Chapter 12

The last full week of February was the half term break. I had a lot of work to do for my physics and chemistry, and a big technical drawing project that I was rather behind on. Because of this I hardly left the house, though Sandra and I had our regular Saturday dates. She and I spoke either by phone or text, or both, every day. Mrs Clarke did her three visits, two Sunday’s and the Wednesday evening, but aside from that, the only people I saw were on the TV, and I didn’t watch much TV. I did however watch a fair few of Mrs Crisp’s DVDs and sorted out the unworn knickers into two piles: probably will like and probably won’t like. I then spent much of the Monday going through the second pile, and by the end of the day I had thrown another thirteen away.

The following day, as I was watching the news, I saw that a lot of the manufacturing unions had joined forces in a big anti-Confederacy rally in central London. There were also smaller ones in Sheffield, Liverpool and Glasgow. A new name that I hadn’t come across before, Neil Conway, was standing alongside the well known leaders of some of the these unions, demanding that Confederacy replicators were banned as they were putting their members out of jobs. The protests, according to the commentators, seemed loud, but peaceful.

I considered. I wasn’t actually aware of any replicators, and in any case I wasn’t sure what they could do. I didn’t think a replicator was big enough to build a car or a fridge though, the only ones shown seemed to be about the size of a largish fridge, but could only build something the size of a football or maybe a little bit larger. I supposed it was possible to strip a car down to its constituent parts, but even then it would only be possible to replicate some of them. Panels, doors, windows, even the engine block all seemed to be too big. I’d have to ask Mrs Clarke or Mr Walmsley. Maybe Bondy or one of the other ‘gang’ members would know more.

The following day the main protest rallies were gone, but there were a lot of smaller protests around the country, some of which even turned into small but violent riots.

“Opportunists,” some of the commentators called the rioters. “Trouble makers and rent-a-rabble,” said a few others, but despite that, there seemed to be a generally sympathetic view to the original demonstrators demands. To my slight surprise there was actually a counter demonstration in Bristol. The Green party wanted to promote the replicators as a source of some of the products that were generally dirtier to create. “Save the environment,” was one claim. “Help to stop pollution,” was another.

It made sense to me, and as I pondered I could see advantages for the NHS. I knew that some drugs were scarily expensive. A replicator could produce them for a fraction of the cost. I liked that idea; it would save the NHS a huge amount of money.

The riots continued the following evening, but at a slightly reduced rate. A police spokeswoman claimed these were all just troublemakers that had nothing to do with the original protests. Looking at some of the casualties I could well believe that some of the extreme right wingers had got in on the act.

As I was going through the stuff on the dining table, I came across the video cameras I had found at Mrs Crisp’s. Checking them I found that one had a memory card in it, while the other seemed to be a remote camera, one that sent its pictures down a wire, or over a local wifi signal, rather than store them locally. That was disappointing.

I put the card in the computer and clicked on the file in there. I can’t say I was too surprised to see the twins fucking their father ragged, then once he had surrendered going into an intense sixty-nine. It was obvious that the twins knew of the presence of the camera, but that their father didn’t. The two girls kept on making sure that the camera had the best views of what was going on. It was more than obvious the two girls truly loved having sex with their own father, just as much as he loved having sex with them. It was lovely, and sexy, to watch.

The following day I found something that shocked me badly, and once again changed everything. It was late Friday evening and I had been watching some of Marion Crisp’s DVDs. Most were sexy and erotic, a few were just strange. Some men wanted to be whipped, or wanted to whip her. Some men wanted to be dressed in nappies, some wanted her dressed as a schoolgirl or a policewoman or a nurse, sometimes just sexy lingerie, but most were just happy with her dressed up nice. There were two women clients, those recordings were sexy, and one where Mrs Crisp was with a married couple. Now that really was something to behold.

Some of the films had sound, and it was as I was half watching one of these, that something the man said caught my attention. Mrs Crisp was wearing a school uniform and had been calling her client ‘daddy’, but that aside, nothing had especially caught my attention until, as he was thrusting hard, he began to talk.

“Oh my beautiful Amber,” he was moaning. “Oh I so want you.”

I looked up and stared it the picture, listening intently.

“Your sister doesn’t even try and fight me off any more. She’s losing her appeal. Oh how I want you.”

I noticed Mrs Crisp’s face. She looked very disgusted, even horrified. I wasn’t even slightly surprised by her obvious feelings; luckily he couldn’t see them. I continued to watch. I was certain I knew who it was; I just wanted to see his face to confirm it.

Mrs Crisp spoke. “I’m sorry Daddy,” she said softly. “Am I doing it wrong?”

“No baby girl. It’s Talulah who’s doing it wrong.”

I had him. My hands curled into fists.

“How’s she doing it wrong Daddy?” Mrs Crisp spoke plaintively, like a little girl. She was doing a grand job of coaxing out his confession. Her eyes even flickered briefly to the camera and back to her client.

“She comes to me now. I’m sure she’s doing it to stop us being together. She knows you are so much better, so much nicer, so much prettier, than she is; so much more special.”

I felt so sorry for Tee. So she was actually having to seduce her father to stop him from attacking her sister. She no longer dared wait for him to come to her in case he went to Amber instead. I wanted to hold her in my arms and comfort her. I wanted to kick the shit out of her father. I wanted to rip his balls off and stuff them down his throat, closely followed by his torn off dick. I wanted to give Amber a good shaking and show her what she was so close to being on the receiving end of because she wouldn’t get a CAP card.

My mind instantly skittered off in another direction.

I would show this to Mrs Clarke. I stopped. No. I couldn’t. I hadn’t told her about Mrs Crisp’s discs, and I couldn’t now. I couldn’t show it to Sandra; and I certainly couldn’t show it to Tee. My mind took yet another right turn. I couldn’t give it to Sandra, but maybe I could give it to Mr Walmsley. Especially if I could get it to him anonymously. I knew Sandra’s address so I could just post it to him, with a note. He might be able to get it to Mrs Clarke, or someone else who might be able to do something. I just hoped it didn’t go to the police.

I got some thin latex gardening gloves and put them on to ensure I didn’t spread any more fingerprints around. Maybe I was being overly paranoid, but it wasn’t as if I didn’t have the time. I got a stiff envelope from the small stash Dad kept and carefully wiped it all over.

The date-stamps on the files were all from September and October last year, the last one only days before my parents had been collected, so this was recent. Good. After copying the files off the DVD to back them up, just in case, I ejected the disc. It just had ‘Danny’ written on it. Nothing else, no surname. Tee’s father was called Danny Evans? I shook my head, I hadn’t heard of him, but then, I didn’t really expect I would have.

I slipped the disc into the envelope then got a piece of paper. I opened a fresh pack and deliberately took a sheet from the middle, again so that there was no chance of any fingerprints being on it. I then wrote: This is Sandra’s best friend’s father. He has just admitted to having sex with one of his own daughters and wanting to have sex with the other. What can you do to help? Can you help? Maybe Amber needs to be shown this? Don’t show it to the police please. If they go in as clodfooted as they usually do they will mess it up.

I didn’t sign it, but I carefully folded it up and slipped it into the envelope. I addressed the envelope to Mr Walmsley, and then went looking for a stamp. Hmm. I looked at my watch. Apart from a pair of knickers, that was all I was wearing. There was time. I quickly got dressed and hurried up to the local shop. It was still open even this late.

“Book of first class stamps,” I said politely. I handed over the money and left. I didn’t open the book until I was home and once again had gloves on. Then, carefully, I put a stamp on the envelope and left it on the kitchen table.

I showered and changed knickers, the last pair of Pauline Lipp’s that I still hadn’t worn, and got into bed. Within five minutes I knew these ones were keepers.

Saturday morning I once again put on a latex glove before picking up the envelope. I hurried quickly to the nearest post-box, which was a surprising distance away. I discarded the glove in a waste bin outside a nearby tobacconists.

I was very jumpy that day and more than once Sandra asked me if I was all right. I tried to assure her I was, but she didn’t seem convinced. She did however believe me when I told her I loved her.

By the time school started again on Monday morning, I had thrown yet another half dozen pairs of knickers away, and had about sixty still to wear even once.

Three days later, Thursday, the fecal matter hit the rapidly rotating air mover.

Mrs Clarke took Sandra, myself, Bondy, Blish and Higgis out of our respective classes and took us into a small classroom that wasn’t being used.

“Right. Something has come up that means we want to bring forward our plans. We have evidence that we believe means we can get Mr Evans taken off the streets. At least, under normal conditions. Unfortunately, as you know, there are some not very nice people starting to make noises. Fortunately they don’t have much traction at the moment, but it’s my belief they may actually oppose us attacking him directly as he’s starting to become important locally. So. We’ve come up with a rough plan. Tee doesn’t yet know any of this, but when she does she could have a major breakdown. It’s my suspicion that if that happens she’ll likely lose her sponsors score, and if that is the case, then Toby, I want you to take her. You already have Sandra, and since you, Sandra are Tee’s closest friend, you will be able to help her. If she’s okay, she doesn’t lose it, then I’m going to suggest she comes with you anyway. Otherwise, Sandra, I want you to consider going with her. If you can. I know you would much rather go with Mr Simpson, but I’m thinking of Tee here.”

Sandra nodded unhappily.

She sighed and continued. “Mr Blish, will you take Amber please? Assuming she’s a concubine as we all expect.”

Adam nodded reluctantly. “Okay.”

Mrs Clarke smiled. “I know it’s not ideal.” She turned to Higgis. “I have three possibilities for you, that I think would suit you perfectly. I’ve also had a long chat with someone from the Confederacy. I’ve had it confirmed that more than one sponsor can live together if they want to. So even if you two gents take four women between you, you can still be together when you want.”

Blish and Higgis looked at each other and grinned.

“That’s perfect Miss, thank you.”

Mrs Clarke nodded. “Now. For the plan. I assume everyone here knows that Sandra and Toby are engaged to be married?” Everyone nodded. “Right, well they are getting married at the registry office in Watford on the first Saturday in April.” She ignored the mass gasp that went around the five of us. “The only people invited are our pre-pack and the Confederacy will pick us all up then. Okay?”

My jaw had dropped. Mrs Clarke looked at me. “Sorry Toby. It’s the way it has to be. And the rest of you. For now at least, all that Tee and any of the others must know is that Sandra and Toby are getting married. Even so, it must remain as much a secret as it’s possible for it to be. When people get the wedding invites, they will also get a letter imploring them to absolute secrecy. Admittedly this is mostly for the sake of school discipline, but it will also help to keep anything from the ears of people we really don’t want to know about it. Most importantly though, if the Confederacy even think we’ve been rumbled, they won’t turn up.”

“So can we tell Tee?”

“About the wedding, yes. Not about anything else. Amber is still an issue though. For this we think we may be able to get away without the need to get Amber CAP tested beforehand. We’re hoping that they’ll bend the rules a little because of her home situation, take her either as a dependant, or as someone untested and then almost force a test on her quite quickly. Hopefully without her realising.” She took a deep breath and continued.

“Of course, it would be better and easier if we can get her tested in advance, and if we have to use it, the evidence we’ve now got might help us to turn her to our way of thinking.”

“What have you got?” Sandra asked. I was glad she’d asked. I had been about to, but was also sure that I already knew, and that by knowing, asking would give me away.

Mrs Clarke shook her head. “At this time I can’t tell you. But just know it is almost absolute proof.

“Only almost?” I asked.

“A real slime-bag weasel of a lawyer could probably get a jury to be uncertain enough to have to find him not guilty. The evidence we have, could be viewed by some as at least partially circumstantial, and that could be enough to get him off. More than that I’m not saying. You people absolutely do not need to know.”

“Oh. Okay. Um, the wedding?”

“Sandra’s parents are organising it with my help. Sandra, Toby, you stay behind for a moment, the rest of you back to class please. And remember what I said about not talking about it. Especially about being collected.”

“I’m sorry kids,” she said softly when we were alone. “I’m afraid there’s going to be no time for a honeymoon. The Collection will be at eight in the evening, the ceremony slot at the registry office is at three. The actual ceremony should be over by three thirty and there will be time for a few photo’s outside until about four. Then we’re going to a local hotel ten minutes away for food and a bit of a party. The collection will come at eight, so we’ll probably be at the hotel for about four hours.”

“How are we going to pay for it?” I asked. “Surely it’s still gonna cost in advance?”

Mrs Clarke stared at me for a moment. “I have just over three thousand that will go in. I should be able to get some more over the next weeks.” I realised she was referring to the jewellery.

“Okay. I can add another two,” I said, but it might be a bit tight by then if things go a bit wrong.”

She nodded. “Okay.” She looked at Sandra. “Your bridesmaids. Tee?”

Sandra nodded. “I think Tee, plus you and Neeka.”

Mrs Clarke grinned. “Good idea.” She turned to me.

“Best man. Mr Bond? You could go for Mr Walmsley, but to have the bride’s father as your best men douldn’t really seem right. Mr Blish does disco’s so he’ll do that for us. I haven’t asked him yet, but I’m sure he won’t be averse to the idea.”

I nodded. “Yeah, why not.”

We spent another few minutes talking about how the wedding would go on the day, and some of the details that would be needed. Sandra and I promised to put our heads together to come up with the few details still needed from us such as music for the ceremony and for the first dance. Would we get a dress for her? A suit for me? Or should we dress down a bit?

Mrs Clarke took some necessary details and told us she would contact the registry office formally and start the ball rolling. We had slightly under four weeks. “Don’t stop preparing for your A-level’s though”, she told us sternly. “Just in case.”

“No Miss,” we both said. She smiled at us and sent us back to our classes. Me to chemistry, Sandra to sociology.

That night I heard that Donald Prendergast’s The People First party was being taken over by the Great Britain Independence Party. In effect they were merging, but under the banner of the GBIP. Four days later it became the Earth First party, and Donald Prendergast emerged as the leader. In my history lessons I had seen photographs and heard interviews from the 1960’s of Labour leader Harold Wilson. Apart from the lack of a pipe, Prendergast really reminded me of Wilson.

Mrs Clarke took me out of chemistry class the following afternoon. “Going to the local registry office,” she told me shortly. This wasn’t the one where we would be getting married. When we got there, Mrs Walmsley was already there with Sandra. We both had interviews, one after the other, with the registrar. I didn’t realise until the interview actually started, but it turned out this was a legal requirement. The woman was a little annoyed, simply because of the very short notice period. I paid over my money, forty-five quid, answered a few questions and filled in a form, signed it, and ten minutes later I left. As I was still under eighteen, and more importantly, would be on my wedding day, Mrs Clarke also signed as my legal guardian. Only she and I knew she wasn’t actually my legal guardian, merely acting as one.

Oddly, I had very little to do, wedding wise, for most of the time up to my wedding. I had to go and get measured for a suit and Mrs Clarke gave me a ring from the collection that we could use as my wedding ring, if I wanted one. When she saw it Sandra just smiled and said it would be fine. “I’ve got my grandmother’s” she told me happily. “It’s being resized at the moment.”

I nodded. “That sounds good.”

With Mrs Clarke’s help, and Sandra’s approval, I had finally got my fourth concubine: the seventeen-year-old daughter of one of Mrs Clarke’s neighbours. Carla went to a different school so none of us knew her, but Mrs Clarke had known her since she had been about eight. She was a pleasant, friendly girl, with a slight eastern European accent. She was slightly overweight, but still very pretty; working full time as a library assistant while doing a part time evening course in library management. She wanted to be a librarian and absolutely loved books and reading. For her, paper books, not e-books, were far more special. I had an e-reader and just over one thousand books, many of which, I’m ashamed to say, I hadn’t read. Carla had easily twice as many books, but they were a mix of paperback and hardback. And she had read every single one. Some of them more than once. She was very well, and widely, read.

Carla became Sandra’s fourth bridesmaid. Mrs Clarke smilingly told us, in confidence, that Carla had instantly worked out why she had been invited.

At thirteen days before the wedding I had finally worn every single pair of knickers that I still had. After Mrs Clarke left following her Sunday visit, I counted them up. I still had one hundred and thirt six. Wow. I had thrown over two hundred away. Most of them had been pretty and sexy to look at, maybe even to the touch, but for one reason or another they had been unwearable for me.

That was when I finally realised that in just under a fortnight I would have to say goodbye to all the rest. I almost cried. I went through them all carefully, deciding which ones to throw now, and which ones to keep a bit longer. Sandra’s I hung on to, but only because they were Sandra’s. I put on a knickers and suspender belt pair, with some stockings, and threw away every single other suspender belt and half of the stockings. It took me two hours but I eventually managed to whittle it down to fifty-one pairs, including Sandra’s and the ones I was wearing. There were five of Mum’s in there, three of Jo’s, four of Pauline Lipp’s, six of Mrs Crisp’s and two belonging to the twins. I wasn’t certain which was from which twin, or even if they were only from one. The rest I was no longer certain whose they were. Or had been, they were mine now.

With a great deal of reluctance and some regret, I threw away the ninety-odd that, had I been staying, I knew would be keepers for me. I didn’t just hide them or put them to one side, just in case, I actually threw them in the bin. It was filthy and smelly. I wouldn’t want to take anything out of there after I had put it in. Even so I might actually have done just that except for the fact that the bin was emptied two days later.

I actually spent nearly an hour trying to decide which ones to wear for the wedding. I finally chose a pair of Mum’s. They were a creamy white, soft and sensuous, with just a small amount of lace. I suppose, if you only glanced at them quickly while I was wearing them, you might not notice. I decided I’d put a few more in my pockets on the day, including Sandra’s, so that I would be able to take them with me. I didn’t know if it would work, but it was what I wanted to do. However, when I tried to go through the pile in front of me, I couldn’t make up my mind. I wanted all of them.

A few evenings later, Tuesday evening, I got another shock. I was half watching another one of Marion Crisp’s DVDs. At first I thought it was my father, then I realised it was both my parents. I was shocked and amazed and got the mother of all hard-ons.

It started with Marion and Mum in a prolonged sixty-nine while Dad just prowled around, occasionally sticking his cock in some available hole, at other times just caressing and stroking them. After both the women had come at least twice, they pounced on Dad and fucked him ragged.

I came so much into one of Marion Crisp’s knickers that I decided to throw them rather than wash them. Well, one less to try and choose between.

The following morning Sandra told me that Amber had finally been persuaded to get a CAP card. As expected she got a low score. According to Sandra, when Tee’s father found out he had tried to arrange a collection just for the three of them, but had been turned down. Apparently, when both Tee and Amber had turned up with wedding invitations, he had got very suspicious. Only the fact that Tee was Sandra’s chief bridesmaid, plus the promise of an invite for him, made him relent.

I caught up with Mrs Clarke at lunchtime to tell her.

“Yes,” she said when I told her. “Sandra told me about half an hour ago.”

“What are we going to do? He can’t come. It would destroy Talulah, and I don’t know what it’ll do to Amber. Does Amber know about her father yet by the way?”

“No, and hopefully she never will. As far as he is concerned, I’m going to make sure that he is very drunk, and at the right moment I need someone to steer him to the toilet, then high-tail it back. If we time it right, he’ll be stuck outside while we’re inside being collected.”

“Oh. Okay. But Amber might still get a little suspicious.”

“Hopefully by then she’ll be too caught up in the moment to worry,” Mrs Clarke said thoughtfully. “But if not, then we’ll worry about it afterwards, not now. Okay?”

“Sure.”

“Good. How are your preparations?”

“I’m just about ready. Um, do you know if we’ll be allowed to take stuff with us?”

“I don’t believe so. Like what?”

“Clothes. It’ll be Sandra’s wedding day and it would be nice if she could take some nice clothes...”

Mrs Clarke burst into laughter, “I know exactly what you mean,” she interrupted me with. “I’ll ask on your and her behalf. Okay?”

“Thank you. And on yours and Neeka’s behalf as well. And Carla’s.”

“All right,” laughed Mrs Clarke. “I’ll ask.”

“Thanks.”

“I’ll even see about something for you. Okay?”

“Yeah,” I said hopefully. “That would be nice.” If it happened maybe I’d be able to take my knickers anyway. I still hadn’t quite grasped what it meant to be married, or to be in bed with another person. It would be a few days before it did, but before then Mrs Clarke came back and told us that the Confederacy representative had, reluctantly, agreed that the immediate wedding party could indeed take some additional clothes.

“They were not happy,” I was told, “so don’t be too surprised if they refuse at the last minute. Okay?”

“Thank you. Um. Most of the concubines are sorted, but what’s happening for Talulah?”

Mrs Clarke sighed. “There will be nine girls and three men that Talulah can choose from if she wants. Unfortunately one of the teachers I had expected to come has had to back out for other reasons. If Tee chooses one of the men, the girls who would have been his concubines can come with us anyway, apparently the Confederacy is regularly short of one or two girls.”

“And the blokes?”

“They’re all sponsors anyway, so they’ll go in their own right, and some of those girls will go with them.”

“How’s that gonna work if they are sponsors anyway?”

“They’ll renounce their sponsor status.

I nodded, puzzled for a moment before it all started to drop into place.

“So these guys,” I said slowly, “are all sponsors normally, and if they go as a sponsor, they’ll take the girls. But they are prepared to become Tee’s concubine to help her, in which case the girls will get collected anyway and go to other people.”

She nodded. “All of us genuinely believe that once Talulah is out of the reach and influence of her father she’ll start to get better. It may be slow, but we believe that trying to keep her that way, supporting her and helping her recover, would be far better for her and everyone than allowing her to reduce to concubine. Remember, she got a six point seven, I think it was, even after years of regular rape by her father. She should recover and go on to become something really rather special.”

“Okay. I think I understand.”

“If Tee decides not to take a male, I’m going to suggest that she joins with you. We now know it’s possible and allowed. Blish and Higgis will be doing similar. With you, me and Sandra to help and support her she’ll do fine. In fact, I think that might actually be the best thing for her. But we’ll see.”

“Maybe she should go with Blish and Higgis. They won’t be expecting sex from her.”

“True, but she needs to be with a man who will be comfortable and happy to have sex with her at some point, not just someone who will do it out of duty. You or Bondy would be perfect. A couple of the male teachers would be okay, but they are a little older and that itself may inhibit her a bit. You would be best only because of Sandra.”

“Oh, okay. Yeah, no problem. Might not happen, but we’ll see.” I paused. “Who are all the other sponsors?”

“At the moment I’ve got ten. It would be nice to get an eleventh just in case Tee doesn’t make it.”

“Who’ve you got?”

“You, Bondy, Tee I hope, Blish and Higgis, Sandra’s father, three teachers,” she wouldn’t name them. “And another pupil from here.”

“Who?”

She paused then named another boy whom I knew by sight, but didn’t know. He wasn’t in any of my classes, nor had he ever been. I had an idea he might have been a friend of Bondy’s, but I wasn’t sure.

“Both his concubines are girls who are close to Tee. Not as close as Sandra, but close enough.”

“Oh. Should I...”

Mrs Clarke shook her head. Don’t worry about them. He thinks he’s only been invited because he’s the boyfriend of the girls, who only think they’ve been invited because they are friends of Tee’s.”

“Oh. Right. Okay.”

She nodded. “I need my lunch. You go and get yours.”

“Yes Miss.”

I heard the first of the rumours only minutes later. Jaquie Robinson, one of the girls I had suggested to Dad ages ago; and in fact later to Mrs Clarke, told me she’d heard someone was getting married and very soon. She was actually asking my opinion, who I thought it might be.

“What?” I asked, startled. “Where did you hear that?”

She shrugged. “Dunno, but I heard it was an arranged marriage so I’m guessing it might be one of the Asians or Muslims.”

“Oh. Um. I’d not heard.”

“It’s going around. How come you’ve not heard?”

I shook my head. “Not paying attention, I guess.”

Jaquie spent five minutes filling me in on all the details she’d heard, and by the end she had worked out, convinced herself, that it must be a girl in the lower sixth, year twelve, called Anahita.

“But,” I started to say.

“Ooh,” she interrupted. “There’s Grace. She’ll want to know this.” She dashed off leaving me slightly bemused.

Jaquie was a pretty girl, but she was a gossip. Actually, so was Grace I realised. I’d wondered why Mrs Clarke had vetoed everyone on the list I had given her.

Five minutes quick research and I found out that Anahita’s parents were from Iran. The assumption appeared to be that it was a hastily arranged wedding, and that as an Iranian and therefore a Moslem it must be her. Only Moslems did arranged weddings didn’t they? Neeka was very cross about that, as was Higgis. Some parts of India, especially in the more rural and remoter areas had ‘arranged’ marriages, and there were still ‘official’ matchmakers within the Jewish community. Many parts of the world had some form of arranged marriage. Even Christians did, on occasions, go in for ‘arranged’ marriages.

Anahita, of course, wasn’t even going to the wedding so knew nothing about anything. She looked very upset when she heard her name linked to one. She tried to deny it, but the more she denied it, the more it looked like she was the one. No one suspected Sandra or myself, but nor did they suspect anyone in Tee’s ‘gang’.

Friday morning, when once again I had seen Anahita looking angry and upset, close to tears, I went to Tee.

“We’ve got to do something to help Anahita, she’s really getting it in the neck, and we all know she’s totally innocent.”

Tee looked at me. “What do you have in mind?”

I shook my head. “No idea. Could you tell people to stop?”

“I could. Whether it would make any difference, who knows? But you’re right though. It’s not really fair.” She pondered. “It’s the sort of rumour I might start these days if I wanted to trash someone, but it’s not really even good enough for that. If she really was getting married,”

“Assuming she’s not,” I murmured, interrupting her train of thought.

Tee looked up at me, her eyes bright. “Indeed. Now that’s given me a thought.”

She marched off in the direction that I had last seen Anahita. Twenty minutes later, with only a few minutes of the lunch break left, she was back. “She’s not getting married. She doesn’t have a boyfriend and she thinks she might be gay.”

“Gay’s not an issue is it?” I asked slightly surprised.

Tee gave me an arch look. “Hardly,” she said dryly. “Could you see me having anything to do with Adam or John if it was?”

“No, sorry,” I said, abashed.

“I’ve let it be known amongst the girls,” these were the four or five girls Talulah usually hung around with, “that not only is Anahita not even engaged to be married, she’s under my protection.”

“Oh. Okay. Fair enough.”

Three days later, the Monday before the wedding, I was walking to the bus stop to catch the bus to school when I spotted a headline on a newspaper board outside the newsagents. Prince Charles had died over the weekend. I wasn’t a royalist per se, I was sure something better could be found, but what I absolutely did not want was an elected president. And a head of state that was also a political leader was the worst idea of all. You only had to look at France or Russia or the USA to see how disastrous that could be.

An Irish style, elected yet supposedly non-political, president just didn’t seem to make sense: if there was going to be an election, then you had to stand on some platform or policy, and by definition that made it political. An accident of birth made just as much sense, yet an unelected accident of birth seemed better than anything else I could think of. As someone else had put it, it was the least worst solution. It seemed to me that having a non-political, and therefore non-partisan, head of state that wasn’t an accident of birth could only be done by appointing someone. Yet who? And from what pool of candidates? And who did the appointing? And how did those people get the appropriate authority to do the appointing? I could easily see it starting well and finishing very badly.

I stood and read the news item briefly. Apparently he had died at nine seventeen the previous morning, and had been suffering from terminal liver cancer. I felt sorry for him. My uncle had had liver cancer and it had been a horrible thing to watch him weaken and fail in front of our eyes. I could only imagine what his family might have gone through. For Prince Charles it had to have been worse just for being in the public eye, yet I couldn’t remember seeing much in the press about his particular illness; just that he wasn’t well. His funeral was to be at Balmoral next week. We’d already be in space by then. I hoped. It was spoken about briefly in school, but the A-level examinations were also rapidly approaching and we were all studying hard. Even those who would be at the wedding were studying hard. Just in case.

Anahita approached us as we sat chatting during morning break.

“Thank you so much,” she said softly. “No one has asked me about any wedding at all today. I’ve even had a couple of apologies.” She looked around the group a little shyly. “I heard you were all confederation sponsors. Is that true?”

“Are you a sponsor as well?” asked Blish.

She shook her head. “No. I wish I was though.”

“What score did you get?” I asked, then before she could answer, asked, “have you got a card and a score?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I got a five-oh.”

“Did you want to go?”

There was a pause. “Yeah. Even if it is like this.” Anahita looked at the ground.

Tee looked meaningfully around the group. I shook my head. I was full now. Both Blish and Higgis also shook their heads, giving identical shrugs of apology. Bondy gave a shake of his hand indicating maybe, not sure. Talulah just rolled her eyes. “Come with me,” she said.

Anahita looked up in shock. “You? But...”

Talulah sighed softly. “I have a six point eight score. I can take two people. That means one male and one female. I was going to take my sister, but she’s going with someone else now.” She didn’t look at Blish, and he gave no indications. Actually I wondered whether Amber even knew of the plans for her. Somehow I suspected not.

Anahita looked at her for a while. “Why?” she asked after a while. “You don’t know me.”

Talulah gave an odd smile. “Why not? I need a female concubine. Most of the girls I might want to ask are either not interested, not available, or don’t have a CAP score. Most of the rest I wouldn’t want to ask. Either I don’t like them, or they are close to people I don’t like or who don’t like me.” She shrugged. “As I say. Why not?”

“But do you really want me or any you just feeling sorry for me?” Anahita demanded

Most of us gasped, but Talulah just smiled. “All right then, give me three good reasons why you shouldn’t come.”

There was a pause. “I want to go with a boy. A man.”

“There would be a man, but on Friday you said you thought you might be lesbian, so that’s two reasons why that objection doesn’t count”

It was Anahita’s turn to gasp.

“Don’t worry,” said Talulah waving her hand airily. “They won’t tell anyone. If they did they would incur my deep displeasure.”

Most of us smiled, yet we also knew she was very serious.

“Um. You don’t know me.”

“From what I can work out, most sponsors and concubines don’t know each other before they go. You and I will at least have a chance to talk and to get to know each other.” She gave a brief smile “But you’ll have to come and join the gang occasionally.” She paused. “So go on, I’m still waiting for the first good reason.”

“Um, I’m not white?”

“I’ve chosen Neeka Bhatra,” I said. She’s not white, I am.”

“And given that I’ve asked you, it should be fairly obvious that it doesn’t bother me,” Talulah said a little tartly. “Does it bother you?”

Anahita smiled a little. “No.

“So,” said Talulah. “You can’t come up with even one good reason.”

“Er. My dad may not allow me to go.”

“That’s an irrelevancy. That’s not a good reason to not accept my offer. You might not be able to make it at the time I go, but that just means you couldn’t be there at that time. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go with me. What if there was a collection right this minute? Right here at school? Just because your father doesn’t want you to go, won’t actually stop you.”

Anahita opened her mouth to argue, then closed it again.

“I’m not a Christian,” she said after a short while. “I’m a Buddhist. It’s why both my parents families had to leave Iran when my parents were still young.”

“So? I was brought up Jewish,” said Higgis. “We’re not exactly a practicing household.

“And I think Neeka is probably a Hindu,” I said.

“I’m not a Christian either,” Talulah managed to put in. “I’m a Humanist. I rather guessed you were not Christian, and I assumed you weren’t Humanist, and still it doesn’t bother me. It would bother me only if you thought your religion was more important than anything else at all. Even your life or that of you family, friends, or anyone around you.”

Anahita sighed softly. “Buddhism isn’t a religion in quite the same way as western religions. It’s more a spiritual faith.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“None I guess. Not unless I make it one.”

“Well I won’t,” Talulah said softly. She paused. “How about just one good reason. Are you afraid of me?”

“No.”

“Scared of me?”

“A little, maybe, but...”

Talulah chuckled. “All right, but that’s my fault, my doing, not yours. Are you truly scared of me?” She smiled warmly.

“No,” said Anahita matching Tee’s smile.

“Do you dislike me or hate me?”

“No.”

“Are you in love with someone else? Or are you friends with someone I hate or don’t like?”

“No. I don’t think so anyway.”

“Is there someone else you particularly want to go with?”

“No.”

“Are you scared of having sex with either a male or a female, or maybe even both at the same time?”

“Well, not scared exactly. A bit nervous.” Her voice dropped a little. “I’m still a virgin.”

“So’m I,” came back Sandra immediately.

“And me,” Blish and Higgis said together.

“And me,” I added softly.

Both Talulah and Bondy stayed silent. I wanted to look at Bondy but didn’t dare in case it broke the moment between Anahita and Talulah.

“Oh,” whispered Anahita.

There was a long pause, then Talulah said softly. “Please come with me.”

Anahita looked at her for a minute then smiled. “All right. If I can.”

Just like that Talulah had her first concubine, and Anahita, Ana, joined us most days to talk, even though she was a year younger than us. She and Neeka were hesitant around each other at first, but soon became close friends.

We gave Ana the wedding invitation that afternoon, after school. She looked at Sandra and myself in total shock. “Oh,” she said softly. Then, “But you never said anything.”

“Couldn’t,” I said. “It has to be a total secret.”

“But why ... oh of course,” she looked around the schoolyard. “People’d go crazy if they knew there was really was a wedding. And before the end of school.” She looked at the date on the invitation. “Before the exams,” she said softly. “Oh shit!” she exclaimed softly. “It’s this coming weekend.”

“Yes,” I said softly. “A couple of the teachers do know, but it has to be kept totally secret just for the sake of everyone else.”

“But why me?”

“Because you are Tee’s concubine-in-waiting, and Tee is my chief bridesmaid,” said Sandra with a smile.

“Oh. Okay. Um. It’s very short notice, but I might be able to come.”

“You need to come,” I said softly. “And I really do mean need!”

Ana looked at me in total confusion. Then her mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide in surprise. “Ahhh,” she started to say.

“Two secrets,” I said. “Absolute secrecy.”

She nodded, her eyes alight. “I really will try and be there. I absolutely will. But...”

“If you can’t get there then I’m really sorry, but there’s nothing we’ll be able to do.”

She nodded. “I know. Um. I might have to sneak out. What time’s the wedding? Oh,” she looked at the card and frowned. “Is it really a wedding?”

I nodded. “Yes. It really is. And afterwards there really will be a party, and part way through...” I didn’t finish, just smiled meaningfully.

“Three might be a bit awkward for family reasons. I should be there by seven or eight though.”

“That’s fine,” I smiled, “but the earlier the better.”

Mrs Clarke looked a little irritated and rolled her eyes when told, but didn’t say anything.

Most of the concubines, at least, those within the school, were not aware of what was also happening at the wedding, they just knew they had been invited as a ‘plus’ with someone else. In that respect Ana was almost, but not quite, unique.

Tuesday lunchtime, Mr Lewison, the headmaster, announced that the school would be closed on Friday because they had workmen coming in to repair some drains in and around the student toilets. That weekend was the start of the Easter break so we all got an extra day holiday. And it was my wedding weekend; the weekend we hoped to be able to rescue Talulah and her sister from her hateful family life.

“Actually,” Mrs Clarke told us with a smile after maths that afternoon, “Nothing of the sort is happening. There are no workmen coming in. Mr Lewison knows and understands. He has just given you all a day before the wedding to get any final preparations sorted.”

Thursday morning, before the first lesson, Sandra told me that something might have gone wrong with Talulah and Amber.

“What?” I asked, very worried, but I think no where near as worried as Sandra was.

She shook her head. “Not sure. I’m waiting for Tee.”

“All right, I’ll see you at break.” She nodded and I headed of to maths.

“What happened?” I asked when I caught up with them at break.

“I caught my father groping Amber,” Talulah said shortly.

“Oh shit. So what happened?”

“Amber gave him a hug and he grabbed her backside.”

“Yeah, but what did she do? How did she react?”

“I’m not sure she even realised what he was doing. I told her afterwards that he shouldn’t be doing that, but she was completely clueless about what had happened.”

“Oh. Erm. So did you do or say anything to him afterwards.”

“No. But he knows I saw him. He seems to be taunting me.”

“So did you have to...” I paused, not sure I wanted to know. “Forget that,” I said. “I don’t need to know.”

Talulah looked at me.

“No,” she said heavily. “You don’t.”

“So what happens next?”

“Next? Nothing. Life carries on as before. I just have to make sure he doesn’t destroy her life as well.”

I glanced at Sandra. She looked distraught, far more so that Talulah did.

“I’m sorry lass,” I said softly. “I wish I knew how to help you.”

Talulah nodded, taking a deep breath. “You are,” she said softly. “Just by being with me. Just by supporting me.”

“We’ll do our best.”

“Just don’t tell Mrs Clarke, okay? Not yet. I know you’ve been tellin’ her stuff, but I think if you tell her this she’ll have to call the authorities in.” Talulah looked down for a moment. “Please?”

“I won’t,” I whispered. And I wouldn’t, but it felt wrong. “Please tell us what happens in the next few days?”

Talulah looked back at me. “All right,” she said slowly.

There was no school the following day, but about half past eight I got a text from Sandra. Talulah had been in touch to say that, so far, her father hadn’t done any more. “Hell be at work now” she added. “so there safe till he gets home”.

“invite them 2 yours for day. shes yur bridsmade”

Bondy came round about ten and we worked on my speech. Not that there was going to be much of it. I got a quick call from Mrs Clarke just after one checking to see if I thought I had everything sorted, and another text from Sandra just after eleven pm to wish me good night and to tell me that Talulah had, once again, been in contact to say all was well.