The Future King: Logres Read Free

assembly hall, empty for the
beginning of the day.
    ‘We’re nearly there,’ was what she had been waiting to hear, though
now, faced with the prospect of being abandoned by Emily, she wished they
weren’t. The next corridor went on for some way, the end opening out onto the
grassy banks up to the sports field; but near the exit they angled left. There
were stairs at the end of this corridor too, but Emily didn’t divulge where
they led. Some students were already going into their classrooms. Gwenhwyfar’s
heart was pounding. She wanted to drag Emily in with her.
    ‘Which one is it?’ People were looking at her again. For such a big
school they noticed fresh blood quickly.
    ‘That one. Come on!’ Emily pulled her into the queue, where Morgan
Faye stood waiting on her own in silence.
    ‘Thanks for walking me to my lesson,’ said Gwenhwyfar. ‘I’d have
never found it otherwise.’
    The queue had nearly dispersed. ‘Don’t mention it,’ Emily replied,
her apple cheeks ripening into a smile. ‘I’d better go, but I’ll see you at
break? We’re all meeting in the canteen. The one closest to the Wormelow
building, not Badbury.’
    ‘I’ll see you there,’ Gwenhwyfar confirmed. Invaded by the briefest
of hugs, she was left on her own again. Some of the boys in the queue had been
looking at Emily, hoping she’d notice their overly boisterous behaviour, but
their efforts were in vain, as she proceeded down the corridor in her own
little world.

 
    * * *

 
    They’d been waiting for nearly ten minutes now, and there was still
no sign of their teacher. The carpets in this room were green, and there were
books piled to the ceiling near the chalkboard. Dust lingered everywhere.
    ‘You’re new, aren’t you?’
    She expected to hear that sentence a hundred times today. Gwenhwyfar
looked up from where she was sitting, on her own at the back of the class, next
to an unfilled seat. The boy looking down at her was handsome, his olive skin
browned by the sun, and he reminded her of the actor that her old best friend
had adored. His confident mouth sat in a long smirk beneath a wide pronounced
nose, and a comb of dark, gelled hair unbalanced his square face.
    ‘Yes.’ She continued to draw spirals on the small notepad she’d
brought in for lessons.
    ‘You’re from Wales, right?’ was the next question. A glance to the
front of the class told her that someone else was interested in the answer: a
tall, overly broad-shouldered boy with short mousy hair and a wide, open face.
    ‘That’s right,’ she responded, daring him to tease her. ‘Who told you
that?’
    ‘Viola,’ he shrugged. He didn’t seem to think that she might not know
who Viola was. He observed her with narrowed brown eyes. ‘I’m Tom. What’s your
name?’
    ‘Gwen,’ Gwenhwyfar replied with suspicion.
    ‘Is that Welsh?’
    ‘I suppose.’ She looked behind him again. ‘Who’s that?’
    As Tom glanced over his shoulder, the other boy turned back to his
desk. ‘Oh, that’s just Gavin. He asked me to come over because he thinks you’re
hot.’
    She couldn’t help it. The moment the words left his lips her cheeks
were on fire. ‘Excuse me?’
    ‘Will you go out with him?’
    Gwenhwyfar didn’t know how he’d dared to continue with the glare he
was receiving, and though she wasn’t that insulted by the potential interest,
she was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t from him. ‘No. Definitely not.’
    To her horror, Tom announced her decision to the rest of the class.
‘Gavin!’ he hollered, ‘she’s not interested!’
    Several eyes were on her now. Laughing as Gavin told him to “sod off”,
Tom returned to his seat where he received a wounded push from his friend. Gwenhwyfar
wondered if Gavin was the same Gavin Miles that Hattie had mentioned, and
thought that he could be the candidate, if he was usually the butt of such
jokes.
    She dared another look around the class. Morgan was sitting on her
own working quietly, but