He rejoined the conversation with them, but his mind was busily turning over his next move. Or should it be her move next? He didn’t want to come on strong but this wasn’t a normal situation and he would rather she chased him, really. But would she?
He needed to engineer something that didn’t seem to come from him, and he needed to know more about her to do it. He suspected that Alex wouldn’t be quite so accommodating about inviting him into their circle any more. He needed to plot carefully from here.
Chapter Seven
Flora was searching for Ellie. She’d tried the library and wondered whether to go alone into the Games Room. Ellie was probably in their bedroom, but she wanted to check the ground floor before she trudged all the way up the stairs to the West Tower.
She felt stupid for being nervous about entering the Games Room alone, but it seemed being new meant you were under constant scrutiny, and Flora didn’t do well under close observation. Taking a deep breath, she pushed through the door and then turned into a puddle of doubt as she saw it was empty except for Gabriel Brenner.
He wasn’t playing any of the games; he just sat on a bench texting on his phone.
She gulped and started to back out.
“Flora? It is Flora, isn’t it?”
He knew her name? She wavered with indecision; part of her just wanted to run. But her legs wouldn’t work. She tried to say “Yes” but her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth and all she managed to come out with was, “Ung.”
He smiled at her, a nice welcoming smile.
“Come on in.” He stuck his phone in his pocket and waited expectantly.
Flora cast a helpless look back at the corridor, but the heavy fire door was slowly closing behind her and she would look ridiculous if she ran for it now.
“Hi,” she managed. “Have you seen Ellie Parkhurst?”
“Not recently.” He patted the seat beside him. “Come and chat to me instead.”
Flora wondered if she was dreaming. Gorgeous Gabriel Brenner was inviting her to come and talk to him.
Every step toward him felt like she was clumping through a vineyard trail after the heavy rains. She sat gingerly on the bench.
He leaned against the wall, apparently completely at ease. “So, how are you settling in?”
She began to gabble nervously. “Okay. Good, I think. Everyone has been super nice and it seems like a really good school.”
“Really? I think it’s pretty crap. Standards seem to go down every year. I think the teachers are pissed half the time.” He looked irritated.
“Really? None of my teachers seem angry,” Flora asked.
He laughed. “No, it’s an English expression. It means ‘drunk’.”
Flora wasn’t sure if he was joking or not, so she just said “Oh.”
“So you’re happy here? You’re sharing a room with Ellie, aren’t you? Do the two of you get up to much?”
“Umm, well, Ellie does. She has so many friends and does lots of activities and stuff, but I don’t really know many people yet and there are a lot of lessons here that are different from my last school. You don’t cover half the subjects we did, but you’re all way ahead in other subjects, so I’ve been trying to catch up.”
He nodded. “So what does Ellie do that you can’t tag along to?”
She shifted a little on the bench beside him and began to tell him. They talked for another twenty minutes. She was just starting to get comfortable in his company when he checked his watch and rose to his feet.
“Cool. Anyway, it was nice talking to you. I’ve got to go. See you around.” He sauntered out of the room.
Flora lingered for a couple minutes more, feeling the glow his presence had left. Watching the spot where he’d sat, she remembered the way he pushed his hair off his face, the relaxed way he crossed his feet. He was too gorgeous for words.
She floated up the stairs on a cloud. Entering her dorm, she found Ellie sitting at her desk, frowning over a history book.
“Hi,” Ellie said without looking up. “Any idea why Ethelred the Unready was called that? Do you think he took hours to get dressed for a night out and when his friends came to pick him up they would say, ‘Forsooth, Ethelred, you are never ready; all the buxom wenches will be taken!’ No, of course you don’t know. You’re probably worse at British history than I am.”
Flora gave her a dreamy smile. “Sorry, not a clue. Though I could tell you the entire life of Benjamin Franklin if that would help.” She threw her school bag onto her bed and then sat beside it, bouncing up and down. “You will never guess who just spoke to me.”
Ellie turned away from her books. “The Holy Spirit?” she joked.
“Gabriel.” Flora spoke his name with reverence, stringing it out into three clear syllables.
Ellie gave her a wry look. “So almost the Holy Spirit then.”
“We talked. He actually took an interest in…” Flora broke off, a look of horror coming over her face. “Oh my goodness! I’ve just realised: all that time I thought we were talking about me, we were talking about you!”
She flopped backwards onto the bed, her arms wide. “I don’t believe this,” she wailed. “I finally fall in love, for the first time in my life, and he was only pumping me for information about you!”
Ellie sat beside her and patted her arm. “I’m sure that’s not true. Gabriel has no interest in me whatsoever.”
“He does.” Flora shut her eyes against the pain. “Everything he asked me was indirectly about you. Why is every boy in this school in love with you? Everywhere we go it’s all, ‘Hey, Ellie,’ ‘Hi, Ellie,’ ‘Cute shoes, Ellie.’ Gabriel is just another victim of the Ellie magic!” Flora knew she was being unfair, but she pulled away.
“Seriously, Flora, you should pay more attention. It’s never actually about me. None of them care about me. It’s because I’m Jack’s sister. If you think about it the comments are more like, ‘Hi, Ellie, how’s Jack?’ ‘Hey, Ellie, what’s Jack doing now?’ I’m known for being his sister. It’s not really that flattering.”
Flora opened her eyes. Thinking back, she realised Ellie had a point. People were always asking about Jack.
Ellie saw the comprehension dawning in Flora’s eyes and nodded. “Jack was such a legend at this school, even the teachers ask me how he’s getting on. He was Captain of everything. Half the trophies in the hallway have his name on them and he boxed for the County, so he’s even famous for having punch-ups. That’s the only reason everyone knows who I am.”
Flora sat up. “It’s not the only reason. Boys ask you out because you’re pretty.”
Ellie smiled. “I hope so. But it’s not easy living in Jack’s shadow. I’ve often wondered if that’s why Alex is so different from Jack.” She looked thoughtful. “You know, he’s actually much smarter than Jack, at science anyway. Alex is very clever. Maybe he purposely doesn’t compete with Jack.”
Flora flopped back again. “Gabriel wouldn’t care about Jack. He never mentioned him.”
“Hmmm, I wonder.” Ellie was still smiling. “Do you think maybe Nate put him up to questioning you?”
Flora once more jerked back up as relief swept through her. “Of course! He was asking for Nate. He’s Nate’s best friend and Nate clearly has a total crush on you.”
Ellie went back to her desk.
“Well, I don’t know about the total crush, but it makes more sense.” She bent her head back down to her book, wanting to avoid Flora’s eye. She was sure that Gabriel had been asking for Nate. But why? She couldn’t help but feel a furl of excitement in her chest that Nate had obviously talked about her to Gabriel. Was Nate genuinely interested in her? Or was this part of some flirty point-scoring game they were playing with each other?
Either way, it was a pretty big compliment.
***
Later that evening, Gabriel waited till Jerry and Owen went to bed before brandishing his list triumphantly.
“Uh hum – I now present the full, unabridged an
d completely boring low-down on one Eleanor Parkhurst: she likes cats. She watches school sport most Saturday mornings; likes watching the First Fifteen play rugby this time of year or the cricket in the summer. She is good friends with the school chef, Rene, and has tea with him every Sunday around six pm, sometimes with Rose or Alex, or both. She is fond of Chinese food. On Mondays she sometimes plays at the chess club; she is long-standing champion. Her other evenings are generally free. She is very good at English and French, but failing Maths and History. Current boyfriend is Liam Anderson; at least he says he is. His friends confirm they are going into Oakworth together on Halloween, which is also her fifteenth birthday. Because of her brothers and cousins she has friends in almost every school year. She emails her parents every week and talks to her brother just as often. Do I need to remind you who he is?”
“Blimey, Gabe! You got all that in a few hours? You should join MI5.”
Nate took the list from Gabriel, who lounged back with a smug grin. “So now you have it, what will you do with it?”
“I’m not sure; there must be something useful here. Chess club? That’s a bit geeky; I’ll give that a miss. Tea with Rene, yes, maybe that could be useful. Failing History, yes, I’m sure I can use that.” He skirted over the Liam Anderson bit. “Thanks Gabe, I totally owe you one.”
***
At four o’clock the next day Nate paid a visit to Rene under guise of learning the history of bread making for a school project. The school had an old-fashioned bread oven, said to date back to 1730, and Rene was enthusiastic about explaining to him how it all worked. They continued to chat about the different baking methods in Tudor times until nearly six, when Rene commented that Ellie and Rose would be coming down to visit shortly, and Nate said he really ought to be off.
He passed them in the long corridor to the kitchen. He smiled and gave a passing nod, but didn’t stop.
Rose nudged Ellie. “Gosh, he’s good looking, isn’t he?”
Ellie shrugged. “I suppose so. You don’t fancy him, do you?”
Rose smiled. “No, he’s definitely not my type: far too arrogant, but I can still look! Anyway, Alex tells me that Nate seems to have set his sights on you.”
Ellie’s insides jumped. Was that really true? Personally she had thought Nate was playing this cat and mouse game because she had got in his way and annoyed him. She should have backed off as soon as Rose stopped being his target, but she couldn’t help feeling a little thrilled by his attention. Trying not to give anything away, she shrugged again. “Nah, it’s just a bit of harmless flirting. He’s not interested in me.”
Rose looked concerned. “Are you sure, Ellie, because he’s a bit of a heart-breaker. Not that I think you couldn’t handle him,” she hastened to add. “I’ve always admired how blasé you are with boys, but I figured it was because you had just never fallen in love. It would be awful if you finally did and it was Nate!”
Ellie gave Rose a look that quickly shut her up. She didn’t want to have this conversation. Rose was more right than she realised when it came to Ellie’s feelings about boys: she was searching for that elusive, amazing guy who made her feel something more. But she didn’t want it to be Nate either.
Unfortunately, the more Alex or Rose told her to stay away from him the more appealing he became. She seemed to see him everywhere suddenly, and she wished people would stop mentioning him at all.
Rene waved from the stove, indicating that they should sit at the table.
“What a shame,” he said. “You’ve just missed Nathaniel Naverly. I’ve not spoken much with him before, but he seems a very intelligent boy.”
Ellie sighed. It was all a great big plot to make her think about him constantly.
And everyone was in on it.
***
Nate was pleased. As plotting went, this game was going well. So far he had ignored her leaving the kitchens, but hopefully left Rene talking about him. He had overlooked her in the Games Room, chatted to his friends while she had been there with hers. He had passed her alone in the courtyard and pretended to be talking on his phone. He had sent Owen to chess club and got him to mention him a lot. He had even let Pamela McBride sit on his knee at dinner one night, even though she bored him, aware he was in full view of Ellie over at the West Tower table.
He had given Ellie too much attention and now he wanted her to miss it. She was a clever girl, but she was out of her league at this game. Right about now she should be feeling a bit neglected.
The next stage of his plan was to somehow get their History teacher, Mrs. Marsh, to invite Ellie to join him for some extra History lessons, and if he’d got it right Ellie ought to jump at it.
***
Ellie was feeling rather neglected. Nate had openly made a spectacle of them both by sending her emails and talking to her friends, and now he seemed to be avoiding her.
Was he not interested? Because that was just fine. Neither was she. She didn’t know what he was playing at – it rather looked as if he had forgotten about her – but if it was still a game then she was determined to figure out the rules before she got played. Letting Pam McBride slobber all over him was going a bit far, though. Maybe he wanted her to get jealous? If that was the case, then two could play at that.
Halloween was Ellie’s fifteenth birthday and she went into Oakworth Village, as arranged, with Liam. She hadn’t seen much of Liam in the last few days; she had stayed in the West Tower Common Room studying most evenings rather than in the library where he often cornered her. But now she decided to be as nice as possible. She linked her arm through his to walk to the village, laughed at his jokes and didn’t duck when he gave her a quick kiss. They found a table to themselves in the Fox and Hounds pub, and he bought her a Diet Coke.
It was a visiting weekend at the school and Ellie reckoned that most of the pupils from the Upper School who didn’t have family coming to visit would be going into Oakworth Village. In fact, she was counting on it.
Chapter Eight
Jack Parkhurst looked forward to dropping in on Alex and Ellie at his old school. Their parents normally tried to do a Saturday visit once every couple of months, but as a recent ex-pupil it was liberating to come up the driveway and know that he wasn’t going back to his old room and boring prep.
He smiled fondly at the grand old building. Compass Court Boarding School had been his second home for seven years and he’d been happy there.
It was an old manor house built around the first-ever large fixed compass in Britain. The huge iron compass itself still stood in the centre of the large courtyard in the middle of the square building. A tower had been built at each corner, making up the four schoolhouses. The towers were each at the corner they were named after: North, East, South and West. He’d been in West Tower House. He could see his old window from the front drive.
Looking round the driveway, he watched as various parents collected their children for a day out. He waved at a couple of people he knew from the year below him.
You always got a funny mix at boarding school. Kids were sent here for so many different reasons. His own father travelled often as an army Captain, and his mother preferred to rent a house in barracks rather than stay at home. They shut up the family house during term time, which was why he, his brother and his sister had all attended boarding school.
Jack wandered into the main hall looking for his brother and sister. Alex was in the courtyard with their cousins, Rose and Toby.
Alex and Rose had been born only days apart, and so they’d always been close. Rose’s younger brother Toby was only thirteen, and Jack hadn’t ever really had much time for him as the age gap between them was so large, he himself having turned eighteen last January.
He was more interested in finding Ellie. As younger sisters went, Ellie was pretty cool. She was full of mischief and sharp as a tack. He’d actually really enjoyed having her around when she finally joined him and Alex at Compass Court. She was cheeky with his friends, up for any dares and perf
ectly capable of charming her way out of trouble with the teachers. Plus it was her birthday this weekend, and he was looking forward to surprising her.
Alex saw Jack and made his way over to him, letting him know that Ellie was in the village pub.
Rose looked up and gave Jack a wave. He waved back, but didn’t bother to go over. Rose and Toby had spent three weeks of the summer holiday at his parents’ house while their own parents had been abroad working, so he didn’t feel the need to chat to her again so soon. Not that he’d seen a huge amount of her during that time. She had spent most of it on her phone gassing away to her friends.
Rose had changed this summer, blossoming into a mature teenager. She seemed far more interested in fashion magazines and boys than she had been before.
Poor Alex, Jack smiled to himself, he was getting left behind. He hoped Alex grew up a bit this year; he was too skinny by half. It was such a shame that Alex preferred science to sport.
There were other faces he recognized, quite a lot of people nudging each other and pointing him out. He tried not to feel gratified by it.
He was still smiling as he got back into his car to drive into the local village. Maybe school days really were the best days of your life.
***
Sophie Jones had watched Jack out of the corner of her eye from the moment he’d arrived to talk to Alex, until the moment he drove away. Her stomach was clenched with longing. Jack was just the most perfect guy she’d ever met. He was bright, funny, charming and unfairly good-looking. Tall and broad-shouldered, he had floppy, dark-brown hair, an infectious grin and golden brown eyes that sparkled when he laughed. He was friends with everybody; everybody except her. She suspected he was avoiding her now after she threw herself at him. Likely he didn’t respect her any more. Not that he’d said so. But he had said he would call her and then he never did.
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