This is the worst decision Ive ever known them to make.
Everyone calm down. We just vote and itll be over.
She burnt down the bloody laundry when I was in her House. Who can trust her?
They were sultana scones.
The voice slices through the others and I glance up. Ben Cassidy is looking at me. I dont know what I see in his eyes, but it brings me back to reality.
What are you doing, Ben? Richard asks quietly, menacingly.
Ben takes his time, then looks at Richard. The one-in-charge gave it to her, so we should respect that.
We havent agreed that shes the leader.
You need five votes against her, Ben reminds them.
Murray? Hastings? Darling? he says to the others in turn. They refuse to look at me and I realise theyve rehearsed this. Clarence
Raffaela reckons we need to get the Prayer Tree, Ben cuts in before Richard can drag him into it. I can tell they havent discussed this with him. Hes considered the weakest link. Except when they need his vote. Big mistake.
Thats all we want back from the Townies, Ben mutters, not looking at anyone.
Richard glances at Ben in disgust.
And of course the Club House is a priority. Ben starts up again, and I can tell hes enjoying himself.
Silence. Tons of it, and I realise that I have my one vote that will keep me in. For the time being, anyway.
Whos in charge of the Townies this year? I ask.
Im staring at Richard. He realises that Im here to stay and despite the look in his eyes that says betrayal, backstabbing, petulance, hatred, revenge, and anything else hes planning to major in, he lets
me have my moment.
Well find out sooner or later, he says.
But I like this power. Ben? I say, still staring at Richard.
Yes?
Whos in charge of the Townies these days?
Chaz Santangelo.
Moderate or fundamentalist?
Temperamental, so we need to get on his good side.
Townies dont have a good side, Richard says.
I ignore him. Is he going to be difficult? I ask Ben.
Always. But hes not a thug, Ben says, unlike the leader of the Cadets.
Who? Richard barks out.
I see Ben almost duck, as if a hand is going to come out and whack him on the back of his head.
First things first. This year we get the Townies on our side, I say, ignoring everyone in the room but Ben.
The chorus of disapproval is like those formula songs that seem to hit number one all the time. You know the tune in a moment and it begins to bore you in two.
Weve never done that, Richard snaps.
And look where its got us. In the last few years, weve lost a substantial amount of territory. Its been split up between the Cadets and Townies. We havent got much left to lose.
What about the Prayer Tree? Ben asks again.
The Prayer Tree is not a priority, I say, standing up.
Raffaela reckons the trade made three years ago was immoral, he argues.
I try not to remember that Raffaela, Ben, and I spent most of year seven together hiding out with Hannah. I cant even remember Bens story. Heaps of foster parents, I think. One who put a violin in his hands and changed his life.
Do me a favour, I say to him, a tad on the dramatic side. Dont ever bring morality into what we do here.
Chapter 2
When it is over, when Im the last person sitting on the canvas-covered dirt floor, when the candles have burnt out and the sun has come up, I make my way towards Hannahs house by the river. Hannahs house has been unfinished ever since I can remember. Deep down I think thats always been a comfort to me, because people dont leave unfinished houses.
Working on her house has been my punishment ever since I got to this place six years ago. Its the punishment for having nowhere else to go in the holidays or breaking curfew or running away with a Cadet in year eight. Sometimes I am so bored that I just go and tell her that Ive broken curfew and shell say, Well, no Saturday privileges for you, Taylor, and shell make me work all day on the house with her. Sometimes we dont say a word and other times she talks my ear off about everything and nothing. When that happens, theres a familiarity between us that tells me shes not merely my House caretaker. In that role she works out rosters, notifies us of transfers between Houses or exam schedules or study groups or detentions. Sometimes she sits with the younger kids and helps with homework. Or she invites them to her house and makes them afternoon tea and tells them some bad news, like a grandparent being dead or a parent having cancer, or makes up some fantastic story about why someones mother or father couldnt come that weekend.
Absent parents arent a rare thing around here, probably because a tenth of the students are state wards. The Jellicoe School is run by the state. Its not about money or religion but it is selective, so most of us are clever. The rest are a combination of locals or children of alternative environmentalists who believe that educating their children out in the bush is going to instil a love of nature in them. On the contrary, most of the students run off to the city the moment year twelve is over and revel in the rat race, never looking back. Then there are those like Raffaela, who is a Townie and is out here boarding with the rest of us because her parents teach at Jellicoe High School in town and they thought it would be better for her not to have to deal with that. Richards parents are embassy staff who live overseas most of the time, but his grandparents live in the outer district of the area so it seemed like the best option for him.