Grace

Chapter 8

I passed the swimming test easily and was then let go for the day as there wasn't long of the two hour session left by the time everyone had done it. There were thirty of us new students taking it so it had taken a while. We'd had to swim three hundred meters in normal clothes which we borrowed from the cupboard. We were told that on Wednesday we could wear our own clothes in the river, but that it would be best if they were old ones in case we fell in. We were going to be rowing.

After that I went back to Walpole and, thoroughly peopled out for the day I went up to my room. I gathered stuff together for a shower and planned on spending a lot of time in there to get the smell of chlorine out of my hair. This was exactly why I'd chosen river water sports. I put the water up full blast, as hot as I could get it without scalding myself and for a while I just stood there. I was still turning things with Ben over in my mind as well. What Clara had said about his dad made sense, but I had a feeling it was a bit more than that. What that was I had no idea, but there was definitely something.

"Grace!" Chi called and banged on the door. I'd agreed to share a shower with her. It had been a quick discussion before bed last night.

"Sorry, I'm nearly done!" I called.

"Thanks. I got tackled into a patch of mud!"

I wondered what sport she'd chosen for a moment before quickly washing. It took about five minutes and then I quickly washed and changed into shorts and t-shirt. When I got out she was stood in front of the sinks scrubbing her face clean and had lost her really muddy top which was on the floor.

"What have you been doing?" I asked.

"A friend from Concorde got in to, but this is the first time we've seen each other since before summer. She saw me and ran me right over. Before that I'd been doing yoga. I'm going to grab a shower and then head over to her house. Oh, the camera guys want to talk to you."

"Right. Ok. Thanks."

I dropped my towel into the communal laundry basket that had appeared in here that was labelled 'towels'. In my room I swapped my flip-flops for proper shoes and then went down the main stairs where I found the camera crew waiting. The guy who normally held the mic was missing. Jessica smiled at me. I figured that meant she wanted something.

"Hi," I said.

"Hi. We were wondering if we could do an interview with you up in your room," she said.

"With people coming and going it's going to be quieter," the guy with the camera who I remembered was called David said.

"Uh, ok," I said. "I want to get a drink first though. I really need a snack as well." That was going to require a trip to the high street as the catering staff didn't leave snacks out for us. "Do you mind if I do that first actually? I just had swimming and I'm about to keel over. I forgot to bring snacks with me."

"No, of course," Jessica said. "Don't want you fainting on us."

"I'll just get my purse."

The trip to the high street didn't take long. The crew came with me, but didn't film much in the shops. There were quite a few other students with the same idea though – pick up what we forgot to bring with us. As such the shops were pretty busy and the staff all looked harried. When I finally gout out of the Co-Op with a bag full of sweets, crisps and some cereal that I could eat without milk as well as some peaches that would soon be soft enough to eat, I was starving and unwrapped the ice cream I'd picked up. It was a minty one and hit the spot just right. We passed Ben on the way back and he gave the camera crew a scathing look when they weren't looking and then hurried by.