Worst Impressions

Chapter Sixty One

Lisa may have thought our comments about returning to England early had been a joke, but there was no avoiding the fact that we'd all been distracted from our studies thanks to recent events.

We permitted ourselves a couple of days to recover and then negotiated our return to school. The teachers had been hesitant at first, but the younger students had already started their new term and there'd be enough faculty to monitor us.

Dad and Jenny's mother escorted us on the plane, and I liked to think our responsible decision won me back a little of my father's respect. It would be a long time before he fully trusted me again, but I was willing to work hard to prove to him that I valued his respect before I left for university.

Lisa had protested to the plan at every turn, but we were adamant that she was coming with us. Regardless of her plan for her later life, be it to marry well or to simply enjoy the money that her parents left her, she would feel the benefit of a decent education and good grades. We took turns to physically drag her out of her bed every morning, marching her to the bathroom to get ready for a full day in the library. To her credit, she fell into a routine with us, and put some small effort into studying under our care. This may not have seemed like a marked change in her demeanour, but Lisa was the kind of girl who likely hadn't known the school even had a library before we escorted her to it. She even followed me to the music room like my shadow when everyone else was done and turned the sheet music while I played at the piano.

On the surface, it seemed that she was back to her usual self; a bubbly fashionista with a wicked tongue and an opinion on everything. But when she thought that no one was looking, she became noticeably quiet and withdrawn. I wasn't brave enough to ask just how far Gideon had pushed her to go when they'd been alone. Although Lisa had told me she would never cheapen herself, I had to wonder if that had been the truth, or if she was simply too ashamed to admit to anyone what had really happened.

After all, I believed that she had loved him.

No girl ran off with a man and left notes about elopements if they were looking for a one-night stand. Lisa had passionately believed that Gideon wanted more than a tumble in the sheets. When he'd abandoned her at the first sign of resistance and had taken up with some woman from a bar, it must have broken her heart. Our cuts and bruises would fade with time, but the scars left on her heart would take far longer to heal. I just hoped that she'd find someone worthy of her and wouldn't assume that all men would treat her as cruelly as Gideon had.

Out of respect for her privacy and her right to grieve what she'd lost, I didn't ask. Gideon had made his feelings about me perfectly clear and had openly compared us to one another. If Lisa wanted to spill her guts to anyone, it wouldn't be me. I was a reminder of that terrible night, and of the sort of man that Gideon was. At least, so I thought. On the final night of the school holidays, I woke in the middle of the night when someone curled against my back. Lisa clutched my pyjamas and cried quietly between my shoulder blades until she exhausted herself and fell into an uneasy sleep. I hoped that this meant that she didn't blame me, and that she was slowly healing from that terrible night.

The next morning, a crushing weight on my chest woke me. I tried to pull the covers over my head, but they were stuck beneath whatever had just dumped itself on top of us. Lisa grumbled and wriggled, kicking her feet against my calves and desperately trying to get back to sleep. I eventually worked the sheets down and stared up at Chrissy's face.

'Morning!' she said brightly. 'First day of school! Ready?'

'You're heavy,' I complained.

'You're going to be late,' she said. 'Come on! I want to see the boys coming back!'