chap1

benedict scott was on his way to freedom or profound failure or if the usual order of things held up, both two chests strapped closed and marked for delivery to an apartment inmanhattan sat at the end of his bed on his person he needed only his typewriter slung over his shoulder in a battered case hed stuffed the case with socks to cushion any dinging along with his shaving kit a worn copy of middlemarch and thirtyfour pages of typed future in the other bed his roomate snored like a calvary crossing a bridge last year benedick had heard his ungodly slumber three doors down which was why hed ask for him personally as a roomate this year and had been hailed as a martyr by the other boys for a finnal time benedick lifted his mattress and procured the old sheet rope he tied it snugly to the bedpost and let it drop out his open window luckily chapman hall was at the back of school property and his room on the thid floor faced the poorly tended outer wall far from the reach of professional eyes underthe shadow of a sycamore tree the orange glow of a cigarette flickered in and out of darkness catching the edge of a jaw then a gloved fingertip as someone tucked it still smoking behind his ear benedick gripped the windowsill last chance a faraway voice said that sounded an awful lot like hos fathr last chance to stick with the gded lot of life has seen fit to hand you benedick checked his pocket watch hlf past three not for all the bourbon in all the bathtubs in all of brooklyn he slipped out of his window with the ease of a ritual many times repeated and ascended hand over hand toes digging into the grooves of worn brick he passed the second floor window and nearly fell the rest of the way down when he heard a voice why am i not surprised? claude blainee learned out is window arms crossed over the sill his eyes gleamed in the darkness go back to bed blaine benedick muttered adjusting the shoulder strap of his typewriter case i figured when you werent celebrating with the rest of us youd be passing through later claude inhaled a quick breathe gazing past benedick to the sycamore tree is that he lowered his voice meeting benedick's eyes againcomic gravity a bootlelegger? benedick sighed claude blaine was one of stony creeke academy finest the sort of student who glowed admired by the boys and all the girls crazy over him his family lived in london and his ancestores were half royal or something the type that had nly ever been rich whose wealth sank back so many generatiions their bones were practically diamonds the type benedick found utterly uninnteresting and posiibly contagios he continued down the makeshift rope without answering claude wasnt a snitch atleast in the many times hed caught benedick passing by his window hed never uttered a word to get him in trouble the rope grew tatut with extra weight and benedick's head snapped p calude already dressed was climbing down after him what benedick whispered do you think youre doing the grin claude shot down at him sparkled the sheet started to tear benedick swore and hurried down clearin the ast window but not fast enough with a doomedripping sound the fabric rent apart he swung his typewriter up to his chest to hug protectively as he fell and slid on the dewy grass his back hit the ground with a ung flattening thud claude landed on his feet with barely a stumble the bastard the sheet rope dropping around his shoulders like a fashionable scarf with a breathless laugh he whisered kucky we werent at the top benedick s seethed in silence and he was pretty sure hed heard a smothered laugh from the direction of the tree when he'd got his breath he pushed to his feet ignoring caludes offered hand calude leaned in so were going to speakeasy is that benedick clamped a hand over calides mouth his eyes went meaningfully t the window at the far corner and he mouth winsotn the head boy of champan all a bluenose as dry as the nobody desert had been palced there precisely because it ws the easiset dorm to slip out of benedick released calude and pointed to the sycamore tree calude nodded they arived under rustling leaves and prince detached from the darkness a weight rolled off ebnedick at the sight of him his face was shadowed but benedick recognized his expression nonetheless what fresh nonsense is this hello prince said taking photos and the cigarette from his ear with the polite poise of a king who are you calude absobed prince with wonder calude blaine classmate of ben held out a hand prince glaned briefly at benedick with only a trace of amusement at claudes posh accent benedick cleared his throat they had to lose fancy pants and in the dark prince cut a dangerous silhouette depending on what peince had been doing