“Kamvi!”

Kamvi and Steve stopped and lay still.

“Kamvi!”

It was the Hostel Head, Miss Langley, on duty.

“Coming Ma’am,” said Kamvi, and she could hear her voice trembling. “So sorry. I fell asleep. I will be there in a minute…”

“Hurry up Kamvi,” said Miss Langley. Steve and Kamvi lay silent, listening to her slip slops flapping against the parquet flooring as she walked away.

Kamvi sprang up, pulling her top straight as she did so, and pulling up her zip. Oh God! she thought to herself, with a shiver of excitement, mixed with a little embarrassment. My zip was undone!

“You must get out of here!” she whispered sharply. “I’ve got to go.”

Everyone looked up from their plates as Kamvi ran into the dining room. “Sorry I’m late,” she said loudly.

“Never mind that, but calm down now Kamvi,” said Miss Langley, with a fair bit of irritation in her voice. “Sit down. Even though you do not eat much of our food you still need to be here on time.”

“Sorry Miss Langley. Yes Miss Langley.”

Kamvi was aware that Nikita was watching her very carefully as she fetched her plate and piled it with salad. She sat down just as Steve came strolling into the dining room.

“Hi everybody,” he said cheerfully. “I’m taking a while getting used to all these bells and stuff. Sorry about that.

Miss Langley looked up at him and frowned. “It’s a school Mr Wilson,” she said severely. “We run on bells. I do hope you will get used to them soon.”

“Guess so,” said Steve cheerfully. “Sure, will do.”

Kamvi looked up from her plate to see Nikita grinning at her from across the table. Her friend winked naughtily at her.

“What?” mouthed Kamvi with a frown, after first making sure that everyone was occupied with eating or talking.

Nikita chuckled, covering her mouth with her hand and shaking her head a little. Kamvi sighed heavily and looked down at her plate. Suddenly she had no appetite at all.

***

Tell us: Is Kamvi right to have begun to fear what is happening? What could this all lead to?