When Storm Clouds Hover

7: Izzy - Bunking prep

The first week of school was always a bit uncomfortable. Izzy missed home and she wasn't sleeping well. It was evening after dinner and the study was quiet, with only the sound of fingers tapping on keyboards to break the silence. Outside, rain was drumming on the roof and water gushed in drains. Sydney was experiencing La Nina, which had prevented the girls from going outside after dinner. Izzy wished she could snuggle up in her pjs in bed. She opened her laptop and began typing an email to her oldest friend.

*

Isabelle Storm <is.a.storm2@gmail.com>

To: katharine.west@abbotscraig.edu.au

Subject: re: Anybody out there?

Dearest Kath

I have been writing pages of my thoughts to you, the only problem, they are in my diary! I write under my doona with a torch after lights out. I have so much to share with you. I will transfer my musings to email soon. Such transcribing cannot be done during prep due to inappropriate content...

Mum's doing better. I think. I'm kind of worried but she likes to tell me no one dies of cancer anymore. I think it's a protection thing. Doctor Google doesn't agree unfortunately, and I slip into panic mode every so often.

Things that are impossible at boarding school.

1. Get from A to B without encountering someone you would rather not

2. Eat a ripe peach

3. Go an entire day without hearing the words 'young lady'

4. Find a private moment to (dot dot dot!)

You asked after Em. Em is Em. She is obsessed with our old friend Dom and talks about nothing else. I don't think he knows she exists, but she's got a plan and knowing Em, he won't know what hit him.

Don't pay attention to my birthday please. Mia's on it! All I want is a pair of white Birkenstocks (and happiness).

Signing out before the bell goes,

I like you and I miss you,

X Isa (bella)

PS Tal says 'Wassssuuuuppppppp!'

PPS Any news of 'he who should remain nameless?'

*

When she was done writing, Izzy pushed her laptop aside, lay her head on her desk and closed her eyes, grateful they didn't have much homework. It was always that way the first week back.

Izzy's desk was in between Em and Zara, with Tal just behind them. No sooner had she rested her head when she heard a familiar....'Pssssttttt!!!'

It was Tal. Izzy looked up. Tal winked at her and leaned across the study passing a heart shaped pink post-it note. Izzy glanced briefly at the note and smiled. They both got up and left the room. On the way out, Tal speedily slapped notes on Zara and Em's laptop screens.

Feeling nervous but elated, Izzy followed Tal down the darkened corridor towards their dorm. Bunking out of prep was a dangerous exploit likely to result in a 'task' and perhaps even a black mark. Tasks were a form of punishment typically given out on slips of paper by prefects or house mistresses who caught the students behaving against school rules. Black marks counted against house points and were read out in the dining hall in front of the entire school. Izzy avoided both like the plague.

Tonight, though she was so restless, she didn't care. Tal had proposed a tea party in their dorm room -a chance to decorate and make the place homely. The only catch was the girls couldn't turn the lights of the dormitory on, that would give them away. They also needed to be extra quiet as there were always prefects on the prowl for girls who should be in prep.