April moved into May with nothing significant taking place.

Lessons continued as normal. I spent time working on my project notes whilst trying to help Katie and Jo study for their exams. Victoria kept her distance and resorted to muttering under her breath and staring at me in class. She had backed off considerably in order to focus on her own project, not that I was complaining. The break from having my trunk searched or being pushed over was welcomed.

Even with Mrs Maddox and the other teachers still watching, it felt like a sense of normalcy I could get used it. The constant fidgeting had stopped. I stopped spending my lessons spinning the bracelet around my wrist and could focus a lot more knowing that Victoria had decided to keep her distance. Although I should have known better, having experienced a similar respite in the past, not even my thoughts or paranoia could break the sense of calm that had finally graced me.

The only thing that I still couldn't shake, the only thing that seemed to follow me when all else had balanced out, were my feelings for Katie. Even when I thought it had all but moved on, pushed to the back of my mind to focus on my project, they came hurtling back. I just couldn't shake them. Her promise of a trip to the lake for just the two of us hung on my mind and that itch of wanting to kiss her was inescapable.

All I could do was do my best to ignore them and focus on what was important; the project. It just became a little harder to do so if I happened to be working on it around Katie.

"This book keeps mentioning Aqueducts and I have no idea what they are," she said one morning. We were sitting in the dining hall with Jo, both doing a little bit of early morning study since their exams were getting closer.

"They used to carry water from one place to another. Both Greece and Rome had them, but the Roman ones are more famous because they covered the entire Roman Empire, including Africa. They were also bridges. The Greek ones were considered underwater aqueducts, it's one of the main reasons the Roman ones are more well known, they're still visible," I said, taking a sip of my juice.

"Can you sit the exams for me?" Katie asked.

"No, no I can't."

"It was worth a try."

"I'm surprised they aren't putting you in for the O-Level this year, you know more than we do," Jo said.

"They tried. They were going to put me in your year so I could sit them, but I didn't want to."

"Why? It would have meant not dealing with Victoria."

I shrugged. "It just made more sense for me to stay with people my own age. They've been trying to get me to go up a year for a while, but I always said no. One, because I didn't want to be the weird genius child in a class of people a year older than me, and two because of Janina. She had been held back three years because of the war and I was helping her catch up, I didn't want to go up a year and leave her."

"Makes sense, I suppose," Jo said.

"If I had known about Victoria beforehand, this could be a different conversation."

"I don't doubt it."

The first lesson bell rang and Katie groaned. I didn't blame her. Due to my lesson swap, I had gone from having history first thing on a Thursday to having sewing. There was nothing worse than having to deal with Miss Feldman first thing in the morning, but at least I didn't have to put up with Victoria and her minions. It was, perhaps, the only plus side to being put in the fifth-year lessons, that and getting to do Egyptian history rather than the economic stuff the fourth years were doing.

I drank the rest of my orange juice in one go whilst Katie and Jo closed their textbooks and stuffed them into their bags. We left the dining hall and walked down the darkened hallway to the sewing room. Miss Feldman was walking around the large table, smoothing out the tapestry and humming to herself. Katie looked at me and I shrugged. None of us were used to seeing Miss Feldman in a good mood first thing in the morning. Or ever.

She continued to hum to herself as we took our seats around the table, all of us exchanging slightly nervous glances. In my experience, a teacher who is usually mean acting in a completely different manner is bad news, most of the time, they had something hidden up their sleeves and if she was anything like Victoria, I didn't want to know what that was.

"Good morning fifth years, and Felicity," she said. "Before we start today's lesson, I have a little announcement to make. Next week, I won't be here. I'm returning to Poland as my sister is to be married. Mrs Maddox has agreed that your sewing lessons next week will be free. We have a lot to get on with today so we don't fall behind on this tapestry. You know what you must do."

Miss Feldman waved her hand at us and went back to humming the same tune as before.

"A whole week without sewing lessons? Thank you very much, Universe. Just what I wanted," Katie whispered.

"More time for studying," Jo said.

"No way. I'm embracing the two lessons off and taking napes. We have plenty of time to study."

"The O-Levels are next month, and you were just saying you don't know what an aqueduct is."

"There's plenty of time to catch up, it'll be fine. Besides, we need to take breaks now and then or we'll go insane. It's two hours out of a week, that's all."

"What about you, Flick?" Jo asked.

"I need to do my project. What with the competition against Victoria, I need all the time I can get to work on it. The presentations are right after your exams."

I knew I had made a mistake issuing the challenge against Victoria the moment after I had said it but even if I knew it was the best thing to do, I can't back out. If I baked out, I knew Victoria would hold it against me, and no doubt decide that she was winning by default meaning I would have no leg to stand on when it came to my decision about next year. Even if a break sounded nice, I couldn't risk it. I had already taken too many breaks.

There was little over a month until the presentation day. Due to the take place the Friday after the O-Level exams, it meant my time to perfect the project was running out. I still had a pile of notes and a very small potential speech, but it needed to run for ten minutes and it had yet to break three. There were still too many stories that I wanted to tell and not enough time to tell them all.

Miss Feldman continued to be in a relatively good mood until the end of lesson bell rang. For once, she didn't berate me for my terrible sewing or even notice how the task she had given me, sewing a cat with an embroidery hoop, looked less like a normal car and more like a cat who had taken a cricket bat to the face. With both Miss Feldman and Victoria leaving me alone, trying to relax just felt impossible. Dad always said that quiet was a bad thing.

I left the sewing room and continued onto my English lesson where Mrs Clarington started the lesson with the importance of doing well on the project and that time was now running out to make any major changes to the topic we had chosen to discuss. That seemed like a given due to the time we had left to complete them, but some of the girls looked nervous and I was pleased to see that Victoria was one of them.

Before we had agreed on the competition, I had expected her to have not put that much effort into the project itself, hoping that her dad would be a bargaining chip if she did badly. Now, with the bonus of getting me to leave, she appeared to have changed her attitude and spent most of her time working on the project surrounded by Dorothy and Louise who were putting more effort into her project than their own. Still, it gave me a slither of hope that I could beat her.

"You will be the first year group to present with the third years going the week after you and so on until all year groups have had the chance to present by the end of the school term. Now, the only reason you are going first is so you can start to prepare for your O-Levels early."

"But we're not doing our O-Levels until next year," Emma said from the back of the room.

"Preparation is key and could be the difference between a pass or fail mark. Remember that when you take to the stage to give your presentations."

"Nothing like a bit of added pressure," Emma muttered.

She was right. We weren't supposed to sit the O-Levels for another year and it just seemed a little odd to start preparation when we could go away for the summer break and not remember any of it by the time we came back. It just seemed like an added level of pressure that no one needed so close to such a big presentation. Then again, they had all done a presentation in the past and I hadn't. It was probably easier than riding a bike for them – something I also have never done before.

When the lesson ended, I still didn't feel prepared for the presentation, but seeing Victoria's face and her anxiousness surrounding her preparation made it better. We were both rather even when it came to our chances of winning and I liked those odds a little better than if Victoria had started work on her project in September. All I had to do was focus on my own project and not worry about where Victoria may have been with hers. However, that was always easier said than done.

After class, I stayed behind briefly to talk to Mrs Clarington about the homework and then left to return a science book to the library. I walked down the hallway, rooting around in my bag to try and find the book, a task that should have been easier had it not had my history books in it as well. Before I could reach the library, someone grabbed onto my bag strap and dragged me into an empty classroom.

The lights were off, and the curtains had been drawn, the entire room plunged into darkness. Whoever had dragged me into the room released my bag and I could hear them walking around me. I thought I head them walk into a table. It was a classroom that wasn't used very often.

"You know, it's not very polite to drag someone into a dark room and not tell them who you are. If you're Dracula, just hurry up and tell me. I have a library book to return," I said into the darkness.

"You're rather smug for someone who is afraid of a little water," a voice said. Victoria. Of course.

"There's a difference between the threat of actual drowning and a fictional vampire. What is this about, Victoria? Or do you regularly pull people into dark rooms and taunt them for fearing death?"

"Just because you passed the entrance exams doesn't mean anything. You're not as special as you think you are just because you answered some questions correctly. You're worth nothing, you will never be anything and I'm going to prove that with this presentation. They'll see that you're nothing. I'll show them that you aren't even worth the paper you're written on. Mark my words, they'll see the truth about you."

"Truth? What truth? What are you talking about?"

Fear bubbled up inside of me. Victoria couldn't know how I felt towards Katie. Could she?

Without saying another word, or even allowing more than three thoughts to cross my mind, Victoria grabbed me. She pushed me up against one of the tables in the room, my hip knocking against the edge and sending a shockwave of pain down my legs. Victoria held me by the collar of my uniform, a slight ripping sound coming from the seam.

"You'll find out soon enough," she hissed.

She released my collar and pushed me back against the table for good measure. I heard her walk across the room and watched a small slip of light appear near the door and her shadow slip through it and out into the hallway. Victoria closed the door behind her. I pushed myself off the table, rubbing my hip and the spot that would no doubt be bruised by morning.

The end of break bell rang through the room and I blinked away the tears that threatened to spill from my eyes. I readjusted my bag on my shoulder, straightened out and limped from the room.

I didn't want to know what Victoria had meant, but I had a feeling I would find out regardless of what I wanted. That scared me more than anything else. 

~~~

First Published - August 2nd 2020