The Declaration

involved leaving the dormitory or saying something to House Matron then you know that’s not allowed.’
    Tania smiled icily. ‘I just asked her to say something, that’s all. And she won’t do it. So until she does, the game isn’t ending. OK?’
    ‘Say something?’ Anna asked uncertainly. ‘Is that all?’
    She looked at Sheila. ‘Sheila, come on. Just say it. Whatever it is.’
    Sheila shook her head. Her face was white with fury or fear – Anna couldn’t tell which.
    ‘What did you ask her to say?’ she asked Tania.
    ‘I told her to tell me that she hates her parents. That her parents are criminal scum and that they deserve to die,’ Tania said triumphantly.
    ‘I’ll never say it,’ Sheila said softly. ‘I don’t care what you do to me, I won’t say it.’
    ‘You have to say it,’ Tania said angrily. ‘I am your master. You have to do as I tell you, otherwise we are all going to beat you. And if you still won’t say it, then I’ll tell House Matron you don’t Know Your Place.’
    As Anna watched Sheila standing bravely before Tania, her little back stiff and her eyelashes heavy with salty tears, she found herself thinking of Peter, hearing his words echoing around her head: ‘Your parents love you, Anna Covey. They love you.’
    Then she braced herself. ‘Sheila, you have to say it,’ she said flatly. ‘It’s true, after all.’
    Sheila’s eyes narrowed and she shook her head fiercely. ‘It isn’t true,’ she said in a low voice. ‘And I won’t say it.’
    Tania was getting red in the face. ‘She will bend to my authority,’ she said hotly. ‘I am her master now. She will do whatever I tell her to.’
    ‘You are not my master,’ Sheila said suddenly. ‘No one is my master. I’m not a Surplus. My parents love me and I’m Legal, and I hate you. I hate you all.’
    Tania stared at her, her mouth wide open, then she drew her hand back and slapped her hard around the face again. Then she pushed Sheila to the floor and started to kick her.
    ‘You do not talk to your master like that,’ she screamed. ‘You will learn some respect. You are a Surplus, Sheila. Do you hear? You are scum. You don’t deserve to breathe the same air as me. You don’t deserve to be in the same room as me. You’re scum, Sheila, you’re worthless.’ Tania looked around, her eyes flashing. ‘You’re all worthless,’ she said angrily. ‘You’re all scum. All of you.’
    Charlotte, a short, stocky Pending who slept in the next but one bed to Anna, muscled forward at this point.
    ‘If anyone’s scum, you are,’ she said, folding her arms and looking at Tania menacingly. ‘You can’t even cook properly. You’re scum and useless and no one’s ever going to want to employ you and you’re going to end up being put down because there won’t be anything else to do with you.’
    ‘I can cook,’ Tania said, drawing herself up to her full height and taking her eyes off Sheila to glare at Charlotte. ‘And I can sew better than you too. No one will want to employ you because you’re too ugly to have in a nice house. No one would want to look at you all day, even if you learn Decorum and make yourself invisible. You’ll still be ugly.’
    Anna glanced to the floor and watched Sheila inch away from Tania, wincing slightly from the pain, but her face still defiant. Charlotte wasn’t inching anywhere, though. Instead, she hurled herself at Tania, grabbing her by the hair and forcing her to the ground.
    ‘Useless . . . little . . . Surplus,’ she spat as she slapped Tania around the face. Tania wriggled on to her side and managed to aim a kick at Charlotte, who fell away, crying out with the pain. But before Tania could get up, Sheila appeared from nowhere, hurling herself on to Tania and punching her with little fists.
    ‘Stop,’ screamed Anna fiercely. ‘The game is over. It’s time for bed.’
    ‘I don’t want to go to bed,’ Charlotte said, looking Anna directly in the eye. ‘I don’t feel like it.’
    Anna’s eyes narrowed. ‘Surplus Charlotte, Know Your Place,’ she growled. ‘I say it’s time for bed, and you will do as I say.’
    Tania pushed Sheila off her and stood up. ‘And what if we don’t?’ she asked, her voice challenging. ‘Then what?’
    ‘Then you’ll be punished,’ Anna said fiercely. ‘I am a Prefect.’
    ‘I am a Prefect,’ Tania mocked, and a couple of the Surpluses laughed. ‘Well, Prefects have to Learn Their Place too,’ she said, pulling