Chapter 5
Ruby
I’m woken by a gentle snore. Heavy limbed, I roll onto my side and see Ember lying next to me. She has one arm stretched out over her head, and her mouth is open slightly.
How did she get into my bed?
I can’t remember the last time we shared a bed. When we were younger, we often had pajama parties at the weekend and fell asleep without brushing our teeth, surrounded by potato crisp crumbs and lying half on top of each other.
For about thirty seconds, I’m in that blissful state where you’re awake but not yet conscious, and so reality hasn’t caught up with you yet. But then I suddenly notice the stale taste in my mouth, and all at once the memories of yesterday rain down on me with full force.
A cold shiver runs over me, and my heart starts to thump against my rib cage. That really did all happen. I was suspended, and Lydia was kicked out of her home. I drank whisky with Alistair Ellington. Then James brought me home and promised me that he would put everything right.
My eyes drift automatically over to the pinboard above my desk. I can’t read the words on the dog-eared paper from here, but I know them by heart anyway.
A wave of nausea washes over me.
“You’re awake,” says Ember beside me, voice scratchy with sleep.
I can only grunt.
Ember leans up on one arm. “Where did you go yesterday? Mum and Dad were really freaking out.”
“I could ask you the same thing,” I retort, turning to face her. “I went to meet you at your school, but Maisie said you hadn’t been there.”
Ember opens her mouth and shuts it again. She blushes but doesn’t break off eye contact. In the end, she sighs. “I skipped, OK? I’m finding maths so hard at the moment that I just couldn’t face it. I needed a break.”
I frown at her. I’ve known Ember all her life, and I know very well when she’s keeping something from me.
I don’t want to insist—after all, she’s perfectly entitled to have secrets.
But I can’t help the uneasiness that’s filling me right now.
I sit up a bit, but before I can reply, she hastily adds: “Please don’t tell Mum and Dad. ”
I look back at her, thinking it over.
“Come on, Ruby.”
“I won’t say anything,” I answer in the end. “But if you need help—in maths or anything else—just let me know, OK?”
She nods. “Deal.”
Then an awkward silence fills the room.
“Is it true?” Ember eventually asks hesitantly. “Did you really get suspended?”
Now I sit right up. Black dots dance in front of my eyes, and I rub my face, then manage to nod.
At that same moment, there’s a quiet knock on the door and Mum pops her head into the room. I’m trying to read her expression, but she seems to be making a huge effort not to let her feelings show on her face.
“Mum…” I start, but she shakes her head.
“Your father and I would like you both to come downstairs,” she says emotionlessly. “We’re going to have a serious conversation with one another.”
She pulls her head back, and a moment later, I hear her walk down the stairs. I yawn and rub my eyes. Ember sits beside me. I can feel her eyes on me, and that she’s waiting for an answer.
I get up without another word and walk into the bathroom.
I brush my teeth very thoroughly, to get rid of the bad taste, and wash my face.
Then I put my hair in a ponytail and smooth down my fringe the best that I can.
When I head back to my room, Ember goes into the bathroom.
This morning routine is so familiar to me that my hand reaches for my school uniform of its own accord as I stand at my wardrobe.
I snatch it back as hastily as if I’d burned myself on the navy blue.
I have to take several deep breaths to fight down the rising panic before I can shove that hanger aside and take out a black midi skirt and a loose beige top instead.
Mum and Dad are already sitting at the table when Ember and I walk into the kitchen.
On a normal morning, they’d greet us with a smile.
They’d ask us about our plans for the day and tell us their own, and we’d have breakfast together.
Now they’re looking blankly at us as we sit down opposite them.
The only sound in the kitchen is the quiet gurgle of the coffee machine.
Mum and Dad exchange glances, apparently holding a silent conversation. Then Dad looks at me.
“What happened yesterday, Ruby?” he asks.
Confused, I look from one of them to the other. “I’m sure Mum’s already told you.”
“But I’d still like to hear it again from you.”
Dad’s expression is neutral, with none of the judgment or disappointment I saw in Mum’s face yesterday. It makes me want to stare at a dent in the table, not into his eyes.
“I was…I was suspended from school,” I say with an effort.
“Why?”
I grit my teeth. I’ve got goose bumps up my arms, and my hands feel unpleasantly cold and clammy. I’ve never felt this horrible in my family’s presence before. I wish I could get up and go back to my room.
“I don’t know what you want to hear from me, Dad,” I mutter. “Want me to tell you that it’s true? That I wanted to boost my predicted grades a bit, so I kissed my history teacher?”
Beside me, Ember is shifting uneasily on her chair. I can’t look at her, or my parents either, so my eyes roam restlessly around the kitchen. My gaze comes to rest on the clock on the wall opposite me.
The bus comes in five minutes. Ordinarily, I’d have been at the bus stop for ages by now, backpack on my back. Instead, I’m sitting here in the kitchen, having to face this grilling.
“No, I don’t want to hear that from you,” Dad says calmly. “Yes, I want to know what’s going on with those photos. But I would like to hear your side of the story.”
I look at him in surprise.
“I didn’t give you that chance yesterday. And I’m very sorry,” Mum adds. “I was out of my depth in the situation. Sitting in that office, looking at those photos…I believed what Mr. Lexington told me and didn’t even let you get a word in.”
I hold my breath.
“I’m sorry, Ruby.”
Suddenly, my eyes start to sting. There’s a lump in my throat, and I keep trying to swallow it down. It isn’t working.
“But you mustn’t just vanish like that.” Her voice fades to an insistent whisper. “We were so worried.”
“It was wrong of us not to be there for you yesterday,” Dad goes on.
“And it would mean a lot to us if you explained what happened,” Mum adds.
No matter how often I blink, the tears won’t disappear. On my left, Ember lifts a hand to stroke my back. I’m incredibly glad that she’s here with me at this moment.
Mum pours me a cup of tea and pushes it over the table.
I wipe my cheeks and wrap my hands around the warm porcelain.
It gradually edges out the cold in my bones.
My parents give me time to get myself together.
For a moment, I weigh how much I can tell them.
Would it be a betrayal of my friends to tell my family their secrets?
But this isn’t just about James and Lydia now.
It affects me too. And however important they both are to me, I can’t put my relationship with my parents at risk.
“It started the day I went to get my UCAS reference from Mr. Sutton,” I begin after a hesitation. “Last September.”
Mum and Dad listen carefully. The situation isn’t scary anymore. Far from it. Now, I feel like I’m in a safe space, where I can finally tell the truth. So I keep going. “I thought we had an appointment. But when I walked in, he wasn’t alone.”
It’s hard to get started, but over time, the words come more easily. When I tell them that Cyril and James’s father were behind the photos, Mum reaches for Dad’s hand.
“Mortimer Beaufort is totally unscrupulous,” I explain, my voice hoarse. “He’d stop at nothing to protect his family’s reputation.”
“Without caring if he destroys another family in the process,” Mum says, shaking her head. “What a horrible person.”
“Horrible person? I can think of a few other words for him,” says Dad, a deep furrow between his brows.
“I don’t get it. How can a monster like that be the father of someone as kind as Lydia?” Ember muses.
I’ve been talking for so long that I’m out of breath. I swig my tea and hope that the lump will finally disappear from my throat.
There’s silence in the kitchen. But it’s thoughtful now, rather than awkward.
“I can’t believe you’ve been carrying all that around without a word to anyone,” Dad says in the end. He takes his glasses off and rubs his eyes.
The tea has gone stone-cold, and I put the mug down. “I couldn’t break my word to James and Lydia.”
“But it’s not just about those two anymore,” Ember says gently, putting into words what I’ve been thinking.
“It’s too big a mess for just us. I have no idea how I’m meant to convince Mr. Lexington of the truth. Mr. Beaufort is on the PTA and gives the school megabucks every year. So do Cyril’s parents. So if it’s their word against mine, it’s obvious who he’s going to believe.”
“But surely you can show him the original photos, can’t you?” asks Mum.
“Cyril deleted them off James’s phone. If they still exist, it’s only him or Mr. Beaufort who’s got them.”
“And even if they do, how is Ruby going to prove that they aren’t the fakes?”
“It’s no good,” Dad says, shaking his head. “We have to speak to your head teacher and tell him the truth.”
“No!” I exclaim. “We can’t do that. I can’t give Lydia away. Her dad’s already banished her to the middle of nowhere. What do you think he’d do if it all came out?”
I remember the stuff James has told me about their father. I’ve seen the coldness in Mr. Beaufort’s eyes, James’s split lip, and Lydia’s red face.
“There’s no knowing what he’s capable of, Dad.”
Mum reaches across the table to take my hands and hold them tight. “I think it’s great that you want to protect your friends, Ruby, but we’re talking about your future here.”
“I really can’t do that to Lydia, Mum,” I croak. “I have to trust that James will convince Cyril to tell Mr. Lexington the truth about those photos.”
Mum exhales sharply and looks at Dad. His face has hardened.
“All the same, we have to speak to the head.” I open my mouth to object, but he raises his hand. “We don’t have to tell him about Lydia, but I want him to check that the photos are genuine.”
I press my lips together. It feels good to have explained things to my parents, but I’m still worried that we disagree about this.
“Please, let James try to speak to Cyril first, before we do anything,” I beg them.
Mum and Dad exchange glances.
“Can you really trust James?” Mum asks gently. “After all, he was the one who took the pictures in the first place.”
I stiffen. I just can’t help it. Of course, Mum’s right. Objectively speaking, James is the last person on earth I should be entrusting my future to. I have no rational reason to put my fate in his hands.
“He’s not what you think, Mum.” Ember comes unexpectedly to my rescue. “James really is in love with Ruby. He’d never deliberately hurt her.”
Heat rushes to my cheeks. When I look at Ember, she just shrugs. “You only have to spend a minute with the two of you to see that.”
Mum looks at Dad, whose expression is anything but happy.
I hold my breath.
“We’ll give them a week,” he says firmly.
“Then we’re going to Lexington. You’ve put in too much work over the last few years to let it get wiped out by a pack of lies.
” Dad’s voice is shaking with repressed fury, but before any of us gets the chance to reply to his decision, he puts his hands on his rims and wheels himself out of the kitchen.
Mum squeezes my hand. “Thank you for telling us.”
I gulp hard and nod.
“I hope you can forgive me for the way I reacted yesterday. I didn’t know how to deal with the situation.”
“I know,” I whisper, squeezing back. “It’s OK, Mum.”
She stands up and leans down to press a kiss on the top of my head. Then she follows Dad.
The sense of liberation from just now is slowly ebbing away, and the tiredness is creeping back into my limbs. I let my head sink onto Ember’s shoulder. She strokes my hair.
“Well, at least all that means they didn’t find out that I wasn’t in school yesterday,” she murmurs.
I just about summon up the strength to punch my sister in the side.