There’s a gasp and, for a second, I think it escaped from my lips, but then I spot Al scrabbling to her feet. Isis rises too and grabs for her, but Al pushes her away.

“Fuck this shit!” she shouts as she runs towards the door. “It’s sick. It’s fucking sick.”

Daisy’s hand on my knee clenches, and I instinctively grab it. Her eyes are wide and startled and, for the first time in as long as I’ve known her, she looks freaked out.

“Stay here,” I say, “look after Leanne. I’m going after Al.”

Daisy doesn’t respond; she’s still looking through the open doorway. Al is whirling around in the hallway, tearing photographs from the walls and ripping tablecloths from the tables. There is an explosion of shattering glass and porcelain as vases, ornaments and candlesticks crash to the ground.

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

I’ve wrapped a blanket around Al and forced an extra pair of socks onto her feet, but she still won’t stop shaking. In desperation, I pull her into my arms, cocooning myself around her.

“Sssh,” I whisper, even though she hasn’t said a word since she ran from the meditation room and into the girls’ dorm. “Sssh, Al, it’s okay.”

She presses her head into the nook between my neck and my shoulder and shivers violently. After a couple of seconds, she pushes herself away from me, her eyes flashing with anger

“Did you see that? Did you see what that fucking arsehole was doing to Leanne? He was making her … he was trying to get her to say …”

“I know.”

“We need to get back in there.” She throws off the blanket and rises to her feet. “He’s fucking with her head.”

“It’s okay.” I tug at her hand. “Daisy’s with her.”

“And? She won’t do anything.” She twists her wrist out of my grasp. “Isaac’s playing you all for fools. It’s embarrassing, the way the three of you hang off his every word.”

“That’s not true.” I’m stung and incredulous.

“Isn’t it?”

“No.”

“Did you know one of Leanne’s mum’s boyfriends raped her?”

I shake my head.

“No, neither did I, and I’m supposed to be her best friend. Why would she tell that to him and not me? What is it with everyone keeping fucking secrets from me? As if it wasn’t bad enough that Simone lied to my face and slept around behind my back, now I find out that my best friend can’t bring herself to confide in me about one of the most awful things that can happen to you, but she’ll spill everything to that fucking twat – who’s a complete stranger. How is that supposed to make me feel?”