The Re-Set

Scandal

"Is that who I think it is?" I hissed, leaning close to Felicity to speak right into her ear, whilst still staring at yet more new members of the congregation. The rest of our week at school had been uneventful, and then we had all enjoyed a quiet family Saturday at home, mainly for my benefit, because although I was not as exhausted, Caroline wanted me to rest after a full week at school, just in case. I had just managed two dry nights out of three, which was duly celebrated with a takeaway pizza for Saturday tea, and Felicity and I were still sharing one cot every single night, despite Caroline trying to coax us into sleeping separately. It was a really fun day, during which I had largely managed to switch off my brain and just enjoy being with my family, as the new Olivia, despite the fact that we did not do anything much at all, but almost before we knew it, Sunday morning rolled around, and there I was, wearing the ghastly yellow summer coat again, queuing to file into church for the early Matins service, when I saw something that brought the old Olivia right back to the surface.

"It looks like...but it can't be?" Felicity replied, her voice barely audible. But her mother had the hearing of a bat, of course.

"Shush, you two." Caroline muttered, her hands suddenly on our shoulders, guiding us off to the left, to our usual seats. "And don't stare, please...it's rude."

Felicity and I shared a meaningful glance, but we could not talk to each other, or see, because turning around and scanning the sea of faces for confirmation would get us into trouble with Caroline. Dad led us into the usual pew, and Caroline was behind us, and we did not dare to even attempt a glance over our shoulders, because Caroline had used her serious tone. It was something that Felicity had told me about her mother, but I had never really noticed it before that moment. My adorable stepsister was adamant that the tone of voice was everything with Caroline. She was a calm person, who never raised her voice, and usually spoke to us serenely and patiently, even if she was telling us what to do. But when she told us to shush, I had noticed the hard edge in her voice that Felicity had tried to tell me about, and it was not something that it was sensible to ignore. So, I took my seat next to her, with Felicity next to me, and then dad on the end, and tried to focus on what I had thought I had seen, because it was so impossible that I was quite prepared to believe that my eyes were playing tricks on me. But Felicity had seen it as well, just a glimpse of a familiar face in the moving crowd of worshippers filing into the service, but someone who had no reason to be there. Louise Baker was not going to stay on at Deepdene. She had told us that herself, and even if she was, our church would not have been her choice to get her diary signed, because she was not at all religious. Even if she had changed her mind about going to Reigate College, for some unfathomable reason, the Church of Christ the Reformer was surely the last option she would have chosen, because she knew what it was like. Beth had attended her nearest church, the Anglican option, and Louise would have joined her there, I thought, as they were so damn chummy all of a sudden, with all of the other reluctant Redstone churchgoers, in search of making it a reasonably painless, if tedious, chore. But that was not going to happen, because Louise had told us that she had a place at the sixth-form college. And yet, I had just seen her, as large as life, dressed in a formal purple coat, filing in for Matins with the rest of us poor little Reformists.

"I am quite sure it was her?" I said, almost an hour later, when we were walking down the side of the church, towards the hall, for our bible class, finally able to chat as Caroline waved us off down the path.

"But it can't be? Why would Louise be here?" Felicity pointed out, looking as bewildered as I felt, because it did not make any sense, even to my sister. Most new girls did not even come to bible class on their first day, so we did not expect to see Louise in the hall with us. I had not even attended Matins on my debut actually, but I supposed that was up to the adults concerned at the time, but we did not expect to see her in class with us.