After one of the most embarrassing experiences of her life, Viola Hawkins is left feeling hopeless and demoralised. So when she's told that she's able to work as an undercover agent in a boarding school, she's given a new chance to change her life...
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Getting into the control room is the hardest part we face. Maddy knows the various passwords for identification, but unlocking the main door to access the computers is seemingly impossible.
"I'm going to have to go around." She says, after attempting to unlock it with a bobby pin.
Sydney frowns, putting the bent bobby pin back in her dishevelled ponytail after Maddy passes it back. "Around where?"
"Outside." Maddy replies, looking at her as though she can't understand what there isn't to get about her previous statement. "There's a bathroom next door. If I can go through the window and open the other one, then it should be fine. I'll be able to get out then from the inside anyway, and go back to my bed. If the doors locked I'll enable it to be opened."
After she stands up, I put two hands on her shoulders, getting worried. "But there are no balconies. How are you going to do that?"
"We'll have to get a rope and tie it round me. The window will be unlocked because it's so high up. Also, nobody would really want to break into a school control room. Apart from you guys, of course." She shrugs, shaking it off as if it's no big deal.
When she says high up – it's an understatement. It's extremely high up. Most of the classrooms are in this main building. And there's what, like 3000 of us in this school? Winsor Dalton is the biggest boarding school near London.
Scratch that. I think it's the biggest boarding school in the UK.
After going into the gym and taking a spare rope from the equipment closet, we wrap it round Maddy's waist and legs, ensuring that it's tied as tight as it can go without hurting her. When it looks roughly like a harness, we open the window to the staff bathroom and she slowly steps out, putting her feet on the wall next to the window.
"Fuck, it's high." Maddy says, looking at us through the window, eyes wide with fear. After breathing in deeply through her nose, she steps sideways, in the direction of the control room, depending her life on the three of us holding the rope.
Will is at the front, pulling as hard as he can to keep her from falling, while Sydney is behind and I'm at the back. Apparently coming from Will, the smallest should be at the back because they're most likely to fall out of the window. Which is great.
"Okay I'm onto the ledge of the control room." Maddy says, her voice sounding distant with the wind.
My heart is thumping for her, worrying that at any second she could fall and plummet to her death. After all, she's not even dressed for it either. The wind is strong tonight, and she's stuck in polka dot pyjamas with my trainers that she's borrowed.
We pull harder, Will's feet pushing against the wall opposite.
Another gust of wind, and the rope tugs slightly, Maddy letting out a little squeal of fear. "It's okay, it's okay." She eventually says, her voice heavy with breath. "My foot slipped. But I'm fine."
