Tutoring my Rival Boy novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Couch

The storm came on Thursday night.

Chris was on the lake path at two in the morning when the rain started, light at first and then in sheets.

He ran the last hundred yards to the shed with his bag over his head.

Inside the loft, the sound of the rain on the roof was gravel.

He climbed in, turned on the space heater, and sat with his back against the wall.

For ten minutes it was almost nice.

Then a cold drop hit his forehead.

Another landed on the sleeping bag.

He looked up and saw the boot-shaped stain on the ceiling go dark, bulge, and begin to drip steadily on the rowing mat.

He moved the mat.

A new leak opened over the window.

He moved his bag.

A third one came down on the heater itself, and the heater hissed and cut out.

Chris stood very still in the dark, in the middle of the loft, with water running down the back of his neck.

"Great," he said to nobody.

He packed his bag.

He rolled the sleeping bag in the borrowed coat and carried it down the ladder.

Outside, the rain hit him.

By the time he reached the main path, he was soaked to the bone and shaking.

Fenn House was a hundred yards away.

But if he walked in at three in the morning, the prefect would see the wet clothes and the sleeping bag.

Ashgrove Hall was closer.

He stood under the stone arch of its front door, dripping, for a full minute.

Then he swiped his card, climbed the stairs, and knocked on room nine.

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