Being awoken by the sound of a bell was something a foundling should be used to by now.

But Rose still cringed every time she heard it.

"Everybody dressed and then straight to breakfast!" Macclesfield shouted sharply. "As soon as that's done, you are to start work in the garden."

"The garden?!" Rose exclaimed, voice garbled from sleep.

The garden was where the boys worked, apart from the occasional weeding or picking herbs. So why were the girls working in it today?

"What about laundry?" A sleepy Monica asked.

"Matron's orders," said Macclesfield.

"When did Matron get back?" Rose got out of bed and mumbled so only Nurse Winterson, who was walking around now, heard.

"Late last night," she disclosed.

"So, she hasn't been kidnapped?" Rose sighed.

"Afraid not," Winterson said very quietly.

Rose sighed. "Where did she go?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," shrugged Winterson.

As Macclesfield told off some girls who hadn't got up yet, Rose faced Harriet. "Matron's up to something, and... we're gonna find out what it is."

"Oh, Rose," Harriet sighed, a small smile on her face as they both set about getting dressed.

Rose knew she was right.

She just knew it.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

The walled garden was where the girls were working today.

"Right! There are hedges to be trimmed and seeds to be sown!" Macclesfield said, as she led them in through a gate. "Over there."

As the line filtered in, Rose hissed to Harriet. "Get ready to sneak off."

"Er, I have a very special task for you today, Green," Macclesfield told Rose. "You are to be in charge of weeds."

Great, where's Sheila?

"If I so much as see a dandelion, there will be no lunch," said Macclesfield. "Or dinner. Do I make myself clear?"

Rose did her best to conceal a sigh. "Yes, Nurse Macclesfield."

She did her best to ignore the she-mob's laughs as she set to work.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

Weed after weed. Root after root. More work and more work.

And it did not help when Sheila smirked over. "You've missed a bit, Rose."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to weed you," Rose snapped. "I mean, you are small and annoying-"

"Er, that's enough talking over there!" Macclesfield yelled over at them.

So Rose, seething, had to continue to weed out the garden. She had to get out of this. And soon.

"If only I could get a message to the boys about Matron," she sighed, speaking to Harriet quietly. "They would-"

"AAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!"

Sheila had been the one who had screamed, and it had been due to a round, leather ball that had dropped into her wheelbarrow.

Rose recognised it instantly as a football, having played tonnes with Jake and Ned as a child. Clearly, that was what the boys were doing today.

But none of the others seemed to realise what it was.

"What is all this noise?" Macclesfield shouted sharply.

"It just fell from the sky!" Monica sounded awed.

"What is it?" Sheila asked.

"Let me see," Rose kneeled down beside it, poking the leather a bit. "I think it's a meteor," she said, not missing the opportunity to mess with the she-mob.

"What does that mean?" Elizabeth asked.

"It means the sky's falling in!" Rose shouted, standing up. "Everybody, RUN!"

"AAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!"

With another scream, all three members of the she-mob ran across the garden, before being stopped by Macclesfield's louder scream.

"GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!"

Sheila turned with a shocked face, as Rose sniggered.

"But, Nurse-"

"Rose," Macclesfield said, picking up the football and handing it to her. "I think you'll find this belongs to Mr Cranbourne. Go give it back to him. And tell his boys not to be so careless in the future."

As Rose turned, smirking, Sheila leaned close to her. "I'll get you back for that."

"Ooh, so scared."

Sheila rolled her eyes as Rose headed out the garden and round to the courtyard. This was her chance to tell the boys what she needed to.

As she got round, she heard Ned.

"Why'd you have to kick it so hard?!"

"It's not my fault I'm too good for you puddings!" Judd replied with a laugh.

Then Mr Cranbourne's voice came through the racket. "Er- Will, go and fetch the ball from the garden?"

"No need!" Will called, as soon as he saw Rose.

The way his face lit up...

Rose didn't know what to think of that.

He ran up to her, smiling. "Hey."

Rose grinned back, feeling her face going red. "Hi."

"Did it hit anyone?" Will asked with a grin.

"Yeah - Sheila. I'm surprised you didn't hear the screams from here," Rose replied as they both collapsed into giggles.

It was then that Rose became aware that his hands were gripping hers, the football in between them.

She passed it to him, saying. "Listen, we need to know why Matron disappeared yesterday. I- I need you to sneak into her office."

Will nodded. "Okay."

As she turned away, Will stopped her, saying. "Rose."

Rose smiled, turning back round.

Then Will said. "I like your hair like that."

Rose normally wore her brown hair in a single braid, but today she had left it down.

She smiled, her cheeks suddenly feeling hotter than they ever had.

"I always like your hair, though," Will added, his face flushing red.

Rose's did, too. "Thank you, Will. I'll remember that."

And she would.

For the rest of her life.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

Back in the garden, and work seemed harder than ever. Rose was just waiting for something to happen so she could annoy Sheila or find out about Matron.

"I'd rather be doing laundry than out here pulling up dandelions," she muttered venemously.

"Maybe Will found a clue," Harriet, who she had told the whole story to, said sensibly.

"What are you two whispering about?" Elizabeth asked from the planters a few metres away from them.

"Never you mind," Rose retorted to her.

"Nurse Macclesfield! Rose's missed some weeds over here!" Sheila shouted to the nurse.

Rose wanted to punch her.

"What did I tell you, Green?" Macclesfield looked at the two girls.

Rose shrugged, stepping over the small hedge separating her and Sheila and hearing a small buzzzzz.

A bee.

Brilliant.

She caught it in her hands easily, having had a lot of situations like this when she was younger, then she held her hands near Sheila's face.

"You wouldn't dare-" she started.

"Oh, I would," Rose smirked, opening her hands.

"Aaaaaaarrrrrggghhhh!"

Sheila let out a high pitched scream, flapping her arms all around her and sprinting off through the garden.

"Any more hysteria from you, Sheila Ormsby and you'll be straight back inside!" Macclesfield, who she had ran right into, screeched.

Rose and Harriet smirked.

"Pssst! Rose!"

That was a boy's voice.

Turning round, Rose saw Will, sneaking in through a back gate.

She ran over to him.

"Matron wrote a letter this morning," Will said as soon as she reached him, handing her a piece of paper. "The nib was still wet."

"And you came to me because...?" Rose raised her eyebrows.

"Do I have to say it, Rose?" Will raised his eyebrows, a smile on his face.

Rose nodded, chuckling. "Um, yes."

"Because you're the best at this stuff," said Will, cheeks slightly red. "And we all know it."

"Thank you," Rose grinned. "Just leave it to me."

She tried to catch a last glance of Will as he disappeared behind the gate.

Rose went back to Harriet, picking up a stone and putting the letter against a rake. She rubbed the stone against the letter, revealing some writing.

"It's how me and Jake used to write secret letters to each other," she explained to Harriet, finishing the rubbing and holding the letter up to the sun. It was hard to read.

"What does it say?" Harriet asked.

"This..." Rose started. "Is a matter of... great urgency-"

"Rose!"

Rose instantly hid the paper behind her back as Macclesfield came striding over, Sheila by her side.

"Hand it over," she said, voice low and threatening.

"It- it's just a game we were playing," Rose tried.

"You're not here to play games, girl, you're here to work!" Macclesfield shouted. "Now give."

Rose reluctantly gave her the letter, glad that she didn't try to read it but instead crumpled it in her hand. But also not glad, because they needed that letter.

"What now?" Harriet asked once they were gone.

Rose heaved a heavy sigh.

She didn't know.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

"Right, we're speaking off," Rose said, after about twenty minutes of sorting through weeds with Harriet. "We have to find a way inside."

"Macclesfield's got eyes like a hawk," sighed Harriet. "And even if she doesn't see us, Sheila's bound to snitch."

Rose smirked. "So we'll just be clever about it."

As she got up, she had already decided what she wanted to do.

"A-CHOO!" She yelled, bending over with the force of the 'sneeze'. "A-CHOO!"

"Nurse Macclesfield!" Harriet joined in, standing up as Rose continued on with the act.

"What is it now?!" Macclesfield asked, irritable now.

"A-CHOO-!"

"Rose just started sneezing and now she won't stop!"

"A-CHOO-"

"Oh, for goodness' sakes, child!" Macclesfield yelled. "Take Rose to Ida and ask her for a glass of water. And then get straight back."

"A-CHOO! A-CHOO! A-CHOO!" Rose kept up with the act as Harriet led her away, both sharing a smirk.

They were free.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

Following Matron was the easiest way, so Rose and Harriet found themselves tailing her down to the cellar corridors, where the storeroom was.

There, they hid behind a dirty draping and waited, as they watched Matron unlock the door at the end and go in.

About five minutes later, she came out, again locking the door and heading away, back down and out the corridor.

Rose frowned at Harriet, really confused.

What's in that room?

"What's she up to?" Rose asked, peeking out once she was gone.

"Whatever it is, she doesn't want us to know about it," reasoned Harriet. "So what do we do now?"

Rose only had one answer.

"Find a way to get inside."

𑁍𑁍𑁍

They tried kicking. They tried hitting. They tried shoulder slamming. They tried punching.

Nothing worked.

"Come on, Rose! Before Nurse Macclesfield realises we're gone!" Harriet eventually had to say.

Rose, irritated by now, left the door, walking back up the corridor, defeated.

But then she heard it.

Knock... knock... knock

Rose froze. "Did you hear that?"

Knock... knock... knock

"There it is again!"

Rose ran back to the door, hearing more knocks, again and again and again. More and more-

"There's someone in there."

This made her tries to get the door to open double. "We have to get it open."

"Macclesfield's looking for you!"

"She's gonna tell Matron!"

The she-mob showing up, hands full of tools and garden equipment, only made Rose angrier.

She looked at Harriet, murmuring. "Then we haven't got much time."

She went to Sheila, who was holding a basket of trowels, and took one.

"Oi, you can't take that! Macclesfield told me to take it straight back to Mr Cranbourne!" Sheila protested.

"Goody two shoes," Rose rolled her eyes and set about trying to pick the lock with the trowel.

"You're gonna be in so much trouble," Sheila added.

Rose shrugged. "So are you. You gave me the lock pick, after all."

"No, you stole it!"

Rolling her eyes, Rose put the trowel in the side of the door, pummeling the handle to try and open it. She moved it from side to side, bending the metal when-

Click

With a smirk and a bent trowel, the door opened.

Rose looked at Sheila. "D'you want to find out Matron's secret... or not?"

There was no reply.

But Rose knew what it would be if it was spoken.

She let all the others go inside before slipping in herself, looking just before she closed the door to check no one was outside.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

The first thing Orla became aware of was a girl, lying on a sheet and a makeshift matress, with short black hair and a very dirty face.

"Who are you?" She asked the girl.

"None of your business," the girl said sharply.

"Why has Matron locked you away?" Harriet asked.

"Because she doesn't want anyone to know I'm here," Blanche replied, as though it was obvious.

"Well, it would be useful if you could tell us why that is," Rose said boredly.

But then Monica suddenly said. "You're Blanche, aren't you? I used to be your best friend."

"I don't remember," Blanche said plainly.

"We share the same borrowed birthday!" Monica went on.

"Wait a minute," Rose frowned. "You're one of us?"

"Don't look so surprised," Blanche told her.

"Well, I am," Rose snapped back. "Why did you leave?"

"I didn't," Blanche confused her with this, until she said. "I was sold."

"Ah, Nurse Winterson, I'm here to see Matron..."

Colonel Brigwell's voice upstairs made Rose jump out of her shock.

"It's not safe here," she said. "We need to get out."

"Well, where do we take her?" Elizabeth asked.

"Somewhere safe," said Rose.

"I'm not getting in trouble for you, Rose Green!" Sheila exclaimed.

Rose held up the bent trowel. "Too late."

She looked to Harriet. "You go find out where Colonel Brigwell is."

"On it," Harriet nodded.

"You're coming with me," Rose said, going up to Blanche and pulling her up.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

They went to the dorm. It seemed easiest. Lessons meant it would be empty and if they were caught there were plenty of hiding spots.

"If we get caught, we're in so much trouble," commented Sheila as they walked in.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a scaredy-cat."

Elizabeth, Rose and Sheila sat down on the bed opposite Blanche and Monica, who was talking to the girl.

"We were bed friends. You slept on the one beside the door, and I-"

"I already told you," Blanche interrupted her rudely. "I don't remember."

"When were you sold?" Rose asked.

"You ask a lot of questions," Blanche fired at her this time.

Only difference was she would fire back.

"Yeah, and you're still not giving us the answers, so I suggest you start now because if we're gonna help you we need to know what happened!" Rose shot at her.

She seemed to take this in, her face unreadable. And then she said. "I was seven. Matron said I was one of the lucky ones... going into service early."

"Was it a nice house?" Monica smiled.

"It was a factory in East London," Blanch disclosed.

Rose was shocked. "But- that's not allowed!"

"It is if they pay Matron enough," Blanche spat out the scentence like it caused her pain.

"What did you have to do?" Rose just had to make sure they'd got this right. Adrenaline was coursing through her. If they had; they could rid the hospital of Matron. They could send her to prison.

"We had to crawl under the machines, to mend the broken threads," answered Blanche.

Elizabeth gasped. "That sounds dangerous."

Blanche nodded. "There was a terrible accident. One girl lost her arm. I got away with just a burn."

"And Matron came and got you before anyone found out," Rose clenched her fists.

"And now she wants to send me away to a special hospital," Blanche told them.

"What kind of hospital?" Elizabeth was shocked.

"A special one; one for people who've lost their minds!" Blanch exclaimed.

Rose was absolutely disgusted. "That must've been what the letter was about."

"I don't believe it; Matron would never do that," Sheila voiced her opinion. Rose was about to speak when Blanche did.

"She would if it stopped her going to prison."

"Macclesfield's coming!"

Monica, who had gone to check the door, was now running at them as they tried to get themselves a good cover and Blanche hidden.

When Macclesfield burst into the room, she saw Sheila, Elizabeth and Monica sitting on the bed beside Rose, who was pretending to be sick.

Blanche lay under said bed.

"Uh, it's Rose, nurse - she's taken a turn for the worse," explained Sheila.

"What's wrong with her?" Macclesfield demanded.

"She's got a fever," Elizabeth improvised.

"Well, she looks alright to me," Macclesfield narrowed her eyes.

"We were scared to leave her," Elizabeth added.

Monica also added, unhelpfully. "We thought she was going to die!"

Macclesfield rolled her eyes. "Where's Harriet?"

Rose put on her best 'sick' voice, and said. "She's in the sewing class."

Macclesfield nodded. "Which is exactly where you girls should be. Come on, get up."

Rose sighed, getting up and noticing, behind Macclesfield, Harriet sneaking behind the door. She concealed a smirk and knew she had to talk to her before going to sewing.

"Er, not you, Green," Macclesfield stopped her. "You can get back out in that garden, and clear up that mess you left behind."

Rose sighed, watching Macclesfield leave the room before signalling to Blanche to get out.

"You know what you've got to do," she told Harriet, before leaving the dorm, door closed.

She only hoped Matron hadn't figured them out yet.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

"Lost something?"

Rose was angrily sorting through weeds when Matron held the bent trowel over her head.

Her eyes widened, trying to run before she got grabbed, turned round. Matron was in her face. "What is it they say, curiosity killed the cat-?"

"Is there a problem, Matron?" Macclesfield, who had been overseeing Rose, came over.

"Nothing I can't handle," Matron answered curtly, dragging Rose round the corner and pushing her up against the brick wall.

"Where is she?"

Rose knew playing dumb was her best bet. "Where's who?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Matron spat. "And if you don't tell me in the next ten seconds-"

"Matron."

Nurse Winterson had appeared behind them, looking between Rose and Matron, frowning before saying. "Colonel Brigwell needs to see you. He says it's urgent."

Rose struggled to hide her smirk. Here we go, she thought, following Matron inside, not caring what she or Winterson thought.

"Colonel Brigwell, I can explain-" she began when she got inside.

"Just a minute, Matron," Brigwell said as Rose came in, seeing the scene. He was standing next to Blanche, saying. "Well, child. If you have something to say, now is your opportunity."

Matron tried to butt in again. "The girl is clearly out of sorts-"

"Let the child speak," Brigwell's voice was commanding, and it shut Matron up.

Blanche looked at Matron and said. "There was an accident. Matron... she came and brought me here."

Brigwell frowned. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure I follow."

Rose mouthed furiously at Blanche, trying to get her to tell Brigwell how Matron sold her when she was seven, how she got the money, how Blanche wasn't paid-

Blanche looked down, and then back up. "My parents reclaimed me from the hospital. But they sold me to a factory."

Even Matron looked confused-

"If it weren't for Matron..." Blanche continued. "I don't know what might have happened. I owe my life to her."

Rose could've strangled the girl.

"Well, rest assured, no hard is going to come to you here," Brigwell told her. "Matron, have a bed made up for Blanche in the dormitory."

"Yes, Colonel," Matron nodded.

"Once again, your dedication to these poor children..." Brigwell said. "It absolutely astounds me."

He headed out the room after that, Matron looking between Blanche and Rose.

"Wait. There."

Rose had every intention to wait. Right now, she was waiting for the best time to hurt Blanche.

As Matron left the room, Rose walked up to the girl. "This was our chance to get rid of Matron forever! And you let her get away with it!"

"This place is all I've got," Blanche shrugged with a smirk. "And I'll do anything... to make sure I stay."

Rose looked up at her, shaking her head, her eyes filled with fire.

She couldn't believe that just happened.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

Over the next few days, things were different.

Or rather, Blanche was different.

She wasn't like everyone else. She had leverage over Matron, and she used it.

She ate lunch at a separate table in the dining hall. She randomly got up and left both lunch and classes. She was often seen entering and leaving Matron's office. She didn't take tellings off from nurses. Or Matron.

No one knew what side she was on. Their's... or Matron's.

But she knew one thing.

She could not be trusted.