Worst Impressions

Chapter Eight

Another hour passed and there was still no sign of Jenny.

The others had fallen asleep, but I couldn't drag myself from the window. I should have seen her running across the grounds already. Jenny was by no means stupid. In such terrible weather, she'd know that it was better to be inside. We lived in England, for God's sake. We were practised in the art of sheltering from anything remotely wet or cold that dropped from the sky.

'Bloody hell,' I cursed and stepped into my trainers.

There was no time to waste in changing out of my pyjamas. I tugged my hoodie on over them and hurried out of the room. I kept a hand on the wall as I made my way through the corridor, relying on the feeble flashlight app on my phone to illuminate my path. I could have turned the lights on, but it would have woken up everyone else. I was less concerned about the students waking up and more about the teachers. If they found out what I was doing, I'd likely be sent back to bed, and they'd go out to drag the girls inside.

Jenny's mother wouldn't be happy to get a call about that.

As I said, they didn't tend to enforce the rules, but I wasn't about to play with the risk.

I hesitated at the door. It was pitch black outside, and I didn't want my phone to get drenched while I was using it to find my way.

But what choice did I have?

I pulled my hood up over my head and took off at a jog towards the lake. The glass was slippery, but so long as I kept moving, I managed to stay upright. After a few minutes, my clothes were sticking to my skin. I hated to think about what kind of condition I might find the others in if they'd been stuck outdoors for hours.

The school lake was used for P.E lessons, mostly. It was where we learnt how to rowboats and had little races when the weather was nicer. It didn't hide the fact that it was a school for rich brats. Most places would just make the kids swim in there. Instead, we had a nice Olympic size pool for that kind of thing.

There were a few old trees which had been on the grounds since before the school was built, and a little jetty where the boats could be moored during lessons. The rest of the time, they were kept in the boathouse. I tried there first but found it locked. It was obvious that no one was inside so I didn't spend much time on it. I turned around, pondering on where to run to next when I walked straight into someone's chest.

'Beth!'

'Charlie?' I rubbed my sleeve over my eyes to improve my vision. 'What are you doing out here?'

'I got a call from Chantelle,' he explained. 'What about you?'

'Jenny went out with her, but she didn't come back. I thought I should look for her.'

'You're soaked!'

'So are you,' I pointed out. 'You go that way and I'll look around by the outbuildings, okay?'

He nodded and left me to my own devices. If I'd known that Chantelle was going to send for help, then I wouldn't have bothered. Okay, so that wasn't true. I didn't like to leave my friend's fates to anyone else. They were basically my sisters and we had to look out for each other.

I found a few of them huddled under the meagre shelter that the edge of the supply shed's roof offered. I shone the torchlight at them and took some small satisfaction in the way the little princesses squealed in distress and covered their eyes. 'There you are. Christ, you all look ridiculous.'

'What are you doing out here?' Chantelle asked bitterly. 'I sent for my brother.'

'He's looking, too. Where's Jenny?' I asked.