‘Emma didn’t do anything wrong, Livy,’ I say quietly.
‘I know. It was unfair of me to judge her. But I was raging. And nobody understood.’
‘I do.’
‘I didn’t want this,’ Olive whispers. ‘For things to get like this between us.’
I swallow. Part of me wants to be hurt and upset. Insult her, make her feel the way I felt. All the rejection and despair. But a bigger part of me is just relieved that Olive is speaking to me again. That there were reasons for the way she acted. Reasons that aren’t to do with me.
‘It’s not too late to change that.’
25
TORI
I’m surprised by how nervous I feel as, for the first time in my six and a half years as a boarder here, I come down to the morning assembly on Monday wearing my beige chinos and navy-blue blazer. It seems like news of our plan has got around because Eleanor and Olive aren’t the only others to have opted not to wear their skirts and tights. Emma, Inés, Amara, Salome and a few of Eleanor’s friends in the upper sixth have too.
And it doesn’t take long for the first teachers to point out the breach of the dress code. My heart pounds anxiously as I shake my head when Ms Kelleher asks us to go back upstairs and change. A short time later, when I’m standing in Mrs Sinclair’s office with the others, my doubts about the wisdom of our action are increasing.
‘You know that this is against the rules,’ Charlie’s mum says, walking to and fro by her desk.
Eleanor nods. ‘Yes, we do, Mrs Sinclair.’
‘And yet you chose to do it anyway?’
‘Yes, to make a point,’ I say. ‘We want there to be equality at this school.’
She’s startled. ‘Meaning that you don’t think this is the case at the moment?’
‘I’m afraid not,’ I say nervously. ‘We consider it sexist and unfair that girls are forced to wear skirts.’
Mrs Sinclair is silent for a moment. ‘So you’d prefer to wear trousers too?’
‘We would prefer it if everybody could choose to wear whichever they feel more comfortable in,’ Eleanor explains.
‘I see,’ Mrs Sinclair says slowly. ‘And I’ll see what can be done. I’m sure you understand that I can’t make a unilateral decision here.’
‘Why not?’ I blurt. ‘You’re the head teacher.’
‘That’s true, but I very much value the opinions of those who support our school. I will raise the subject at the next governors’ meeting.’ Mrs Sinclair looks at us. ‘Until then I must ask you to stick to the official rules.’ Olive opens her mouth in outrage, but doesn’t get a chance to speak. ‘I’m sorry – I know that’s not what you were hoping to hear. But I appreciate your taking a stand, and I will treat it as a matter of urgency.’
As she moves back to stand behind her desk, I realize that, as far as she’s concerned, this conversation is over. It feels like a defeat as we leave her office.
‘She wasn’t totally opposed,’ Eleanor says, not very enthusiastically.
I just shrug. That may be true, but we’ve achieved precisely nothing. It’s pure humiliation to go up to our rooms and change for breakfast and classes. On the way back down again, Valentine’s eyes rake over me. He and his pals start to crack jokes as Emma, Olive and I walk past them.
Charlie immediately looks up expectantly as we join him and Henry.
‘And?’ he asks, apparently before he’s clocked what we’re wearing.
I sigh quietly, then fill them in on what we’ve managed.
SINCLAIR
There’s no negotiating with Mum. Not even when I go to see her in her office later on and raise the dress-code issue again. Part of me understands that her hands are kind of tied, but another part shares Tori’s frustration at the school’s outdated rules. On the other hand, Mum did tell me she’s spoken to Kendra’s parents about what will happen with Jubilee. If it all works out, the school will soon be buying her. I’ve been hoping for that very thing for weeks, but given the uniform argument, I can’t be as glad as I guess I should be.
After study hour, I head over to the stables. I work with Jubilee for a while in the arena, then walk back to my room to shower before dinner. As I stand beneath the jets of hot water, I’m going through my lines for later. This evening we’ll be rehearsing one of the key scenes in front of the whole cast for the first time.
