✤ A U G U S T ✤

Born and raised in Rainford, Lola Quill knows everyone in this tiny place and everyone knows her. It's both a blessing and a curse.

The blessing: everyone knows everyone, everyone has known everyone for generations and because of it, Rainford is probably the safest place this side of Europe.

The curse: everyone knows everyone, everyone has known everyone for generations and because of it, Rainford is the most boring place this side of Europe.

Not to mention, people are nosey. Mummy always complains about it. Especially, Mrs. Tailor on Bridget Lane.

Nosiest woman in the world that one, Mummy will say as she kneads the dough or chops the wood, doesn't know how to keep her beak out of people's business, I mean, if Catherine Crabtree wants to run off and wed that odd little man, it's — it's...a choice alright but it's hers!

Emmett will roll his eyes and whisper to Lola, Mummy's the second nosiest gossip in the world then.

Lola will try to stifle her laugh as they mouth along to Mummy's annoyed rant about Mrs. Tailor. They must have heard it a thousand times.

On a warm day in late August, Lola tries to stifle her laughter once again as they carry wicker baskets packed with freshly washed clothes to the back garden for drying. Pearl, the family Dalmatian, lies on the patio and watches them.

"Last Sunday she came up to us after mass and said she heard your granddad might have TB," Mummy says as they start hanging everything up on the clothing lines, "the bloody cheek of it! I told her your granddad is strong as an ox and that she should worry about her wonky hip."

Emmett finishes up pegging the bedding sheets and with Mummy on the other side, he imitates the way she flings her hands in the air when she's annoyed and mouths along to her rant. Lola just about covers her mouth to hide her laughter but she drops a pair of wet trousers on the grass. A small muddy stain sits on it but she quickly scrubs it off and throws it on the line.

"Lola," Mummy says, pushing the clothes aside to look at her daughter, "are your clothes washed ready for school?"

Lola groans at the mention of school. The glorious summer holidays are ending and she returns to Rainford Hill in three days. It's even more disheartening to think other children in the country are not forced to go but the diocese (another word she learnt from Granddad's many books) taught otherwise. It's less school and more torture considering she has to sit in a cold room for hours and listen to the nuns' endless speeches.

"No," she says to which Mummy throws her a displeased look, "I'll wash 'em in the next load."

"Do you think we live in Buckingham Palace?" Mummy asks as she picks up a large coat from the basket, "I'm not doing another load until next week and school starts on Monday. No," she shakes her head, "after you're done with this, you're grabbing your uniform, washing it yourself and you're drying it yourself. You need to learn to take care of your things, pet."

"What?" Lola's eyebrows rise. "But I can't, I'm meant to be meeting Henri in the Square soon."

She doesn't add that she's also meeting Winters Winters — her friend since nursery and someone Mummy has labelled the 'Town Nuisance.' A label Lola doesn't argue against but that Mummy doesn't understand is that Rainford is dull and Winters is the only one who knows how to have fun. If it wasn't for Winters she would be pulling her hair out.

She also doesn't add how she's seen the hours her mother spends scrubbing the clothes clean in the kitchen and it looks like a lot of work she doesn't fancy doing. The last three days of the holidays are crucial. It's true freedom until she's back at school and shackled to a desk for the next nine months.

Mummy pauses and glances at her, "who's Henri?"

The pegged clothing dances in the summer wind. Emmett dips under the dozen hanging shirts to peg the rest of the clothes up on a free line.

"The Rosens," Lola says, "they moved into the Pinewoods' old house in June, remember?"

The Rosens, a well-to-do family made up of Henri, his parents and an older Turkish cousin, moved from Vienna to Rainford at the start of summer. It was the talk of the town for weeks, everyone fighting to take a peak at the newest arrivals in a decade. Like his father, Henri was born and raised in Vienna but his mother is English. Lola's not really sure what Mr. Rosen does but whatever he does it means it requires a pristine suit and almost daily travel down to London. Henri's mother — Lola doesn't know what she does either or what she looks like.

She's seen Henri around the village, mostly feeding ducks with his mother sat behind a bench him carrying a parasol no matter the weather. They have been in Rainford three months and Lola still hasn't seen Mrs. Rosen's face. She hasn't spoken to Henri either, not properly. Since Lola doesn't speak French or German and Henri barely speaks English, Lola, Winters and Henri have spent all summer pretending to be explorers in the hills of the forest.

"Oh, right," Mummy nods, "yeah, the Germans—"

"Australians," Emmett says.

"Austrians," Lola corrects, throwing a heavy bedsheet onto the line and spreading it out so it doesn't crinkle. "They're from Austria-Hungary.

"What's the difference?" Emmett asks just to be annoying.

"Maybe, they're two different countries?"

Emmett continues to be annoying, "I don't get it."

Lola throws a wet sock at him but he dodges it easily. He laughs as he dips under another line.

"Are you throwing clothes about?" Mummy demands from the other side of the fluttering bedsheet.

"No!" Lola and Emmett chime in unison.

Lola rises onto her tip toes to peg Granddad's favourite woolly jumper onto the line.

Mummy says, "you're not seeing that German boy—"

"Austrian," Lola says.

"You're not going anywhere until your clothes are washed."

Lola sighs, "...yes, Mummy."

✤ S E P T E M B ER ✤

There are a lot of things that annoy Lola about being back at school. The early hours, the long days and the insistence on maths is the biggest crime but the worst of it is the fact she has to wait for Emmett in the school courtyard every day so she can walk home.

Mummy doesn't want her walking home alone in fear of Lola running off to cause trouble with Winters. Lola bids her classmates goodbye, ignoring their snickers as they wonder why she has to wait for her older brother to go home. Winters even laughs and runs off to play footy in Paisley Park across the road. Although, Henri does wait with her but that's because the other kids tease him about his Austrian accent and Lola doesn't. He's stuck to Lola's side since school started a week ago. He doesn't seem interested in making other friends. Then again, that could be because they all tease him. His English isn't perfect so he often falls back on German or French when he can't think up a sentence in English.

He's goes back to German now as he climbs up onto the picnic table in the open courtyard and sits next to Lola. Lola has an elbow propped on her knee and her chin in the palm of her hand.

"Wo ist dein bruder?" Henri says as he cards a hand through his floppy auburn hair.

Lola glances at him, "pardon?"

Henri rolls his eyes. He pauses, frowning as he tries to translate the sentence in his head. "Where..." he starts, "where...brother?"

"Where is my brother?"

Henri nods.

"I don't know, he should be out soon," she says, glancing out at the courtyard and the many students milling about. "He always takes the piss."

The most annoying part of waiting for Emmett is that he takes his time. He seems hellbent on punishing Lola for their mother's paranoia.

"What?" Henri looks more confused than ever. "Die Engländer machen keinen sinn."

Lola waves a hand in the air, "it means—"

The sound of Emmett's booming laughter cuts her off. Lola turnsand finally spots her brother leaving the writing block with at least half a dozen other students. Emmett is always surrounded by people. There is a certain spark to him that pulls people. Lola doesn't know where Emmett inherited that spark since no one in their family has it. Maybe their father but Lola never got to meet him.

Natural born charm, Granddad once explained when Lola asked why Emmett was so popular at school. And his good looks, Granddad added with a smug smile, got that off me.

Emmett's good looks are definitely a part of his charm. He's with his usual crowd, about six of them in total who circle around Emmett like he's the sun. Sometimes, Lola thinks Emmett might be the sun in human form. Everyone always gravitates to him. She ought to learn his secret.

Lola taps Henri's shoulder and points to her older brother.

"There he is," she says, hopping off the picnic table. A second behind, Henri follows suit.

It's only then that she clocks a new addition to Emmett's usual entourage.

 A lanky boy no older than Emmett. His glasses are the first thing she notices about him. Wire-frame circular glasses he nudges up his nose as he glances up at the clear sky. His silence is the second thing she notices. He walks at the edge of the group. 

He holds a pair of heavy books in one hand and an envelope between his fingers in the other. He doesn't seem interested in the loud conversation, seeming content with simply observing the group. He's not just new to the group, Lola realises, he's new to the school. Lola's never seen him around before and in a village this small you can see the same face at least once a day.

"I'll see you tonight!" Emmett tells his friends before they split. A few of them nod and wave goodbye.  They head off down the pebbled path to the river but the new boy stays with Emmett.

Emmett grins, slings an arm around the boy's shoulder and pulls him close. He mumbles to him and the boys gives a faint nod. There's a certain air to him, something too prim and proper for Rainford. Emmett lets go of the boy and they walk over to Lola and Henri.

"You took your time," Lola says when they finally reach them. "Me and Henri have plans."

"Like what?" Emmett says with a raised eyebrow, "important business meeting?"

Lola's eyes narrow, "no, we're helping Mummy package the cherry jam for a delivery that's due in a few days." She pauses, "why are you not being forced to do it? How did you get out of it?"

The Quills have run their cherry farm for generations. All the way back to King George IV, Granddad likes to remind them whenever Lola and Emmett complain, it's our way of life!

Eventually the farm will be Emmett's and he can carry on their way of life. Lola is glad of it, it's the only perk to being the younger one. She loves the farm and she loves picking cherries with the whole family when it's harvest season but she doesn't want to do it for the rest of her life. There is a whole world to see.

Emmett shrugs, that easy grin returning, "I'm her favourite."

Lola snorts, "Pearl is her favourite."

Pearl is Lola's favourite too. Granddad brought her home one day when Lola was six and no, she's not being dramatic when she says Pearl is the best dog in the world.

"Ah, true, Pearl is Mummy's favourite," Emmett says, "I've got to do the paper round every morning before school and after school. Why do you think I've been waking up at five a.m? It's not for my health."

Lola shrugs, "I don't know, you're strange. I don't really question the things you do anymore."

Emmett stares at Lola with a blank look, then he laughs and pats the new boy's chest. "Cheeky little sod, isn't she?" He says, "this is Lola, my baby sister."

"I'm not a baby," Lola huffs, "I'm fourteen— that's a woman in some cultures."

"Which culture?" Emmett counters.

Lola flounders for an answer when the new boy speaks up.

"Jewish," the boy says, "when a Jewish girl is twelve years old she becomes a bat mitzvah and they have many of the same rights and responsibilities of a Jewish adult but it doesn't necessarily mean she is an adult in the legal sense."

Everyone stares at him and he seems to squirm under their gazes. He shifts the book from one hand to the other and looks away, his loose dark curls flutters in the afternoon wind.

"...and this fountain of knowledge here is Kit Tailor," Emmett says, glancing at Lola when he reveals the boy's full name.

Lola's eyebrows rise. "are you related to Mrs. Tailor?"

The new boy nods, his hazel eyes flitting between the three of them. He says, "uh, yes, she's my grandmother."

Lola laughs and the boy — Kit, she reminds herself — throws a confused glance at her. The prim and proper air makes sense now. 

"What is it?" Kit says.

Emmett shakes his head, "...your grandmother has a bit of a reputation in the village."

"What kind?"

"Gossip," Lola says, "your grandmother owns and runs the rumour mill in Rainford."

"Oh." Kit blinks, "Sorry, I..."

"No, no, nothing to be sorry about," Emmett says, resting his hand on Kit's arm, "your grandmother is the only person who brings any excitement to the village. She must be involved in at least half the marriages in Rainford. It's truly remarkable."

Lola jolts when Henri pats her shoulder and looks at her.

"Qui est-il?" Henri asks, switching back to French. French or German, it doesn't matter. Lola has trouble understanding him either way but the confused look on his face tells Lola he is curious about Kit.

"Mon nom es Kit," the new boy says, "je suis nouveau au village."

In her surprise, Lola almost breaks her neck turning to look at him.

Henri blinks up at him, his eyes wide, "tu parles français?"

Henri looks like he's just found water in the desert. They all stare at Kit again and he seems uncomfortable with all the attention on him.

Kit shifts the books between his hands again. "Oui, tu ne parles pas anglais?"

"Un peu...mais ces gens ne parlent ni français ni allemand," Henri says, throwing his hands up, "c'est vraiment ennuyeux!"

Henri continues, "tu es la seule personne civilisée que j'ai rencontrée."

Kit doesn't seem to know what to say to that. His mouth hangs open for a second before he snaps it shut and says, "uh, merci?"

Emmett cuts in, "What are you two nattering about?"

Kit presses his mouth into a fine line then says. "I was merely introducing myself," he says, "are we leaving?"

Emmett says, "yeah, I've gotta take these two home then I gotta do my paper round but once I'm done I'll come to yours and we can head to the castle."

"Which castle?" Lola glances between the older boys, "what are you doing?"

Rainford has two castles. The main one is Rainford Castle in the centre of the village or the Square as everyone calls it. It's old and gigantic, as if it was pulled straight out of a fairy tale, with its imposing stone towers and battlements. The whole village was built around it bit by bit over the centuries and now it's a historical landmark they turned into a museum Mayor Gill insists is kept in perfect condition.

The second one is Danecroft Castle in the outskirts of Rainford. Where Rainford Castle is majestic and well-kept, Danecroft lays in a state of ruin and decay. Grandad said it used to be a holiday home for some prince but then he got bored and gave it to the monks but then vikings came and killed all the monks and now everyone is convinced its haunted. Danecroft Castle is the most interesting thing in this village and everyone is scared of it. Well, everyone except Winters who goes to Danecroft every few days like it's his second home but Winters doesn't count. Winters isn't a normal person. He exists in his own world.

Lola has wanted to go up to Danecroft ever since she learnt about it but she knows Mummy would kill her if ever went anywhere near it. It's reaching the point where she'll have to beg Emmett to take her and he always gets so smug about these things. She really doesn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"Danecroft," Emmett says, "gonna have a little fun, watch the sunset."

Lola opens her mouth, "can I—"

"No," Emmett cuts her off.

Lola pouts, "why not?"

"It's strictly sixteen and over," he says, "and, Lola, last time I checked you were fourteen —"

"I'll be fifteen soon!"

"Yeah, in December," he says, "that's still quite a while away, now, let's get you two home. I don't want Mummy blaming me for missing the delivery deadline."

Ever since Emmett's seventeenth birthday in July when Mummy told him he could now take the horse and carriage down to London for deliveries Emmett has gotten bossier than usual. He has such a pompous air about him you would think he'd been told he was the next in line to the throne.

Emmett and Kit start walking down the steep slope to the school's main entrance, wrought iron gates between a pair of great beech trees. It may be mid-September but they still have their leaves. Summer always cling to the village for another month before autumn turns the world every shade of orange and red.

Lola stays by the picnic table with Henri giving her a confused look, probably wondering why she hasn't moved yet.

"Was machen sie?" Henri says, switching back to German.

Emmett and Kit notice they aren't following and they pause at the bottom of the slope to look up at them.

Lola raises her chin and tries to imitate his mother's Serious Tone when she's particularly annoyed at them.

"If—if," Lola starts, "if you don't take us with you to Danecroft I'll tell Mummy you're going there. I'll tell her it's your favourite spot in the world."

It's a bluff. She'd never tell but desperate times. She wants to see Danecroft. Everybody else has, why shouldn't she?

Kit and Henri glance between the two siblings. She expects Emmett to glare at her and concede because it's a perfect threat. Mummy will ban Emmett from leaving the house for at least a month and he can say goodbye to his paper round and any social life.

To her annoyance, Emmett just grins and says, "you tell Mummy anything about Danecroft and I'll tell Mummy you're best mates with Tiernan Winters."

"He's not!" Lola's eyes widen. "And you wouldn't!"

"Well, we're now blackmailing each other," Emmett says, still wearing that wide grin, "if you raise the stakes be prepared for the risks."

Granddad gave Emmett some really old book called about the art of war and now Emmett thinks he's a military mastermind. Lola tried to read it but then Winters claimed he'd found a cave near the old mill and she had to check it out for herself.

Lola huffs and stomps down the slope with Henri trailing behind her. The four of them walk past the iron gates and start the journey home. Henri jogs over to Kit and continues their earlier conversation in French. It's the happiest Lola's seen him.

Emmett falls back to walk with Lola.

"When did the new boy move to Rainford?" Lola asks, watching Henri and Kit.

"Yesterday," Emmett tells her as he fishes for a chocolate bar in his trouser pockets and waves it in Lola's face, "want one?"

Lola gasps, "yeah!"

She tries to reach for it but Emmett snatches it back.

"You can have it if you promise not to say a word about me going up to Danecroft tonight," he says.

Lola says, "you already threatened to tell Mummy about Winters and it worked. Why have you moved to bribery? Does that war book say confusion is the best method?"

Emmett smiles, "I'd ask how you got to be so cheeky but I know it's me."

He ruffles Lola's dark hair and she bats his hand away.

"I'm not a baby," she says again despite how pointless it feels.

"Sure," Emmett says, handing her the chocolate, "by the way, I wasn't going to tell Mummy about your thing either. I know he's your best mate."

Lola frowns. "He's not my best mate."

Winters is the kind of person you can take in doses. Stronger doses risk legal trouble. An hour at lunch every at school is enough for Lola. Possibly more on the weekends if Winters's idea for some fun is good.

Lola grins up at her brother as he unwraps the chocolate bar and takes a bite out of it. "So," Lola says around the chocolate in her mouth, "where's the new boy from?"

He's not from Essex, not with that posh accent.

"Berkshire," Emmett says as they turn onto a narrow street, "but he was at boarding school."

"Fancy," Lola swallows down the chocolate, "which one?"

"Eton," Emmett says.

She glances over at Kit who is nodding along as Henri speaks. Who knew Henri was so talkative? He must have been starved for conversation in the last few months. She frowns and glances back at her brother, "he left a fancy school like Eton to come to...Rainford? Why?"

"I don't know," Emmett says with a shrug, "I only met him today, I'm not gonna ask for his life story am I?"

Lola tries to shove Emmett away but he doesn't budge. He's too strong. It's because he's been playing rugby since he was twelve and now he's one of the best players on the village's rugby team.

"Keep trying," Emmett says, "you might be able to when you're older."

"I'd rather talk to the people who don't even speak English," Lola says and leaves Emmett to walk alone to join Henri and Kit further down the street.

Emmett's laughter rings out in the warm afternoon.