Dear Red

Twenty Nine

After the first weekend home, holiday classes began. We got up early on Monday morning, ate and dressed up. Dad dropped Alex and I off in town. He went to coach with the form three class while I climbed the staircase to the third floor where form four was coaching. From the top of the staircase I could hear the noise down the hall. I pushed open the door and looked around. Desks were organized randomly and chairs were strewn around. The room was packed full of people sitting on desks or chairs and leaning against walls. Everyone was talking at the top of their voices. I spotted my classmates from St. Xavier first. Most of them still had their Leavers' hairstyles. Everyone had a smart phone near them; texting, listening to music or logged onto Facebook as they gossiped. I noticed a lot of St. Anthony boys who had come for Leavers, a score of Royal College kids, plenty of people from Greenland. If this wasn't a holiday class, one would mistake it for an event on the teenage calendar.

Through the crush of bodies, Joan emerged and let out a loud squeal that silenced the whole room. Every eye was on the doorway when she approached and hugged me. "Hi Tina!"

I hugged her back. "Hey Joan."

Still in our embrace, she whispered, "I was too loud, wasn't I?"

"Yep. This is the second time you put me on the spot in less than a week. I'm starting to think it's your hobby," I whispered back.

My classmates smiled and cheered as I came in.

"Bagaine!" 

"Tina!" 

"Babe, what's up?" 

"You rocked Leavers!" 

"Hot shoe!"

I pushed the door shut behind me. Joan had an arm round my shoulders. "I'm so glad you came," she told me.

Melissa, Esther and Rachel were holding court at the back of the room. They were seated on chairs. Trevor stood behind Melissa's chair- leaning forward to rest his chin atop her head. Two of his friends were close by. St. Xavier girls, St. Anthony boys and Greenland students were sitting on top of desks around them.

Melissa waved me over. Trevor shifted and hooked me into a hug. "Hey Tina," he said.

"Hi Trevor."

"We didn't get a chance to catch up at Leavers."

"Especially after you stuck me into trouble by starting that bandana hassle," I teased.

He covered my mouth with his hand so that the rest of my sentence was spoken cupped against his hand.

His quick explanation was, "Joan needn't know that. She still has the potential to humiliate me."

"A form five is scared of a form four? On which galaxy?" I said when he removed his hand from my mouth.

He smiled and said, "I dropped by to chat with Mel. The guys and I are heading out to our own classes."

"Which subject combination are you tackling?"

"Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Economics."

My eyebrows shot up. "Since when are you Mr. Scientist?"

Esther broke apart our hug. "Quit hoarding Golden Girl to yourself, Trevor," she said as she hugged me.

"What big secret is making all of you so hooked on Team Bagaine this morning?" I asked as I hugged Rachel.

I nodded at the boys I could remember from the party. The topic was (obviously) Leavers and the guys were bragging about their expert gate crashing skills.