"This is the foyer." Grace says, we're only a little further into the entrance than where we saw Elijah. I roll my eyes, because obviously this is a foyer. Grace doesn't miss the eye-roll. "I know it's a school for geniuses or whatever, but I'm only doing this once and it's easy to get lost here."

She takes us bang into the middle, still carrying two of my bags for me. "This house is mostly for the sixth formers, except that massive hall there; that's the Entrance Hall. That's where we have breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's also where we have any social events and where our Counterintelligence and Covert Mission lessons begin."

Grace begins walking up the stairs, not waiting for me. I don't follow. I'm stood with my mouth hanging open, watching her walk off.

"I'm sorry," I shout up to her, jabbing a finger towards the Entrance Hall. "That's where the what begins?"

She doesn't answer; "The sixth former dorms are on the right-hand-side of these stairs. Boys are first floor, girls are the second. The left-hand-side is where we have our lessons. That mansion, out there-" she points through a large window, "- that's where the rest of the student body live. Trust me, it's good you've joined in sixth form, those dorms were archaic and freezing. The bathroom over there? Yikes."

I jog up the stairs to her, "yeah, that's all dandy. But can we circle back to the bit where you said Counterintelligence and Covert Missions?"

Grace gives me a funny look, "it's a school for spies, Amelia. Everyone knows that."

"Er, no." I say. "They definitely do not."

"Okay, well not technically for spies per se. Like, once you finish school you can go and do whatever you want. But most people end up in the Mi5, Mi6, Civil Servant, high-stakes-security jobs, all that stuff. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"It's just, it's not a very funny joke." I tell her.

Grace laughs, her eyes going wide, then her smile falls. "Oh my god. You really are Harry Potter, except instead of finding out you're a wizard, you're just finding out you've been made to go to a spy school. Does this make me your Hagrid?"

"There is no such thing as a spy school!"

"Oh, hunny." Grace says, giving me a pitying look. "There is, cos you're in one."

I know I'm new, I know that hazing is a part of some schools, but really? Pretending this is a spy school? It's not even a realistic haze. It's just absurd.

I shrug, "okay, sure. Just get on with the tour so this little joke can be over."

Grace goes to argue with me but then thinks better of it and says, "if you want. Let's take you to our dorm."

We head up the grand marble stairs, and then take a right, before heading up a smaller, narrower set of marble stairs and then take another right. Grace enters a pin into a tiny blue keypad, swings open an oak door and leads us down a long corridor.

"These are the girls dorms." She says, "There's fifteen rooms for us, the boys have twenty, cos there's more boys than girls here. Typically, there are four to a dorm, but sometimes you get lucky and there's only two of you in a four bed, which gives you more space. Not us though, we'll be sharing with Lucy and Tessa. Tessa is American."

Grace hisses the word American, letting me know this is Not A Good Thing. Then she opens a door with golden numerical '14' stamped on, and leads us inside a large room. It has little alcoves, big windows and high ceilings. There's four wooden beds, four desks and four shoulder height wardrobes. On the wall furthest a way from us, sits a massive window, shelves for books and a window seat with cushions, there's red velvet curtains draped over it. It's actually pretty nice.

"Since we're the first ones here we get to pick our beds." Grace tells me, then she waits for me to pick first - which, when you think about it, is a super nice thing to do, seeing as I'm the only new one and all.

I don't waste much time and opt for the one nearest the window seat, dropping my bags on the bed, Grace drops the two she was carrying too. Then she grabs, what I assume are her bags that were already in the room, and picks the bed on the other side of the window seat. I watch as she starts unpacking so I do too, not that I brought much to begin with.

Outside the door I can hear footsteps thundering up and down, girls laughing, people chatting. It's probably a pretty standard thing, but home was extremely quiet growing up, dad said he could hear more in silence, so all the noise is a bit unsettling. I can't help but look towards the door every time a loud bang is made. I even jump a little when a group of girls cackle right outside.

Grace notices. "You get used to the noise. It dies down after a day or two anyway."

"Yeah," I say quietly, mostly because I can't think of much else to say.

"We have a welcome dinner at six-thirty, which is in twenty-minutes, you can meet everyone then. Did you want me to show you to the bathroom?"

I shrug, "sure. Let me just grab my makeup bag so I can freshen up."

Grace frowns at me, "you think you don't look fresh?"

"God, no. I've been sat in a car for nine hours."

She laughs. "Oh, the girls here are going to hate you if that's what you look like when you're rough."

I laugh with her, mostly because I don't really know what she means and I don't want to ask. This is me, stinking of car, tired from sleepless nights, my hair not done and my clothes old and ratty. It's about as bad as I get. It's certainly not how I want to look when bumping into Elijah again.

Grace leads me to the shared bathroom, which has fifteen showers, ten toilets and five baths. I wash my face, throw on a little bit of mascara and blusher and then smile at my reflection.

I look exhausted but sleep is illusive these days. When I do close my eyes all I imagine is someone creeping around our house, watching me. Or I have visions of dad calling my name before being hit by a car. I haven't told anyone, not about knowing there was someone creeping through our house or the fact I haven't slept for weeks. Mum would probably admit me or something. She'd love that.

At 6.30 on the dot, Grace and I are jogging down the grand staircase to the Entrance Hall. There's an extreme level of noise coming from it; cooks clanking, people gossiping. Grace leads us over to the long mahogany table on the right; I can tell straight away it's for sixth formers only, with a mix of boys and girls. The other twelve tables in the hall are mixed by year too. Grace sits opposite two other girls, they smile warmly at her, I slide in quietly.

"This is Amelia," Grace tells them, "this is Lily and Tessa."

"Heya," Tessa drawls in a thick Texan accent.

She's got deep brown skin that looks as smooth as a babies bottom. Her eyes are brown with hazel flecks, her hair is beautiful and braided all the way down to her lower back, her face perfectly proportioned. She's insanely pretty.

"Hey," I say back, giving her a smile.

"Brave move," Tessa says, "coming here for sixth form, they're gonna make you work for it!"

I laugh nervously, "who are?"

"The teachers, there's a lot we learn here that other schools don't."

"Really?" I ask, surprised.

"Yeah," Lily chimes in. She's got large shoulders, with heavily masculine features. Her brown hair is slicked back into a tight bun, her face makeup-less. She's got a slight Yorkshire accent. "I imagine they'll be all over you."

"Brilliant," I say, a little sarcastically.

Our conversation is stopped short as the group of girls next to us burst into a hive of activity, giggling and fixing their hair, their eyes darting to the doorway. I know it's Elijah causing a stir before I even turn around, but I'm not prepared for what happens when I do. He stood, all blonde hair and muscle, causing my heart to feel like it's constricting. He's surrounded by four other boys as he leans against the back wall, his arms crossed.

Butterflies swoop in.

"Who's he smiling at like that?" One of the girls near me hisses.

"Is it me?" Another asks.

"I think it might be me."

Grace lets out a gleeful laugh, "it's Amelia."

I let my eyes meet Elijah's and sure enough he's grinning at me.