Chapter 22

Alex woke early on saturday morning. He lay, arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling. He glanced across to where Raven lay, "Ray? Are you awake?"

"Yep, why?"

"Wanna go for a walk?"

"Uh, sure."

Alex grinned, and slipped out of bed, pulling on ihs trousers. He held out his hand to Raven, "Shall we go?"

Blushing, grinning, Raven took his hand, "Where are we going?"

"I don't know yet. Let's just go."

For a few minutes they walked in silence, then Alex spoke, "Ray?"

"Yuhuh."

"I think you're really beautiful."

"I think you're beautiful too," Raven giggled, "But that's not much of a compliment for a guy."

Alex grinned, hugging her, "I....I" he blushed and kissed her gently, "I love you Ray,"

Raven looked up at him, gazing into his dark brown eyes, and smiled, "I love you too."

Art lay in bed, with Seiji fast asleep in his arms. He buried his face in the younger boy's hair, "God you're gorgeous."

"We should get up."

"Why?"

"We both have lessons, don't we?" Seiji kissed Art, and rolled over to get out of bed.

Art grabbed him around the waist, "You're not going anywhere."

Seiji grinned and let Art pull him close.

As Fergie woke up, he glanced across at his brother, also just waking up, in bed with Mara. He got up, grabbing his trousers, and wandered outside, lonely.

Tor noticed him go, and followed him. Halfway down the corridor, he caught up with, grabbing him by the waist. "Fergie, don't be mad." he whispered.

Fergie turned towards his brother, but avoiding looking into his eyes, "Please," he muttered, "Don't leave me."

"Aww Fergal! I love you, and I'll never abandon you."

Fergie smiled faintly, "And you won't ignore me?"

Tor grinned, "Tonight, yeah?"

Fergie shook his head, and kissed his brother, "Love you Torin."

At the start of English, Mr Rotheborne announced he had an "Exciting Announcement."

"Next week we will be writing nature poems."

"Oh wow." Ally said, his voice dripping with sarcasm,

James Rotheborne ignored the comment, "I want you to look at nature in a different way, so we're going out on an expedition, at night time, out onto the moors."

"Sound," Seiji grinned, "Killing people is so much more fun in the dark."

Mr Rotheborne gave Seiji A Look, "There won't be any murders I hope."

"Awwww...but I wanna!"

"We will go in to groups, tonight and tomorrow,"

Fergie looked up, "Do we get to decided our groups,"

"No, I have already decided, with the help of Mr Tevelen,"

"Awwww," Tor scowled,

"No arguments. The first group, coming with me on Saturday, will be Torin, Seiji, Ally, Charlie, Nienna, Alex and Raven. Everyone else will be on Sunday."

"What!" Tor scowled, "Why aren't I with Fergie."

"Hmm Yes, Artur thought you two should stay together, but I think you should get independence." he turned to the whole class, "Those of you who come out tonight will be allowed to sleep all of sunday, those of you who come on sunday will be allowed to sleep all of monday."

"What?" muttered Ally, "That means they get to miss school."

"And you get to miss Mass." Mikey pointed out.

"Fair enough I guess."

"And then we will write poems about what we see," James ignored Ally and Mikey talking in lessons, he couldn't work out how to stop them, "this time next week, ok?"

At break time Tor and Fergie went to find Art.

"Art! Save us!" Tor said melodramatically,

"What?"

"This stupid walk thing, Fergie and I are on different nights, and so we won't be able to sleep for two nights running."

"Yes, I did try and explain to Jamie that you sleep at exactly the same times, but he didn't beleive me." Art frowned, and turned to Fergie, "Did you tell him?"

"Huh, what?" said Fergie, who had just been staring intently at Art's face.

Art sighed, "Fergie, concentrate please."

"Mmmmm"

Tor jabbed Fergie hard in the ribs with his elbow,

"Ow," Fergie muttered. He turned and grinned lazily at Tor, before returning to staring at Art.

"Fuck off Fergie," Art grinned, "I want to talk to your brother."

Fergie actually looked genuinly hurt, "Why?"

Art kissed the top of his head, "To talk to him about how cute you are. Now go."

Fergie obediently left.

"What?" Tor scowled, "Please don't tell me you're screwing Ferg."

"No, no, that was just to get rid of him." Art grinned, "I need to talk to you seroiusly about him though."

"Why?"

"Because he's obsessed."

"With?"

"Me?"

"Oh right," Tor laughed, "That," he rolled his eyes, "Sorry, I can't help. He is totally in love with you. Don't think I haven't tried to change that."

"Fine, right, ok." Art turned to go, then changed his mind, "Aren't you pissed off about Fergie and Mara being in the same group?"

Tor shrugged, "I trust them." He frowned slightly, "Actually, screw that, I don't trust them, but I don't think I'd actually mind if anything happened."

Art looked slightly confused, "You wouldn't mind if your brother screwed your girlfriend?"

"Weell," Tor thought for a moment, "Firstly: Fergal's gay, and so woudn't actually enjoy it that much, and secondly:" he sniggered, "We're twins, we share everything."

Later that evening, Ally sat on his bed, with Mikey sitting at the other end. "What am I going to do Mike?"

"About what?"

"Aww come on Mikey, did I never tell you my biggest fear?"

"Oh yeah," Mikey laughed, "Baby Ally, afraid of the dark."

Ally scowled, "It's not funny!" He blushed slightly, "I really am."

Mikey shrugged, "Charlie'll look after you. Won't you Charles?" he called across to Charlie.

"Won't I what?"

"You'll look after Ally, on this big, scary, walk."

"Oh yeah," Charlie sounded really sympathetic, "You must be feeling awful Al,"

Ally shrugged, "I'm sure it won't get that dark."

At 8:00, just as it was starting to get dark, James Rotheborne went over to the boarding house, to the common room, where he had asked the first group to meet him. He took the register, satisfied that everyone was there, and started to lead them outside. When just outside the door, he gave them a little saftey talk. "Now kids, It's going to be very dark, and I don't want to lose anyone, so I'm going to give you pairs. If you notice your partner missing you have to say. Charlie go with Ally, Alex with Raven, and Seiji, Nienna and Tor can all go together."

Alex reached out and took Raven's hand, "Hey Ray, guess what?" he whispered in her ear.

"What?"

"No Eagle, no Matt, I'm actually allowed to look at you."

Raven giggled, and hugged him, "You're adorable."

They started to walk out onto the moors. At first, they chattered eagerly, but then, as they started to get tireder, the chatter slowed, and they walked in silence. The darkness fell around them, smothering them like a shroud. In the distance they could hear the owls, and the rustle of the wind through the trees.

"BOO!" yelled Seiji.

Ally jumped a mile, "OhdearGod," he inhaled heavily, "Please don't do that."

"Seiji." Mr Rotheborne turned to him, "Don't disturb the wildlife."

In the dark, where he knew no-one could see, Charlie held out his hand to Ally. Gratefully Ally slipped his hand into Charlie's, he turned and smiled at Charlie. Charlie smiled, feeling the warmth of Ally's hand in his.

Mara lay in the dark, awake, and thinking of Tor, when she heard a quiet sob coming from Tor's bed. She across and saw Fergie, sobs echoing through his slender body. Silently she got up, and wandered over to where he lay. She sat on the edge of the bed, and gently stroked his hair. "Ferg, are you alright?"

Fergie turned to look at her, tear's rolling down his cheeks, "I hate it when Tor isn't here."

Mara smiled, "So do I." she grinned, "Hug?"

Fergie grinned, "Torin will murder me."

Mara lay down beside him and slipped her arms arnound his waist, "I honestly don't think he will mind."

Fergie wrapped his arms around her, and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, "You're so sweet."

Mara looked up at him through her eyelashes, "Suprisingly, so are you."

Fergie rolled his eyes, "And gay. Remember that."

"mmmm." Mara muttered sleepily, "Gay, and sexy."