INTO THE FOURTH AT TREBIZON

by Anne Digby

  Ingrid had let her cloak drop down on to the ice. She was wearing a new red skating dress, trimmed with white, and still had one hand in her muff. She was laughing and letting Robbie lift her high in the air.

  He started to laugh, too – gazing up into her face. At that moment nobody but Ingrid existed for Robbie.

  'Now I've caught you I shall kiss you!'

  Rebecca closed her eyes and pressed her hands over her ears. Then she worked her way backwards down the steep bank until the serrated steel at the tips of her ice blades touched down on the glassy face of the river.

  As they did so, all the feeling she'd ever had for Robbie seemed to run right out of her, down through her toes and into the ice below.

  It also dawned upon her that Ingrid had been rather hoping to steal Robbie, all along.

  Laura and Justin had come to look for Rebecca. They found her walking back round the bend in the river in her stockinged feet, her skating boots hung round her neck. Her ribs felt bruised and she'd completely lost her nerve for ice-skating. Laura knew what had happened and she could see that Rebecca had been crying.

  'Come and have a hot dog, Rebecca.'

  'I want to go back,' said Rebecca.

  So did Laura. She wasn't enjoying herself at all this evening. She looked at Justin.

  'Drive us back, Just.'

  He was seventeen and had just got his driving licence and borrowed a car for the evening.

  The two girls sat in the back while he drove, because Laura wanted to talk to Rebecca.

  'She's horrible, isn't she?' she whispered. 'Ingrid.'

  Rebecca said nothing. She was far away.

  'I feel ashamed now,' said Laura. 'About Tish. She should have been head of games, not me.'

  'What's that got to do with Ingrid?' asked Rebecca, coming to. 'They all wanted you to stand.'

  'She put them up to it!' said Laura. 'I didn't find out till afterwards. It was she who told them about Tish and her Court House team. Verity came and told me the night before the election. She wouldn't tell me how she knew, but she begged me to stand.'

  So that was why the election campaign was sprung at the last minute!

  'I was crazy to stand,' said Laura. 'But it seemed so wrong of Tish. Not a bit like her. Now I realize her team would have been okay. Much better than mine.' She looked utterly dejected. 'I'd change it tomorrow, if I thought it would be any use. But it's too late now.'

  'Yes, much,' said Rebecca. Eleanor might be all right, but she and Sue and Aba had hardly played hockey at all this term. They were very rusty. The tournament was only thirteen days off – and anyway the hockey pitches were all frozen up.

  'So that's that,' sighed Laura.

  'I wonder why Ingrid did it?' Rebecca mused.

  'I'll tell you in a minute. But, by the way, she put Tish's list up as well – she got it out of her locker,' said Laura. 'That's something else I found out.'

  'Are you sure?' It took Rebecca a few minutes to digest this amazing piece of news. 'Tish pretended to us she'd put it up herself.'

  'Did she?' said Laura. 'Just keeping her end up, I suppose.'

  'No!' Rebecca said suddenly. 'I think I know the reason! Oh, that's terrible . . .'

  Poor Mara! So that was why Tish had been so cool towards her, all term. Tish was convinced that Mara had put the list up!

  Rebecca thought to herself: Tish knew we'd hate Mara if we knew, so she decided to cover up for her. But in her heart, however hard she tried, she's never been able to forgive Mara for doing that!

  But Mara hadn't done it!

  'Ingrid's got a lot to answer for,' said Rebecca furiously, thinking of the coolness and dissension amongst them in Court House this term.

  After a while she returned to her original question. 'But why? Why should she even have cared!'

  'She didn't,' said Laura. 'According to Verity, it was just that it got on her nerves. The hockey talk in the room. She said it would drive her crazy if you were all going to be in some tournament together. She didn't care about the principle or anything. It was all quite casual, quite cruel.'

  'Yes,' said Rebecca. 'I can see that. That would be Ingrid's style.'

  The Ice Queen, she thought. Turning everything to ice.

  FIFTEEN

  TOGETHER AGAIN

  After she'd left Rebecca at the skating party, Mrs Barrington had returned to main school. She'd been asked to go to a staff meeting about end-of-term reports. Miss Magg, Four Alpha's form teacher this year, was apparently concerned about a girl in Court House.

  'Mara's work has really gone downhill, Joan,' she said. 'We may seriously have to think about moving her to Four Beta. She hasn't any problems, has she?'

  'I think having to split up from her friends and make way for the Swedish girl unsettled her back in September,' said Court's housemistress. 'But she'll have got over that by now! A lot of the girls fight to get a single room! Ingrid's father wanted her to share, of course. She's only here for the term.'

  'Well, I'll mark Mara down tentatively for Four Beta. It's worked very well for Jane Bowen,' said Miss Gates, the senior mistress. 'We'll give it till the end of term in case she suddenly pulls her socks up – but that's only twelve days away!'

  'She's been very involved with the choir this term,' Mrs Barrington said quickly, suddenly feeling protective. 'She's always worked well before.'

  'Yes, but the work gets harder when they go into the Fourth and start working for G C S E. It tends to sort out the sheep from the goats,' said Miss Gates, drily. 'We'll have to see.'

  The staff meeting went on for a long time, but even so Mrs Barrington was surprised when she returned to Court House to see that Rebecca Mason was back so early. She was talking to somebody on the phone under the stairs. She looked rather pale, Mrs Barry thought, and was holding that old teddy bear of hers.

  Rebecca had taken Biffy out of her locker when she'd got back and had been sitting on her bed looking at him. There'd been nobody upstairs, but after a while Lucy Hubbard had come to fetch her down to the telephone.

  To Rebecca's surprise, it was Robbie on the phone.

  The boys who cooked the hot dogs had told him that Rebecca had been to the party and gone away again. He'd thrust a hot dog into Ingrid's hand, made an excuse and left. He'd cycled straight back to Syon House and phoned.

  'Ingrid said she wasn't sure if you were coming or not,' said Robbie accusingly.

  'And you really believed her!' said Rebecca, dully.

  'Of course I believed her!' snapped Robbie. 'After all, you've been doing it all term.'

  'Doing what all term?'

  'Sending Ingrid in your place. I thought it was about time I made the best of it.'

  'So I gathered,' said Rebecca. There was a physical pain in the middle of her chest somewhere. 'You're welcome, Robbie.' She put the phone down, click.

  She walked down the hall, to return upstairs, then realized that she was still holding Biffy. He was in his Garth College colours, as made by Ingrid.

  Rebecca went outside. It was a clear starlit night again, very cold. She ran across the frosty gravel, took hold of Biffy by his good arm, and hurled him towards the bushes. Then she ran back indoors.

  She went upstairs and made herself a cup of coffee and waited for her friends to come in. She was waiting especially for Tish and Mara.

  Rebecca had guessed right.

  Tish had thought all term that it was Mara who'd taken the 'master plan' out of her locker and put it on public display. At first she'd tried hard to understand. She didn't want the others to hate Mara for it and had covered up for her. But the more things had gone wrong with Laura's team, the more Tish had smouldered inside and felt angry with Mara for interfering and losing her the election. Apart from anything else it had seemed such a strange way for Mara to behave that she'd wondered if she could ever trust her again.

  'You thought I was behaving strangely!' exclaimed Mara, with great emotion and tearfulness. Then she started to laugh, with amazement and relie
f. 'I thought you had gone completely crazy, Tish! That you should hate me so much, because of one bad mood. Just because I didn't come and vote for you that day! As if my one little vote could have made any difference. I could not understand why you were being so stupid. Now I understand everything.'

  There was a great suffusion of joy in the room: a return of warmth. The other three hugged Mara and made a fuss of her. Then, through the window, Tish saw the lights of the minibus over at Norris.

  'Ingrid's just got back! She'll be here in a minute. I'm not sleeping in the same room as her –'

  At that moment Margot and Elf came into the room. They'd been to the Saturday film and on the way back had overheard Nicola Hodges spreading the news about Robbie and Ingrid. Nicola had been at the ice-skating party.

  'I should think Rebecca feels that way too,' said Margot, meaningfully. 'After what happened tonight.'

  'Poor Rebecca!' said Elf, with feeling. 'Robbie must be mad if he prefers Ingrid to you.'

  As Tish, Sue and Mara stared at Rebecca in disbelief, she quickly turned away.

  'I think I'll go and have a bath,' she said. She went and got her night things. 'I must admit I don't particularly want to see Ingrid.'

  When Ingrid walked into the room, five minutes later, Tish said witheringly:

  'None of us wants you in this room any more. We don't like people who go poking around and taking things from our lockers and showing them to everybody.'

  Ingrid frowned for a moment and then remembered. 'Huh! Not the hockey again!'

  She turned on Tish. She was in a very bad temper herself.

  'As it so happens, Titch, I have myself just seen Mrs Barrington and requested that I leave this room at once. Tonight. She says I may do so if Mara is willing to exchange.'

  Mara's brown eyes immediately shone bright.

  'Good riddance,' said Tish. 'I'm certainly going to tell my brother what you're like.'

  'You can tell your brother what you wish,' said Ingrid. She was already starting to bundle her things together. 'If you think I would want to stay in the same room as the sister of Robbie Anderson, you are much mistaken.'

  She stared at Tish icily.

  'Your brother left me to pay for my own food tonight. He is a rude and ill–mannered pig.'

  'Oh, I could have told you that,' said Tish.

  When Rebecca finally emerged from the bathroom, there was luggage strewn all over the landing and much laughter and celebratory noise. Ingrid had already moved out and Mara was now moving in. The six were together again!

  Hearing the joyous din, from the bottom of the stairs, Joan Barrington frowned thoughtfully. She made a mental note to see Miss Gates on Monday and tell her not to be too hard on Mara. It looked as though there might have been special problems in Court House this term, after all.

  At cocoa time she went up to the little common room and said to them: 'I hope Ingrid's last ten days at Trebizon won't be unhappy. I hope she won't be lonely in that little single room.'

  'She won't be lonely!' exclaimed Tish. 'Will she, Mara?'

  The two friends had just been along there and peeped into the room through the crack of the door. Ingrid had been sitting in front of the mirror there, applying some night cream and noting with satisfaction that her light golden tan had by no means gone, in spite of the English winter.

  She had gazed lovingly at the image in the mirror and the image had gazed lovingly back at her.

  'Ingrid will be fine, Mrs Barry,' nodded Mara.

  After all, she was now sharing a room with the one she really loved.

  It was just before Lights Out. Tish had mysteriously disappeared downstairs. In fact Robbie had turned up at Court House, thrown some gravel up at a window in the front and asked Jenny to find her.

  'What's all the racket about?' asked Rebecca, from her bed. She was lying face down on the pillow and feeling tearful. 'Oh, Mara, I can't get to sleep.'

  'You are thinking about Robbie?' Mara whispered from the next bed.

  'Yes.'

  'You neglected him this term, Rebecca. You know that!'

  'I know I have.' Rebecca paused. 'The tennis is getting really important now.' She paused again. 'Oh, Mara, isn't it difficult?'

  Tish came back into the room and put a note under Rebecca's pillow. 'From Robbie,' she said. She was holding something else, behind her back.

  'Oh, and he also asked me to say what kind of a girl would leave a poor little one-armed bear outside to freeze to death on a night like this.'

  She produced Biffy. His battered brown face looked startled, with particles of frost clinging to it, and his clothes had gone as stiff as metal.

  'Oh, poor Biffy!' exclaimed Rebecca. She reached her hand out from under the bedclothes and took hold of the frozen bear.

  Gently she put him under her pillow. He should have thawed out by the morning.

  Maybe he wasn't such a bad bear, after all.

  SIXTEEN

  LOOKING FORWARD

  The arctic weather continued. The last weekend of the term arrived and the hockey pitches were still frozen stiff. Driving conditions throughout most of England were hazardous.

  Trebizon would break up the following Thursday and the seven-a-sides tournament was due to take place on the Friday.

  At Queensbury Collegiate in Gloucestershire, the Director of Sport called a meeting and took the only decision that was open to him.

  'They say there may be a thaw next week, but we can't rely on it,' he said. 'At the moment the pitches aren't even playable and even if they were half the teams wouldn't be able to get here anyway.'

  It was decided to telephone round to all the schools involved cancelling the tournament for these holidays and fixing a new date for it to take place in the Easter holidays.

  When Miss Willis broke the news to Laura, she was surprised to see that the red-headed girl looked rather joyful for a moment.

  Then, looking sad and rather subdued, she said:

  'Miss Willis. I – I think I ought to stand down as Head of Games next term. Tish Anderson can take over. She had some good ideas for a sevens squad. They were better than mine.'

  Miss Willis herself felt that Laura had made some mistakes. But the system at Trebizon was to give the girls complete responsibility for the teams – total. Usually it worked well.

  'You can't,' Miss Willis protested. 'It's unheard of. You were elected to do a job and you've got to do it. In any case, I'm sure Tish herself would never agree. Not after all the hard work you've put in for the sevens this term.'

  Miss Willis was right.

  'Okay then, Tish,' said Laura, later. 'I'll stay on as Head of Games – but only on one condition. That when we start training again next term we have the people you wanted and not the ones I did.'

  'Fine!' said Tish, suddenly very happy. Then she had a thought. 'But what about Joss?'

  Laura had already asked Miss Willis about that.

  'Well, you know she's coming back for good at Easter? She'll be home a week before the new date they've fixed, so that's okay!'

  'Thank goodness!' said Tish.

  There was great excitement in Court House when they heard the news.

  As for the girls in the other Houses – well they weren't arguing any longer.

  'If Laura wants so many from Court House, then it must be okay. She's always fair!'

  'They're a lot of Amazons over there anyway,' said a girl in Sterndale, the least sporting of the Houses. 'Who wants to be like them!'

  Rebecca settled down to the last few days of term with quiet enjoyment. There was a Christmas party over at Syon House but she decided to avoid it. She thought she'd rather not see Robbie for a while. Perhaps next term.

  It was just pleasant, the six of them being together again.

  Sue was relieved to be able to bring the violin back into the room sometimes, because there was a hectic amount of practice required for the Christmas concert. Mara would sit poring over her books, for she was studying hard again, with a be
atific smile on her face. Rebecca had bought her some earplugs at the chemist shop in the town.

  Mara herself sang beautifully in the joint choral production at Garth College – and told them all that the party that was held afterwards was the best ever.

  The five friends were very proud of Sue when she was given a long ovation at the Christmas concert, having played two very difficult pieces, perfect at last. She'd already won the House Music Cup that term and was now considered to be a very promising musician.

  'But I'm looking forward to getting out of doors and playing some hockey next term,' she told Rebecca. 'I like it in the spring term!'

  'So am I,' said Rebecca. 'I won't be playing tennis for the county, that's for sure.' She would have to go back down the ladder after Christmas as an Under-16.

  Ingrid departed in the manner in which she'd come. The big Swedish car with the pennant glided to a halt outside Court House on the last morning of term. Hanging out of the front windows of Court House they watched her walk towards the car below, looking as calm and beautiful as ever. She was wearing the very same arresting blue outfit that she'd arrived in, and her hands were inside her big white fur muff.

  Her distinguished-looking father shook hands with Mrs Barrington. They were returning to Sweden now, in time for Christmas.

  'Have you enjoyed it here, Ingrid?' asked the house-mistress. 'Do you think we've helped you to improve your English?'

  'I have enjoyed it very much, thank you,' replied Ingrid with a dignified nod. 'It has been most interesting. My English, also, is much improved.'

  There was no crunch of frost as the car drove away. The thaw had arrived, after all.

  Later that day Rebecca's coach took her past the rolling grounds of Queensbury Collegiate, just before it reached the town where her grandmother lived.

  It was going to be such fun, coming up here in the Easter holidays and playing in the seven-a-sides. There'd be Tish, Sue, Aba, Jenny – and Laura and Eleanor and Sheila and Wanda! And Joss of course. It would be marvellous to have Joss back! Would she have changed after a year in the States?