Page 129 of Spearcrest Knight

It’s a mistake to make out with Evan in his jacuzzi, but I’m saved from my mistake when his family returns home and we both make a hasty, shameful retreat to our respective rooms.

Except I double-down later that night when I sneak into his bedroom and lie on his bed and let him push up my top so he can run his hands up my waist, across my ribcage and over my breasts. His fingers brush over my nipples until they become hard and so sensitive he has to cover my mouth with one hand when he leans down to drag his tongue over them.

Wanting Evan so much definitely is a mistake, but I never want to not feel the way he makes me feel. Like my entire body is hot with pleasure, like he’s the sun that sets every inch of my body on fire.

For all the things Evan is terrible at, I always assumed being good at sports was how he compensated, but I was wrong. Evan compensates with his lips and tongue and his gentle, cruel fingers. Evan compensates until I’m suffocating my moans into his pillow and my thighs are trembling uncontrollably and I come against his mouth in deep, shuddering waves of pleasure.

This is a mistake I’ve made before—why do I keep making it?

Because of him. Because of Evan Knight and the way he looks at me, like I’m the most important thing in the world.

After that, there are a lot of other mistakes. Kissing his wet mouth and listening to him murmur “I love you” over and over against my shoulder while he fucks me long and slow and agonising. He comes with a low, rough sigh, and we lie together, trembling and panting. Later, we tiptoe into his bathroom with embarrassed giggles, and clean up in between giddy kisses.

When I sneak back into the guestroom, I lie in bed still shivering all over. I close my eyes, thinking about how wildly irresponsible I’ve been when a realisation dawns upon me.

This is the first time this year I've not felt paralysed by fear or worry.

39

Wentworth

Sophie

MyfinaltermatSpearcrest begins with a vengeance. In between revision sessions, extra classes, coursework deadlines and looming exams, there’s no time to worry about anything else. The tutoring programme ends early in the term, and all of our extracurriculars are suspended for good.

The stress and pressure of the exams throughout our year group have escalated so much that even the students who normally seem unaffected by schoolwork are slowly beginning to cave in. Araminta, the perpetual optimist, has been planning her escape in case she fails her exams. The clouds of girls who normally follow the Young Kings around the school with breathless laughs and silken hair have dissipated. Students who spent their entire time at Spearcrest projecting careless insouciance don’t seem so insouciant now.

Even the Young Kings themselves seem to have disbanded, split apart by their different classes and exam schedules. I catch a glimpse of Zachary coming out of his Lit classroom one afternoon with a gaunt face and haunted eyes. Séverin Montcroix seems to spend an inordinate amount of time in the Art studios even though he’s not even studying Art.

One afternoon, I even catch Luca Fletcher-Lowe, his face a map of fading bruises, sitting in the corner of the library with a thunderous frown on his face, bent over textbooks.

After spending my school career feeling like I was in a different world to everybody in Spearcrest, it's as though exams have now brought everybody intomyworld. A world of endless revision, non-stop nail-biting and anxiety dreams.

And now, as well as the crushing workload and the looming exams, I have something else to worry about.

Avoiding the distraction that is Evan has become sort of a full-time job because he seems to be everywhere. In the study hall when I’m working through Maths past papers, in the library when I’m trying to do my background reading on Austen, in the dining hall when Audrey drags me in to forcefully remind me to eat.

Every time I see him, my mind is flooded with memories of our bodies together, his mouth on me, his words. It’s the last thing that should be on my mind.

The night before my first exam, I stay in the library so late I lose track of time. My eyes are teary with tiredness, and after wiping tired tears off my revision cards for the third time, I decide to call it a night.

I stand up to return my books to the shelf cart and look around. The top floor, where I’ve been sitting all night, is empty and plunged in shadows, the only light source the banker's lamp on my desk and the faint bronze glow of the lights rising from the lower floors through the polished wooden railings.

I’m not one to spook easily, but in all my years at Spearcrest, this is the first time I’ve seen the library empty. The eerie silence seems to follow me through the book aisles and down the stairs as I make a hasty escape from the top floor, my heart beating slightly faster than it should. I emerge into the soft lights of the second floor and breathe a slight sigh of relief, happy to be free from the lurking shadows.

Then I turn the corner towards the next staircase and go crashing into another lurking shadow. I jump back with an embarrassingly high-pitched gasp, and a strong pair of arms grab me to settle me.

“Whoa, Sophie!” I look up to see Evan’s wide eyes staring back at me. “You scared the shit out of me!”

I push his arms off me with a glare. “What are you talking about?Youscared the shit out ofme! What are you even doing here?”

He gestures at himself: he’s wearing a baggy white vest and black running shorts, a blue towel around his neck. His hair is dark and curly with sweat. “I was coming back from a run, I just thought I’d check to see if you were here.”

I stare at him. “A run? Why on earth are you running at this time of night?”

He shrugs. “Probably the same reason you’re here at this time of night.”

“You’re on a run to revise for a History exam?”

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