by Connie Glynn
‘I can tutor you if you want?’ Ellie said as they packed up their bags.
‘Really?’ Lottie felt a huge sense of relief fill her chest. ‘That would be amazing! If there’s anything you need help with so I can thank you, let me know.’
Ellie gave her a little side smile. ‘I can think of a few things …’ she said slyly. ‘Hey, are you doing anything after classes?’ she asked unexpectedly. Lottie was about to answer when she continued. ‘Actually it doesn’t matter – just don’t come back before five thirty. I have a surprise.’ Before Lottie could respond, Ellie swung her backpack over her shoulder and headed out of the door, calling back, ‘Remember – not before five thirty!
Lottie blinked for a moment, wondering what on earth her room-mate had planned.
Lottie had assumed she’d eat her first lunch at Rosewood in the main cafeteria that overlooked the pond by the flower house with her new friends, using the time to properly get to know each other. Instead she found herself at a table on the patio, alone, eating artichoke soup and some kind of strange pickled vegetable that she didn’t recognize. She’d considered looking for everyone she’d met the night before, but she still had no idea how to handle the ridiculous rumour, and an even more sinister thought had occurred to her: What if one of them left that creepy gift? She wished her mum was still around to ask for advice – but she was on her own. She didn’t want to burden Ellie with her problem and Ollie would be of no help. She stirred her soup absent-mindedly. As she stared out over the pond, a delicate red dragonfly landed on one of the lily pads, resting its wings, only to be swallowed whole by a large frog. Lottie winced as she watched the helpless creature being devoured.
‘Lottie!’ She jumped at the sound of a boy calling her name from behind her. ‘We’ve been looking everywhere for you.’ Before she had time to process the situation she found her previously empty table completely filled by Lola and Micky, Anastacia and Raphael.
‘I was just … eating lunch,’ Lottie said stupidly, wanting to kick herself for saying something so obvious. She couldn’t exactly say she was avoiding them because she knew they thought she was a princess.
They all proceeded to place their plates on the table and Lola leaned over, placing a slice of strawberry cake in front of Lottie.
‘We got this for you. It took us forever to find you,’ she said dramatically.
Lunch had only started fifteen minutes ago and Lottie smiled at the exaggeration.
‘You can’t hide from us, though!’ Raphael laughed as he said this, but Lottie froze at his words. Lola squirmed in her seat and Anastacia gave Raphael a quick scowl. ‘I mean, as in, in the school … you can’t hide,’ he said, stumbling.
‘Right,’ Lottie said, trying not to sound nervous. ‘What else could you have meant?’
A noise like a mouse squeaking escaped from Lola’s mouth and Anastacia turned her scowl on her.
Lottie found it unexpectedly fun to mess with them.
‘Thank you so much for the cake,’ she said, scooping a bit of whipped cream on to her finger. ‘Strawberries are my favourite. How did you know?’ She licked the cream, trying to act as casual as possible.
‘Oh, we know everything about you,’ Raphael said with a wink.
He is really not good at keeping secrets, is he?
He let out a little yelp as Anastacia obviously kicked him under the table.
Lola squeaked again and Anastacia gave her another look.
This was becoming very exhausting for her and Lottie realized what she had to do. She had to get one of them to crack and tell her that they knew so she could put them straight.
‘All this food is so exciting,’ she began, putting as much wistfulness in her voice as possible. ‘I’ve never eaten anything so fancy in my life.’ That was actually not a lie.
Lola’s eyes widened and once again she began squirming restlessly.
Anastacia tried to remain calm but her lip twitched. ‘Is that so?’ she said through gritted teeth.
‘Yes, and I love the uniform; it’s so much nicer than anything I’ve ever worn before.’ This wasn’t quite true, but Lottie couldn’t help hamming it up.
Lola’s face turned red and it looked like she was biting her tongue.
It’s working!
Lottie only needed one more thing to push Lola over the edge. She let out a long sigh as she rested her chin on her hand. ‘I wish my life was always like this,’ she said, not having to fake any of the dreaminess in her voice. She turned her eyes to Lola just as she exploded.
‘I CAN’T TAKE IT ANY MORE!’
Bingo. Lottie had to stifle her smile.
‘We-know-that-you’re-the-undercover-princess-of-Maradova-and-we-know-you’re-pretending-to-be-someone-else-and-we-promise-we-haven’t-told-anyone-and-it’s-only-us-and-Binah-and-Saskia-who know-and-we-won’t-tell-a-soul-we-PROMISE!’
‘Lola!’ Anastacia shouted out, but it was clearly too late.
A tense silence filled the air. It was obviously taking a lot of effort on Raphael’s part not to start laughing and Lottie felt a similar sensation. Completely unaware of the tension, Micky leaned over and helped himself to the strawberry on Lottie’s plate, which would have annoyed most people but she just found it added to the comedy of the situation.
‘Interesting …’ Lottie said slowly, remaining calm when what she really wanted to do was burst out laughing and tell them all how completely silly this idea was, ‘but I think you have the wrong person.’ Anastacia turned her scowl to Lottie and it sent a cold feeling through her bones. ‘I’m flattered really, but I’m not sure why you all think this.’
‘Because –’ Lola began indignantly, a pout forming on her lips.
‘It’s obvious!’ Anastacia interrupted, looking annoyed. ‘You can’t hide it from us! You look exactly like your mother … and your name is, quite frankly, ridiculous –’ Ouch! – ‘and you already let it slip that you’re from another country, but as soon as we pressed you about it you froze up.’
It’s time to come clean, Lottie thought. She couldn’t have them thinking this, even if it meant they wouldn’t want to be friends with her any more.
‘About that …’ she began. ‘I’m not actually from another country; that was a misunderstanding.’ She smiled at them, hoping it might help. ‘I’m from Cornwall and my name … really is Lottie Pumpkin.’ They were all silent again, Anastacia’s eyes squinting as they scrutinized her until finally Raphael cracked. A snort escaped his throat and he burst into laughter; Anastacia gave him another sour look, but he ignored it.
‘Lottie, or whatever you want us to call you –’ he paused to catch his breath between chuckles – ‘you are absolutely the worst liar I’ve ever met.’
Huh?
He quickly continued. ‘If you want to keep your identity as a princess secret, you are seriously going to need our help.’
Oh, come on! Lottie’s mind was about ready to explode.
‘But … I’m not lying. I really am Lottie Pumpkin.’
This only caused Raphael to burst out into more laughter, and this time Lola and Micky started to giggle too.
‘Stop, oh my God, I can’t breathe!’
Lottie internally groaned. She’d tried to come clean, and she’d been as honest as possible but it seemed that no matter what she said they wouldn’t believe her. She groaned again, out loud this time, and buried her head under her arms on the table.
‘We promise we won’t tell anyone,’ Lola reiterated. ‘Your secret’s safe with us.’
Lottie kept her head planted on the table. ‘Thanks.’
This was not how she’d planned her first day of school.
9
Lottie stood outside her dormitory door for what felt like a million years.
Her last two classes of the day had been options, so weren’t with Ellie and the rest of their company, Epsilon. It appeared there would actually be a lot of classes they wouldn’t have together as Lottie had chosen mostly art subjects while Ellie
had picked advanced science and maths. Lottie had gone to the library until half past five as instructed and she had absolutely no idea what Ellie had planned. At least she felt better about the ‘princess’ misunderstanding. As far as she was concerned, she’d tried to explain it and they hadn’t believed her, so as long as they kept it between themselves then it wasn’t her problem any more. Right now, what she wanted to do more than anything was fix her less-than-fabulous first impression with Ellie.
So here she was, standing nervously outside Room 221 again, trying to think of a nice gesture while also worrying that some kind of terrible prank lay on the other side. She’d also made the decision to introduce Ellie to Binah and the others at some point, though she wasn’t exactly sure how that would go down. Lottie suddenly conjured the image of Anastacia and Ellie painting each other’s nails at a sleepover and the whole scene was so completely unnatural that she found herself giggling involuntarily. Somehow she struggled to imagine they’d get along too well.
Lottie took a deep breath and slowly eased the door open. To her total shock, she found the room almost completely spotless … well, as spotless as it could be with all Lottie’s books and Ellie’s CDs. She must have come back and finished decorating her side of the room and, to Lottie’s surprise, it looked kind of amazing. Their two sides were the complete antitheses of each other, split in the middle by the Persian rug. Ellie’s collection of books, DVDs, CDs and video games was stacked on the bookshelves, but she’d done an excellent job of shoving them all in as best she could. Posters for an array of cult films were hanging on her side of the room and her shelves were crammed with band merchandise. Everything had a pleasantly motley vibe about it that fitted Ellie’s stormy aura perfectly.
‘Ellie?’ Lottie called cautiously, as she walked through her new and improved room. There was no response, but she could hear angry music drifting from the bathroom.
‘ELLIE!’ she called louder.
‘In here! Erm … Can you come and give me a hand with something?’ Ellie’s voice echoed out from their less-than-little bathroom.
‘The room looks ama– OH MY GOD!’ Lottie abruptly covered her eyes. Ellie was standing in just a pair of briefs, leaning over the roll-top bath with thick glops of black hair dye dripping down her neck. Lottie noticed that she was still wearing her wolf locket.
‘I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have barged in.’ Lottie could feel her face going bright red with embarrassment.
Ellie’s relaxed laughter floated through the room. ‘It’s fine, Lottie,’ she chuckled. ‘We’re both girls. I don’t care.’ She heard splashes of water as Ellie turned on the handheld shower head. ‘Now get in here. I need help washing this dye out.’
And so Lottie found herself leaning over their pristine white bathtub, gently washing thick black dye out of the hair of a half-naked girl she’d known for barely more than a day. She’d never, ever dyed someone’s hair before and she found the whole process of massaging the shampoo in, pouring the water over each section of hair and making sure the temperature was comfortable to be a very intimate experience.
‘You’re good at this,’ said Ellie cheerily as Lottie began applying the last part of the shampoo. ‘You sure you’ve never done it before?’
‘Never. I didn’t really have any girl friends back home.’
There was a short pause before Ellie added in a sad tone that implied she completely understood, ‘Me neither.’
They continued in silence, watching the water trickle down the drain in a dark oily display. To Lottie’s relief, Ellie had switched the music to The Velvet Underground, a less heavy alternative for her benefit.
‘I’m really sorry about the mess in the room before,’ said Ellie suddenly, her voice very quiet but equally clear. ‘And your pig.’
‘Mr Truffles,’ Lottie added quickly.
‘Right, Mr Truffles,’ Ellie said, smiling slightly.
Lottie didn’t know what to say, and Ellie gently pushed the shower head away to turn and face her. The dark dye was still dripping down her scalp, leaving lines of black across her white chest. She slicked her hair back out of her face. Like this, raw with no make-up on, hair pushed back, almost completely naked and revealing her sinewy, flat-chested body, Ellie could easily have been mistaken for a boy. Yet there was nothing masculine about her; her frame was somehow soft and delicate, almost genderless.
‘Most people here have their lives handed to them on a plate,’ she said, looking suddenly very serious. ‘They don’t realize how lucky they are to get to come here … If I’d known you were here on a bursary, I …’ Her voice trailed off and she pushed back a loose strand of hair. ‘You’re not like them.’
Lottie hadn’t really thought of it like that. She very much lived her life believing if you were an exceptional person then you got to do exceptional things. All the time she’d been working hard to get into Rosewood, she hadn’t spent much time thinking about how easy it had been for the other students. Yet even though the words were intended as a compliment – ‘you’re not like them’ – they still made her feel like a failure.
‘You’re different, because you had to work to get here. You can really appreciate it and actually do something good with your time here.’ Ellie grinned at her. ‘I’m really glad they put us in a room together.’
Lottie felt totally lost. She’d spent the last year of her life desperately trying to prove she was as worthy as the other Rosewood students to attend the school; she’d wanted nothing more than to be just like them, yet here was this storm of a girl suggesting the other students should have to match up to her. She didn’t want to think like that; she couldn’t get complacent and she couldn’t let Ellie isolate herself from everyone in the school because she felt this way.
‘Me too,’ said Lottie, and both girls smiled at each other, each perhaps thinking they would change the other’s mind.
‘Oh, and if anyone makes you feel like you don’t belong here, I will gladly beat them up for you,’ Ellie added, flexing her arm muscles like a bodybuilder, accentuating the definition of her collarbone and revealing how delicate her frame actually was.
Lottie giggled. ‘Thank you, but please don’t beat anyone up.’ Ellie faked an indignant pout. ‘I’m perfectly capable of beating up my own enemies,’ she said, mimicking Ellie’s arm flex.
‘Fine. I’ll leave all the posh, rich kids alone.’ Ellie sighed sarcastically, as if this was a huge ask for her, and leaned back over the tub. They went back to their routine of rinsing and scrubbing. Lottie watched in wonder as the water turned from black to clear as it washed down the drain, leaving no trace of the thick dark dye. As potions for friendship went, Ellie’s hair dye was certainly a potent one.
The atmosphere felt completely different that night when they went to dinner. They decided to grab some food from the Ivy kitchen instead of eating in the main hall so they could spend the night alone and start on their homework. The kitchen was stocked with finger foods and snacks every morning, as well as the ingredients to make light meals like sandwiches and pasta, although Lottie doubted many of the students were familiar with preparing food for themselves.
When they finally went to bed there was no more tension between them. Lottie realized she felt completely relaxed around Ellie like she’d found a little home with her. With Ellie she didn’t feel the need to prove herself, she didn’t need to watch her words, she could just … be herself. She drifted off happily, completely unprepared for what she would wake up to.
‘Lottie! Wake up!’
Lottie jolted awake to find Ellie leaning over her, grinning wildly, the whites of her eyes glowing acid in the dark, looking manic.
‘I’ve done something really bad.’ She was huffing slightly as if she’d just been running. ‘Quick, get up!’
Lottie sat up quickly, her mind coming up with numerous worst-case scenarios: she’s started a fire, she’s murdered the headmaster, she’s messed up the room again.
‘What’s going on? What time
is it?’ Lottie whispered, sleep lingering in her voice. She could hear furious thuds echoing down the lit hallway, getting closer to their door.
‘Ellie, what on earth have you done?’ Ellie abruptly shoved something under Lottie’s pillow and bolted over to her bed just as their door flew open.
Lottie covered her eyes from the harsh light streaming in from the corridor.
‘Miss Wolf!’ A voice came booming in from the doorway.
Lottie winced and to her shock saw deputy headmistress and Ivy house mother Professor Devine.
She was standing in a flowing white nightgown, the light spilling in around her as if she were glowing, her hair in jagged little tufts like she’d just rolled out of bed. ‘Would you please explain what you were doing in the Ivy House kitchen at three in the morning?’
Lottie had to bite her tongue to stop herself from screaming a line of expletives at Ellie. Yes, Ellie, what WERE you doing, you big idiot? she thought.
Ellie feigned a sleepy yawn as if she’d just been woken up. Oh please! There’s no way the professor will fall for that.
‘What … what’s going on?’
Lottie was surprised by how convincingly Ellie’s sleepy tone came out. Clearly this wasn’t the first time she’d done something like this.
‘Ha!’ Professor Devine’s cynical laugh came out more like a statement. ‘Do you take me for a fool, Miss Wolf?’ Although her tone was sharp, Lottie spotted a glint of humour in her eyes.
Ellie stared her down for a moment. She had met her match.
‘Come, both of you.’
Both of us! That seemed very unfair.
‘Oh, and, Ellie, you can bring those chocolate bars you stuffed under Lottie’s pillow.’
Ellie turned to Lottie with a look of total bewilderment. They were both baffled how the professor could possibly have known this information.
They followed their house mother in reluctant silence down the corridor, Lottie in her pink Disney princess nightgown, and Ellie in her Star Wars two-piece, both looking very odd against the dimly lit baroque-style corridor. Lottie could only imagine the terrible punishment they were going to get. This all seemed completely unjust. She had been asleep; she was an innocent victim in all this.
