‘Rubbish. You’re vibrating with excitement, like an overexcited debutante on heat.’
‘Charming.’
Theo had reached Maddie’s side.
‘And we’ll leave it there for both of us for the time being.’
Sofia smiled a tight smile.
A lazy morning on the terrace, sipping coffees and keeping off any tricky subjects suited everyone, although Sofia’s fidgeting was starting to annoy Maddie. They’d packed and vacated their rooms after breakfast and Theo was all set to drive them to the ferry for the three o’clock sailing. The weather had got significantly warmer even since they’d arrived two weeks ago and the sun was beating down, forcing them to sit in the shade under the crocheted parasols that Thea had made herself. Maddie had swapped notes on technique with her, not that she’d get much use out of a fancy parasol back home, but it would be fun to try and make one. It was better than sitting doing nothing in the evening. She might even think about joining a knitting club, now that it was apparently cool to knit and crochet.
Sofia’s glance at her phone for the umpteenth time prompted Maddie to speak.
‘Looking at it’s not going to get us there any faster.’
‘Just don’t want to miss the ferry.’
‘Mmmm, sure.’ Maddie stretched out her legs in front of her, so they were in the sun.
‘Wow, it’s hot today, isn’t it?’
Weather talk was always acceptable to fellow Brits, and she might as well try and distract Sofia.
‘Do you both remember the summer of ‘seventy-six’?
Charlotte sighed.
‘I sure do. It was baking hot in those classrooms. It was the end of our first year at the school, wasn’t it, and we’d already become fast friends?’
‘That’s right. I remember.’ Sofia smiled. ‘On the hottest day of the year, most schools in the country had sent their pupils home, but ours insisted on staying open for some bizarre reason.’
‘Yes, and the older kids decided to go on strike, and one by one the classrooms emptied onto the school field, and everyonejust sat down and waited in protest at being kept in the heat like cattle,’ Maddie added.
‘I can remember being a bit frightened of leaving the classroom, as we were the youngest. I was terrified about what my parents would say,’ Charlotte replied.
Maddie shot her fist into the air.
‘But we did it, didn’t we? The whole school was out there on that field. It was a real example of pupil power.’
Sofia laughed.
‘The teachers really didn’t know what to do, did they? I remember our teacher, Miss…’
‘Grange,’ Charlotte added.
‘Yes, that’s it, Miss Grange, she was quite young, probably not much older than our kids are now…’ Maddie turned to Charlotte. ‘Poor thing. She was pleading with us to stay inside, but we weren’t having any of it.’
‘And the headmaster came out onto the field and gave a speech, sweat dripping off his brow, not sure if it was heat or stress.’
‘Probably a bit of both.’
‘I just remember a lot of flirting, the boys taking off their ties and everyone lying around on the grass chatting.’ Sofia had her eyes closed.
‘Yes, you would.’ Maddie tapped her friend on the leg and smiled as she opened her eyes.
‘It went on for hours, but what happened in the end?’
‘Eventually they forced us back inside,’ said Maddie. ‘There was a big assembly where we got a massive telling off. But at least no one had to do any work that day.’
