Page 158 of How We Began

(4.30 p.m.)

“Can I help, Delilah?”

Ben stood by my desk/cupboard watching my frantic searching.

“I don’t know. Can you?” I replied, eyeing him suspiciously.

“Well, unlike you, I’ve actually been listening in class. And fortunately for you, I’m more than willing to share.”

Normally, Ben = no study.

But then I was pretty desperate.

“Okay, then. What do I need to know?” I asked, budging over to make room for him.

He settled in beside me and we spent three hours straight going through his notes and finding other reference books to expand our knowledge. Now if I’d done this from the beginning of term instead of just stalking Ben, I wouldn’t be in this position right now.

“Thank you,” I said, after a while.

“You’re most welcome, Lilah. I’ll miss this.”

His blues caught the late-afternoon sun.

“So will I,” I whispered back but then I shook off my melancholy. “Hey, at least in the exam I’ll be able to have a peep over at you and catch some clues.”

He said nothing.

“Ben, won’t I?”

“Lilah, I am leaving that day, so I’m going to be taking the exam separately, on Friday. Normally they wouldn’t let me see anyone on campus afterwards, but because of Sound Box playing at the ball they are relaxing the rule.”

I couldn’t take it in. My brain shut down at the bit when he said he would not be there at the last exam.

“I can’t believe you won’t be there.”

“I know.”

That was all he had to say.

We sat and finished up our work, and I tried very hard not to concentrate on the final countdown.

15th June

I’m thinking about my book. It’s important that I get the blue just right so that everyone reading it will know exactly what I am trying to describe.

I’m scared that I’ll forget. I won’t, will I?

Surely it’s not possible to forget that shade of perfection. I don’t know. Then I remembered my ring and the pendant nestled at the base of my throat and I know I won’t, not until I pass them on myself.

One day I’ll just have to sit outside on a sunny day and wait for the sky to change to the colour that I most want to see.

(2.47 p.m.)

“Lilah, quick, quick! Come outside!”

Ben grinned at me like crazy as he barged into my room and started to haul me out of my desk chair.

“What on earth are you doing?”