Milly said, “Thank you.”

I tried to get my hand away from Flossie’s but she held on tight. She’s big and wasn’t going to move. The girls hushed. Seth put his head down and swished back his dark hair. He looked up and licked his lips.

“My, looking good, Florence. Where’s tha been hiding tha sen?”

Uh-oh.

The girls around them edged away slightly. Flossie took off her glasses and thrust her face towards him as if she was going to kiss him. Blimey. Then she said, “I’ve been hiding from you, you big rough thing.”

And she clicked her fingers and turned away.

Haha! That’ll teach him.

I followed her through the crowd of girls as the bell rang for musical drama. I said, “Yeah, yeah, good work, see how a Hinchcliff likes that.”

I went on. “Yeah, you showed him, the way you said you’d been hiding from him. That’ll be the last time Seth bothers you.”

Flossie said slowly, “Oh no, no . . . you’ll see, he loves that sort of thing.”

What sort of thing?

Jo said, “Where was the Dark Black Crow of Heckmondwhite then? Has Mrs. Bottomly shot him?”

Vaisey said, “Oh no, Jack says he’s always late. He’ll be here. Did you see me pretending I hadn’t seen Jack? He was pretending that he hadn’t seen me and I was pretending I hadn’t seen him and—”

Monty came bustling by and interrupted us. “My girls, my girls, what larks today!!!”

I didn’t know that Monty knew the whole of “We Will Rock You” but he does.

It’s quite soothing in a way when he gives a lecture because we can all have a rest while he does tap dance, air guitar, songs, “modern dance,” etc., and we just marvel at how his trousers don’t split.

Still, at least it distracted me from my own head for an hour.

I felt really on edge that Cain is somewhere in the building. I can sort of “feel” his presence. And it’s not a nice feeling—it’s a slightly sicky feeling. But anyway, as Vaisey says, I don’t need to see him. The Jones will probably have fallen out by now and gone off for a fight in the woods.

At mid-afternoon break, I passed the music studios to see girls crowded around reading a notice. Handwritten by Bob in red, it said:

Ears on!!

No backstage access.

Musos at work.

Bob

(technician, musician, Dudemeister)

At the end of the day, practically the whole of my year was waiting by the studio door. I was trying to push my way through to the dormitory stairs. If I went and lurked up there, The Jones would leave and then I could safely go home. Milly was hopping about with Tilly. “Lullah, they’re coming out, they’re coming out!”

Lav, Dav, and Noos ambled along. Lav saw me and came over specially to ruffle my hair. “Top of the day to you, Oirish. Have you come to see the young men?”