INTO THE FOURTH AT TREBIZON Read online

  'And then I really must get to Katy and John's. So all the drama's been worthwhile and you two have got what you wanted!'

  'Thanks, Helen!'

  'Bye!'

  'See you at Christmas!'

  The four girls humped the luggage upstairs and then Tish and Rebecca took possession of their prize, the two inter-communicating rooms, strewing belongings on each of the six beds, so that there could be no mistake about it.

  'They're small but they're both lovely rooms!' said Rebecca, throwing up one of the two sash windows in the four-bedder and leaning out. It was, as Tish had said, better at the back. There was a big courtyard and some rough grass where Mrs Barrington's hens clucked and a white nanny goat was tethered; and you could see straight across to Norris House, which had once been the stable block to the main house, but was now converted into another middle school boarding house. The rest of Four Alpha lived there, those whose surnames came in the second half of the alphabet, together with some of the Four Betas. 'The way Margot and Elf's room just leads off ours – it's perfect! And I'm glad we're going to have Mara in with us this year.'

  'So am I,' said Tish.

  They were both very fond of the Greek girl.

  'Hey, where's Jane?' she asked suddenly.

  'That's a thought,' said Rebecca. 'Perhaps those three don't want to share any more.'

  Jane Bowen had shared with Jenny and Elizabeth all last year. Originally she and Mara Leonodis had been in the Beta stream at Trebizon, but at the beginning of the Third Year they'd both been promoted to Three Alpha.

  'Oh, haven't you heard?' said Jenny, when they went and asked. 'You remember Jane didn't do too well in the summer exams? Well, she's been put back with the Betas. She's going into Four Beta.'

  Rebecca and Tish exchanged startled glances for a moment, thinking of Mara. But then they remembered that Mara had done well in the exams – of course she had!

  'So Jane won't be in our form any more?' said Rebecca. 'But –'

  'She's changing houses too. Her parents didn't want her to be the only Beta in Court and she's got three really good friends in Norris – you know, Helena and Susan and Mary – they all started in One Beta together. Well there's a spare bed over at Norris, quite apart from Joss's. So she's got a transfer.'

  Josselyn Vining was in Rebecca's form and was the most brilliant all-round athlete in memory at Trebizon. She was spending a year at a school in California, having special tennis training, and wouldn't be coming back to Trebizon until the summer term. Rebecca missed her.

  'Its better really,' Jenny was saying, still speaking about Jane. 'She's quite relieved about it. She did have a struggle keeping up.'

  'Her going will leave a spare place in Court,' said Tish, with interest.

  'There's a new girl coming,' Elizabeth informed her.

  'Really?'

  'What's her name?'

  They were full of curiosity.

  'Ingrid something – sounds Swedish.'

  'What's she like?'

  'No idea. We don't know a thing, except her name's up on the new House List downstairs. And she's marked down to be in Four Alpha, like the rest of us on this floor.'

  'We could always find out,' said Jenny. 'We could go and ask Mrs Barry about her.'

  But Rebecca and Tish were going for a swim. They ran all the way to the school beach huts with their swimming things. After the long, sticky car drive the blue water in Trebizon Bay was cool and delicious.

  'Isn't this lovely?' said Tish, lying on her back in the sea and kicking, rising and falling on the small breakers near the shore. The sky above was all golden sunlit cloud. 'It's quite fun to be almost the first back.'

  'Except I don't know if I'm going to last till tea-time,' said Rebecca, splashing on her front. The long car journey had taken away her appetite, but now it had come back and suddenly she felt very hungry. The school didn't provide lunch today because girls weren't really due back until shortly before tea–time. 'Shall we go to Cantoni's?'

  'Mmmmm!' said Tish.

  They came out of the sea soon after that and as they walked back to the beach huts, Rebecca suddenly remembered Tish's mysterious talk about hockey and what Helen had said. Well, she was going to find out about that in a minute, just as soon as she could get some food and stop feeling hungry!

  They queued up at Cantoni's, the summer beach cafe on the other side of the bay. It was still doing quite a good holiday trade. But they managed to get the last two sausage rolls, an apple pie and some chocolate. They ate the sausage rolls hungrily as soon as they'd paid for them and then raced each other across the golden sands towards the dunes at the back of the school grounds.

  Rebecca flung herself down in a warm hollow. 'Let's break the pie with our hands and eat it here!' she shouted. Then, as Tish sat down beside her: 'Now, come on. What were you going to tell me? What's this about hockey and pieces of paper in the holidays, and a master plan? A master plan for what?'

  Tish broke the apple pie in two carefully and smiled.

  'For the seven-a-sides,' she said.

  THREE

  ENTER INGRID

  Apparently there was going to be a national seven-a-side one-day hockey tournament in the Christmas holidays, for schoolgirl teams Under-15 – something never attempted before at this level of hockey. Twenty top schools would take part, all the matches to be played off in the one day. Miss Willis, the head of the games staff at Trebizon, had told Tish about it at an athletics meeting in the summer holidays.

  'She's entered Trebizon and we've been accepted,' said Tish. 'Mainly because this year's Thirds and Fourths, who all qualify for Under-15 hockey, have such a lot of talent.'

  'That's right! We won the West of England Junior Gold Cup when we were still in Juniper!' said Rebecca, basking in the reflected glory of that exciting season. It had been in her second term at Trebizon.

  'And we didn't even have Joss. She had that bad back, remember.'

  'Well, mind you, we still won't have Joss,' Rebecca pointed out.

  'We will!' laughed Tish. 'She's flying home for the Christmas holidays and she can take part, she's allowed. Miss Willis has checked it all out!'

  'Really?' exclaimed Rebecca.

  'I've put her in at centre-forward,' grinned Tish. 'All part of the master plan, as Helen calls it.'

  Now at last Rebecca realized what Helen had meant and what Tish had been up to. There was a unique system at Trebizon. The girls ran things, quite important things like this, at every stage up the school. If Tish were made the Fourth Year head of games she would be the person to pick the team for the Under–15 seven-a-sides in December. And, secretly, she already had it all worked out!

  'But Tish, what did you mean when you said about me? I don't get it,' said Rebecca, thoughtfully. 'When we won the Gold Cup I wasn't even a reserve. You had eleven fantastic players in the team, not to mention two brilliant reserves. You thirteen are all still around, you haven't died or anything, plus Joss, you say. I make that fourteen, which is twice as many as you're going to need anyway.'

  'We'll be taking ten to Gloucestershire,' said Tish, pedantically. 'Seven in the team and three subs. The list is in my trunk. It's all typed out, ready!'

  The secret master plan!

  'And just where do I come in?' asked Rebecca gently, as though humouring a child.

  'Right inner,' said Tish.

  'Oh, Tish, be serious!' laughed Rebecca.

  'I'm perfectly serious,' said Tish. 'Want a bit of chocolate?'

  Rebecca, who had been lying on her stomach with her cheek resting on a clump of marram grass, sat up then. She took the chocolate, put it in her mouth, then clasped her hands round her knees and gave Tish her full attention. What was all this about?

  'The Gold Cup was conventional hockey. Eleven-a-side. We'll be playing those matches in term, yes. You probably won't be involved, I know. Not with all your tennis to think about. But the sevens is something different. We'll practise in our spare time, get it all together for the
tournament. We'll get Miss Willis to coach us. Each of the subs can take it in turn to stand in for Joss, that'll keep them in trim.'

  'But you can't put me in, Tish!' Rebecca protested. 'What about the people who are going in teams – in matches – all term? You'll have all those to pick from!'

  Tish shook her head.

  'Have you ever seen seven-a-side?' she asked Rebecca.

  'Well, I remember seeing a game at Clare's junior school once. It was on a small pitch.' Rebecca frowned. 'It looked quite fun.'

  'I mean the sort clubs play. On a full-size pitch,' said Tish. 'That's what this is going to be. Can you imagine what it's like? One person in goal and the other six having to cover an entire hockey pitch –'

  'They must have to run themselves into the ground!' exclaimed Rebecca.

  'They do!' laughed Tish. 'You're catching on, Rebeck. And can you imagine what the one day-er will be like? To get to the Final you've got to play about four solid hours of the hardest sort of hockey there is! It's not hockey, it's an endurance test!' Her black curly hair was all bouncy: she looked quite elated. 'Trust Queensbury to dream up something like this! Of course they're used to playing seven-a-side. They play mixed!'

  'Queensbury?' said Rebecca suddenly. 'Is that where it's at?'

  Queensbury Collegiate was a very large co-educational boarding school in Gloucestershire that specialized in sport. It was a huge modern place set in grounds of more than two hundred acres. Rebecca always passed it on the coach when she went to her grandmother's, most school holidays. Her grandmother, who lived in a small retirement bungalow in Gloucestershire, was Rebecca's official guardian in England when her parents were abroad.

  'Oh, yes,' Tish was saying. 'Didn't I tell you? And of course I expect they want to show off. I expect they've dreamt the whole thing up just so they can win it. We'll show them!'

  Rebecca's interest was quickening.

  'That's just near my Gran's.'

  It sounded marvellous fun. Tish and Joss – and Sue. Surely Sue would be part of Tish's master plan? She would definitely have been in Trebizon's Second Eleven by now, like Tish, if she didn't have to give so much time to her music. But she could find time for this! It would certainly liven up the holidays. And Gran could come and watch! She would love that – she was always so sad that she couldn't come and see any of the things that Rebecca was involved in at school, or meet her friends, because of the distance.

  'You really think I ought to be in, then?' asked Rebecca, slowly. She knew that she was very, very fit because of all the tennis she played. She also knew that she was a very good sprinter. 'I'd have to brush up on my hockey skills!'

  'Oh, yes, they come into it!' laughed Tish. 'Plenty of speed – but you've got to have the ball on the end of your stick.'

  'I'd love to be able to tear around all over the pitch,' said Rebecca, suddenly. 'It's the hanging around waiting that I can't stand. I think I'm all right when there's some action –'

  'There'll be plenty of that! Everyone runs everywhere, they have to. You'll be brilliant at it, Rebecca, I know you will.'

  They stood up. It was time to get back to school.

  'Well, count me in,' said Rebecca. She was beginning to feel really excited now. She'd quite forgotten that nothing was definite yet. 'Who else is going to be in the team? Can I see the list sometime?'

  'Hey – I've got to be made head of games, first,' warned Tish. 'Strictly speaking there isn't a list, yet. This mustn't get around, whatever happens. The master plan as my dear sister calls it is dead controversial!'

  'Of course you'll be head of games!' protested Rebecca. 'Miss Willis is taking that for granted, too, by the sound of it.'

  'I'll show you and Sue the list, sometime. But nobody else.' Tish was quite firm. 'You know what happens if you count your chickens before they're hatched?'

  Rebecca searched for an apt response.

  'Your goose gets cooked?'

  They both laughed. It seemed a good joke at the time. But it didn't seem so funny later.

  'I wonder which juniors will be coming into Court?' Rebecca asked suddenly, as they re-entered the front door of the boarding house with their swimming things. 'Any idea? None of them seems to have arrived yet. I hope we get some nice ones.'

  'I haven't a clue,' said Tish.

  'Let's see. I suppose it's still the new system, the one they started last year.'

  At one time girls had been allowed to choose their house. But because some always seemed more in demand than others, and this led to problems, a new system had been introduced with Rebecca's year. House places were now allocated in strict alphabetical order going straight down through the Alpha, Beta and Gamma streams of each Year Group. Some exceptions were made for sisters and family tradition and so forth, otherwise it was all quite strict.

  It had been amazing that 'the six', as well as safely earning places in Three Alpha, all had surnames that fell into the first half of the alphabet. Just! So last year they'd all scraped into Court House together, although only after a big fright, as far as Rebecca was concerned.

  'It'll be girls who were in Two Alpha last year, won't it,' Rebecca continued, trying to puzzle it out. She enjoyed hoarding scraps of information and working out problems in her head. 'The first twelve in alphabetical order.'

  'The trouble is,' said Tish, 'I can never remember which of them were in Alpha and which in the other two streams. Oh, crikey, I hope we don't get Nicola Hodges.'

  But Rebecca was reluctant to give up her interesting mental exercise.

  'I'm pretty sure Rachel Milton was in Two Alpha and she's got Moyra in Court, so –'

  'Look, I've got a better idea,' said Tish kindly. She had a very direct approach to problems and she was smiling her widest smile. 'The new House List will be stuck up on the notice-board, so if we really want to find out, why don't we just look at it?'

  Rebecca ran ahead into the common room, laughing at herself, and looked.

  'Rachel Milton is coming in!' she said triumphantly. 'Told you!'

  She began to read the names out from the top, downwards – Brenda Burridge . . . Sheila Cummings . . . Wanda Gorski . . . they're going in Three Alpha then . . . Lucy Hubbard . . . oh yes, I should have thought of her . . .no Nicola Hodges, hurray! . . . Eleanor Keating . . .'

  Tish had just come in. She looked surprised.

  'What?'

  She hurried over and ran her eye quickly down the Third Year column.

  'Oh!' Rebecca was looking at the next column. 'This must be the new girl who's coming on our floor. Look – Ingrid Larsson. Does sound Scandinavian, doesn't it? Maybe she'd like the single room, the one on its own. Probably would, being new.'

  But Tish wasn't listening. She had turned away, looking thoughtful.

  'What's wrong, Tish? Someone you don't like?'

  Tish shrugged.

  'No, of course not.' She raised a weak smile. 'Come on, let's get our stuff unpacked and put some posters up. The others'll be here soon!'

  Rebecca wondered what it was about the House List that had given Tish such a surprise.

  There was still no sign of the other four, but they had just got the posters up when Jenny put her head in at the door. She and Elizabeth were in a room at the front, overlooking the big gravelled forecourt.

  'A Swedish car's just arrived! You should see it!'

  Rebecca and Tish rushed out, along the corridor, and into Jenny and Elizabeth's room. Elizabeth had the sash window wide open and the four of them crowded round, leaning out over the sill to have a good look down below.

  The foreign car had pulled up outside the front door of Court House, long and low and silvery with a pennant flying on its bonnet. A very distinguished-looking man with blond hair had opened the passenger door, gravely helping out a girl whose hair was even blonder than his own. She stepped out on to the gravel and drew herself up very erect as Mrs Barrington came hurrying from the direction of the private wing to greet them.

  The girl was tall and slender
and she was wearing a beautifully cut skirt and jacket in a shimmering ultra-marine blue. She wore her long hair coiled on top of her head, thus showing off her high cheekbones and finely chiselled features to perfection. There was a kind of dignity about her, an unsmiling dignity. Even viewed from this angle, the girls could see that she was beautiful.

  'In an icy sort of way,' said Tish. 'The Ice Queen herself. She's even brought some skates.'

  'Oh, Tish, what a strange description!' Rebecca laughed. 'You're just jealous!'

  They watched as their housemistress led away the girl and her father, across to the private wing and around the corner. Presumably she was going to offer them tea, by way of a special welcome to the new girl.

  Ingrid Larsson had entered their lives.

  FOUR

  EXIT MARA

  'Oh, Tish, Rebecca, you are so clever!' shrieked Mara. She hugged them both. 'Look, Anestis – aren't they clever!'

  Mara's brother couldn't get in the room because Sue, Margot and Elf were shoving their way in, heavily laden, in front of him. They'd come on the coach from Trebizon station, having reached Court House at exactly the same time as Mara, just arriving in her brother's car.

  'I am sure they are very clever!' called the Greek boy. He was a student in England, at present on vacation, and right now anxious to be away. 'The new arrangements please everybody, yes?'

  At that point he was almost knocked over by Ann Ferguson, Anne Finch and Aba Amori who were charging up and down the landing looking for a three-bedded room. The three As were determined not to be separated. In fact the whole of Court House was suddenly alive with the sound of pop music, running footsteps, babbling voices and people bagging rooms. The twelve new Thirds had arrived downstairs.

  'I must go, Mara,' said Anestis.

  She wormed her way out of the room, stepping over luggage to get at him and kissed him on both cheeks.

  'No time for coffee?' Rebecca called from the doorway.

  He turned round, swarthy and good-looking and blew her a kiss: 'Not even for you, my beautiful Rebecca!'