Chapter Five…
The same man who was intruding in my house earlier, was now stood before me, his face looking almost smug as he smiled politely at me. “How can I help you?” I spoke my line.
“Hello, I’d like to book an appointment please.” He told me, acting oblivious to the fact he had been invading my home this morning and I was still insanely curious to know who he was.
I smiled tightly. “Of course. What date and time did you have in mind?” I asked, sticking to the script Lydia had run by me.
He put a hand up to scratch his hair, which was apparently what he had come in here for. “Do you have anything next week, between 2 and 3?” He inquired, still perfecting the act of innocence.
I flicked through the pages that marked out next week’s appointment schedule. All the spaces that he had asked about were taken and I shook my head. “No, I’m afraid all those times are filled, would you like me to check for next week? Or a different time?” I premeditated his next questions.
“No, it’s okay. I’m busy at any other time. I guess I’ll try somewhere else.” He stated, before turning to leave.
I gave the back of his head an aghast look and tried desperately to resist the urge to call him back again. Unfortunately, my willpower wasn’t very strong and I ended up shouting for him to come back. It wasn’t very loud because I didn’t want to alert Georgina that I was more than likely about to speak to a customer in a less than friendly manner.
He strolled back over to the desk confidently and smiled at me. “How can I help you?” He imitated, mocking what I had said to him earlier.
“Who are you?” I demanded, not bothering with the pointless formalities anymore. “What were you doing in my house earlier?”
He shot me an amused smirk. “It’s not my place to tell. Have you blasted your mum with inquiries yet?”
“Of course. She won’t tell me anything, so now I’m asking you.” I informed him.
He just shrugged. “I’m not telling you anything.” Then he turned around and exited the shop.
I swore under my breath. I was never going to find out anything going about it this way. Everyone just ignored me or took the piss when I tried to ask questions. I gave the door one more venomous look before slouching back down in the chair I was perched on. I was no longer in the mood to anything but sulk about how unfair everything in my life seemed to be. The only positive currently was that I had a car, and I was sat here, bored to death, instead of using it.
It was about four now and I wasn’t sure what time they closed. Most of the appointments in the book didn’t exceed five thirty, but knowing my luck, today would be overbooked to about seven.
I noticed the little old lady, who’s hair Lydia had cut, toddle over to me, purse in hand. I smiled politely at her as she fumbled around in it. Scanning quickly over the book, I picked out her name and how much she would be paying me, before looking back to wear she was still fiddling with her purse.
She handed me some money and I continued to keep my polite face on. “Thank you Sheila.” I told her, taking the cash and quickly working out her change mentally. These places always seemed to have funny amounts, like 59p rather than 50p. It didn’t pose any problem to me though and I handed her the correct amount of change.
“Such a clever young thing you are.” She cooed. “There always using calculators, young’un’s these days. You must have an excellent maths teacher.” She stated truthfully.
I smiled ruefully. “I do have a great maths teacher.” I mused.
Sheila gave me a knowing look. “Someone has a crush!” She announced, rather loudly at that.
I blushed, but denied it vehemently. “Of course not.” I told her, suddenly grateful she was about to leave. She chuckled slightly and then exited, allowing me breath a sigh of relief. I hated being questioned about things that I had to deny even though they were incredibly true.
Lydia sent me a puzzled look. “What was that all about? All I heard was you denying something to the hilt.” She inquired.
I shook my head, telling her it wasn’t important. “She was just saying that it’s nice to see me using my head instead of a calculator.” I shortened.
She didn’t look convinced, but dropped it like I’d hoped she would. “You’ve got the job.” She told me happily. “The days nearly finished and Georgina says she’s pleased with how you’ve done and stuck to the job rather than dawdling or texting or anything. You just need to go and discuss with her what your schedule will be, then you can leave.”
“I can’t thank you enough for doing this for me Lydia.” I told her honestly. Without this job opportunity I would have been sat at home, scanning newspapers for a job I could do with my lack of qualifications at the age of 17.
She just smiled. “It’s no hassle. You seem like a lovely person and Matt and Jordan obvious speak highly of you. I’m glad to have gotten you the job.”
So after discussing my shifts with Georgina for a further fifteen minutes, I was finally driving the steady journey back to my house. We had decided I would work everyday apart from Sundays and Thursdays, I would be working Saturday, but not all day, just the morning. After school I would work most days for about two and a half hours, because that’s how long the salon was open for. We had worked out my pay, well, I had worked out how much I would be getting and it was more than enough to finance my car. I was in an overall cheery mood now and couldn’t wait to just get home and relax.
Of course, relaxing meant that I had free time, and free time led to contemplating all the problems in my life at the moment. Jord was rarely not on my mind, so having him present wasn’t really surprising, mystery man was however.
I still had no better idea of who he was and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to. If they were so keen to keep his identity a secret to me, then there must be a reason behind it. That knowledge didn’t damper my curiosity however and I still needed to know who he was.
When I got in, it had just turned five o’clock and I decided it was time for me to eat. I hadn’t had anything to eat since my bacon sandwich and so my stomach was rumbling unattractively.
My mum had long vacated the property, so I was back to being alone like I was used to. I lounged in front of the TV to eat my meal and became dreary quickly. Before I knew it, I’d headed upstairs and fallen to sleep, safe in the comfort of my own bed - it was still nothing compared to falling asleep in Jord’s embrace though.
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When Monday morning came, I was in the mood to go to school for a change. My attitude had changed immensely towards school in the recent months. Since our ‘friends’ decision and the dying down of drama, the only time I had seen Jord was in school - but that was as Mr. Armstrong. Nevertheless, it didn’t stop the fact that it was the only time I would see him spurring me on in the mornings.
Other to that main reason, since I had changed my ways and began showing my potential in all my subjects, school had become more enjoyable. It was nice to actually do the work and not hold back because of the fear of being called a nerd. Of course, people had resorted to calling both Grace and I ‘geeks’, but it didn’t bother me when I had someone to endure it with me. That sounds incredibly selfish, but Grace had been condemned to the fate of class nerd before I’d retreated back to my old personality.
My grin widened even more when I realised this would be another opportunity to drive my beloved car. I hadn’t ended up telling Grace about my vehicle, so she was in for a shock when I pulled up outside school.
After the, considerably shorter than walking, drive, I pulled up in the space Matt usually dropped me off in, causing Grace, who was sat on a bench beside me, the gape incredulously.
I got out of the car and waited for her to say it. “You got a car!” She cried, her smile covering most of her face. “It’s amazing!” She announced, her eyes raking over the entire thing.
I knew she was just saying that. Grace was loaded and this piece of rubbish wouldn’t seem appealing to her in a million years. She was genuinely happy for though, which is why she’d said it. She would never rub her wealth in my face and didn’t even drive her car to school but walked instead.
“I know!” I replied, just as happily. “And I got a job.” I informed her.
Her mouth, if possible, got even lower as she continued to gawk at me. “Since when? I didn’t even know you wanted a job.”
I laughed. “I didn’t. My parents said that I had to pay for the fuel and insurance when it runs out, so I decided I needed some form of income. Matt’s next door neighbour, so to speak, said I could work at her salon, so I start tonight.” I relayed the weekend’s activities to her.
“When did you go to Matt’s house? You’ve never mentioned being at his house before.” She queried, not accusingly, just curiously. Grace was used to me not giving the whole truth, so she was just seeing what she could get away with asking.
“I drove to Jord’s first and then I gave him a lift to Matt’s. Someone else in his apartment block, Lydia, came around and whilst we were deliberating which jobs I could get, she said there was a vacancy where she worked and offered it me. I went in yesterday and sorted out my schedule.” I told her honestly. She knew me and Jord were friends and had at one point been suspicious of something between us, but after things had settled down, I’m pretty sure she forgot all about it. We hadn’t spoken enough to raise her suspicions again.
“I didn’t know you still spoke to Mr. Armstrong that much.” Grace mused.
I laughed. “I don’t. I’ve spoken to him about four times outside of our maths lessons. It was just the first place I thought of when I could drive anywhere. Plus, I needed to tell Matt and Jord’s the only one I knew who knew where he’d live.” For some reason I felt the need to defend my reasons for talking to Jord, because I’d had some ulterior motive, when really I just loved having a conversation with him. I didn’t know if she picked up on it, but I hoped she didn’t.
“That makes sense. So what’s this Lydia person like? You’ve never mentioned her before.” Grace asked, continuing our conversation.
I laughed. “That’s because I’ve never met her before. I think her and Matt like each other though, it’s kind of cute. She studied law at Derby university, but she can’t find a job in it at the moment. That’s why she’s working at the salon.” I explained.
Grace’s face brightened. “Law? That’s exactly what I want to do at university!” She stated, awe clear in her eyes.
I laughed. “You’ve already had experience with fake cases and lots of lies.” I joked, causing her to laugh.
“Somehow I don’t think I’d ever actually mention that though.” She teased back, making me laugh. “Seriously though, I’d love to ask her some questions about it one day. It’d be nice to know what’s involved and whether it’s hard or not.” She claimed giddily.
I grinned and we headed off for first lesson. I got the feeling that the near future was going to be more eventful than I had anticipated.
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SORRY I DIDN'T UPLOAD YESTERDAY.
I was pretty busy and didn't find the time to upload yesterday, I apologise prefusely.
I still hope this chapter is alright and I got in to the 200's on the What's Hot! List with the last chapter :')
Thanks to the new fans and old ones, it's much appreciated. Hope you enjoy this :')