Richard smiled, then grabbed at Ruby and swung her around. Ruby started to scream again, the noise bouncing off the walls. “Let me go!”
“Shall I give you to Nathan?”
“No, no, Hanna, save me.”
Hanna ran over and tried to pull Ruby from his grasp. “Let her go, you bully.”
The four of them took the tube train to Ruby’s school. They were a motley crew, with Nathan resembling some sort of vagrant, Ruby all brightly scrubbed and in her new uniform and Richard looking preppy and delicious in his jeans and t-shirt. Glancing down at herself, Hanna realized that her short-shorts and tight vest top did nothing but make their group look even odder. She noticed a few commuters glaring over at them as they stood talking and laughing.
“When are you flying to San Francisco?” Hanna asked Richard. The train stopped suddenly in a tunnel. The flickering lights and the intermittent darkness made Ruby gasp.
“Next Tuesday. I fly out of London this Friday. That gives me three days to pack.”
“Are you excited?” The train juddered before pulling away and picking up speed. The force of the movement caused Hanna to lose her footing, and she went barreling into Richard’s chest. Almost immediately his arms went around her. Hanna found herself locked in an embrace with Richard.
“Are you okay? You hit me pretty hard.”
She took a deep breath, trying to gain control of her racing heart. “I’m fine.” She nodded, to emphasize the point.
The train came to a stop at the platform. As always, it was an effort to get off, the four of them pushing their way through a large crowd of commuters who were trying to get on the train at the same time. There was no such thing as politeness during rush hour. It was every man for himself.
Nathan was standing directly behind Ruby, shielding her with his body as they shuffled forward and stepped on to the platform. Richard was just in front of Hanna, and he kept glancing back at her to make sure she was okay. After a moment or two he reached back and took her hand, pulling her along with him in an attempt to keep them together.
Even his hands were perfect. His palm was warm and soft, and his long, sculpted fingers curled around hers perfectly. His nails were cut short, with a small crescent of white at the tips. Her own nails were still ragged and bitten. She’d long since given up trying to keep any lacquer on them.
When they reached the top of the escalator, they fed their tickets into the machine, walking through the metal barriers and out into the waiting world. Ruby had been silent ever since they left the platform, and Hanna started to worry. She was radiating nervousness; her face had turned pale, her lips pulled together into a thin line.
“Are you okay?” Hanna leaned down to whisper in Ruby’s ear, trying not to let Richard or Nathan hear. “It’s fine to feel nervous, you know. We’ve all been there, and I can promise your brothers were every bit as worried as you are when they started high school.”
“Not Nathan,” Ruby whispered back. “He beat a teacher up on his second day there. By the end of the week he was on suspension.”
Hanna bit back a laugh. The Nathan she had seen so far today was like a gentle giant. She couldn’t imagine him beating anybody up, let alone a teacher.
“Why did he do it?”
“The teacher was shouting at a girl he liked. He told me he just saw red.”
“I hope she was worth it.”
“Nathan seems to think so. It was his girlfriend.”
Hanna had never met Lucy, although Ruby had shown her some photos, and Hanna had found herself feeling dull and dowdy in comparison to the tall, blonde beauty.
“We’re here, Squirt.”
Ruby stopped suddenly, looking up at the large brick and white stucco school building bordered on all sides by walls and a thick green hedge. Her knees were shaking, and Hanna found herself reaching out to grab Ruby’s hand.
Dropping down to a crouching position, Hanna’s face reached the same level as Ruby’s. Still holding her hand, she reached the other out to stroke Ruby’s cheek.
“Ruby, it’s going to be okay. You can do this. When you come out tonight, I bet there’ll be a smile on your lips.”
Ruby’s face crumpled, and tears welled in her eyes. “I don’t think I can.” Her voice was very small. Hanna wished for all she was worth that she could go in to the school in place of the tiny girl.
“You’re stronger than you think. Remember how scared Harry Potter was on his first day at Hogwarts?”
“And then he met Malfoy and Snape,” Ruby replied.
“But he met Ron and Hermione, too. And Neville Longbottom, don’t forget him.”