Femme Fatale.

07

♥♥
Oh dearest little Carla!
With a cruel stroke which has come at her from nowhere,it has all been stripped away from her. She has been stripped of her pride, of her sense of her own worth and of her small share of happiness. There is no slightest possibility in her present state that she can ever bounce back from a blow this fatal.

Dear God,had she not had enough with her best friend's betrayal? Was the heartbreak not enough? Is she to fail at everything now? Can she face The Principal and come out of it whole?

She feels her heart sink in despair and wants nothing more to do than collapse, put her head on her folded arms and weep the hopeless tears which sting her eyes. But no,she has a life to live. She must be brave and face yet another day.
Mask on,she smiles.
♥♥

Songs for the chapter:
i. Rolling in the deep - Adele
ii. It ain't me - Kygo ft Selena Gomez

♥♥
It is almost three in the morning. Still we are wakeful, cheek to cheek in the candlelight, whispering as soothingly as a pair of doves cooing in the cote,wondering what tomorrow might hold, how I might fall. Our heads turn together as Shawn comes into the room.

"Not asleep?" I ask.

"Yes and look at you two. I couldn't abandon you now, could I?" Shawn asks.

He crosses the room and sits on the floor with us. We all three turn our faces to the candle and watch the little flame.

"I wish we could all stay here like this, for always," I say dreamily.

"Do you?" Shawn asks, surprised. "I was thinking this is the worst night of my life. I was wishing that it has never started and that I might wake up in a moment and that it could all have been a dream."

Rhoda's smile is dark. "That's because you don't fear tomorrow," she says. "If you feared tomorrow as much as we do, you would wish that the night would go on forever."

However we wish, it grows steadily lighter and we hear the maid, Nina, clanking up the stairs to start her duties for another new day.

"Have a bath both of you," Shawn says encouragingly to us. "Have a hot bath, wash and brush your hair. You'll both feel so much better after."

I smile at the banality of the suggestion and Rhoda nods.

Shawn leans forward and kisses Rhoda on the forehead then me on both cheeks.

"I'll see you at school," he says and goes from the room.

We do as Shawn suggests and rosy from our bath, we have a rushed breakfast and walk to school.

♥♥

We see that there is a match at the tennis court that early in the morning and Rhoda suggests we watch it for a little while before classes start.

She walks to the court and sits under the awning, her head moving with all the discipline of a dancer, to the left and to the right, her head following the ball but her eyes sightless.

I am standing behind her, waiting for the bell to ring for class when the enclosure opens behind me and two high prefects come in.