Read Online Leopold Blue by Rosie Rowell - Free Book Online

turned to me.
    â€˜Maths,’ I said, nodding.
    Juffrou Kat’s eyes drilled holes straight into my lying soul. She sniffed once and said, ‘Just this once.’
    â€˜Absolutely,’ said Xanthe, nodding. ‘Come on, Margaret, let’s get going.’
    I followed Xanthe around the building. ‘This isn’t the way –’ I started, but Xanthe carried on walking. ‘Are we not going to do maths?’ I asked.
    She laughed. Excitement and fear collided in my veins.
    We were outside the side door of the new hall, the door that led to the stage. Xanthe looked around, her face suddenly so serious that I wanted to laugh. She opened the door and slipped inside.
    I followed her in and up the steps to the stage. The new hall was in fact the school’s only hall. It was not that new either, but it had stage lights and a sound system and was a source of great pride. She walked past the three rows of chairs where the staff sat during our daily assembly, and then waited for me, holding back the long black curtain that separated the front of the stage from the back. Her normally mirror-like eyes danced. Her grin was wide. Wolfish, I thought, and then disregarded it. How could a girl be wolfish?
    At the back of the stage, behind two rows of wooden chairs and benches and next to a collection of stacked sets was a stepladder attached to the wall. The ladder led up to a metal walkway that framed the stage from above. At the front left corner of the stage was another ladder, even narrower than the last. This led up into the ceiling. Oh dear God! I thought. Oh, please no!
    Xanthe started climbing. My hands were wet and tingling. She looked back at me from the top of the first ladder. ‘Say something!’ I instructed myself. ‘Tell her you don’t like heights. She’ll understand. Don’t be such a scaredy-cat!’ But the look on her face quickly shattered that hope. She didn’t move until I started up after her.
    By the time I had climbed five rungs, I thought I was going to throw up. Xanthe had reached the suspended metal walkway. It swayed as she walked.
    â€˜Where are you going?’ I asked.
    She looked around, expecting me to be behind her, and frowned to find me still only a few rungs above the floor.
    â€˜We’re going up there.’ She pointed to the ceiling midway along the hall where a row of spotlights was fixed, like the bottom row of teeth in an open mouth. ‘We’re going to the gods!’ She laughed. ‘Or are you too scared?’
    I had lied to a teacher. I was supposed to be in the swimming pool, attempting an underwater backwards somersault in time to ‘The Final Countdown’. Instead, I was following Xanthe up a set of ladders that were strictly off limits to all girls. This was so obviously bad it was comical. What if I got stuck and needed rescuing, or fell? Or Juffrou Kat went to the library to check up on us? Why would I risk all this on a ladder I didn’t want to climb?
    At the same time I knew that if I turned around now, Xanthe would never speak to me again. ‘What is your
problem
?’ shouted the voice in my head. ‘Move!’
    Nauseous and sweating horribly, I made it onto the steel walkway. The side door opened below us. Heavy footsteps approached. I froze. The footsteps climbed the stage steps; they were almost below us. I was far too scared to cry. My hands were so wet that they slipped back and forth over the metal railings. One step, I kept thinking, one wrong step and you’re dead. No – maimed. Ahead of me, Xanthe leaned far over the side railing to see who it was. She let out a long, low whistle. A few more footsteps and Buddy came into view.
    â€˜
Howzit,
my man?’ Xanthe called softly.
    He chuckled, shaking his head. ‘It’s the cat lady.’ He waved his hand in farewell and disappeared.
    â€˜The cat lady?’ I asked, but Xanthe was already at the top of the second