Page 26 of Take My Place

“Yeah. I know.”

“Good.” Mr Pilkington shuffles some papers. “I have arranged for all the instructors to assess you. You will be spending the rest of today sitting the tests and we will know by tomorrow what level you are best suited to. I hope you appreciate your teachers giving up their time to mark your papers so you can return to class without delay.”

“It’s very kind of them.” I smile sarcastically. I’d be more than happy to hear that I wasn’t going to be allowed to continue with politics or business.

“Excellent. Now I have a private room set up for you to sit your tests. I trust you will be able to cope for a day without your fiancé…”

I could feel my cheeks reddening. “News travels fast round here.”

“An Archaic and a Navarre getting married? We haven’t had such a momentous union for as long as I can remember,” Mr Pilkington says. “I for one am very happy to see it. It’s good to see old rivalries being set aside in the name of a more positive future. It isn’t so long ago that the Archaics and Navarres would kill each other on sight. It made for quite a challenging academic environment, I can tell you.” He chuckles and I politely let out a fake laugh.

“So, given your standing in the town, let’s see if we can get your studies to where they need to be to reflect your position, shall we? You’re an intelligent young woman. I’m sure with a little extra coaching we can get you to where you need to be, fill in the blanks, as it were.”

“Thank you, Mr Pilkington.”

“Right. Let’s start the assessments. If you would follow me?”

Mr Pilkington leads me to a small room down the hall from his office. The walls are lined with filing cabinets, leaving barely enough room for a small table. Mr Metcalf is already waiting for us, a bored look on his face.

“I’ll leave Ivy in your capable hands.” Mr Pilkington says when he sees my music teacher. “Please report back to me as soon as you’re done here.”He walks out, closing the door behind him.

“Sit down, Ivy.” Mr Metcalf gestures to the chair opposite him. “Now, I don’t want to waste either of our time. I have a good idea about what level I think you’re suited to, so I’ll just ask you a few questions and we’ll see where you’re at.”

He picks up an iPad that is on the table in front of him and taps to play an excerpt of Ravel’s Bolero. “What instrument takes over the tune from the clarinet?” he asks when it is done.

“The bassoon.”

“And what is the main feature of the bassoon’s melody?”

“Blue notes.”

“Moving on to Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto, how would you describe the texture of the opening passage?” He plays the piece to me so I can hear it before answering.

“Polyphonic.”

“And what is the interval between the first two notes?”

I hummed the tune to myself, counting the number of notes between the first two. “It’s a fifth.”

We went on like that for half an hour, Mr Metcalf firing questions at me and giving no indication as to whether I had given a right or wrong answer.

Finally, after getting me to analyse Mike Oldfield’sTubular Bells,Mr Metcalf treats me to a rare smile. “Just as I suspected, Ivy. You remain one of the best students I’ve ever had.”

“So I can come back to class?” I gasp, hardly daring to believe Mr Metcalf is complimenting me.

“Your presence has been sorely missed,” he tells me. “Quite frankly, if some of your classmates had half your passion for the subject, I’d be a happy man. Maybe if you come back, you’ll inspire the rest of them to up their game instead of mooning over Declan Dauphin.” A blush covers my cheeks. “Oh yes, I notice the way you all look at him. I might be older than you, but I’m not stupid.”

“Yeah, well, Declan’s just my song writing partner,” I say. “I’m engaged to Romy in case you haven’t heard.”

“Oh, I heard,” Mr Metcalf tells me. “Like I said, I’m not stupid. But when you’ve been around teenagers for as long as I have, you soon learn that no matter how passionate you feel right now, tomorrow’s a new day.” He pauses and looks to the door before back at me. “This town can make you feel like there is nothing else in the world, but that isn’t true. The world is a big place and full of people that are pressured into a lot every day. If you ever need to talk or need help, come to me. You shouldn’t have to do something like get married if you don’t want to.”

For a second I think of my mother…was she forced into marriage? Was it never what she wanted?

“Romy and I are in love.” I was lying, but I don’t like the suggestion that my engagement is nothing but a passing phase and that I needed to escape.

There is no escaping King Town, not for someone like me. My hands are dirty, like everyone here, and my heart has been taken by the heirs. I can’t leave.

“I’m sure you are,” Mr Metcalf says. “And I don’t mean for that to sound patronising. But as one of my favourite students, I would caution you to be on your guard. There isn’t a single person in this Academy who doesn’t have an ulterior motive.”

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