10
Olive
I spend the whole of study hour waiting for Ms.Barnett to send me over to Mrs.Sinclair.Because Colin stuck to his guns and grassed on me.It’s his fault that I can’t concentrate on anything.Not on my maths prep that’s due tomorrow, and not on the upper-sixth stuff I wanted to look at afterward either.
Why is he so mean?Why did I even go downstairs that night, and why did I let him smash that case up?I didn’t even bloody ask him to do it, so does it now give him some sick feeling of power to blackmail me over it?What’s wrong with the guy?
My heart thuds nervously as I go down after study hour.Ms.Barnett doesn’t stop me, which must mean that Fantino didn’t rat after all.Or else he’s in with Mrs.Sinclair this very moment, dishing up his lies.
What the hell?I’ve been at this school for seven years—it’s home to me.I almost lost everything, and now some bawbag comes along from New York and thinks he gets to threaten me?Well, he’s very much mistaken, and if he seriously wants trouble, he’s got it.
If I’m in luck, Mrs.Sinclair will still be in her office.I don’t know if I’d be so keen to tell her the truth about the broken trophy cabinet tomorrow morning.I’m not usually the type to tell tales, but Colin has it coming.
Fate seems to be on my side, because as I get to the bottom of the stairs, the head teacher is just stepping out of the south wing and heading for her dark Range Rover that’s waiting on the cobbled courtyard.She and her husband have a house in Ebrington.Unlike Sinclair, who boards here, she spends her days at the school and drives home every evening.
I speed up to catch her before she gets in.
“Mrs.Sinclair?”She stops, turning to look at me.I try to guess from her face whether or not Fantino’s been to see her.I seem to have got in first, because she smiles at me rather than instantly launching an interrogation into how I dared vandalize school property.“Do you have a minute?”
“Of course, Olive.”She waits.“What is it?”
I hate myself for being this weak.For the part of me that’s fighting vehemently against sneaking on someone to the head.I’d never normally do anything like this, but I’m not prepared to let Fantino blackmail me any longer.He asked for it.
I gulp.“Er, about the display case...”
Mrs.Sinclair raises her eyebrows in surprise.“That has already been dealt with, Olive.”
My blood runs cold.So has he already spoken to her?
“Did Colin come to see you?”I burst out.
“Yes, he...”She stops.“Wait a moment, how do you know that?”
Rats.That was careless.“Yeah, I...I don’t know what hetold you, but I didn’t do anything.Honestly.The sight of the trophies, and knowing I’ll never win any more races for the school, made me so angry, but you have to believe me that I’d never have smashed up the cabinet, and when Colin came along, I didn’t want him to—”
“You were there with Colin?”the head interrupts me.
“Yes, I...”I pause.“He...”
“He just came to see me and admitted that he damaged the display case,” says Mrs.Sinclair.
He what?I freeze.He confessed?He didn’t go through with his threat?
“Is that true, Olive?”
Suddenly I’m overcome by the need to protect him.It’s ridiculous.I’m raging with Fantino because he threatened me.And now I’m trying to save his skin, even though he doesn’t deserve it.
“He was only trying to help,” I explain.
“Help?”Mrs.Sinclair looks at me like I’m out of my mind.“By destroying the trophy cabinet?”
“Yes, I...”He was trying to help because I didn’t have the guts.But I don’t say that.“He didn’t do it on purpose.”
Oh yes he did.
It would serve him bloody well right if I told Mrs.Sinclair exactly that.But I can’t.
She eyes me, then shakes her head.“Well, it doesn’t make any difference, either way.It’s noble of you to want to defend him, but we can’t have that kind of behavior here.Colin will be given an appropriate punishment.And now we need to discuss what you were doing out of your room after wing time.”
