Mount Asteria

Chapter Twenty Four

Few of the girls went to bed at their usual hour that night. Hestia, Ebony and Alexandra and Bláithín's group - Thea, Claire and Grace, who joined them occasionally - all stayed up in the Common Room in their dressing gowns with their cups of tea, discussing the day's events.

"Just think – three years of Knightsbridge boys ahead of us," Claire sighed dreamily as she snuggled into the depths of one of the sofas.

Ebony looked horrified.

Grace poked Thea in the shoulder. "Saw you talking to Damien today."

Thea shrugged, smirking.

Bláth groaned. "Damien Dempsey is exactly what not to -"

"Don't pretend you're not in love with him either, Bláth," Claire laughed.

"He's beautiful," Grace said.

"He's an idiot," Bláth said through gritted teeth. "All talk and nothing else."

"He's top in communications in Knightsbridge," Thea shot back.

"He's a communications major?" Alexandra was surprised. "I would have thought he was Field-ops."

"I know," Thea agreed. "I don't get how a sixteen year old guy can be so muscular."

Ebony stood up and walked over to the kitchenette. Alexandra followed her with her eyes, smiling as she saw Ebony's pursed lips.

The conversation continued for another fifteen minutes – the girls discussing almost all of the boys, fifth and sixth years included, they had seen – and Ebony lingered away from them, perusing a newspaper discarded on the counter. Eventually, when most of the girls went to bed - there was a parents' social event in the morning -  and it was just Bláth and Hestia left, the latter having fallen asleep on the sofa, Alexandra decided to call her over.

"Knightsbridge boys not really your cup of tea?"

Bláth chuckled. "Poor Ebony. How you must have suffered today."

"Who was that one who was talking to you earlier? When they'd just arrived?" Alexandra had never found out.

"Max?" Ebony asked. "He's my cousin."

"Ah." It made sense. They had the same colour hair, complexion and piercing blue eyes. "Are you close?"

"It would depend on what you consider to be close. I see him at Christmas, Easter and a few times in between. A good bit over the summer. We don't have a big family, so I don't generally have much choice in company."

"Have you ever had a boyfriend, Alexandra?" Bláth asked. The question seemed a little random, leading Alexandra to think Bláth was forcing a change of subject. She couldn't see why, but went along with it anyway.

"A couple, but nothing ever serious. You?"

"Nope." Bláth shook her head.

Alexandra's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Why are you so surprised?"

"I don't know... You don't seem like the sort who could have come this far without... you know."

Bláth shrugged in a helpless sort of way. "Just never happened."

"What about you, Ebony?"

"Yes, I've had about four or five. That's sarcasm, by the way."

Alexandra rolled her eyes. But, feeling more at ease with the girls now she knew where everyone stood, she said, "There was a guy I had a thing with just before I left -"

"A... thing?" Ebony asked, pronouncing the word with greater care than usual.

"Oh, you know..."

"No, I don't," she said bluntly.

Alexandra giggled. "He kissed me at a party a couple weeks before the end of term. Then we were kind of together, but I knew I was leaving so nothing really happened."

Bláth was intrigued. "So did you guys break up? Do you still talk to him?"

"We didn't break up exactly, no. It was more of a mutual understanding that we couldn't be together, you know? Like, if one of us meets someone else then there's nothing in the way. But yeah, we still talk. I really like him, so it's a pity." Alexandra stared out the window, though she could see nothing; it was completely black outside.

"What's his name? Tell me about him."

"Ahmet. His name is Ahmet. He's half Turkish and half American and his dad's in the oil industry so he moves around a lot, like me. He moved to my school in January, but I didn't really get to know him until we were together."

"He sounds sweet," Bláth said. She sighed. "I've never even kissed a boy."

"Neither have I, Bláth," Hestia murmured, her voice muffled as her face was partially covered by a cushion.

"So you are awake after all," Alexandra laughed, poking Hestia's arm. She grunted in response.

"So are Mount Asteria girls bound to some code of chastity?" Alexandra turned to Bláth.

"No," Bláth answered, chuckling. "Claire has a boyfriend down in Cork, I think. And Thea's dated some of the Knightsbridge guys and guys she's met in various places."

"Ooh, which Knightsbridge guys?"

"Dmitri and Conor. I think. I'm not sure, though. And it was way back in second year."

"Can we talk about something else now?" Ebony, who had until now remained in a state of passive silence, asked.

Alexandra shared a smile with Bláth.

"I'd like to hear more about... what's his face? Ahmet," Bláth said.

"Well, I  would not," Ebony said firmly. "I don't know what has possessed you all today but you have all been acting like ignorant and brainless baboons. It's embarrassing, really. I haven't heard a word of sense since lunchtime. What must Knightsbridge think of us? Did any of you care to discuss the new UN resolution on ownership of DNA with your new friends? I suppose you didn't even see that it had come out."

Ebony stared at them hard as if expecting them to apologise. Alexandra glanced warily at the other two, feeling as though she had been chastised.

"Baboons?" Bláth snorted. "Now, that's just embarrassing, Ebony."