I packed the hairbrush, along with the Rookwood regulation toothbrush and threadbare towel we were all given. I wasn’t sure if we were allowed to take those away (or even if the hotel would have their own – we’d never been to a hotel before) but they were the only ones I had, so they were going in.
Ivy pulled out a pen and paper. “We must write to our aunts and thank them,” she said. “I still can’t believe they’ve sent us the money to go.”
I nodded. “I can’t believe we’re going,” I said. I slammed the suitcase shut and started jumping up and down on it. “This is going to be the best week ever!”
“Scarlet,” I managed, half asleep. “We’re not leaving until this afternoon.”
“So?” she said with a mischievous grin. “Our motto is ‘be prepared’, is it not?”
I pushed myself up and threw my pillow at her. “You’re thinking of the Scouts. The Rookwood motto is ‘Nothing is heavy for those who have wings’.”
She tossed the pillow back at me and tried to pick up her suitcase. “Ouch. Whoever came up with that obviously never tried to lift this.”
I blinked sleepily. “I thought you had barely anything to pack? How did it get so heavy?”
She bent down, undid the metal catches and flipped the leather lid open. The suitcase had acquired several jars of sweets.
“Ariadne gave me some of her stash,” Scarlet said. “For emergencies. She said she didn’t have room for all of it.”
I didn’t think anyone had ever had to have an emergency midnight feast, but I wouldn’t put it past Ariadne.
We got dressed and headed down for breakfast. We still had a morning of lessons to get through, but even that couldn’t put the brakes on Scarlet’s excitement. “Only eight hours to go!” she said as she collected her porridge in the dining hall. “Then it’s goodbye porridge and goodbye Rookwood!”
I grinned at her. “We’re coming back, though,” I pointed out.
“I can pretend that we aren’t,” she retorted.
Scarlet’s enthusiasm was catching. It really would be great to get away from Rookwood for a little while, and to see somewhere new.
At midday, Scarlet grabbed my arm. “It’s midday!” she whispered.
“What does that mean?” I shot back.
“It means there’s only four hours to go!”
I laughed. I hoped this trip could live up to her expectations.
Finally, finally, it was time for us to head out to the front of the school and watch for the bus. In fact we were rather early, but I thought that if we waited any longer Scarlet would burst.
We sat on the steps with our luggage. The sun was bright and warm where it spilt on to the stone, and the air was filled with the cawing of the rooks. One of them darted to the ground and tipped its head to the side, inspecting us. Another hopped down next to it.
I’d read about them in a book on birds once. It said that one of the names for a group of rooks was a parliament. I told Scarlet this.
She pointed at one and said: “Is that a Member of Parliament, then?”
The rook didn’t look pleased. It squawked at her and then took flight, its wings beating patterns in the warm air.
We stared at the rooks for a while longer before I heard the school’s enormous doors being pulled open, and Ariadne appeared at the top of the steps. She was dragging two large suitcases that seemed to match the little convoy she’d brought on the very first day of school. She left them propping open the door and came down to us.
I looked up at her, putting my hand over my eyes to shield them from the sun. “That can’t all be sweets in there?” I asked, baffled.
She blinked at me. “Oh! No! This is mostly my camera equipment. I’m hoping there might be somewhere dark I can develop the photographs while we’re there.”
I had no idea whether hotels usually had a darkroom, but it seemed unlikely.
She stepped down on to the drive, took the camera out of the case round her neck and pointed it at us. “Smile!”
I smiled as the lens clicked and whirred. I think Scarlet pulled a face.
“Oh, hello, Rose,” Ariadne said. “I think you got in the picture.”
I twisted round and saw Rose standing behind us.
“Where did you come from?” Scarlet asked. Rose just smiled knowingly.
Talking to Rose was often a bit of a guessing game. “Did you come to say goodbye to us?” Ariadne asked.
She nodded and smiled, but her smile seemed sad. I watched her twisting the chain of her golden locket round her fingers, as she often seemed to do as a nervous habit. “I wish I could go,” she said quietly.
Suddenly, we heard shouting coming from the entrance hall.
Scarlet stood up. “What on earth is going on in there?”
We all ran back inside, leaving our luggage behind while Rose just stared off into the distance. Some drama was clearly unfolding.
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
