The office smelt like a sweet but citrus blend of vanilla, cinnamon, pink grapefruit and tangerine. My nose wasn't so good that I could name all of the smells, I just saw a bowl of dried vanilla and cinnamon sticks and some things that looked like dried orange segments. Regardless, this was the most pleasant room of the school I'd ever been in. Our school- called Dunn School- was situated on the coast, the office curtains were open and the view was exquisite: you could see down the vast hill where overgrown weeds appeared picturesque, and you could see the bay of water where the waves viciously corroded the sand. However, the waves looked peaceful from here, they were small and gentle. It was the effect of the room, it was cosy and had aesthetic  plants all around. The focus wall was a khaki green and a rose gold pen lay on the headmistress' wooden desk beside her deep brown planner. I sat in a low wooden chair with comfy grey padding, it tried to relax me.

"Um, yeah a few weeks ago, Ivy and I had an argument about Felix's poster. So in the corridors, I saw a poster with... like Felix without any clothes... it was supposed to be making fun of Felix's wealth I think and was.. like saying... like... yeah about Felix not being very smart I think. Anyway, Felix was my friend so I took it down but on the back it said... like 'from Ivy'. So I wondered why Ivy would do that to Felix. The poster was meant to destroy Felix's chance of getting student of honour but it was like a joke poster because Felix wasn't running for the title anyway. I didn't know why Ivy would do that, maybe to increase her student of honour chances? Anyway, at the time I shamefully believed that Ivy made the poster. Ivy and Felix used to date so I didn't see how anyone else could get that photo. So we had a fight because Ivy said that someone framed her and she didn't know why. I realised that I was being irrational because Ivy is a good person and was a very close friend to me. But she was angry that I could ever accuse her of doing something like that and that good friends should trust each other and I doubted her..." I answered the headmistress. This felt awkward and my mouth felt dry, I didn't ever speak this much. "Um, yeah that's all," I replied in answer to the head's question.

"Thank you," she paused, "now I'd like to ask you about Evelyn. What do you know about that poster, why did it go up and how did someone get a photo like that. Also if you have any idea who did it, please don't be afraid to mention any names" she said.

"Ok. I saw that poster uh just before you needed to speak with me and the poster said 'from Ivy' on the front of the poster this time which was strange and makes it seem like a setup, why would anyone write their name on that type of poster? I honestly have no clue how someone could get a photo like that though, it could be photoshop because Evelyn is not the type of person to... you know. I don't know who would do it though, Evelyn hasn't fallen out with anyone here I don't think. Also, Ivy was planning a surprise birthday party for Evelyn so I doubt that she would do this, Ivy seems to be a good friend to Evelyn.  Evelyn is a strong student of honour candidate though so someone also running for the title could've tried to sabotage her." I told the head.

The head nodded, stopped the recording device and put it on her desk. "Thank you for your honesty, it means a lot and we love having you here at our school." she paused, "this was all I needed from you so the questioning is now over," she continued, "on a lighter note, I know that you attend every student of honour meeting but aren't running..."

"I go for a friend," I said.

"That is lovely and that's what we all like about you but please do consider running. You would have a very strong chance and sometimes you have to do things for yourself. This friend is very lucky to have you and of course you can continue to help them if you wish to." The headmistress gave me a warm smile and then stood up. I did the same and opened the door to let myself out. 

The headmistress stood under her door frame and called in Evelyn. Just as I began to walk, I saw Isaac and James approaching, they were deep in ballistic laughter and their smiles couldn't get any bigger. When they saw me, their smiles guiltily shrank and James scratched the back of his head. "Hey," I said cheerily to Isaac and he reciprocated. I didn't want to go back to class yet so I sat down next to Felix and Isaac came to sit next to me.

"So, you and James have been um... bonding," I cheekily said under my breath, elbowing Isaac in the ribs. Isaac laughed nervously and rubbed his thumb and index finger together. "I've never heard you laugh that hard before," I teased. 

Isaac grew more and more awkward by the second and, trying to keep his voice down, he said, "James isn't as bad as he seemed at first, I can see myself being friends with him in the future." This was strange, I thought. 

"You took a long time to get here, I was in that room for quite a long time and all you had to do was fetch him from a class," I pried.

"We did a few laps around the school and I just asked him why I hadn't seen him around before!" he said in defence.

"Fine, fine," I said, laughing a little too loudly. We had been trying to whisper but let's be honest, James heard it all, he was looking away trying to pretend that he didn't. As soon as we finished our conversation, James started a new one with us. "So, Harriet how you holding up?" He asked. That was sudden. This was a whole new side of James, and he didn't sound so posh anymore. I rushed to say, "Good, you?"

"Good," he replied immediately. Awkward. Then we heard a noise from the headmistresses room, Evelyn was crying. I felt my heart bleed but I couldn't do anything, I used the noise as an excuse to get away from James, "I better be going back to lesson, the head will come out soon and have a go at me if I'm still here, uh bye," I said and walked off before anyone could respond.

If ignoring yourself was possible, that's what I tried to do for my last lesson and a bit. I tried to block all irrational thoughts or annoying questions out (and biology work) and thought about what to do after school instead. Preferably I could ignore everything but I knew that would be impossible. Near the end of last period, sweat was building up. So what could I do after school? Well, I had to talk to Evelyn; I had arranged to talk with James, Isaac and Felix but who knows where to; and I could talk to Ivy about everything because she might know a little more, also being proper friends with her again would put my mind at rest and I could tell her about what James had been telling us about her! What to do first? Go back to the dorm and pray that Evelyn is in there, alone.

The bell went and my flimsy, and rather simple plan was in motion: go back to my dorm and hope.

As I opened the door to my dorm, the smell of must hit me. Someone had done their washing and hung it up without opening the window. I entered and opened both windows, then I opened the cupboard that I shared with Alba and stole her room spray. I was very generous with the amount that I sprayed. Now it smelt like overdressed teenage girls, but that was much better than must. 

"Excuse me," I heard a voice say and I spun around to see Alba sitting on the top bunk with her laptop.

"Sorry," I said shyly. "It smelt awful in here," I continued.

She laughed at me, "Chill Harry bear, just pulling your leg. When you sit in here too long you get nose blind so you're welcome to steal my scents any day." Her smile was warm. I suppose this was why she fit in with anyone, anywhere she went. She was simply pleasant. To me, intimidating but that meant that if she wanted to hang with me, I wouldn't dare to protest; not that she ever would.

"So what you doing?" I asked in an attempt to be friendly (and cool I guess). I gave the warmest smile I could find in my nervous heart. I felt sorry for her having to deal with somebody this socially deranged but at least the room spray masked my fearful odour.

"Homework. I bunked last period because I hadn't done it for the lesson. I'll tell them that my mental health is dying and it's better than a detention," she said. That was quite smart, I thought, but if her mental health ever did get bad for real, she would realise that she shouldn't have cried wolf. And it was more serious than she made it out to be. I tried to stop over analysing; I felt guilty about my thoughts, at least she was trying to get work done.

She got down from her bed, laptop in hand and brushed past me to open the door. "I'll leave you to it," she smiled.

As soon as she left, I quickly freshened up. I changed into different clothes, washed my face and put on deodorant and body spray, feeling clean made me much more content already.

Then Evelyn came in, my prayers were answered! I couldn't wait to just cuddle, talk and maybe even cry together. I wish I could've just instantly fixed all of her troubles but talking calmly was still something. She met me with a soft eye and I gave her a gentle smile with warm undertones. 

But then her eyes seemed deeper, harsher and more complex. She quickly gulped in several breaths like they were her last. And then she spoke.

"I made the poster," she said.