Chapter Twenty Three– New Girl
This time, the taxi driver was a woman. She wore baggy trousers, a woollen jumper the size of an adult sheep, smiled when no one was looking, and hummed when no one was talking, which was the entire journey, for both her passengers sat as rigid as sentries. For Lennox, smiling was a foreign language. She was travelling to a new school, again. She was about to be tipped, into the unknown waters of an all girls’ school. That alone was enough to make her tense. Having Master Torkil, Calgacos’ enigmatic headmaster, to accompany her only made the situation worse. Every time she looked at Master Torkil, she was reminded of the last time he had called her to his tower, and the warning he had given her. “When you say goodbye to Kellas, say it and mean it.”
There was one bright point in her life, and that was Kellas. He, alone, had shown he cared for her. Again, and again, he had anticipated her needs, and acted to help. Frighteningly attractive, she was one edge whenever he was close, and empty when he was gone. How could she say goodbye to that? Although Master Torkil appeared innocuous, with his washed out beard, his worn suit, his diminutive stature, she was sure this was deceptive, for Master Torkil was the undisputed Master of all of Calgacos, and she did not want to get on his wrong side, whether she was at Calgacos, or Pineham. But she had no choice.
The taxi pulled to a stop in front of Pineham’s considerable, and closed, front gates. Master Torkil was frowning as the taxi driver swivelled round,
‘Are they expecting you?’ she asked. ‘Because I live round her, and I’ve never seen those gates open, except September the 1st, every year, and she hires men in livery to stand on guard. Just like the Queen, she is, with her horse guards on duty.
‘We are expected.’ Torkil assured her, ignoring her commentary. ‘There is an intercom on the wall, just there. Press and explain that Master Torkil from Calgacos is here.’
The intercom was just out of reach, embedded high up on the 7 foot red brick wall. Tutting, their driver clambered out of the driver’s seat, the car slightly shaking as she did.
‘Master Torkil here from Calgacos,’ she announced, flashing a knowing smile at Torkil.
‘What’s that?’ she asked, unable to understand the returning crackle.
She bent her head nearer to the wall.
‘Righto.’
She sank back into her car. Her hand went straight to the ignition.
‘The girl’s to get out here.’ She said, inclining her head towards Lennox. ‘They’re sending someone down.’
The engine fired up. The driver put the car in gear. In the backseat, Lennox turned to Torkil for the first time.
‘Here?’
She was being dumped, like a package.
He nodded.
‘Mrs Trance takes security very seriously.’ He was impassive. There was nothing to show this was unexpected, or a slight to him.
She picked up her bag. The driver was watching her through the rear view mirror.
But she did not want to leave. Torkil was inscrutable, stern, and a barrier to her and Kellas, yet, at this moment, she did not want to leave his company. No other headmaster had ever come this far with her. She had been ferried from to school to school for years, no adult, no teacher ever seating beside her, where a parent would, should, sit.
‘You will always have friends at Calgacos,’ he said, and in that moment, like the shifting of sands, his weary eyes were eclipsed by circles bright as lemons. He shut his eyes, and his sympathy, and when he looked on her again, the colour was gone.
‘Go.’
She slipped out the car, turned her back on Pineham and watched the taxi drive away, wishing she were still inside. She hated moving schools. She hated being the endless new girl. But she had never been sad to leave a school. Until now. Calgacos was the school for her, and somehow, she was going to have to persuade them to take her back. Pineham was purgatory.
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