Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
T he school party were staying in a hostel on the outskirts of Paris. The children were hosted in five dormitories of bunk beds. It had taken over an hour to get each child into the right dorm and negotiate who absolutely had to be on the top bunk, and who was too terrified of heights to countenance the idea.
“Good heavens,” said Nisha, flinging herself back on the bed in the twin room she was sharing with Chrissie. “Who knew bunk beds would be so controversial?”
“My favourite bit was when Francis pointed out that you could technically fall from the top bunk, break your neck and die,” said Chrissie, unpacking her small suitcase into the tiny cupboard beside her single bed.
“Oh God,” replied Nisha. “Did you see Dottie’s face? If Philippa hadn’t been there to shut her up, I don’t know what we’d have done. I think Dottie’s mum may become part of my classroom management technique.”
“Tell that to her courtroom clients,” said Chrissie with a laugh. “Hardev wasn’t put off, was he? Trust him to declare he could dive off, land on his head and bounce right back up again!”
“Had to be Hardev, didn’t it?” said Nisha, lying back with her head resting on her arms.
There was a knock at the door. “Oh no,” said Chrissie, “tell me that’s not one of the kids. I thought once we’d filled them with burgers and chips in the dining room downstairs they’d all settle down.”
“It’s only me,” came a muffled voice. It was Dan.
“Come in,” called Nisha, not moving from her spot.
The door opened. “Sorry, ladies,” Dan said. “I have a poorly Francis.” The pale boy was cowering behind him, looking as though he might vomit at any moment.
“Oh no,” said Chrissie, walking over to take a closer look.
“I wouldn’t get too close,” said Dan. “We’ve had a couple of projectile moments, and I think another may be in the offing. Here,” he added, picking up the waste paper bin at the door and handing it to poor Francis.
“Just when I thought we might get to settle down and chill for a bit,” said Nisha under her breath.
“Have you ever been on a school trip before?” Chrissie admonished her. “Ok, Dan. What are we going to do?”
“Well, I can’t leave him in the dorm – he’ll vom everywhere and keep the other boys awake. I think we need to swap rooms. Philippa has the single and you two have the twin. My room has a double in it.” Chrissie felt a knot forming in her stomach as Dan continued. “I need to stay with Francis, and if we stay in here, he can have a bit of space and access to your en-suite, and I can be in the bed on the other side of the room.” He paused, and addressed his next comments to Nisha. “I realise it’s not ideal, but if you two are happy to share a double, then we can all, hopefully, get a reasonable night.”
There was a pause. Chrissie looked over at Nisha. “Sure,” said Nisha, swinging her legs down from her bed and grabbing her bag. She hadn’t unpacked yet. “Assuming Chris doesn’t mind,” she added, nodding her head towards Chrissie, but not making eye contact.
“Of course,” said Chrissie, not knowing what else to say, but also certain this was not a good idea, on many levels.
The last time they’d shared a bed it had all ended in tears – most of them Chrissie’s. As she gathered together her possessions and put them back in her bag, she reminded herself that that was twenty years ago. Ancient history. And anyway, she was a proper grown-up now, and she and Nisha appeared to have got over their troubles. She zipped up her bag. Yes, it would be fine.
“Are you going to be ok?” asked Nisha, looking at Dan and his tiny charge who was already retching into the bin.
“Sure,” said Dan, dropping his bag on the floor by the bed Nisha had originally chosen. “I have supplies of the finest French lemonade, made by a lady called Stella Artois.”
“Ah, got to love Stella. A bit of a harsh taste for me, but we’ve stocked up on grape juice made by Rio Cha,” said Nisha.
Chrissie stifled a giggle as she patted Francis’ back gently. “Will you be ok, Francis?”
“Yeah,” he said, quietly. “Mr Harvey will look after me.”
“He will,” Chrissie told him with a smile. “Mr Harvey, give us a shout if you need help at any point.”
Dan gave a thumbs up.