would be to console her for the loss of the Presidency. Ladies simply had to learn not to bite offmore than they could chew. He looked at her again, unsure exactly what it was, but confident that Gilbert would be fine now.
w
He had a killer’s instinct for weakness.
Topaz Rossi was really trying hard to concentrate on the debate, but couldn’t. Rowena looked great and she’d cruise it. And if, by some disaster, she did say anything stupid now, or miss some chance to shred Gilbert, Friday’s Cherwel! would wrap it up for her.
Rowena tried to think her way through the lightness and fuzz in her brain. She tugged at the red silk wrap around her shoulders. Get it together, girl, get i’t together. She knew the drugs had sent her ten miles high.
She smiled at her friend, Richard Black, the Treasurer elect, who was sitting directly opposite her. He grinned tentatively back, but was making frantic gestures at his chest.
Rowena raised an eyebrow. What are you trying to say? Richard just kept on gesticulating. In the end, unable to work out his signals, she shrugged amiably and turned a contemptuous gaze on Docker.
Gilbert sat down to polite applause, punctuated by whoops from the Oriel contingent.
“Jack Harcourt, the President, got up to introduce Rowena. ‘And I’d like to thank the Secretary very much
indeed for that speech, and it now gives me great pleasure-‘ ‘Oh, Jesus, no,’ Chris said.
‘ - to call upon Rowena Gordon, Christ Church ‘
Other people were noticing it now. Murmurs and laughter started to bubble through the chamber.
‘ - Librarian, to come and oppose the motion.’
Rowena mustered a brilliant’ smile and got to her feet, making her way to the dispatch box.
For a moment there was a stunned silence. Then the chamber erupted into the loudest roar of cheers and applause Rowena had ever heard. She smiled, bewildered. Not even Gary Lineker had had this enthusiastic a reaction. People were yelling, smiling, drumming their feet on the floor. She smiled again. They were going insane.
Then she saw Gilbert’s smug grin and Chris’.s stricken
42
expression. Oh my God, she thought.
She glanced down at herself, and time seemed to freeze, and then pool like treacle.
Her strapless dress had slipped; the bodice was hanging down, useless, at the waist. She was standing semi-naked at the podium, displaying her breasts to the entire chamber.
Afraid she might faint, Rowena grabbed at her wrap and pulled it across her chest, clutching on to it for dear life. The cheers had by now turned into roars of laughter; a thousand students all clapping and whistling. Everybody on the Gordon slate just wanted to die. Of all the ways to lose an election…
In the gallery, Topaz, jolted out of her daydreams, had started to cry from shock and compassion.
Peter Kennedy was quietly beside himself. Those perfect little exposed breasts had given him a rock-solid erection.
Rowena stood frozen at the centre of the storm, paralysed like a rabbit in the glare of headlights. She felt hot tears prickling at the back of her eyes, nausea welling in her throat. She would never live this down as long as she stayed at Oxford.
The cheering went on and on.
Why don’t they shut up? Rowena screamed silently. What are they waiting for? Then she realized. They were waiting for her to burst into the inevitable tears and run from the chamber. She looked at Gilbert Docker, who shot her a triumphant smile of pure malice. Something inside her snapped back into place. Still clutching at her wrap with her left hand, she raised her right hand for quiet, and, surprised, the audience shut up.
Rowena waited until she had tbtal silence, and then she smiled. ‘Well, Mr President,’ she said in a loud, clear voice, ‘there’s only one lesson to be learnt from what just happened - and that is that the Proposition should watch themselves.’
She took a step forward. All eyes were now fixed on her. ‘Be warned,’ she went
w
He had a killer’s instinct for weakness.
Topaz Rossi was really trying hard to concentrate on the debate, but couldn’t. Rowena looked great and she’d cruise it. And if, by some disaster, she did say anything stupid now, or miss some chance to shred Gilbert, Friday’s Cherwel! would wrap it up for her.
Rowena tried to think her way through the lightness and fuzz in her brain. She tugged at the red silk wrap around her shoulders. Get it together, girl, get i’t together. She knew the drugs had sent her ten miles high.
She smiled at her friend, Richard Black, the Treasurer elect, who was sitting directly opposite her. He grinned tentatively back, but was making frantic gestures at his chest.
Rowena raised an eyebrow. What are you trying to say? Richard just kept on gesticulating. In the end, unable to work out his signals, she shrugged amiably and turned a contemptuous gaze on Docker.
Gilbert sat down to polite applause, punctuated by whoops from the Oriel contingent.
“Jack Harcourt, the President, got up to introduce Rowena. ‘And I’d like to thank the Secretary very much
indeed for that speech, and it now gives me great pleasure-‘ ‘Oh, Jesus, no,’ Chris said.
‘ - to call upon Rowena Gordon, Christ Church ‘
Other people were noticing it now. Murmurs and laughter started to bubble through the chamber.
‘ - Librarian, to come and oppose the motion.’
Rowena mustered a brilliant’ smile and got to her feet, making her way to the dispatch box.
For a moment there was a stunned silence. Then the chamber erupted into the loudest roar of cheers and applause Rowena had ever heard. She smiled, bewildered. Not even Gary Lineker had had this enthusiastic a reaction. People were yelling, smiling, drumming their feet on the floor. She smiled again. They were going insane.
Then she saw Gilbert’s smug grin and Chris’.s stricken
42
expression. Oh my God, she thought.
She glanced down at herself, and time seemed to freeze, and then pool like treacle.
Her strapless dress had slipped; the bodice was hanging down, useless, at the waist. She was standing semi-naked at the podium, displaying her breasts to the entire chamber.
Afraid she might faint, Rowena grabbed at her wrap and pulled it across her chest, clutching on to it for dear life. The cheers had by now turned into roars of laughter; a thousand students all clapping and whistling. Everybody on the Gordon slate just wanted to die. Of all the ways to lose an election…
In the gallery, Topaz, jolted out of her daydreams, had started to cry from shock and compassion.
Peter Kennedy was quietly beside himself. Those perfect little exposed breasts had given him a rock-solid erection.
Rowena stood frozen at the centre of the storm, paralysed like a rabbit in the glare of headlights. She felt hot tears prickling at the back of her eyes, nausea welling in her throat. She would never live this down as long as she stayed at Oxford.
The cheering went on and on.
Why don’t they shut up? Rowena screamed silently. What are they waiting for? Then she realized. They were waiting for her to burst into the inevitable tears and run from the chamber. She looked at Gilbert Docker, who shot her a triumphant smile of pure malice. Something inside her snapped back into place. Still clutching at her wrap with her left hand, she raised her right hand for quiet, and, surprised, the audience shut up.
Rowena waited until she had tbtal silence, and then she smiled. ‘Well, Mr President,’ she said in a loud, clear voice, ‘there’s only one lesson to be learnt from what just happened - and that is that the Proposition should watch themselves.’
She took a step forward. All eyes were now fixed on her. ‘Be warned,’ she went
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