, now appearing less triggered by being completely disregarded. It couldn't be such an usual feat, surely— what with the amount of pretentious, superior bastards littering these halls.

She led us out of the main building and down a side path, not so different from the one I had used to get to the village, though this one was far more pristine. Perfectly trimmed, circular bushes lined the path a metre or so more than my arm span apart. Despite it being September, there were no rogue leaves scattered along the path, nor any hint of dampness. Yet, those in their red bottomed shoes still found something to complain about.

This lighting makes me look sickly.

How will I get my stuff from my room to here?

I've had no coffee this morning and I think I may faint.

Tragic.

"I want to go riding!" Some platinum blonde whined, probably named Arabella or some other extra name. She glanced longingly at the stables not too far away, but far enough to not be hit with the stench of horse poo, something I was definitely glad of.

"Miles, look," I muttered, nodding my head towards where a pair of horses, one a chestnut brown and another a pure white, were being led into their area. "We should definitely add that to the list of places to explore."

We'd already made an agreement, of sorts, to scour every nook and cranny of the place after lessons. Whether we'd find secret passages and tunnels was improbable, but the amount of books and films we'd watched had fuelled our fantasies and was now clouding all logic.

"Horses?" Miles said, aloud. "Fuck no. You seen how fucking strong they are? I'm not about to be kicked in the throat by some nine hundred kilo animal. Fuck that."

"Language, Mr Reynard," our most 'gracious' of leaders chided.

I lowered my voice. "It could be fun?"

A girl with the sharpest, most defined cheekbones I'd ever seen stopped completely and turned to us, encouraging her entourage to follow suit. "Oh, Toots, you wouldn't manage ten minutes with an animal like that. You'd break your neck and wouldn't be able to keep coming here."

"That wouldn't be such bad luck for us, though," yet another nameless boy said.

They cackled loudly together. As they turned round, Miles and I gave them the finger.

"We are definitely going," I said.

"Are you crazy? That pillock is right. We would die, literally."

"There might be fit boys..." I tried to tempt him.

"Fine, let's do it."

***

We'd each been directed to our respected rooms, more like amphitheatres. It seemed each subject was worthy of a lecture hall twice as lavish as any other I'd seen before with red, plush seats each embellished with gold patterns.

The professor, a slightly greasy looking man with a map of wrinkles carved into the skin of his forehead, introduced himself, curtly, as Mr Jawl. His hair was dark and slicked down to the point it appeared greasy.Those around me seemed to twitch every time he'd sweep those black eyes over us, feeling like he could reach beneath our own eyes and unravel all of our secrets. I found myself reacting in a similar way.

When he'd declared himself done after several hours, I could hardly resist going flying out of the door.

Just as I did manage to reach the safety of the corridor, I felt a hand clamp down on my arm.

I pulled it back and leapt about a foot in the air.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," the girl, who I recognised as the one who'd helped Miles, said, pushing her round glasses further up her petite nose. "I just wanted to apologise for Melanie. She's just a little, I suppose, sensitive when it comes to her mother. And she has a lot of pride. She doesn't want the work she put in to be here to be discredited because people think she would have got in for only her relation. And she and Ms Kingsley— no, I shouldn't." She held a hand to her mouth as if she could use it to restrain the words from escaping.

I found myself feeling curious. "What is it?"

"— it's just that they don't see eye to eye much. I really ought to be going. I'm Piper, by the way, I'll catch up with you later!" And with that, she was pacing away at a speed.

Ok? What was that about?

At the mention of Ms Kingsley, I was reminded of my, and Mum's, situation. If I couldn't get a job, I couldn't send money back to her, so by the time I got home, she'd probably be living in the dark with no heating.

I knew I'd figure something out, I always did, but the image that was conjured with these thoughts, yanked harshly on my gut and I had to swipe my eyes with the back of my hand, hoping nobody had noticed.

Miles caught me as he was coming out of the door.

"Jesus, woman, you walk fast."

"Can't waste time and all that," I said in way of an answer, actually quite amused for him to be struggling to keep up, despite being quite a bit taller than me.

"Where are we even going?"

We'd retraced our previous steps this morning back to the main building. We scuttled down the hall, skirting past those standing in groups with their butlers carrying heir bags for them. What a piss take, I thought to myself in distaste.

"I'll be two seconds," I said, knocking on the door, marked clearly with her name.

"Come in!" she called half a second later. I slipped through, smiling at Miles's confused face, apologetically, and heard him mumble something about getting food from the village.

***

"Please, Miss," I said, practically begging at this point for an allowance to be made— for me to be able to work. "I can manage it. When I was doing my A-levels, I had three jobs and I did just fine. Please."

"Ms Dubois, I am sorry," she emphasised. "But I cannot change the rules for one student."

"You don—"

She raised a hand. "If I do it for one student, I must do it for all. I hope you understand."

I nodded, disappointed. I so desperately wanted to say that she could change the rules and 99.9% of students still wouldn't work, preferring to sponge off their parents. But, I thought better of it.

I glanced over to the extensive bookshelf, books upon books upon books towering over both me and her, as she sat on the desk and I stood on the other side. Beside the large bookshelf, her office was pretty sparse, neat and perfectly arranged.

"Thank you, anyway," I said, turning to the door, my mind working too fast for any thoughts to be registered.

As I opened it, I was greeted by the tall, blue eyed boy I'd been so desperately avoiding. His hand was raised as if to knock, but met only air.

His eyes landed on me.

______