2
I ran to the area steps and tiptoed down them.
"Mrs Briskett, Sarah?" I called in a whisper. I saw Mrs Briskett eating at the table. "Mrs Briskett!"
I ran to her and hugged her, sobbing into her dress. "Hetty, whatever is the matter?"
"It's....Bertie!" I gasped between sobs.
"What?" she gasped then realised. "Oh, you mean because he was out with Rose-May." I nodded.
"Hide in the pantry, they'll be home soon!" she opened the door and closed it, giving me a couple of candles and matches.
I heard the door burst open, and people laughing. I heard Mrs B's voice.
"Have a good time?"
"Yeah!" A cockney voice. Bertie.
"Bertie, why are your eyes all red?"
I pressed my ear against the locked door to hear Bertie's answer.
"Um...I was having such a good time, and I just started crying." he laughed - the laugh that had made me fall in love with him.
I sighed, slipping down the pantry door.
Rose-May's voice piped up. "Oh, Mrs B! There seems to be a rat or a mouse in the Pantry! I'll get it."
"No!" Mrs Briskett gasped. "I mean, I'll take care of it."
She opened the door with them looking and then closed it when she was inside.
"Oh, Hetty!" She cried, wrapping her arms round me.
I felt I was deteriorating. The only reason I had came back was to see Bertie. It seemed when one girl left, he moved onto the next.
I was falling apart.
"Mrs B?" Bertie called. "Is everything alright? Want a hand?" He opened the door to her kneeling across from me, and me leaning against a shelf crying my heart out.
"Hetty!" he fell to the floor and pulled my onto his lap. I wriggled, trying to get away from him, but he wasn't having any of it.
Eventually, I gave in. I curled into his jacket and cried. "Shh." he whispered in his cockney accent, stroking my hair. It just made me sob harder.
"Hetty, It's okay!" he laughed. "I'm here!"
Suddenly, I remembered why I was upset. I pushed him away, knocking him over. "Hetty..." he gasped, picking himself up.
"You!" I screamed, launching myself at him. "You broke my heart and you expect me to be okay? You must die!"
He grabbed my fists as I tried to pummel him. "Hetty, calm down!" He panted, struggling to keep hold of me. "What are you even on about?" his cockney voice made me want to cry again.
"I came to surprise you." I looked away from him, then turned back, my face in a look of pure anger. "And I walked along the river and I saw you. With her!"
He looked confused, then he remembered our meeting at the riverside. "Hetty, I love you."
"Oh, right then!" I exclaimed sarcastically. "So, when I came last summer, and she was saying you had promised to make her a hat out of rabbit fur, and when I saw you put your arm round her at the river, that was just you two being friends?"
Rose-May snorted. "Puh-lease! We are practically dating!"
I stopped trying to hurt my former sweetheart. "What?" A single tear fell down my cheek. Bertie reached up, trying to wipe it away. "Don't touch me!" I yelled.
"Hetty, we are not courting!" His eyes pleaded with me, but I have been lied to by this butchers boy once too many times.
"I'm sorry Bertie." Sighing, I stood and made my way to the door. I turned to Mrs Briskett and announced. "I'll be at the Foundling Hospital, if you need me."
Bertie looked at me.
"You can't go back Hetty!" He protested. "What will you do?"
"I could become a reading and writing teacher. Or a darning teacher. Or I could work in the infirmary - or the kitchen!"
Rose-May snorted again.
I clenched my fists, about to attack her.
"Goodbye, Mrs Briskett." I hugged her before walking through the door and to the train station.
