Trust No Bitch: Part 2

Alice Jenkins: Sunday, 15th November, 2015

21.

As the clock hit 23 minutes past 6 that morning, she'd officially been on the earth for 21 years. She felt no different. And it was strange, that. She once heard somebody say that adulthood is like looking both ways before you cross the road and getting hit by an aeroplane; if that was the case, it wouldn't be so bad. She could handle it. You've already been mowed down by an aeroplane or two in the past few months, she reminded herself as she stepped into the shower. Cleo going missing, that was one. Getting sent to rehab for the second time in the space of a couple of months, that was another. And then of course, them finding Cleo's body. And actually, it still felt like she was crushed under one of the aeroplanes wheels, bones being ground into powder on the tarmac, pink brains squelching between the black of the tyre and grey of the runway as she tried to work out what had happened. Or what was still happening, rather, desperately trying to pull what was left of her flattened body out from underneath. Your birthday is probably going to pass not so differently from the ones before it if it you take into the account the glaring lack of Cleo being there to force an abundance of alcohol onto you, she thought to herself. Stood in a towel, straight out of the shower, she waltzed into her kitchen to prop the cards she'd received up on the counter. She had one card from her brother, George, one from her boyfriend Louis, despite the fact they'd barely spoken since the pub fight incident, a joint one from Tim and Sasha, and another from Gemma, Lilly and Clara. The one from her parents and Vanessa was non-existent however she expected it in the post about a month later with a lacklustre "sorry it's late" and a cheque for £250. Then, after taking what felt like a bit of everything from the collection of pill bottles in her bathroom cabinet, she spent a couple of hours doing some faxing at the law office before her seminar and after that, rowing practice at which, as the captain and coxswain, she was given the duty of checking the boat before the race in just over a fortnight. "Hit-and-run" Vicky, as Gemma had called her, or Vicky Prescott, was noticeably subdued throughout practice, which Alice took to be her way of saying happy birthday; ordinarily, 90% of the words that left her mouth were pure snark disguised as "constructive criticism". It seemed Vicky's absence from the team had taken that out of her for the time being, or maybe it was her humiliation at having to be lifted into the boat by the rest of her team mates. It was nothing to be ashamed of, but from the shade of vermillion her cheeks turned as they hoisted her out of her wheel chair, Vicky clearly didn't feel that was the case.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. My arms do still work, you know." She had muttered as the other girls fussed over her and Alice watched from the sidelines. On returning to her flat, after rowing, she texted Gemma and the others to let them know they could come round to get ready.

"Happy 21st, you nerdy, little slut, you!" Gemma had cried, throwing her arms around Alice the second she was let in and then ruffling Alice's hair. "Can you believe it, our little Alice is 21!"

"I'm older than you...and taller!" Alice had scoffed in reply as she unhooked herself from Gemma's grip. "Clara..." She murmured, noticing the 2 bottles of Smirnoff Clara was managing to balance between two fingers.

"What? It's a special occasion." Clara said, grinning as she put them down on the side. "And I've done a shitload of work on my dissertation over the last few days so I need to celebrate." Alice noticed Lilly throwing 2 suspicious looking pink tablets into her mouth and moved her reproachful eye onto her.

"Lilly, what are those? I thought you said you couldn't get hammered tonight because you've got the wedding tomorrow morning."

"They're prenatal vitamins, Alice, chill." Lilly said. "I feel like I need to double up on the dosage just because I've left it so late to start taking them. They're supposed to make your hair grow insanely quickly too, and your nails. I might not have to keep paying for acrylics!"