Out of Your League

Chapter 5

The first week has passed and the new 3rd form who are invited to the Truth and Lie brigade had received their invitations. They were requested to meet the rest of us in the library at midnight on Friday in black tie. From there, they attended a dinner and were supplied with constant glasses of champagne. At 4am, they are asked to swear the pact - if they manage to swear the pact without stumbling on the words and without falling over, they have been initiated. This may sound easy, but after drinking the amount of champagne that they are supplied with over the night, it is next to impossible.

The time, place and situation also allowed us to weed out those who would snitch, wimp out or not be prepared for our escapades. Although the teachers had suspicions about our society, they had no proof to confirm our existence, or that we were behind many of the pranks and stunts that went on in the school and it was vital to our fun and the Brigade's survival that it remained that way.

As Friday evening arrived and the sun set in a picture of deep pinks and purples that painted the walls of my room, I pulled out my Ralph Lauren gown that I bought on my shopping trip with Belle. Although Belle wasn't in the Truth and Lie Brigade and therefore she wasn't supposed to know about it, she did. Of course she did, she was Belle – she knew everything about everyone in the whole school, there was no way that she wouldn't know about one of the school's biggest secrets. My gown was full length red satin with a plunging v-neck and as for hair and makeup, Maja was coming to help me. This may sound like an overkill, but the first Truth and Lie brigade dinner of the year was one of the most important, exclusive events of the year and everyone pulled out every stop to look their best. Everyone, that is, except the poor, innocent 3rd form who didn't really know what they were getting into.

At 11:40 I snuck downstairs and unlocked the door with my master key – another perk of being in the Truth and Lie brigade is that you are given a master key that unlocks every door in the school, it is supplied to help pull off all our events, but I used mine for many other situations as well. Anyway, once I was out the house, I walked briskly towards the library as the wind blew past me, chilling me and raising goosebumps so I wrapped my arms around myself in a futile attempt to warm up.

Raising a fist, I knocked on the library's enormous carved oak door. A smart waiter looked me up and down, then checked a list before ushering me in. The elders had, yet again, outdone themselves.

The walls and ceiling glowed softly from the thousand fairy lights that adorned them, every shelf flickered gently from delicately scented candles. Down the length of the library stood long table clothed in a crisp white tablecloth, each place held a champagne glass, a pristine napkin and silver cutlery. Down the middle of the table lay vines of moonflowers scattered with more fairy lights and candles. Around the library, groups of stylishly dressed people muttered softly to each other over glasses of expensive champagne. The library was dim, the darkness of lovers and the darkness of stars. The type of darkness that welcomed and protected those who it wanted to and haunted those who it disliked.

The muted murmurs rose to louder speech as the clock signaled midnight – the 3rd form were arriving. Another waiter pushed open the grand doors and as they groaned in protest, the 3rd form entered in a line, ready to parade in-front of us and accept their first glass of champagne. This year, of those who received invitations, five girls and seven boys have showed up, but we could only accept ten at a maximum. Not that this was a problem, I could already see from looking at them that a few will not last past their third glass of champagne. But there was one girl, one girl who caught my eye. She was better dressed than the rest of them in a shimmery dress of blue chiffon with her hair half up in a complicated twist. Her makeup had been left minimal with only a sweep of mascara on her eyes and a deep red on her lips. She held herself with poise and elegance and gave a respectful bow of her head to all the right people. I could tell straight away that she would not only be accepted in but rise through the ranks quickly and be president by her third year. We all were examining the rest of them when Will rushed in. True to form, he was late, later than even the 3rd form who were supposed to be, under no uncertain terms, the last ones in. He looked vaguely worried when he saw that the 3rd form were already there, but then he spotted me and his face gave me a subtle grin whilst still trying to look apologetic to the elders.

'So, anyone good this year?' Will debated with me as he meandered over slowly, taking in the beauty of library. I shrugged and tilted my head to the side,

'Um, I'm not sure, I definitely saw one boy who'll flake out before the evening's over, but I did one girl, that one over there,' I pointed to blue chiffon girl, 'She'll definitely get in and make an influential impression quickly.' He examined her and was about to make a comment when the elders announced that dinner was served.

A waiter pulled out my chair and I sat gracefully before looking at the name cards to check who I was sitting next to. Fortunately, Ed was across from me along with one of the new 3rd form. Next to me, to my obvious chagrin, was George.

'Colette! You haven't been avoiding me, have you? I haven't seen you since your shouting incident when we came back,' I scowled at him before clearly turning my back on him to talk to Ed and new 3rd boy who seemed nice enough, but probably not suitable for the Truth and Lie brigade. I was making light conversation with the boy when I felt someone's eyes smirking into my back. Turning, I found George making an arrogant face as he says faux-sweetly as though he was actually trying to help me:

'You have something on your back,' I told him clearly that I DIDN'T CARE and swung back around intent on ignoring him for the rest of his life, until I felt a pinch on my back and I twisted to find George with that same insufferable smirk on his face that made me want to punch him holding a strand of hair that he'd clearly picked off my back. He shrugged nonchalantly and flicked it onto the floor before seemingly generously topping up the 3rd form's glass.

Thankfully at that moment, before I actually got out my seat and started a fight with George that I know would give him eternal gloating rights that I actually cared about him enough to be annoyed by him, the food arrived. Of course, as a traditional English boarding school, we have traditional English food. In front of me was a plate of gorgeous looking roast beef. On the tables there were stacked platters of Yorkshire puddings, roast carrots, parsnips and potatoes and every other side to a roast you could ever imagine or want.

*****

An hour later and we were all full to the brim as waiters carried away the dishes of main course and presented us with apple crumble and jugs of custard, pitchers of cream and bowls of ice cream. As I was trying my best to ignore George and currently Ed was talking to him leaving me with no-one to talk to, I glanced down the table to where blue chiffon girl was charming everyone around her. She must have felt my gaze on her because she met my eyes before looking away at Ed and George. I'd been sneaking glances at her all evening, and she seemed to have drunk more champagne than anyone else but also seemed to have a clearer head than everyone else; unlike the new boy across from me who was laughing hysterically for no reason and had fallen off his chair about 10 minutes ago and was still lying on the floor.

*****

Once the meal was over, the elders stood in front of us, ready to begin the initiation ceremony. The twelve 3rd form who attended this evening were guided to the front, two lying down absolutely hammered, one of whom was the bumbling idiot who was opposite me at dinner, but most were managing to stand whilst being propped up by the bookshelves and only one was standing with a straight back. The elders began reciting the pact:

'Repeat after me, I, the future of the Truth and Lie brigade and the future of this legacy, swear to protect all that this establishment stands for. I swear to participate with my full ability to every escapade and event that is held. And most importantly I will never breath a word of this to anyone or else may I be expelled from this school, removed from the oceans of resources and help and sent to jail.' One by one, they tried to repeat it. Three failed completely, most were acceptable and blue chiffon girl whose name I still hadn't found out was word perfect. That means we have 9 new recruits – the three who failed were immediately sent back to their houses with threats of expulsion if they breathed a word, personally I thought they were probably all too drunk to remember any of this evening though so that shouldn't be a problem. The nine who had made it through the evening were asked to kneel in a row, the elders placed a small velvet box in each of their hands and asked them to rise. Inside each of these boxes was a master key – it was the initiation present for being included into this exclusive society. Another silent, not declared but even more important present was the sudden access to the funds, alumni and events that you gained by simply being in this society.

Let me know what you think! Sorry this is the first story I've ever written and I get nervous that people dont like it.
Thanks for reading anyway!