Page 38 of Tendu: Dancing in the Castle

I ran up the steps, passing many other labelled doors, including ‘Aleks’ just below my own at the very top. My room was much bigger than Will’s. Thick red carpet gave way to a wooden floored area with a barre. The walls were rounded as was the barre. The dome of a ceiling was topped with a hexagonal window that showed black sky. It was mesmerising to stare up through the top of the roof, and Justin soon joined me in the activity.

“Two words,” he said. “Preferential treatment.”

“It’s alphabetical.”

“And what was with Zolotov making out he’s one of us, downstairs just now. No one’s going to believe that of a teacher.”

“He was just being welcoming,” I said, feeling quite defensive on Aleks’s behalf.

“You’ve landed on your feet here, Phi,” said Sun, coming into the room and ending the conversation. “Bit heavy on the male-power symbolism, though, isn’t it, us all sleeping in a tower? And look at that!” She lay on the bed to better view the skylight. “No need for a weather app in this room.”

“I want to see everything,” I said, hoping to find a quiet moment with Aleks, and made my way back down the tower, peeking in on any room where the door was open. Justin’s was furnished in red like mine. Round and down I travelled to Will’s blue room where he was unpacking or, to be more accurate, tipping the contents of his bag onto the bed.

“Is it true you’ve got the best bedroom?” he asked.

How had word spread so fast? I admitted the fact as Justin came in.

“Sun is still lying on your bed,” he told me. “All starry-eyed about that window. I’d be a bit worried if I were you.”

“Why?”

“Let’s review. We’ve already discussed the possible onset of sexual desperation. Then she comes out with all that male-power stuff in your room. What did she mean, anyway? That the tower looks like a cock? Odd thing for a lesbian to notice, surely. Can only have been to get your attention. I’m waiting for her to suggest a girl-on-girl pyjama party that Sadie and Simone will predictably refuse to attend.”

“You’re still jealous about the room and making no sense,” I said. “Isn’t Will organised? Unpacking already, look.”

“Have you got anything interesting here?” wondered Justin, surveying the bed. “Straight porn’s always a laugh. Wait, oh my.” He lifted a brown jiffy envelope and emptied it over his head. “It’s Christmas!” he shouted as a shower of condoms rained down over him.

I covered my mouth and laughed.

“William,” said Justin. “I take my proverbial hat off to you. You had very high expectations of this escapade, didn’t you?”

Will shook his head. “I didn’t know if there’d be anywhere to buy them, or how long we’d be here. It’s meant to be a year, isn’t it?”

“Actually, that is very true,” said Justin. “Well, we’ll all know where to come if we’re caught short.”

“How many are there?” I asked in wonder, lifting up a handful and letting them fall back onto the quilted blue bedspread. Each ringed square signified future sex for Will. Will would wear… I forced the strange thought flow to a stop.

“Cheaper by the hundred,” Will informed us.

“You shouldn’t be laughing, Phi,” said Justin. “Very important items these. It’s an unacceptable risk not to use them. The pill isn’t enough. You do know that?”

Not wanting to be called irresponsible twice in one day, I changed the subject. “Anyone else hungry?”

The two boys joined me in the quest for dinner downstairs. The previously indicated doors opened to a vast room with two lines of long tables at one end, and high Gothic windows at the other. The dark wood of the floor had been polished to a shine, and the fireplace to the left would have been big enough to stand in, but it already blazed with flames and warmth. An orange velvet sofa and three soft chairs suggested relaxed reading at the fireside in winter.

The ceiling was higher even than that of the entrance hall but pitched to the centre like a church. A wide serving hatch slid open on the far wall, transforming the room into a grand cafeteria.

Vegetable lasagne was plopped onto my plate by Holly, as we gathered the friendly and unintelligible lady’s name was, and it looked creamily delicious.

Sun requested it too. “Time I bit the bullet and gave up meat,” she told me. “Fits much better with my beliefs. Is it philosophical for you, Phi?”

I ignored Justin’s raised eyebrow, and answered her. “I don’t think about it too deeply. It just doesn’t make sense that a life had to be lost for me to have a meal.”

Simone laughed from further down the queue.

By the time we assembled round the hot fire after dinner, I was almost comatose. My eyelids felt dry and heavy. Squeezing them together only attracted a comment about how weird I looked from Simone. She had managed to flirt with Aleks all through dinner and was once again beside him on the sofa, while I sat between Will and Justin on the rug.

I barely paid any attention to Paul, the thin man, as he explained each and every detail of the shield-shaped coat of arms over the fire. He droned on and on about the relation of local folklore to the labyrinth-style design on the old family crest. Michelle’s long diatribe about the research, likewise, passed straight over my head. I took in two facts: firstly that the room we were in was called the great hall, and then that Aleks was going to give us a tour of the castle the next morning. That would be nice, assuming he didn’t conduct it hand-in-hand with Simone.

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