I flush. Everyone else . . . Sinclair, then. Not that I believe my best pal would actually be jealous of Val. After all, I’m not fussed that Sinclair’s into Eleanor in the upper sixth. Not in the least.
‘If you like,’ I say.
Val smiles, which isn’t a sight I get to see very often. Normally, his face is as hard as the expression in his brown eyes. His bone structure’s out of this world. Valentine Ward, cheekbones, cheekbones, cheekbones, and a classical nose that makes him look like one of those proud Greek gods. He’s just damn hot, especially when he’s wearing a perfectly fitting suit, like he is now, one that emphasizes his perfect broad shoulders. Valentine Ward is tall and athletic.
He puts his hand on the small of my back. ‘I hear you’re coming for dinner next weekend,’ he says, as we walk in.
‘Well, that’s news to me,’ I say. ‘It’s the first I’ve heard of it.’
‘My mum wants me to be there. I thought you might like to join your parents too. It would make the evening a bit less dire.’
I hesitate. It’s not like my parents are unaware that Val and I are becoming good friends, as my mum likes to put it, but it would be the first time we’d seen them as a couple. If we are a couple, that is . . . I really don’t know, and I don’t want to rush anything. He’s my date for the New Year Ball and that could mean everything or nothing. When Val asked me before the Christmas holidays if I’d go with him, my first thought was of Sinclair. I couldn’t be pleased at first. But then Val really put in an effort. He browsed around Ebrington Tales with me, eventhough he finds reading deathly boring, and then we had a hot chocolate in the Blue Room Café, and he finally asked me. It was absolutely right to say yes, even though I lay awake half the night imagining the look on my best friend’s face when he heard.
‘I’ll ask them,’ I say hastily. ‘Is Pippa coming?’
Val’s face hardens and he shakes his head. It’s always tricky, mentioning his sister. Philippa Ward left four years ago with straight As throughout her school career, including her A levels, which we do here, like quite a few posh Scottish schools, rather than Highers. Philippa is now reading law at Oxford. She’s the epitome of a high-flyer, the Wards’ pride and joy. It’s not that Val’s parents aren’t proud of him too, but they’re very focused on their children’s academic achievements. And Val isn’t exactly a star pupil. Now that he doesn’t have his uncle at the school to coach him a bit, he seems to be struggling even more in class.
‘No, she’s busy,’ he says briefly, pulling back his hand. Great. Every time he shuts down like that, instead of showing his emotions, it’s a sharp stab in the chest. I kid myself that it’s because he never learned how. Veronica and Augustus Ward aren’t cold people precisely, but on the other hand, I can’t remember them exactly overflowing with the milk of human kindness.
‘Wait here a moment,’ says Val, glancing rapidly from side to side then striding firmly towards the cloakroom set up on one side of the foyer. I spot Cillian in a relatively hidden corner, bending over a table. I shiver as I realize what they’re up to.
There have always been rumours that the upper sixth are secretly doing coke, but I’d never believed them. Apparently, that was naïve of me. I stop as Val walks over. A few third-formers come out of the hall and glance sceptically at us. I hope no teacher spots us. I bite my bottom lip gently as I glance around.
‘Tori?’ Val’s voice is questioning. When I look over, he raises an eyebrow invitingly.
I hastily shake my head. ‘No, thanks.’
Thanks. . . Could you get any dumber?
‘Oh, come on.’ Cillian looks up.
‘I don’t want to,’ I say, as firmly as I can manage just now.
‘Who are you kidding? You’re a Belhaven-Wynford! Rude not to, among you toffs, isn’t it?’
‘Give it a rest.’ To my surprise, Val springs to my defence. There’s a threat in his tone and Cillian instantly shuts up, but he gives me a scornful look as he turns away.
‘Sorry,’ Val says, in my general direction. ‘I don’t normally, but the last couple of weeks have been seriously shit.’
I just nod in the weird silence that suddenly prevails as Val leans over the table and puts one finger to his nose. It doesn’t exactly look like he’s doing this for the first time. And I don’t like that. I don’t like it at all. It’s bad enough the way everybody’s drinking, although maybe I’m oversensitive there. I can kind of see where Val’s coming from. Things haven’t been so easy for him since his uncle had to leave Dunbridge. The upper sixth start their A-level exams in about four months’ time and, well, maybe he was counting on his help. I’m not exactly a try-hard, but my grades are reasonably solid. But last time I suggested to Val that we could revise together, he took it the wrong way. It ended up in an argument and he spent the afternoon in the fitness centre alone with the weights and the rowing machine. I decided not to get involved.
Val straightens up. He wipes his nose with his hand and puts his head back for a moment. His nostrils quiver as he breathes in.
‘Everything OK?’ I ask quietly, as he puts his arm around me.
He nods but doesn’t look at me. ‘Want to dance?’
If I’m honest, I’d rather join Sinclair, Emma and the others. It’s the first New Year Ball that I haven’t spent with my friends. But it’s also the first where I’ve had a proper date. Which is what I wanted. I force myself to smile.
‘Love to.’
Val swigs from the gin bottle that Cillian hands him, and my stomach clenches slightly. I shake my head when he holds it out to me.
‘Maybe later.’
Liar.
Val doesn’t say anything, but he rolls his eyes as he lifts the bottle back to his lips. Or maybe I only imagined that.
