Miss Holden, turning away. ‘You may go.’

  ‘But …’

  ‘Yes?’

  April shook her head. ‘Nothing. Well, actually there is something. What is the Circle of Lebanon?’

  Miss Holden looked at April with a frown. ‘Local interest, eh? Well, it’s a start, I suppose.’ She took the assignment sheet from her and scribbled another line on it. ‘Oh, and April?’

  ‘Yes?’ She sighed.

  ‘The library’s that way,’ she said, pointing to the right. ‘Turn left at the end. Can’t miss it.’

  April was boiling with anger as she strode down the corridor. That witch! How dare she? Aren’t teachers supposed to help you with problems, not take the mickey? I should report that smarmy cow.

  ‘Hi, April.’ She turned to see Sara Gold, a minor member of the Faces, the one Davina had supposedly seen enter a bathroom with Gabriel. She was standing with Layla and they both seemed to be highly amused about something.

  ‘Oh, uh, hi,’ said April distractedly as she hurried on.

  ‘Have a good time at the party?’ called Sara to sounds of laughter.

  April stopped and turned to face them. ‘Yes, it was fun,’ she said.

  ‘That’s what we heard,’ said Sara, a touch of spite in her voice. ‘A lot of fun.’

  ‘I’m sorry? What are you saying?’ said April with a creeping sense of dread.

  ‘Oh, nothing. We just heard how you like to spread the love around.’

  Sara cracked up laughing at this and April was disturbed to see that a crowd was gathering around them.

  ‘I could say the same about you, Sara,’ said April. ‘I heard you spent a lot of time in the bathroom.’

  The smile faded from Sara’s face. ‘Who told you that?’

  The double doors to the refectory sprang open and Caro came bowling through. She grabbed April’s arm and dragged her back the way she had come. ‘We need to talk,’ she said from the side of her mouth.

  ‘What? What’s going on?’

  ‘No big deal,’
said Caro. She hurried April down the corridor and out into the grounds. When they were a decent distance from the building, Caro stopped. ‘Someone is spreading a rumour about you and a whole bunch of boys at the party.’

  ‘WHAT?’ cried April, horrified. ‘You’re joking! Tell me you’re joking?’

  Caro shook her head. ‘No, I’m not. I wouldn’t make something like that up.’

  April could feel her heart hammering. God, I’ve only been at this horrible school a week and already everyone thinks I’m a slut, she thought in despair. I only wanted to fit in.

  ‘But why? Why would someone do that?’

  ‘Well, you obviously pissed someone off last night and now they’re trying to drag you through the mud.’

  ‘But who?’

  Caro led April over to a bench and sat her down. ‘Okay, talk me through the whole thing. And leave nothing out - the tiniest detail could give us the clue.’

  ‘For God’s sake, Caro,’ snapped April, ‘this isn’t one of your stupid conspiracies, this is serious. This is about me! What if people believe it? What if I become known as some kind of sleep-around slut?’

  Caro looked as if she was about to object, but instead she nodded. ‘Yes, you’re right, but let’s go through it all anyway. We need to find out who is behind the rumour, then torture them until they retract it. So what happened?’

  Taking a deep breath, April slowly told Caro the story of her night, from meeting Milo at the door, flirting with Ben, through the incident with Marcus, then making out with Milo, the fight and the romantic walk home with Gabriel.

  When she had finished, Caro whistled. ‘Wow. You did have a busy night.’

  ‘So what do you think? Maybe someone saw me talking to all those boys and decided I was doing more than talking?’

  Caro pulled a face. ‘That’s not the rumour. The rumour is that you were throwing yourself at anything in trousers. In fact, none of those names were mentioned.’

  ‘Oh God,’ said April. ‘But why? Who would do that?’

  Caro thought for a moment. ‘Did anyone see you kissing Milo?’

  ‘Only Gabriel.’

  ‘Definitely?’

  ‘Definitely.’

  ‘Hmm. Well then, the prime suspect has to be Marcus Brent, doesn’t it? You obviously caught him out and he’s trying to cover himself with this story about how you threw yourself at him and his chums.’

  ‘Eww, don’t …’ said April, screwing her face up. ‘But why? I mean, I know Marcus hates me for some reason, but I assumed that was because he didn’t like Benjamin talking to me.’

  ‘It’s obvious - you were about to blow his cover.’

  ‘What cover? Cover for what?’

  ‘Think about it: what were you doing just before Marcus grabbed you?’

  ‘I was taking photos of the party.’

  ‘Exactly! And then he deleted all the photos, right? So now we can’t see what they were trying to hide.’ Caro was looking at April as if the answer was blindingly obvious.

  ‘What? What’s all that supposed to mean?’ she asked impatiently.

  ‘I knew it all along!’

  ‘Knew what? What have you known all along?’

  ‘That they’re vampires!’

  April gaped at Caro. She began to speak but then found she didn’t have the words. She shook her head and stood up.

  ‘Okay, fine,’ said April. ‘You have your little joke too. Actually I came to you to ask your advice about Gabriel because I thought you were my friend and that you might be able to help, but it seems that you can’t stop your silly little games for one minute. Thanks, Caro. I’ll deal with it myself.’ She picked up her bag and started to stalk back towards the school buildings.

  ‘Hey, hey!’ said Caro, running ahead of her and putting her hands up. ‘I know it sounds mad, but hear me out, okay?’

  ‘Caro, please,’ said April, trying to get past her. ‘This is ridiculous.’

  ‘Okay, so explain it to me - why did Marcus go so crazy when he saw the camera?’

  April threw her arms up in frustration. ‘I don’t know! Maybe they were doing drugs? They were all standing around a table, maybe they had some coke or they were rolling a joint or something. Maybe they were arm-wrestling for all I know. Whatever it was, it was definitely dodgy and they didn’t want me having evidence of it.’

  ‘Or maybe there’s a simpler explanation.’

  ‘What? Them all being vampires is a simpler explanation? Jesus!’

  She pushed past Caro, shaking with anger and disappointment. True, she hardly knew Caro, but she had thought they had really connected, that Caro was the one person she could count on. Didn’t she understand how serious this was? Getting a reputation for something like that - more to the point, for something she hadn’t done - it was unthinkable. She’d never live it down. Never.

  ‘Dammit, dammit, dammit.’ April sat in the kitchen staring down at her phone and its unblinking display. No bars at all, no reception in this stupid house. Why did they have to move here? April had tried to call Fiona, but her best friend’s phone had gone straight to voicemail three times before she got home.

  ‘Think, April,’ she muttered to herself. ‘What would Dad do?’ Scotland’s top investigative reporter wouldn’t give up after a few failed phone calls. She only had half an hour left if she was going to get back to school before the lunch break ended - if she could even bear to go - but … Then it clicked. Of course! Fiona would be on her lunch break too. She sprinted up the stairs, taking them two at a time. April flew across her bed and rattled at the keyboard, bringing the computer out of sleep mode. At lunchtime, April and Fiona had usually gone to their form room in St Geoffrey’s to use the computers under the guise of ‘extra study’. They generally messed about on Facebook and looked up celebrity gossip, but she knew that Fiona would check her email accounts as a matter of course, especially as she had been trying to get in touch to gossip about the party. She quickly signed in to her account.

  Fee, need to speak urgently, can you call? she wrote, stabbing at the ‘send’ button.

  Almost immediately, a box popped up on the screen.

  Been trying, you daft cow. Your mobile doesn’t work and the landline’s constantly engaged! Fx

  April cursed and ran across to the phone extension she’s had installed in her room. Fee was right - the handset was out of its cradle. It began to ring the moment she clicked it into place.

  ‘Thank God, Fee …’ she began, but her friend was already talking.

  ‘What’s the matter with you, April?’ said Fiona with irritation. ‘I’ve been trying and trying to get in touch since about ten o’clock last night! Where have you been? I’ve been up all night worrying myself to death.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said April, a little taken aback, ‘but the big story all happened this morning.’

  Fiona paused, hearing the distress in her friend’s voice. ‘Okay, sorry, but I was imagining all sorts of things after those photos. So what happened?’

  April quickly told her all about the party, then the rumours at school. She left out the fact that she’d fought with Caro, too - they had enough to discuss as it was.

  ‘Listen, Fee, I’m sorry I didn’t call you this morning, but I thought I’d see Gabriel at school and then all this stuff about the … well, the lies they’re spreading about me, it distracted me. So what did you want to talk about?’

  There was a pause at the other end of the line. ‘Nothing bad, but … well, it’s just a bit weird. Look, get back on the Internet, I’m going to send you something, okay?’

  April frowned. What was Fee on about? Was she worried April had fallen in with a bad lot or something? Surely Fiona knew her better than that?

  When she opened her inbox, there was already a message from Fiona waiting for her, with the subject ‘Open!’ There was no other text, just four jpegs attached.

  April clicked on each in turn and waited as her computer downloaded them.

  ‘Are you l
ooking at them?’ asked Fiona impatiently.

  ‘They’re opening now. Hang on, the first one’s … oh. Oh God.’

  The picture was grainy, as mobile phone snaps always were, but it was clear enough. It was the picture April had taken in the bar area at the party, with all the decadent teens lounging on the sofas. It was exactly as she remembered it, apart from one detail. Right in the middle of the shot, there was an armchair. On either side, perched on the arms and leaning inwards, were two girls, both laughing. Only at the party they weren’t sitting on the chair.