Chapter 3 -

Annabelle was snapped out of her musings by a call of 'land ahoy!', they had gotten as close to home as they could on water. Camilla had called ahead and asked Beverly to organise transport for the school across dry land, a number of battered old buses were waiting near an unused harbour.

The girls were ushered onto the coaches and reassured someone would find the ship and return it to it's rightful owner, so it was no longer their problem ("And NO, you cannot keep it!" Miss Fritton had added, to a wave of disappointed groans.)

The exertion of sailing a tall ship for a good few hours had taken it's toll on the pupils and soon the gentle rocking of the road had sent them to sleep. Annabelle wandered along the bus she had been put in charge of and smiled fondly at the resting soldiers. She gently covered a first year with a blazer that had slipped on to the floor drawing an unconscious growl from the little red head, You're welcome thought Annabelle chuckling to herself. Seeing that everyone was settled and all was calm, she returned to the front of the coach and curled herself into two seats. She'd barely rested her head before she was out for the count.

The girls all began to wake up at the same time, Miss Fritton always said a St Trinian could feel it in her bones when she was close to home. Annabelle unfurled her long limbs and stretched her tired muscles to try and regain some level of comfort in her body.

She decided to walk up and down the coach, as much to help her legs feel normal again as to wake up any stragglers before they fell victim to permanent markers. She nudged the few heavy sleepers as the coach turned into the main school gates. Her coach was second in the convoy and the noise of cheering travelled back like a chain reaction, before long the whole line of coaches were full of elation. The manuscript was back where it belonged, with the Fritton's that would honour it's significance.

The vehicles pulled up neatly and the doors creaked open, releasing a flood of excitement back into the school. Plans were immediately barked out, they were having a party tonight to celebrate St Trinian's biggest achievement to date. It was going to be a blow out. Annabelle could see this getting out of hand already and raised her fingers to her mouth letting out an ear splitting whistle. Even the staff froze.

"Now girls, I fully support the motion of a party but let's not get carried away, this is our home after all. Nothing goes ahead without my approval, capiche?" she looked over at the twins, "That includes the beverages, you two." Two blonde heads sunk in disappointment, but agreed with their head girl.

Annabelle smiled and nodded her head with a renewed confidence about the celebrations.

"Let's party then!" she cried, and the girls ran off cheering even louder than before.

As the afternoon progressed into evening Annabelle checked every aspect of the party, she was happy for the majority of it to go ahead but was less convinced by the make shift pyrotechnics presented to her by the twins.

Once everything was organised she left the girls feasting in the dining room to go and get ready for the celebrations, she collected everything she needed to wash away the day and headed to the shower block. Everyone else was nearly ready or busy eating so Annabelle had the place to herself, the quiet was gladly welcomed to help her recharge before tonight's shin dig. She took longer than normal in the shower, letting the hot water work out the knots that sailing a ship had caused. Turning off the water Annabelle wrapped herself in a towel and headed for her room, it was warmer in her private space and there was very little of her that everyone hadn't already seen.

When she finally got a chance to sit down on her bed, her eyes began to feel imminently heavy but she fought it, there wasn't time for a power nap. Annabelle stretched across her bed to the side table and opened the top drawer, it was filled with dozens of blister packs filled with caffeine tablets. She had found out very quickly they helped to stay ahead of the other girls when pranks were going off.

She popped a couple and dropped the packet back into the dresser, her attempt to close the draw let her hand slip across the wood and she found herself falling forward. She grabbed her pillow for support and managed to stop herself toppling off the bed with her other hand, the head girl sat up with a smirk at her own clumsiness. Picking up her pillow to put it back in it's rightful place, Annabelle noticed a flash of white out of the corner of her eye. She realised it was an envelope and in the commotion of almost falling off the bed it'd started to disappear in between the mattress and the headboard. She carefully gripped the corner and quickly pulled it out before her lack of coordination struck again.

Annabelle turned the envelope over to see her name scribed beautifully on the front in black ink, it looked like an expensive pen. Her interest peaked when she recognised the handwriting. The 'A' that started her name was elaborately curled and slanted, she only knew one person who wrote that letter the way it appeared in her hands.

Her heart began to pound furiously, she felt her hands go cold and clammy while the rest of her flushed and sweated nervously. She licked her lips as they dried and slid her thumb into the gap at the back of the envelope. It was taking every ounce of strength she had not to tear the envelope into pieces, she was desperate to get to the letter but knew there were eyes everywhere.

Annabelle calmly slid the letter out of its cover and placed the empty envelope down next to her. She was worried if she moved any faster she'd scream, but that would send crowds of pupil's flooding upstairs to see what the commotion was about.

Composure Fritton, composure. She probably just wanted to say good luck, you've been misreading all those 'signs'. It's just your desperate imagination clinging on to a friendly glance because you're besotted. She's probably even hooked up with with Flash now she's not doing business here any more.

She tried to put the idea of Kelly writing her a love note as far as possible out of her mind as she unfolded the sheet of paper in her hands. The black ink spread out across the page in meticulously neat lines. Annabelle focussed herself, she wanted to read the whole letter from start to finish but her impulses tried to make her scan for key words.

Annabelle,

I'm sorry I haven't been able to stick around for longer, duty calls. I'm hoping to get some time off in the next few weeks, maybe we could catch up properly? It's hard not seeing you every day, life's not the same without St Trinian's. I'll talk more when I see you, you have my number so just call me when you're free and we'll organise a date. You probably want to burn this after reading, the girls don't need any help getting gossip on each other (and especially their head girl). Better safe than sorry.

Take care of yourself and the girls.

Speak to you soon kiddo,

Kelly

xx

P.S. if you need me for any more vault break-ins just shout, I'm always happy to help you ;)

Annabelle looked at the letter, reading the words over and over again.

It took her a moment to realise she wasn't breathing.

Her mind raced uncontrollably over key words. She didn't know how to translate the text's meaning without Kelly's usual grin or eyebrow raise to hint at whether she was serious or joking.

Kelly misses me, or is it a collective you? No, surely she would have said 'you lot', just 'you' means me. It's hard for her that she doesn't see me? Oh God. And 'date'? 'DATE'?! What does she mean by that, date as in calendar date or...She stopped herself from going any further, surely Kelly Jones wasn't asking her out on a date. Definitely not in a letter, she concluded that wasn't Jones' style. She was too forthright to cower in the lines of a letter. Annabelle's heart sank at that realisation but she still longed to see her raven hair and perfect skin. She dug her phone out and tried to bring the screen to life, nothing happened.

"Dammit!" Annabelle cursed, she continued to mutter furiously about how useless technology was as she plugged her phone in to charge. The screen lit up but she knew it wouldn't be able to handle a call for a good ten minutes, maybe longer if her and Kelly got chatting. She scoffed at her last thought. Kelly Jones didn't have time to chat, she was always too busy being a female James Bond. The thought caused a smile to spread warmly across Annabelle's face, she folded the letter up and returned it to the envelope before placing it back under her pillow. It would be safe enough for tonight while everyone was distracted with the party.

"Fritton!" A voice called from outside her room accompanied by approaching footsteps. The door swung open and Chelsea marched in looking displeased.

She looked at the head girl and rolled her eyes, the brunette sat wrapped in a towel and was nowhere near ready for a party.

"Good God Annabelle, I know it takes time to look good but even I would've been ready quicker than this!" She smirked at her quip, both girls knew it wasn't true.

"Sorry Chels..." She paused briefly while her mind concocted an excuse as far away for the letter burning a hole under her pillow as possible. "I...just couldn't shake the feeling I was still dirty after being so close to that Pomfrey creep all day." Annabelle dipped her head hoping her excuse would be believed if she played for sympathy, Kelly's note didn't need to be school business just yet.

"Oh babe, I know. I was so scared when he pointed the gun at you. I thought-" Chelsea choked. Annabelle immediately regretted trying to play on such a serious incident. She beckoned her friend over and wrapped an arm around the posh totty pulling her closer.

"But we're all safe now, no one was hurt. That's what we've got to concentrate on" Annabelle whispered pressing her cheek into the blonde's hair. Chelsea sniffed and held her finger under her eyes to disperse any tears without smudging her make up. She nodded, managing a smile and looked Annabelle straight in the eye.

"Do you wish Kelly had been there?" Chelsea asked, the question took Annabelle by surprise and disarmed her for a moment. She wanted to say 'yes' because right now she wished Kelly would be by her side and never leave. But logic prevailed as she answered her friend's probing question.

"No, I feel bad enough that so many of you were in danger. The last thing I would wish for is more people I care about on the wrong side of a gun." she looked down and couldn't stop her mind running through the scenario if Jones had been there. She knew Kelly would have put herself in front of the gun before anyone else but she wondered, would it have been her sense of responsibility that put her in front of Annabelle or something deeper.

"Belle?" Chelsea asked softly, Annabelle met her gaze and the look that she saw on her friend's face told her she had shown too much emotion in her response.

"Has anything ever happened between you and Kelly?" she asked, Annabelle studied the face opposite her. She couldn't see the usual hunger for gossip that sparkled in the posh totty's eyes when they wanted to know something juicy.

"I swear I won't say anything but you seemed pretty eaten up when she left. Most of the girls just thought you were worried that you wouldn't be able to keep control after she'd gone but...I knew I saw something more. You can talk to me Belle, you and Kelly are some of the best friends I have and I don't gossip about my friends, keeping stuff bottled up won't help anyone." She looked deep into the hazel eyes opposite and saw she was on the right track, they glinted with pain and longing.

The sound of guitars tuning and microphones being tested rose up from the dining room, where the party was going to be taking place.

Chelsea decided tonight wasn't the time to get too heavy, they were celebrating a wonderful achievement and she didn't want to be the reason for dragging Annabelle's night down.

"Maybe now's not the right time" she stood up and began to walk towards the door. She stopped halfway across the room and turned back to Annabelle, who looked so tired she almost took pity on her and told her to go to sleep.

No, she'll regret missing this party more than anyone.

She snapped herself upright and barked over to the head girl.

"Right, come on Missy. You've wasted enough time moping up here, get your glad rags on and get to that party. If you don't shake your ass off I'll kick it into next week!" Chelsea turned and strutted out the door hoping she'd done enough to get her friend down to enjoy herself.