Delicate

Chapter Six

(March 2018)

Scrolling through the emails on my phone, my heart suddenly stops.

'YOU HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED' reads in capital letters across the page and as I continue reading it slowly begins to sink in that I have been accepted in my first choice of university. Before I have chance to comprehend what I am doing, I am on the phone to Karla, waiting for her to pick up.

"I got in!" I scream down the phone to her before she has chance to say anything.

"What are you on about my love?" she asks sounding confused.

"To the University of London. I got accepted. I found out this morning."

"Congratulations my love. We should go out and celebrate. Do you want to meet this evening?" Karla asks me.

We make plans to meet back at the bar where we first met all those months ago. The rest of the rest of the day seems to drag on for me. I sit at my laptop and try to write an article for the magazine but the words do not seem to want to come out. I turn my blog on instead with the intention of updating it but it wouldn't feel right letting all these strangers know the good news without celebrating it face to face with Karla. I settle for doing a post about being a tourist for the day instead and upload a few photos of Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace.

Eventually it's an acceptable time to leave so I grab my bag and make my way to the underground. Half an hour later I arrive at the bar and find Karla already sitting down.

"My love, you must be so happy," she says to me as she pulls me into a hug.

"I am. I've not been able to focus all day," I tell her.

"So when do you start?"

"Not until mid-September but at least it gives me time to get my head around everything." I say as we grab a couple of drinks and sit back down.

The two of us chat for a while. Karla tells me about her university lifestyle and wonders how it will differ from my own. I smile as I listen to her complain about the workload and how dull some of the lecturers are. I only lose my focus when I check my phone and see the date.

"Is that the date?" I ask, interrupting Karla.

"Yes, are you alright?" she asks, seeing how I have tensed up.

"I'll be okay."

"It's not your birthday is it?" she asks me.

"No, nothing like that. You could say that it is the anniversary of something," I mumble at her.

"Oh, do you want to talk about it?" Karla asks.

"I-" for a moment I think about saying no but at the same time I know I can't hide what has happened forever. "This is really going to bring the mood down," I say, trying to make the situation lighter.

"You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to," Karla reassures me.

"I know but I feel like if I tell you then I can put it behind me. Or at least try to. A year ago today I was raped," I tell her, those words not sounding real.

"Oh my love. I am so sorry," she says, reaching her hand out and placing it on top of mine.

"Thank you. You do believe me, don't you?" I ask her.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?"

"My friends didn't. It happened at a party after I had been dancing with some other guy. My boyfriend at the time got jealous even though he had left me by myself for most of the night. I won't go into any details after that. When I told my friends though they didn't believe me. They said they saw me have a lot to drink that night and then voluntary follow Miles upstairs. They think I just slept with him drunk and then regretted it the next morning which really wasn't the case."

"I can't believe they would think that of you," Karla says while stroking the top of my hand.

"Sometimes I think that was the hardest part, not having people believe me. My parents did which I'm glad about, I couldn't imagine not having them by my side."

"Did you report it?"

"Eventually I did but the police had very little to go off of and I think they took the same stance as my friends. Once the word got out then people I didn't even know turned against me. They kept asking me why I was trying to wreck an innocent man's life. I got sick of hearing comments like that over and over again so I decided to move and change my name."

"You changed your name?" Karla asks, looking shocked.

"Oh I forgot you didn't know that. I was born Julia Thomas but changed my name to Cassandra just before I left. I thought it sounded more like a writer's name," I tell her with a slight laugh in my voice.

"Well you'll always be Cassie to me," Karla says, leaning over to kiss my cheek.

"Thank you. I'm so glad you believe me," I say to her, taking hold of her hand.

"Of course, I don't know why anyone would lie about that. I'm glad that you feel comfortable talking about this in front of me, it means a lot."

"I'm just glad I've told you now. Anyway, shall I get some more drinks?" I ask, hoping to change the subject.

Dear readers,

Life is good right now. I've got a job that I love and later in the year I will be going to university to study something that I am actually interested in. I'm living in a city which I have fallen I love with (except the tourists – they really can get in the way) and I'm even getting used to the British weather.

I've made a great group of friends since I have been here, some of them from work and some from other places and I'm sure I'll make more when I go to uni. I've also met my amazing girlfriend since being here and she is one of the best things to happen to me.

I have to say readers, I'm pretty excited to see where the future takes me.

Love Cassie