Sun Kissed [ON HOLD]

3: Sun Kissed

Oh my god I was so busy over Fresher's Week I mean I just didn't have time to upload, I'm so sorry guys! (I don't mean busy as in 'I was constantly drunk/hungover' I mean busy as in hanging out with my flat and trying out the taster sessions for societies, haha!) But uni is brilliant so far, and I had my first lecture today (one hour at 2pm, nice start to a Monday!)  and all my flatmates are brilliant, I already love it here!

So... Chapter three! Hope you guys like it - Avery's first day on the job!

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Thursday 27th June

Day Three

7:12am

“Wakey-wakey!” Jillian throws open my curtains and I groan in protest as light streams into my bedroom. I throw the covers up over my head to block it out. “Rise and shine.”

            How can she be so… so chipper, this early in the morning? It’s crazy!

            She claps her hands and then yanks the covers away. It’s already warm, I notice, and I grumble incoherently.

            “Come on, lazy. I’ll get you some breakfast ready – so get dressed and then come to the kitchen and eat. You start at eight.”

            “This is inhumane.”

            “No, this is life.”

            So I get dressed – a pair of black linen shorts that hit my legs mid-thigh, and a plain white camisole. I scrape my hair back into a ponytail and then assess my appearance in the mirror that’s fixed to the back of the closet door. I look smart enough, I think. My honey-colored hair has gone wavy, where I left it damp the night before. And the zit that took up practically my entire forehead seems to have shrunk and disappeared overnight. Thank God.

            I slap on some mascara, but don’t bother with any other makeup. What’s the point? In this heat, it’s only going to melt off anyway.

            I put on some black sandals and go into the kitchen, where Jillian is dishing out oatmeal. There’s also a bowl of chopped strawberries and banana slices, so when Jillian hands me my bowl, I toss some fruit in with it.

            “How are you so awake this time of the morning?” I ask Jillian, amazed. I still feel sluggish and bleary-eyed; she seems bursting with energy.

            She just shrugs in response and starts humming cheerfully. Laughing, I leave her to it, and down a mug of ice-cold orange juice, which wakes me up considerably. Fifteen minutes or so later, when we’re both ready to go, I head toward the passenger door of Jillian’s car.

            “Whoa, where are you going?” I call after her, seeing that she’s at the end of the drive, and not about to get into the car.

            “You didn’t think we were driving there, did you?”

            My mouth falls open, and my lips start to move, but no words come out. She’s kidding, right? It’s already hot and sticky; and the walk is mostly uphill – Jillian’s villa is set out on a bit of a cliff, very near the sea. The main town, however, is uphill and I’m not sure I can even see it from here.

            “It’s only a twenty minute walk,” Jillian says brightly. I groan, but trip after her. She even walks with a spring in her step. I don’t think I’ve had a spring in my step since the first day of freshman year of high school – and that quickly disappeared when my new-season Calvin Klein jacket was shot down by Cassidy Richman, the It Girl of my grade, for being ‘so last season’.