Isaac Sinclair reached past Ben and started pulling up the tape Ben had only just stuck down. Isaac was the boy whose hand had gone in the air before his, when Ben had volunteered to help Father Steiner. It turned out Isaac was also in Ben’s dorm, which on top of the fact that Isaac was obviously a goody-goody, was part of the reason Ben had immediately taken against him. Ben didn’t suspect him of being one of the boys who’d messed with his stuff, but he’d done nothing to help Ben. Instead, he was just as snobby and unfriendly as all the rest of them. More so, even. With his neat blond hair and blemish-free skin, as well as his perfectly knotted tie, he was like a poster boy for this entire place.

‘Hey, get off,’ Ben said, shrugging him away. ‘I haven’t finished.’

Isaac tutted again, but withdrew. Ben could feel Isaac watching him behind his back. They were in the vestry, packing up the old hymn books. It was now three days later, the two of them having agreed to come back to complete the job. Father Steiner had arranged for the old books to be sent to some charity or other – something about poor kids in Africa – and had now gone hunting for more boxes while Ben and Isaac got on with the packing. Isaac seemed to think he’d been left in charge. He obviously considered himself Father Steiner’s extra-special assistant or something. Over the past few days, Ben had noticed Isaac heading in and out of the chapel pretty much every lunch break, as though he couldn’t get enough of the place. Although it was clearly Father Steiner he couldn’t get enough of. He made out he was all interested in Jesus and everything, but it had made Ben wonder about the stories Callum had mentioned – the special attention the chaplain was rumoured to give certain boys. Plus, if Isaac was genuinely only interested in learning about God, why did he shoot Ben evils every time Father Steiner paid Ben any notice?

‘You do realise that even if you manage to lift it, the bottom’s going to fall out?’ Isaac said. ‘You’ve packed it too full.’

‘I said I’d sort it,’ Ben grumbled, ripping off the tape himself. ‘Jesus,’ he added in a whisper, but loud enough that Isaac would hear it. He took a petty thrill from knowing that Isaac would disapprove. And God, too, probably. Wasn’t blaspheming inside a church one of the worst things you could do?

‘Here,’ Isaac said. An empty box appeared on the table next to the carton Ben had overfilled. ‘Put half of them in that one.’

‘That’s what I was going to do,’ said Ben huffily. He ignored the box Isaac had given him, and bent down to collect one of his own.