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Rain fell from the grey clouds in the sky. Phillis ran through the busy streets of London, trying to escape a few boys from Hendon House who wouldn't leave her alone. A girl in her year at Saint Finbar's, April Elmslie, had been particularly horrible to her that day. April was pretty and popular and she had plenty of friends. So, this just really made Phillis' day truly spectacular. Phillis hadn't gotten a chance to look at the boys' faces as she was too busy trying not to get harassed. She'd gone to a corner shop to pick up some food for her mother, so she'd told Susan and Lucy to go straight home. Phillis left the shop to find a group of boys waiting outside. Thinking nothing of it, she walked past them. "Phillis!" one called. "Wait up, princess!" another said. Firstly, she thought to herself, I am a queen, not a princess. She heard their footsteps behind her, so she ran. She wished Elmer or Peter or Edmund had been there to tell the boys to leave her alone. Edmund. She hadn't seen him all day and was beginning to miss him. Speaking of Elmer, she'd noticed he'd been spending more time with some soldiers and more time at the registry office. Since he'd turned 18, he suddenly thought he was a soldier. Phillis could tell he wanted to join up, but he was clearly too scared to bring it up. She wished he was more like Peter, who didn't seem all too interested in joining the army. She often wondered if he'd already signed up, for it was quite likely that he had and was just keeping it a secret. It didn't help that he would whisper things to Peter or Susan and then they would glance at Phillis with a glimmer of guilt sparkling in their eyes. And though it had never been declared official, everyone knew Elmer and Susan were dating. It had been a long time coming.
Phillis' thighs were beginning to ache and her breaths were becoming heavy. The sound of a herd of boys behind her sent fear racing through her veins. Just as she rounded a corner, she ran into a tall boy dressed in the blue Hendon House uniform with a flat cap covering his messy hair. "I'm sorry," she said quickly. "Please don't hurt me." "Why on earth would I want to do that?" he asked. "Because-" then Phillis realised that, though from Hendon House, this boy wasn't one of the ones chasing her through London. And before she could finish, a group of five boys, all a year or two older than Phillis and the boy she'd ran into, stopped at the corner. "She knows Newton?" one whispered. "What a loser." They sighed and walked away. Phillis turned back to Newton with furrowed brows. "They didn't seem to like you. Thank you anyway." "For what?" he said, pulling his satchel further up his shoulder. "Well, they're not chasing me anymore," she shrugged. "I'm Phillis." "Tommy Newton," the boy smiled.
