Grace

Chapter 25

It was still dark when I woke up, though my desk lamp was on for some reason. I hadn't used it for days. It had also been angled away from the desk and into the far corner of the room. I was too warm and cosy to do anything about it though and simply stirred in my bed until I got comfortable again. I closed my eyes, but opened them again in a little confusion and a lot of wariness because early morning pranks on this corridor were becoming a thing.

"Chi?" I asked because out of her and Clara she was the one more likely to be awake at this time in the morning. Then again, Yelena was the one who'd pranked everyone else so far. "Yelena?"

"Morning, Grace," Mum said and I felt her weight dip the bed a little.

"Mum?" I asked. I ran a hand across my eyes and then propped myself up on my elbows. "What are you doing here?"

"We said we'd be back today," she smiled down at me, a dim figure against the dark background, and brushed some hair from my cheek. Bed hair was also a thing on this corridor and I generally had the worst.

"Yeah, but you didn't say you'd be here at," I looked around at my alarm clock, "seven in the morning." I looked around the room and saw that my camera was following me already. "With Tony. Morning."

"Morning," he said softly.

"Up you get," Mum said. "Dad's down stairs waiting for you. Master Clarke wouldn't let him up."

"That's because even he isn't allowed up here until we've all been down for breakfast unless there's a real emergency." I yawned again and sat up a bit more. "Ok, I'm up."

Mum squeezed my knee, kissed my forehead and then left me to get ready. I didn't normally have a shower in the morning, but I thought I might just have enough time to go for one and blow dry my hair before breakfast if I only spent five minutes in the shower.

I got out in four which was a miracle if ever I saw one.

Not long after we'd arrived we were asked if we had everything we needed our side of the house. The only thing we'd asked for was somewhere in the bathrooms where we could use hair dryers/curlers/straighteners so that we didn't wake each other up early in the morning. And by 'each other' I meant 'Chi'. I swear it was like that girl had an owl's hearing. She was at the top end of the corridor and someone could be using their dryer the other end and she'd still wake up. Now we had a hug vanity space with plugs all along it, a huge mirror above and it was somewhat decadent for a dormitory bathroom extra.

I wasn't the biggest fan of using heat on my hair, but occasionally I'd had to have early morning showers and everyone said that I could use their things so long as I didn't break them or it become regular habit. It hadn't. I liked sleeping more than showering. What had become regular habit was for people to leave their dryers and things out, but tidy, as carrying them to and from their rooms was apparently too much effort when an early shower was had. I actually agreed. I stood a few sockets down from Hope (to allow elbow space) and debated for a moment.

"Did I see your parents last night?" she asked. She was from Wales and had an accent that was reminiscent of Dad's before he picked up a mostly London one.

"Yeah," I grinned. "They're visiting for the weekend."

"Why?" she asked and twirled some of her red hair around a curling wand.

"Epic tale of a story short..." I sighed and wondered how to explain it in a sentence. "We've had some pretty, ah, long term issues that nearly broke us apart completely. I think Master Clarke thinks we need to reconnect."

"Sounds great. Them being here I mean. Is that why you were crying the other day?"

I nodded and pulled a brush, my own, through my hair before it knotted again. "Yeah."