Second Night Read Free Page B

thought. He was the one who started all this. If he could see us now, what would he be thinking?
    â€˜But I gave my word, like my father and mother before me, and I’ll not falter. I’ll not falter,’ he repeated aloud.
    He set the tray down carefully on the polished table and knocked on the study door, calling out, ‘Your supper’s here, sir.’
    The response was faint. ‘Thank you, Mister John.’
    And he doesn’t sound too good, either. Old Dark-eyes upset and Sir Jonas getting too frail. What are we coming to?

CHAPTER 4
    Lauren Taylor-Tanning followed Miss Fox into the coffee shop. The harassed young teacher stood on tiptoe, peering around the crowded room until she saw a group of girls sitting at a table beside the window.
    â€˜Ah, they’re here!’ she exclaimed, in obvious relief. ‘For a minute there I thought we might be too late. Come along.’
    She stepped around the bags thrown down between the tables, making for the window where four pairs of heavily made-up eyes turned and looked the tall, naturally blonde and expensively dressed American girl up and down, trying to put a price tag on her clothes.
    â€˜Girls, this is Lauren,’ said the teacher brightly. ‘She’s from New York and she’ll be with us this term while her father is working in the area. I thought this would be a good opportunity to introduce her to some of you.’
    â€˜Nice to meet you Lauren,’ said the girl sat next to the window. She was hairdresser-blonde and not so well groomed.
    â€˜Can I leave her with you, Bryony?’ asked Miss Fox.
    â€˜Of course.’
    The girl nearest pulled her bag off the one empty chair. ‘You can park here if you want.’
    Lauren sat down. Bryony held out a manicured hand. ‘I’m Bryony Peacock.’ She indicated the girl with sardonic brown eyes and black-dyed hair sitting next to her. ‘And this is Gin, otherwise Virginia Harris.’
    Gin didn’t offer to shake hands.
    â€˜Nice to meet you, Gin,’ said Lauren.
    â€˜This is Jen, also Jennifer Smythe,’ continued Bryony, pointing to the sullen-faced girl, with no dress-sense and bad hair, sitting opposite.
    â€˜And I’m Shriek,’ interrupted the girl who had given her the chair. ‘My real name’s Sharon, Sharon Reake, but everyone’s called me Shriek since I can remember.’
    â€˜Her parents were left brain-dead by the shock of her birth,’ remarked Gin.
    Shriek shrugged. ‘I screamed a lot when I was a baby and my dad’s got a weird sense of humour. My mum calls me Sharon sometimes. Not very often though.’
    Lauren smiled. ‘Good to meet you all.’ She waved to the waitress.
    The woman stood over them, a fixed, surly expression on her face. ‘Yes?’
    â€˜I need a cappuccino, please, and the same again for my friends here, my treat, and a muffin each.’ She looked around the table. ‘Is blueberry good?’
    The girls nodded. The inevitable, first-meeting frostiness melted away as the waitress went off to make up the order and they edged their chairs closer to the table, conspiratorial under the cover of the uproar around them.
    â€˜So I take it you are in the same year as us, Lauren?’ said Bryony.
    â€˜I guess so. I’m sixteen at the end of the month. I was a Hallowe’en baby. This birthday, I’ve got something to lose and something to gain. Are you all virgins?’
    She relished the look of shocked surprise on their faces. Affirmative, she decided, a lthough maybe not Gin .
    Bryony sniggered. ‘What a question!’
    â€˜Considering how long you’ve been going out with Carl, Bry,’ agreed Shriek. ‘He’s a bit old to be a virgin, wouldn’t you say?’
    â€˜It would be sad if he was,’ reflected Jen.
    â€˜I take it that’s a negative then?’ said Lauren.
    A collective grin answered her.
    â€˜Well, that