The Tragic Life

Chapter 30

WARNING: CHAPTERS 32 - 36 OF THIS BOOK CAN ONLY BE READ ON INKITT! LINK IN MY BIO ♥️
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Emily safe in the arms of my best friend, I make the journey back to Cleethorpes to support Isla in the maths competition. I catch the early train to be sure that I don't run out of time, somehow arriving two hours before the doors even open to the school.

I use that time to go check over my house, and leaf through the mail. There's nothing too important, apart from a medical letter for Emily. They want her in for further testing in a few weeks time. After being extra careful with her diet, she hasn't had any further attacks, and her skin seems less inflamed.

I'm hoping that it's something she will eventually grow out of, but you can never be too careful.

"Moll, it's only me," says Abbey forty minutes later as she comes to pick me up.

I hesitate with my lipgloss in hand near the mirror in my living room. "I'm in here."

She follows my voice. "Are you nearly ready, honey? We will need to leave soon."

I look back in the mirror to do another coat of gloss on my lips so they really stand out. "I'm ready to go now."

It's awkward then, as we both stare at one another, totally unsure of how to act. She breaks the ice. "Shall we go now then to beat traffic?"

I'm pleased she doesn't mention her brother. I grab my handbag from the arm of the sofa to follow her through to my front door. "Might as well. Is Isla feeling ready for it."

Abbey speaks to my back as I lock the door. "I think so. She knows that you'll win, so she's not stressing."

I put my keys into my handbag when I turn to her. "I hope we do."

She smiles. "Oh, you will."

Heading for her car, we make small-talk about our day, until she gets a call from her husband who wants to know if the fish fillets in the fridge are for the kids dinner.

I'm happy to watch the town pass by as she instructs him to put the fish into the oven wrapped in foil after defrosting it in the microwave. Isla's school is a twenty or so minute drive from my house, which gives me enough time to psych myself up a bit.

I know that Jamie is going to be there because he messaged to say so, and when I didn't message back because I didn't want to give him an easy access into my life again, he sent another to let me know that he would leave me alone.

Annoyingly, that made me sadder than I wanted to admit to.

"Sorry about that." Abbey disconnects the Bluetooth connection on her car. "You were telling me about your job."

"I'm handing my notice in. I really want to go back to studying," I reply, thinking about the emails I sent out this morning to my old tutors.

It looks like she's happy for me. "That's such brilliant news."

"It would have to be an Open University course, but the owners of Olive Place offered me a part time job for way better pay, and hours. I start in a few weeks."

I'm a bit rusty, but I'm hoping the experience I gained working in restaurants in Leeds City Centre all of those years ago will set me up for a good thing.

I saw the job advert flying around Facebook a few weeks ago, but thought nothing about it until Robyn private messaged me to ask if I was open to a second job.

They soon found out that I was that I was thinking about leaving my cleaning job at the office, and offered me more hours instead, with an offer I couldn't refuse when I mentioned about the possibility of going back to university to finish my course.