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    "I don’t know what you both found so funny," said Margery, when the lesson was finally over and they were outside. The other two had tears in their eyes, and had been doubled over laughing. Laura’s thumbs were dented all over from her nails.
    "I don’t know either - it was just the mood," said Charlotte, regaining her composure.  
    "Bit creepy Peters giving you Antonio," Laura commented. "He always puts his pets in the lead roles. I hope you’re not going to be his thing this term."
    "You were Portia, you can hardly comment."
    "It’s not the same with the female roles. He had Judith McLeod read Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream last year, and she’s as plain as punch."
    Margery, who had been given the prominent role of Hermia in that play, felt privately affronted.

    * * *

    It was the first cross-country running session that afternoon for the girls who hadn’t made the hockey squad. Laura was slightly sad to have flaked out but Margery was so grateful to her that she didn’t regret it for long.
    As anticipated, the route took them inside the perimeter of the school grounds, all around the hockey pitches and on the edge of the wasteland area that led down to the strictly out-of-bounds brook. Miss Vine was supervising, but she planned to ride her bicycle back and forth so she could check on the stragglers as easily as the front runners. She was also not in peak fitness herself.
    We’ll all be stragglers, thought Laura. Just look at this crowd.
    Miss Partridge stopped by to give some final instructions before they set off. She basically repeated what Miss Vine had already told them about the route, advised them to warm up with some stretches, and told them that they could pace themselves and walk sections until they got their fitness up. "But the best thing for a stitch is to run through it." Off she went to her hockey girls.
    Laura hung back to keep pace with Margery, who wasn’t quite the worst. There were roughly three groups. At the front were relatively fit girls who were just useless at hockey. Then there were Laura and Margery and a few others. At the back came the fatties and the weedy girls who always tried to get out of everything due to their periods.
    It was a cold day, and sharp on their lungs. One of the weedy girls had an asthma attack and dropped out. Margery and Laura gently jogged the first stretch and then started walking along the far end of the pitches, as Laura noticed that Margery was looking slightly puce. The path took them past a small house divided into two cottages. It was known as the "groundsman's cottages" even though a groundsman hadn’t lived there for decades, as they were usually married and the one-bedroomed dwellings didn’t suit a wife and family.
    Instead, one cottage was generally taken by one of the teaching staff and the other by the summer tennis coach, lying empty the rest of the year.  
    "I heard Mr Rydell took the cottage this year, after Mr Carlisle left," they overheard another girl say to a friend as she jogged past and overtook them.  
    Laura suddenly felt as though her legs couldn’t move. What if he was inside right now, and watching them? She had to literally count one-two, one-two in her head to keep herself moving. She hadn’t even thought about where he might live. If she had done she would have presumed he would take a flat in town like most other teachers did. Cross country suddenly became a very different ordeal. She hoped desperately that they would vary the route in future weeks.

    * * *

    That night there was a surprise for them. Grace Grant called them into her office before prep and told them they would be getting a roommate. "Susie Clarke, a very nice girl. I hope you’ll welcome her. She should be in similar sets to you. She’s just come back from overseas which is why she’s joining us late."
    This was partly interesting, partly annoying. Charlotte went out on a limb. "Can we start prep late, so we can get to know her?"
    The