MASTERMIND | Jamie Tartt

THREE: EVERYBODY LOVES ME

"Do you think it's bad that I'm a nepo-sibling?" Billie asked Madison, her other best friend and housemate, as she placed her half full mug of hot chocolate on the kitchen counter.

The early morning sun slipped through the open windows into the small space that the friends shared. It was the small sliver of time before they all dispersed for work that they could actually talk. Alfie had already left, given that he had to commute into The Guardian's London office for a meeting before coming back to Richmond for Coach Lasso's press conference. But Billie had roughly ten minutes with Madison before her best friend would leave for a day of work at the local secondary school teaching history.

"You didn't choose to be Roy Kent's sister, Bils," Madison assured her as she held onto her mug of coffee, "And you've been working so hard applying to all those other jobs, you deserve this opportunity."

"The people in my Instagram comments wouldn't agree," Billie sighed, the surge of messages from strangers on social media only reinforced her doubt about whether or not she deserved the job.

"What do you mean?" Madison asked, even though she had an idea of what Billie was getting at.

"People have found out about the job and they're telling me I don't deserve it," Billie admitted, glancing down at her phone. As a result of being Roy Kent's younger sister she had about eighty thousand followers, most of whom craved the opportunity for extra access to Roy Kent's private life. But along with those fans came the misogynists and the jealous wannabe wags, so everytime someone would leave a comment of criticism Billie just saw them as people who hated her.

"Give me your phone," Madison held out her hand with the same stern integrity she'd have if one of her students was looking at something they shouldn't be.

"Fine," Billie huffed, handing over her phone.

Madison typed in the girl's phone password, as they both knew each others. Her home screen flashed up which was black and white photobooth pictures of her and Phoebe from a day trip to Brighton. She opened the Instagram app and when straight for settings, not bothering to read the comments, knowing how vile they could be. She changed the comment permissions before handing the phone back.

"Now the only notifications you'll see will be from the people who you follow back, so just friends and family," Madison assured her, "And get off Twitter, it'll rot your brain."

"But I have to be on it for work," Billie sighed in defeat.

"So just use the club's account, all you'll do is doom scroll, you've got too much going for you to just live in your phone," Madison insisted, "You've got a fit boyfriend, an incredible job, a family that love you, focus on that and not what strangers on the internet think about you."

Madison didn't necessarily approve of her best friend's relationship. In fact she despised Bradley Barker, he had cheated on Billie multiple times, everyone knew it, but Madison knew her best friend better than anyone else, she knew it was complicated. She knew that Billie could see it too, which is what hurt the most, watching her best friend be with a man like that, believing that she deserved to be treated like that. But she knew that to keep Billie close she couldn't say a thing until Billie came to her. She best likened it to someone with a dairy intolerance, they'll eat the dairy knowing it's bad for them, and they'll keep going back to it because they enjoy the feeling of the moment. But then they wake up with a gutteral pain, laced with regret but a craving for what put them there in the first place, and the cycle continues.

"Speaking of work, I should hop to it, we've got a press conference and I want to get some content prepped ahead of the match," Billie explained, finishing her hot chocolate and discarding the mug beside the sink, "Thank you for the pep talk, Madds."