I Looked Out across the school quadrangle just eight minutes before the first bell of the morning. I had glued myself to one of the crumbling Victorian pillars that kept our old school standing. I dared not be seen or heard. But I had to get across that open space if I was to make my first class on time.
The problem was, I suspected I was being watched—not, like Harry Potter, by an intimidating boy called Draco Malfoy, but by seven Draco Malfoys! And every single one of them was out to get me.
I'd failed to respond to a yell from one of the seniors, whom I couldn't see, for a lackey to run an errand—one of the initiation rituals at the school. That would have made me late for class, which might have entailed an even worse fate than being punished for failing to respond to a senior's call. I wasn't just caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, but between several vindictive seniors and several strict teachers.
