Celebrations
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
“To the class of 2010!” Felix said with a grin, raising his glass. Smiling I joined the others in raising and chinking mine too. I was still bubbling with the excitement of getting Games Captain over my ex-boyfriend! Everybody had thought that he’d get it, me included - he is on the national lacrosse team after all! Perhaps the staff were concerned that he might try to institute naked cross- country after his escapade in the woods with Gwendolyn earlier this year!
It was the first time I’d had a drink since Sera had left, I just hadn’t felt like it. Training for the athletics nationals was hotting up, and I was determined to add the 800m title to my cross country win in April. After we’d been knocked out in the second round of school eights at Henley Women’s Regatta on Saturday it seemed even more important to prove myself. Granted we’d been leading by about three lengths and on for an easy win until Abigail Edwardes caught a huge boat stopping crab, so the loss wasn’t down to my training so much as her being a total idiot but I’d been gutted all the same. From what I’ve heard it’s not the only sort of crabs that she struggles with!
The post race pep talk had focused on the positives, how far we’d come as a squad, our fours head win and the promise the group showed for next season. Since taking over the captaincy I’d instituted second and third eights so that we’d have a stronger squad next year, something Clara should have done far earlier. If there had been a choice we wouldn’t have been stuck with Abigail ‘anti-phase’ Edwardes in the three seat. Tears had been dried, I’d smiled and told Abigail it wasn’t her fault and they’d all gone off in search of ice-cream. Then I’d quietly walked away, up the hill and into the field where the trailers were parked and had a good cry. I hate losing, particularly when I shouldn’t.
Seeing the notices go up yesterday naming me as the new Games Captain had gone a long way towards salving the wound. This time I’d have a year to make sure that we didn’t lose, that all the squads got proper coaching, that there was free competition for all the teams and loads of other stuff. It wasn’t surprising that Felix had got Head Boy as he was well-liked and a good all-rounder, which coupled with receiving a year’s administrative crash course from Juliet made him an obvious choice. I was less sure about Flavia, she was far too much of a suck-up for my liking but to be honest I don’t know her that well as our only interaction had been through Duke of Edinburgh. She never joined us for drinks after concerts though and had nurtured the view that the sun shone out of Juliet’s arse, which in my opinion speaks volumes in itself!
I crashed open the door to Charlie’s room and strode in. He was alone, lying on his back with headphones in and his iPod resting on his chest. When he saw me, he blushed bright red and jerked into a sitting position, letting the headphones fall out of his ears. “Mouse,” he said. “Uh. Hi. How are you?”
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