Will and Testament // Sequel to the Rosie Grey series

Chapter Twenty-Two

We reached the school gates and I bid farewell to Marsh, trying to hide the limp and fighting to keep a somewhat straight face despite the pain flaring up my leg with every step. My boots felt unusually tight around my ankle and foot which I knew was probably a bad sign. Still, I tried to act like nothing was amiss and followed my usual routine of depositing my satchel and hat in the cloakroom and removing my slate, chalk and books.

I sat down and rested my foot gently on the floor rather than placing it flat like usual. My ankle still ached, but it didn't feel as bad as it would have if I put all my weight on it although I tried to keep it as still as possible. With any luck, a few hours of rest will help it a little but only time will tell and I knew I would have to keep it still and try not to jar it for a second time. If I made it worse, I'd have no choice but to tell Father.

"Good morning," Evelyn said, dropping into her seat. I smiled at her. "I told Mother that I would be late today if you want to keep going with our debate plan."

"Great! I thought we might stay and work here rather than return to mine. Mother said she wants to pack this afternoon and I don't want us to get in the way," I said.

"Alright, that's fine with me. We might be able to get some more work done here."

"We can use the chalkboard, it might be better than a bit of paper."

"Or both. So we can keep our notes."

"Good idea."

"When do you have to be out of your grandfather's house?"

"Thursday. She gave us just over a week."

Evelyn nodded and turned towards the chalkboard when Miss Reid entered the room to call everyone to attention so she could take registration. I answered my name when prompted and started to stare at the chalkboard, but I felt like I was looking through the board rather than paying attention to what Miss Reid had been writing once registration had finished.

For the past few days, I had been trying to ignore that the date for us to leave had been getting closer. Evelyn made me realise that we only had two and a half days before we were due to move out and I had yet to even start packing my things. We had two and a half days until we would have to leave Grandfather's house and I knew it would be the last time we saw it. Two and half days until I had to leave him behind. I didn't think I could do that.

Not only that, but I hadn't really noticed how much time had passed since we found out about Grandfather and the sinking. We had already passed two weeks, but that felt like no time at all given everything that had happened in such a short time. Still, it had only been two weeks and yet Mother and Father had both forgotten about Grandfather. I couldn't even remember the last time they mentioned him.

I shook my head a little to shake myself from my thoughts and turned back to Miss Reid as she talked. Even though I tried to focus, I still found myself drifting in and out of what she was saying, mainly because I didn't have the attention span to remember so many dates and pieces of information that came with our history lessons. I welcomed the lunch period.

"Have you spoken to your uncle about being a lawyer?" Evelyn asked.

"Not yet, I haven't seen him. I'll get around to it." I swallowed a small piece of my sandwich. "Do you know what you want to do when we finish school?"

Evelyn shrugged her shoulders. "No idea. I haven't really thought about it."

"Maybe you could do something mathematics-related, it is your favourite subject."

"But what? I haven't heard of too many female mathematicians."

"Mother said something once about Florence Nightingale studying mathematics. She used it to create statistical analysis during the Crimean War which helped to prevent unnecessary deaths on the battlefield."