Out of Your League

Chapter 7

Two hours later, the train was just pulling into the station and Belle had calmed down, now she just felt exhausted and slightly sick but at least she was no longer being loudly rude. Our carriage was nearly empty luckily so as we barged our way out onto the platform, we didn't hit anyone with our arms piled high with bags that obstructed our vision. As we made our way through the station to the taxi's however, there were people - there were crowds of commuters and partly due to our purchases, partly due to Belle who was feeling better, they all had to jump out of our way or risk being knocked out by a Dior bag, or worse, yelled at by Belle.

As we jumped in a taxi, in my haste, I accidentally shouted at the driver rather than asking him politely:

'BARTON'S. I'll pay you a fifty if you can get us there in twenty minutes.' He looked at me to check I wasn't joking, not many people would offer a taxi driver a fifty, saw my expression and leaped out of the taxi bay as though a pack of wild dogs was chasing him. Belle winced and put her hands over her ears.

'Not so loud C, or I'll have to strangle you,' I shook my head and smiled to myself, finally Belle was learning what it was like to have a proper hangover after hearing me complain about it for all these years. The taxi seemed to take forever, every minute on the clock seeming to tick by in a second as I watched it tensely, calculating in my mind how likely we were to be back in time for Chapel.

Chapel is not a joke, it is not only for those who are religious and the old pastor has been there longer than anyone and he seems so frail that a butterfly could knock him over and turn him into a whisper of dust. The pastor is, although he tries very hard to pretend he's not, completely hard-of-hearing. His sermons in chapel are always shouted as he tries in vain to hear himself and his prayers are yelled as though to make sure that God, however high in the heavens he is, will still be able to hear. Chapel is not optional, there is no way to get out of it and missing it or skiving is probably the most serious offence at Barton's. I missed it once it my first year and have never since, they put you in detention every night for a term. If you miss it more than 3 times in a year, you are suspended. That is how serious they are about Chapel. Anyway, although the pastor's sermons are dull or his prayers even worse, the hymns are actually quite fun. Every always belts them as loud as they can, almost as if each house is trying to out do each other and whenever 'I vow to thee' or 'Jerusalem' is chosen, you can literally see the whole school smile as they hear the gusto with which the hymn is sung. A bad hymn can ruin the day for everyone, and similarly, if it is a good hymn in chapel, no matter what happens for the rest of the day, everyone goes to bed smiling. So, yeah, Chapel is not something you can miss.

By the time I had finished my nervous calculations, the taxi was back at school and Belle was groaning, she was muttering and mumbling and cursing everyone she knows. Especially me. And my alcohol.

*****

The time after we got out the taxi and before we got to chapel went by in a blur – I pulled Belle out the car and we rushed to Brooke, having to be careful that Mrs Hughes didn't see us clattering in with hundreds of bags, had to change into our uniform and then speed to chapel as though Belle wasn't hungover and we hadn't been up all night. Our messy hair and smudged makeup luckily wasn't too out of place – many people who went to our school wore thick black eyeliner and messy hairstyles.

Thank god we got back in time. Although now sitting in chapel I slightly wished that I wasn't there having to listen to the Pastor's sermon, I knew that it was a big blessing that we got back in time – Belle had never got detention, come to that, she'd never even annoyed a teacher. Despite her judgemental attitude and constant bitch stares, she had never been caught so much as muttering a swear word and if I had got her in detention for a term for missing chapel she would have killed me. And then buried my body where no-one would ever find it.