Catastrophic Bliss (On Hold)

Introduction: Alia

Thanks to @credulously for the amazing new cover :)

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Compared to the Hatfield family, the Jacobsen family was on the opposite end of the scale. Kate and her daughter Alia lived in a two bedroom flat that lived halfway up a block of flats which was placed in a forest of blocks of flats. The pair lived quite comfortably together with Alia finishing school and Kate working as a receptionist at the hospital. When Kate had come over from India when she was eighteen, she had stayed with a friend until she met Alia's father. They had moved into the flat Kate and Alia lived in now after a year of dating and after a few months of living there, Kate became pregnant with Alia. When Alia's father found out, he disappeared and Kate had never seen him since. But that hadn't stopped Kate from getting on with her life and bringing up Alia by herself.

At this current moment in time, Alia was just coming to the end of her shift at the mini supermarket, a ten minutes' walk from her home. The shop was currently empty aside from the workers, two of her friends and an old couple walking round. Alia was leaning against the counter, listening to her friends talk. Zoe and Grace had decided to stand next to the till and wait for Alia to finish work seen as they were meeting up anyway. "How much longer do we have to stand here?" Grace asked.

"You don't have to stand here at all." Alia answered, tightening her ponytail.

"It feels like we've been here hours."

"You got here ten minutes ago." Alia said. "And you didn't even have to come meet me here, I could have met you there." 'There' was the three girls' local hang out – Spill the Beans, a local coffee shop at which Grace worked. Grace had come over from Zimbabwe when she was seven and her family had gone back for holidays twice since. Zoe and Alia had often wished they could have gone with them but neither of them could afford to go. Zoe's family came from Germany and she herself had been born there. They'd come over to England when she was two and had never been back.

"But we want to talk to you!" Zoe said.

"You get to talk to me for hours after this." Alia rolled her eyes. "Now shift, I have a job to do." Grace and Zoe moved out the way as the old couple approached the counter.

Seven minutes later Alia met Zoe and Grace outside and the three set off towards Spill the Beans. "Mum wants to take us back to Zimbabwe this summer to visit my uncle." Grace announced as they turned a corner.

"So you won't be here?" Zoe asked.

"No, thank goodness. British summer is so terrible."

"It's not that bad." Alia argued.

"Whatever you say." Grace waved the argument away with her hand. "You're staying for my shift, aren't you?"

"For a couple of hours, then I have to get back." Alia said, pulling her hair out of its ponytail.

"I'll stay with you," Zoe promised.

"That is why Zoe is my better friend." Grace said with a smile.

"Hey!" Alia said, pretending to hurt.

"We love you really, Lia." Zoe said, putting an arm around Alia's shoulder.

Spill the Beans could make the claim that it was the place that built the trio's friendship. Zoe and Alia, who had been friends since they were little, had decided to check out the then-new coffee shop which their attention had been brought to after seeing an advert for jobs available at a place called Spill the Beans. Intrigued, the two girls had approached it once it was open and had been welcomed with open arms. Grace had been working there since its opening and had been the one to serve them for the first time. Through their regular meetings as customers and worker, the pair discovered details about this friendly waitress and soon they were to include her in their friendship group. This had been when they were fourteen and four years later, the trio's friendship was still going strong. Despite the fact that the three of them were pretty much going to be separated for the next few years with Zoe going to uni, Grace thinking of applying for a sort of apprenticeship with her uncle over in Zimbabwe and Alia staying put in London, the three of them had promised that they'd keep in touch every day.