The San occupied parts of the two lowest floors of the range of building that ran between West and North Towers. On the ground floor was a waiting room, offices for the staff, and two treatment rooms. Above them were the sick rooms where girls went to be nursed through minor illnesses. When they arrived in the waiting room Kipper and Sam found Lauren sitting on a chair with an ice pack on her foot. She glared menacingly at Sam but before anyone could say anything the nurse began questioning Kipper who allowed herself to be led off to one of the treatment rooms for examination.
Sam sat down next to Lauren rather hesitantly. "I'm sorry" she said, anxious to speak before her cousin could, "I shouldn't have believed Natasha like that. It doesn't matter what the evidence was, not that there was much, you are my cousin and I shouldn't have accused you like that".
Lauren smiled thinly "I should have been more considerate about celebrating my place on the lacrosse team. I should have realised what it meant to you". She grinned "you are my cousin after all". She held out her hand to Sam "I'm not saying I forgive you or anything but I want us to be friends again. We both were stupid". Sam took the proffered hand and shook it.
"Stupid enough to do things like kicking washing machines you mean?" she asked playfully.
Lauren smiled, a real smile this time, "yes stupid things like that. Guess who isn't playing lacrosse for Malory Towers this week?"
"You haven't broken your foot have you?" asked Sam in concern.
"Probably not. I'm just waiting for Mrs Reeve to finish her lesson so she can take me for an x-ray. She must be loving our family this term".
Sam glanced at her watch there was still 30 minutes of the lesson to run and, as there was no sign of Jenny or the nurse, the two of them could have a chat. "Well now we've established your innocence, who do you think the sneak is?"
Lauren scratched her head. "I don't know. I don't think we'll find any more evidence either. We need a new tactic".
"What do you mean?"
"Well if we can't find any evidence then maybe we should look for people who are acting guilty"
"Sounds like a plan. How does it work?"
"Well you thought I was guilty because I wanted to drop it. So that's obviously a sign of guilt. Then maybe we should look for people who are a bit too keen to investigate others".
This seemed like a far superior plan to the current one of looking for evidence that didn't exist. Sam told Lauren so and the two of them sat there thinking things over. Before long they were interrupted by the re-appearance of the nurse. "Well there doesn't seem to be much wrong with your class mate" she told Sam cheerfully. "But I'll keep her here overnight in case something develops, I do like to be sure". She glanced up at the clock "there isn't much point in you going back to your lesson but you had better go anyway so you can take your books and Jennifer's back to your dormitory. I'm sure Lauren will be fine on her own until Mrs Reeve gets here".
Sam nodded obediently and headed off for the music rooms. She felt quite like dancing, true she had no idea who the sneak was but she knew it wasn't Lauren and that the two of them could be as close as they'd ever been. She felt truly ashamed at how she had treated her cousin but this was rather pushed to the back of her mind.
By the time she arrived back at the music classroom the rest of the form were already beginning to pack up their books ready to leave. So it was easy for her to busy herself and answer no questions. She decided to hurry back to the dorm, dump everything there, and go for a walk before tea. A nice peaceful walk with nobody else to interrupt her thoughts. She would have skipped tea but having had no lunch she was starving and was not prepared to wait for dinner!
Fortunately tea was a grab it and go affair served from the house kitchen and Sam was able to grab a slice of carrot cake and a mug of coffee and escape to a quiet corner of North Tower to consume them rather than joining the rest of the first years who tended to congregate in their common room. The cake deserved to be savoured, it had a rich and creamy icing and tasted delicious. But Sam bolted it down and hastily returned her mug and plate before rushing down to the cloakroom, grabbing her coat and heading into the grounds.
She couldn't put her finger on why she felt such an urgent desire to be alone but it was undeniable. Even on such a wintry and increasingly dark December evening. Sam stomped around the grounds for about twenty minutes before giving it up as a bad job and retreating to the warmth and solitude of the music practise rooms. So much had changed in the two hours since she had last sat in one of them! Driven by a combination of obedience, and a desire for privacy that could only be ensured by appearing to occupy the room legitimately, Sam practised piano although she had no real idea what she was playing. Within five minutes of leaving the room she would have been unable to tell anyone what she had been doing at all.
When she entered the dining room she found Lauren already there, a pair of crutches resting beside her seat. Sam moaned in despair but Lauren grinned at her. "Don't panic. It isn't broken just badly bruised. I've to keep off it for a few days and no more lacrosse for the rest of term". Becky scowled and muttered something about the team being destroyed one player at a time and Lucia muttered something about poetic justice.