CHERUB: Knight

21: Wedding

It was another warm day when George rolled out of bed, woken by racket in the corridor that he knew wasn't going to die down. They'd been having a good spell of weather and George had prioritised swimming in the lake and sleeping on the grass over doing homework, so he was grateful to be missing his Russian class to watch the ceremony. It wasn't until the middle of the day, so he donned a pair of jeans and a CHERUB t-shirt when he'd finished in the shower and went to see if anybody else was out and about.

Rex had been let off his punishment laps for the day, and he almost walked into George as he opened the door.

"Oh, hi. I came over to give you this," Rex said, handing George a striped tie. "It's from my old school, not sure why I still have it."

"For emergencies like this," George smiled, tossing the tie onto his unmade bed. "I'll get all dressed up later, no point getting sweaty this early in the morning."

"The girls are really getting excited," Rex informed him as he locked his door and put the key into his pocket. "They've been up since seven shouting at each other. I'd give them a wide berth if I were you."

"Good idea," George said, wincing as he heard something thump heavily against one of the closed doors. "Any ideas of how we can kill a few hours?"

"After breakfast we could go to the pool? The one with all of the awesome water slides will be deserted because everyone's getting ready for this," Rex suggested.

"Sounds good. We'd better be back here by half eleven or I think Jemima might batter me," George said after a moment's thought. "All that running has given her legs like rocks."

Rex just shook his head and muttered something insulting under his breath, but Goerge wasn't really in the mood to hear his bickering.

Thankfully the pool wasn't shut because a couple of staff members had retreated there to get away from all of the fuss surrounding Chloe. They acted as lifeguards while Rex and George enjoyed freedom over pretty much everything, only having a couple of black-shirt lads for company. When one of the black-shirts was hauled away by his apoplectic girlfriend, George decided it was time to head back before he was also on the receiving end of an earful.

Rex didn't want to see the girls so he went to pick up some of his kit from the gym, leaving George to go back on his own. He made a quick change into a blue shirt he'd borrowed from Harry and the tie he'd got from Rex, combed his wet hair and pulled on a pair of ex-school trousers. It wasn't spectacular but it would pass.

"Coming in," Letty yelled as she hurtled through his door wearing only pyjamas and giant fluffy slippers, skidding to a halt on the carpet.

"I could have just got out of the shower, you know," George said, but he was smiling. "Aren't you dressed yet?"

"Beatrice and Jemima are doing theirs, it's my turn next. I just wanted to make sure you were ready," she explained. "I know what you're like."

"So much confidence," George tutted. "I'm ready, what do you think?" He spun around on the spot and Letty nodded.

"Not bad. Think this is the first time I've seen you looking half-decent," she said. "Even when you're supposed to be in a smart uniform you always seem to have mud somewhere."

George just shrugged. "Not my problem. When are you going to go down to the chapel?"

"Just before twelve," Letty replied. "We're leaving plenty of time. Is Rex about?"

"He went to get some kit or something."

"I'm gonna be angry if he's planning to miss it," she snarled, pounding a fist into her palm. "Don't think Jemima would care very much, but you boys are really winding me up."