"Look at it! It's so beautiful!" Belinda cried excitedly as she gazed out the train window at the verdant countryside passing by.

"It's just farmland," Amber said scornfully. "Full of animals and peasants."

"I love animals," Belinda said defensively. "Look at the horses!"

"Oh be quiet, you sound like a little kid," Cassie snapped. "It's bad enough we're sent out to the middle of nowhere to a convent school without you bleating every time you see something with four legs."

Belinda pouted and sat back in her seat, continuing to stare out the window at the landscape. Her friends always treated her like she was the youngest, which she was even though there was only four months separating the six of them. Cassie and Amber particularly liked to act more worldly, hinting that they had more experience with life, and with sex than the others, and particularly more than Belinda. They teased her relentlessly, stopping just short of making her cry, and as her eighteenth birthday approached they told her that her party would be her "Becoming a Woman" celebration.

And that's what had led to all this. The parental recriminations, the authoritarian decision, the flight to Ireland and now this train trip across the country.

Belinda sighed, remembering what had happened, and wishing things had gone differently, even as she enjoyed the passing scenery.

The other five had planned it all. Danni's parents were away, so they used her house. They invited about two dozen people, and got food and alcohol stocked in. There was going to be music and dancing and some games, and some boys that they liked, and a guy called Rob that Belinda had a serious but secret crush on.

It was supposed to be fun. She hoped that Rob would dance with her, and maybe they could neck or maybe a little more than that. She wasn't ready for sex, but she could feel her body yearning for touches and kisses and Rob was so cute...

Things had gone very wrong.

More people came than were invited, and some people got very drunk and were sick and broke things. And some of the boys got more than a little grabby, and there were two fights. And Rob turned out to be interested in Wanda, and didn't care for Belinda at all. And Belinda had drank more than she should and started to cry, and Elsa and Danni were making out with two boys on the couch, both of them half stripped. And Belinda had been embarrassed and ran down the hall and burst into a bedroom where Amber and Cassie were on their knees in front of two boys and were sucking their cocks.

And in the middle of all that Danni's parents came home.

And the police were called. And all their parents were called. And every parent was yelling at them. And they were all drunk and some of them were crying, and they were all dragged home and told they were grounded.

And a week later there was another meeting and their parents told them that instead of going to college they were going to be sent to a convent school in Ireland for a year. And no matter how much they cried and begged and argued there was no moving the united front of parents. It was either the convent or no college and no allowance and go get some crappy job somewhere.

In the end they all surrendered. It was only a year, they said to themselves. It couldn't be all that bad.

Except that now, as they neared their destination and the reality began to set in they were all getting anxious and grouchy.

It was only a year, Belinda reminded herself. Only a year.

"I think we're finally here," Wanda said, as the train started to slow, and the outskirts of a small town appeared outside the window.

"Oh boy, I can't wait," Amber grumbled.

Ten minutes later they were standing on the platform of a small railway station, watching as their luggage was unloaded, and wondering what was next.

"You must be the girls I'm looking for," a youthful voice cried. "I'm Sister Mary, and I've come to gather you up."