Lorna, Alice, Amber, Bonnie and Hanna were all sitting on the other beds whispering so loudly it was really talking with a lot of breathing behind it, and telling each other to ‘shhh’ or they’d wake me. I told them it was too late for that and suddenly had a crowd of concerned faces around me. Apparently the story of the ‘cottage accident’ travelled around the place faster than it took for the catering truck to run out of pancakes. In their version of it poor, brave Lemony is regaining the use of her addled mind (while also in the throes of double pneumonia), while tragic Stephen’s skull is hanging on by a thin piece of string. No matter how many times I told them I was fine and that I was up and about all day yesterday they wouldn’t let me out of bed. Full-force caring. I feel sorry for the world if any of them go into medicine after school, they’d end up being the kind of surgeons who would amputate your stomach if it rumbled. Miss Higgins called in and said that the extras wouldn’t be needed for a couple of hours so the girls set up camp around my bed.
