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Music on, we went through what we had so far.
“It’s good,” said Justin with an offensive level of astonishment. “Not worth-missing-the-workshop good, but it’s promising.”
“I am very impressed,” agreed Aleks.
“You only like ballet,” I said, our choreography being contemporary with a balletic edge.
“I like very much,” he insisted. “You have wrought great change in me. In many ways.”
“Yes, yes, it’s all very impressive,” said Justin. “But I’m not missing dinner for it.” And, with a slightly odd grin, he was gone.
“Is it dinnertime already?” I asked, astonished. The afternoon had flown by.
“But I want to practice the next bit,” moaned Will.
“Is problem with a lift?” asked Aleks. “Can I help?”
Will said yes, and I said no.
“It’s not the lift itself,” I explained. “It’s the fall and catch part that’s less appealing.”
“It’s perfect with the music, and I will catch you,” assured Will.
“Show me,” said Aleks. “And between us we won’t let you fall.”
Will caught me round the waist as I twisted towards the ground, but Aleks’s hands were there too, a guarantee of safety. We practised a few times, then walked down to dinner together and everything felt a little better.
All was quiet in the great hall. All was calm. Pieces of glitzy costumes were still scattered about, and they added some colour to the huge room. I had my friends and my lasagne, and I felt I could relax a bit at last.
“Amalphia, can I have a word?”
Sun’s request was not welcome. I wanted to eat my dinner in peace.
“We’re going up to the stone circle tonight,” she said. “Much later, once people are in bed. Just you, me and Holly. Female-empowerment ritual.”
“Umm,” I said, careful not to commit to anything. Rain ran down the long dark windows of the great hall in silvery streams.
“You have some sort of affinity with the place,” she said. “You have to come.”
I nodded. It might be better than spending the evening crying into my pillow.
“Can I come?” asked Will.
“I didn’t realise you identified as a woman,” said Sun.
“I don’t,” said Will, looking confused.
“Well, you have no place in a female-empowerment exercise then, do you? Dress warmly, Phi, and bring some old knickers.”
“Slightly worried now,” I said to the boys once she’d gone.
“You should be,” said Justin. “God knows what all that’s about. But listen, you and me, we have to convene up the back passage after dinner, before I go swimming.” He very much enjoyed referring to the kitchen corridor as the back passage.
“See, this is the place for dark secrets,” he said later as we stood in the half-light of the passageway beside the unicorn tapestry. “I was dragged in here earlier by a desperate man.”
“Who?”
“Your erstwhile lover, darling, and he was in a right state.”
