'Now, Dad,' Niffy warned, 'you promised you weren't going to have a go.'

'I know, but' Mr N-B crinkled his face up with displeasure 'spinach and carrot juice?' he asked.

Mrs N-B nodded.

'Don't you think you need some protein? Something to build you up?'

'Dad . . .' Niffy said gently.

Protein and something to build it up were definitely things the chicken which was served as the next course had needed before it met its end. Amy looked at the thin, stringy strands of meat, the three green beans and two small boiled potatoes on her plate, and wondered how on earth Niffy and her brother Finn got to be the size they were if all their meals were like this. No wonder Nif loved boardingschool food so much.

'So how's your old man, Amy?' Mr N-B asked as he forked up his tiny helping of chicken with gusto. 'Does he own all the fleshpots in Glasgow yet?'

This was a really odd way of putting it, but Amy was now quite used to crusty old school types finding her dad's line of business not to mention way of life quite shockingly strange. Her dad's boyfriend . . . She wondered how she could work him into the conversation she'd quite like to see how Mr N-B coped with that one. She wondered if he would turn as purple as the beetroot and seaweed drink that Mrs N-B was now sipping as her second course.

Gina and Min had already sc.r.a.ped their plates clean and Min was wondering if it would be rude to ask for a piece of bread. It had been hours and hours and hours since lunch, and she knew that what she'd eaten so far wouldn't keep her going through the night.

Both Min and Gina came from bright, hot, blueskied countries; their homes were shiny white and clean, and lit all day long with sunshine. Both were secretly thinking how truly awful it must be to live in a place like this. Dark navy blues and browns; grim paintings hanging from the wall; and the cold, the damp, bone-chilling cold. No wonder the N-B parents were so miserable. At least Niffy had been able to come to school and escape from it all.

All the hopes that had been raised by the word 'pudding' were dashed as soon as Niffy walked in with the dish: a silver platter piled high with blackberries picked from the garden. There were green ones, light purple ones, then the odd bit of leaf and twig that suggested they hadn't even been washed.

When Gina bit into one, she pulled a face because it was so small, so gritty and so sour. She decided that, rude or not, she was going to have to leave the rest on her plate, swimming in the thin coating of single cream from the elaborate silver cow creamer.

After dinner there was coffee and some more polite chit-chat in one of the slightly more cosy sitting rooms. It had escaped no one's notice that instead of coffee Mrs N-B had produced a twig from the pocket of her cardigan and stirred it thoughtfully around a mug of boiled water before drying it carefully on a napkin and replacing it.

'Liquorice,' was all she said when her husband looked up at her and shook his head.

Anyway, once it was all over, including the clearing away, Niffy grabbed her friends by the hands and led them up several flights of stairs to the low-ceilinged former servants' wing where they were to sleep.

'Don't worry I've got radiators, hot-water bottles and even' her eyes twinkled with mischief 'an electric blanket.'

'Oh s.h.a.g, I thought you were going to say a large packet of duty-free f.a.gs,' Amy sighed. 'I think that's the least we can expect after a dinner like that. I'm sorry, but you people are mad. Haven't you heard of chips? Or M&S? Or even tinned soup? I'm sorry,' she repeated, 'but where did your mum learn to cook, Nif?' 'St Jude's,' Niffy, Gina and Min answered together.

'Well, she must have been bottom of the cla.s.s.' Amy sat down heavily on the saggy double bed in the middle of a room plastered in horse photos, posters, silver trophies and rosettes.

'We're in your room, I take it?' Amy asked Niffy.

'Yup. Make yourselves at home. I even have a telly.' She pointed to an ancient old set perched on top of a chest of drawers.

'No chance of cable all the way out here, though, is there?' Amy asked.

Niffy shook her head.

'Sky?' Amy asked, but she knew it was a long shot. 'A DVD player?'

When Niffy shook her head at both these suggestions, Amy couldn't help asking, 'What do you people do for fun round here?'

'We make our own, of course,' Niffy said, and with that she sprang up and went over to the chest of drawers. From the bottom drawer she carefully drew out a mammoth bar of chocolate, four paper cups, a corkscrew and a bottle of wine so dark it almost looked black.

As she set it down on the bedside table, Gina couldn't help noticing the layer of dust and the faded, brown, curling label. 'Jeez, that looks old,' she told Niffy.

'Yeah.' Niffy took a closer look at the label. 'Nineteen sixty-nine. Oops! It's from the cellar. I usually stay clear of any labels I recognize, but I thought you deserved something a little special.'

She turned the label towards Amy, who could be counted on to recognize the finer things in life. 'Chateau la Tour . . .' Amy read out hesitantly. 'Yeah . . . I think that's quite good.'

'Excellent!' Niffy exclaimed, and began to set to enthusiastically with the corkscrew.

'Niffy, are you drinking a lot of wine . . . up here, on your own?' wondered Min, who came from a family of caring doctors.

'No' Niffy shook her head 'you don't need to worry about me, honestly. I share a sneaked bottle with Finn whenever he's home, but no, I'm not sitting up here with my hot-water bottle drinking the cellar dry.'

Min smiled. 'Glad to hear it.'

Once all the paper cups were filled, the girls found seats on the bed or the battered sofa beside it, then raised their cups in a toast.

'Cheers!'

'Now,' Amy said, as soon as the first mouthfuls had gone down, 'let's talk about boys.'

Chapter Fourteen.

The paper cupfuls of wine, the cosy warmth now that the heaters were turned up full blast and the comforting chaos of the room itself all helped the girls to relax.

All four of them were together again; it was just like old times, familiar times. Suddenly it was easy to really talk and confide, especially for Niffy, who'd had no one to talk to properly for weeks now. Her older brother had not, like her, moved back home. He had exams to sit, so their parents wouldn't hear of him leaving his expensive boarding school, Craigiefield. They had only let Niffy come back because she had so stubbornly insisted.

'What's your new school like?' asked Gina, who had experience of moving from one place to another.

Niffy's reaction was to toss back the last of the wine in her cup before saying levelly, 'It's s.h.i.t. But can we please not talk about that? Let's talk about Angus.'

'Angus?' Amy chimed in, making a mental note to ask Niffy all about her new school privately. 'What's happening with Angus?'

'Angus?' Min sounded mystified. She'd obviously forgotten all about the cheerful, jokey St Lennox boy who'd asked Niffy for a date at the end of the summer term.

'Oh yes, Angus!' Gina exclaimed. She remembered Angus well. 'Have you seen him?'

To their surprise, Niffy looked quite shy as she told them, 'He's got an aunt and uncle who live not far from here, and . . . well, let's just say he's been spending quite a bit of time visiting them recently.'

'Woo-hoo,' Amy teased. 'Is he providing a shoulder to lean on?'

'You could say that . . .' Niffy admitted. 'But he's not exactly handsome, is he?' she asked with a grin. 'I mean, he has a kind face but it's a bit . . . meaty.'

This caused the three others to crack up with laughter.

'But he's a really nice guy . . . and his bod!' she added, before anyone thought Angus was just a friend. Because he was definitely more than a friend.

'His bod?' Amy prompted, wanting to make sure Niffy elaborated.

'He's very sporty lots of muscles . . .'

'And how do you know this?'

'We went swimming in the river in the summer . . . quite a lot.'

'Costumes on or off?' Amy asked incredulously.

'Mainly on,' came Niffy's reply, but her eyes were fixed shyly on the cup in her hand.

'Mainly on!' Amy repeated. 'Luella Nairn-Ba.s.sett!' she exclaimed, using Niffy's hated full name.

'He is hot,' Niffy confessed, causing surprise all round. 'You know I said last term that it was so long since I'd fancied a boy, I'd almost forgotten what it was like? Well, that's all changed.'

Gina and Amy instinctively drew a little closer to their friend. 'You realize that graphic details are required,' Amy prompted her.

'Only if you go first,' came Niffy's cheeky reply. 'Min, you might want to put your fingers in your ears.'

'No! I'm allowed to be curious,' Min told her.

'But purely in the interests of science,' Gina joked.

'Stop it!' Min exclaimed, sounding almost angry. 'Why does no one think I'll ever be interested in a boy? Maybe you think no boy will ever be interested in me! Is that it?'

This caused something of a surprised silence in the room.

'We don't . . .'

'We didn't . . .'

'No, that's not . . .'

All three of her friends rushed to rea.s.sure her.

Once she had calmed down again, Niffy had to ask Amy, 'OK, you and Jason . . . How did the hot Glasgow date go?'

'We kissed . . . a lot . . .' Amy was happy to admit. 'He's totally great when he's there, right in front of me. But when we're apart, it's as if I don't exist. There's no urgency to see me again. I'm just supposed to sit about waiting for him to be in the mood for another date. And that drives me up the wall!'

'Hmmm . . . it's not balanced,' Niffy decided thoughtfully. When Amy looked at her blankly, she added, 'You like Jason more than he likes you. That's how it is. That's the truth. You either have to live with it, or move on to the next one. Maybe there's always a slight imbalance. Maybe even when people stay together happily for years and years, it's because one loves the other just slightly more and they both live with it.'

'Very philosophical,' was Min's verdict. 'So with you and Angus . . . who loves who more?'

'Aha!' Niffy went round the paper cups with a top-up of wine. 'Hard to tell at this stage. We are besotted!'

'So just how far are you two planning to go?' Amy asked, the wine making her fearlessly curious.

Niffy leaned back on her bed and thought about Angus. To say she hadn't thought about how far they might go would be a lie. His body was so heavy and so comforting to hold his kisses and the way he made her boil up inside until she felt hot and needy for him. But . . . but . . . she was still fifteen and he was newly seventeen. Peeling off their swimsuits and pressing their bodies together had felt too extreme and had only happened once.

The next time they'd met, they had kept their suits on and hips apart. Niffy thought she'd like to really get to know Angus maybe go out with him for a year or so before she made a big decision like that. She wanted to trust him with herself; wanted to make sure that he really, really cared about her. But she already thought that he did. He wanted to know all about her mum, all about her school. He phoned her up twice a week every week and was incredibly kind. Yes, she had a feeling she was with her first real boyfriend.

'Mel's had s.e.x,' Amy interrupted Niffy's thoughts. 'We had to bribe her with wine and two cigarettes but she coughed the details eventually.'

'Yeah, I bet she coughed a lot after two cigarettes,' was Min's disapproving comment.

'And . . .?' Niffy asked. She wasn't usually curious about Mel's personal details, but now that she was thinking about this herself, she wanted to know.

'She said it was OK.' Amy gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. 'She didn't give much more info than you'd get from close reading of Cosmo. With s.e.x, you obviously have to be there to really get what's going on.'

'The first time was apparently a relief because it took some time to get everything in the right place,' Gina added. 'And she couldn't get over his horrible dark-blue underwear!'

Min pulled a face and said, 'Eeuwww. I think this is all too much information.'

'But what about you, Min?' Niffy wanted to know. 'Who do you sigh about when your head hits the pillow in Iris dorm?'

To everyone's surprise, Min started to blush. She quickly tried to cover up by saying, 'No one of course not, don't be silly!'

But when she shook her head, Amy, Niffy and Gina couldn't help feeling that there was something forced about her denial.

Maybe there was a boy. Someone somewhere who had sparked Min's interest for the very first time.

Chapter Fifteen.

The first half of the following day didn't go so well. The girls woke up after their late-night chat to a grey sky and grey drizzle.

There was spiky smoked haddock for breakfast and blackened toast, along with weirdly burned-tasting tea.

'How did your mum manage to burn the tea?' Amy hissed under her breath at Niffy.

'It's not burned,' Niffy hissed back. 'It's Lapsang Souchong.'

'Good grief!' Amy muttered.

They'd breakfasted in the kitchen, with the Aga giving out just enough heat to keep the room above the chill in the rest of the house.

Watching Niffy ride Ginger after breakfast was about as exciting as burned toast and tea. It was obvious from the way she talked to him that she loved her horse. But standing around in a damp field in the rain watching your friend ride round and round was not exactly fun.

When Amy announced that she would buy everyone lunch in Buckthwaite, they all perked up slightly at the prospect.

But too soon. Buckthwaite turned out to be a small place with just one cafe, where they sat on pine benches beside steamy windows and ate soggy cheese and tomato sandwiches. It was totally depressing.