Page 21 of Save Me

“What?” she asks with an innocent smile. “I just want to look my best when Beaufort gets here.” She blows me a kiss. I roll my eyes but still pretend to catch the kiss and slip it into my pencil case for safekeeping. The rest of the team laughs.

“What does Lexie think this is going to achieve?” Kieran Rutherford asks. He’s a year below us, and his pale skin, perceptive onyx eyes, and longish hair make him look like a vampire—a young Count Dracula with chiseled features. He’s a scholarship student too, and the most reliable and hardest working member of the team after Lin and me. “Does he want us to convert him and set him back on the straight and narrow?”

Lin snorts. “Believe me, that one’s beyond converting.”

There it is. The reason Lin’s my best friend at Maxton Hall.

“Hey!” Camille objects. No surprise there—she’s one of Elaine Ellington’s best friends and therefore part of James’s gang. On top of that, she can’t stand Lin and me and loathes the fact that we’re in charge of the committee now. I don’t know why she’s still on the team, but I suspect it’s mainly because she thinks it’ll look good on her uni application. She’s not exactly passionate about the work.

“Either way,” I say hastily, as I see Lin open her mouth to reply.“He’s going to come to our meetings whether we like it or not. I just wanted to warn you in advance. And he’s been suspended from the lacrosse team for the rest of term.”

Jessalyn whistles. “Wow, that’s a bit drastic from Lexington.”

A murmur of agreement fills the room. “It’s Beaufort’s own fault,” says Lin. “We spent half our summer holidays planning the Back-to-School party, and he just came along and smashed it up. Plus, Ruby got a solid half-hour lecture from Lexington.”

“Seriously?” Kieran asks in disbelief.

I nod, and he exclaims in outrage: “But it’s not your fault that Beaufort smuggled those people into the party!”

I give a hesitant shrug. “We were in charge of the event, so Lin and I are responsible. And we should have kept a better watch on the doors. So, if you look at it like that, we’re a bit to blame. He wants us to issue an apology on the Maxton blog so that everyone knows we didn’t plan it.”

This is all adding to my fury at Beaufort. I’ve never once been in trouble since I started at Maxton Hall, not even with a teacher, let alone the head himself. I need a perfect record to have the least glimmer of a chance of getting into Oxford, and James’s childish behavior has jeopardized that. I’m not letting some idiot ruin my future just because he’s got more time and money on his hands than he knows what to do with.

“That’s insane—it makes no sense. You’re the last person who should be taking responsibility for this crap.” Kieran frowns with annoyance.

I smile gratefully at him and ignore Lin’s meaningful stare. Ever since the end of last term, she’s been trying to convince me that Kieran’s got a major crush on me. That’s nuts though. He’s just a nice guy.

I clear my throat. “Anyway, shall we get started?”

The others nod, and I point to the whiteboard, where Lin has already written up the agenda for today’s meeting. “First, we need to report back on the party—what went well, what didn’t. Not including Beaufort, obviously. Camille, can you take notes?”

Camille glares at me but opens a pad and picks up a pen. Lin starts to give us her impressions of the party, and I glance at the clock. It’s just after two. Lunch break is over. Beaufort ought to be here any minute. An uneasy feeling spreads through my stomach. It’s fluttery and queasy, like I’m…excited.

I immediately push the thought down and get involved in the discussion. We take so long going over the feedback and things to do next time that we have to postpone everything else till the end of the week. We divide up a few jobs between us, and the meeting’s over. Lin and I stay in the room to work out how to phrase our apology.

James Beaufort doesn’t show up for the whole two and a half hours.

Once we’ve sent our text to Lexington, we say our goodbyes. Lin heads to her car. She doesn’t live far from the school, but there’s no bus out that way, so her mum bought her a little secondhand car last summer.

As for me, I live half an hour from Pemwick, the closest town to Maxton Hall. Gormsey is kind of run-down with shabby houses and potholed streets, and totally unglamorous, but I like it there. I don’t even mind taking the bus here and back every day. Far from it. On the bus, I can chill. I don’t have to be either the Ruby who doesn’t talk about home or the Ruby who can’t share her school life with her family. I can just be…me.

As I walk to the bus stop, I pass the playing fields, where thelacrosse team is training. I watch them sprint up and down the field in full gear.

Then I spot the player with the number seventeen on his shirt.

I stop dead. Then I step closer to the fence and hook my fingers into the mesh.

I can’t believe that guy.

I stare open-mouthed at Beaufort, who passes the ball to Cyril Vega as he runs. I can hear his braying laugh from here.

That…that…arsehole!

At that very moment, Beaufort turns and spots me. I can’t see his face through the helmet, but his body changes. He stiffens and juts out his chin, kind of defiantly. Bloody idiot! Behind me, I hear the bus arriving. I ignore the hot rage in my belly, turn away from James, and walk the rest of the way to the stop.

Let him do what he likes.

8

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