Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 142976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 477(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 477(@300wpm)
“Sounds downright Dickensian,” he muttered around a mouthful of food and she smiled half-heartedly, while picking at the crust of her sandwich with her thumb and index finger. “What kind of parents would send their kids to what sounds like a fucking prison?”
“Well, the school was well known for its strict discipline, so it usually attracted the so-called no-hopers. Girls who’d been kicked out of several schools before and had nowhere else to go.”
“So, Abernathy sent you to what technically amounted to a reform school?” he asked in horror and put his sandwich down, as if he’d lost his appetite.
“It wasn’t that bad,” she said, voice quiet and eyes watchful. She was uncertain of his mood. Not sure why he was suddenly showing an interest in this. “Some of the girls had learning disabilities, and were acting out in frustration. Others came from abusive backgrounds and were happy to be at the school and away from their awful home environments. A few, like me, didn’t really fit in with their families. They were the ones who came from broken homes, or just had parents who couldn’t be arsed with actually parenting. And yes, there were a few bad apples and bullies. But I was never important enough to be noticed or picked on. I was just the quiet one with her head always buried in a book.”
“What about your friend? Margot?” he asked and started eating again, polishing off his sandwich in just a few more bites.
“She arrived a couple of years after I did. We were fourteen and bunkmates. We immediately got along. We often spent hours in the library, reading or studying, we did each other’s hair, fantasized about boys, made up stories about the lives we’d one day have. Typical girl stuff. Margot was what the others called a bursary rat… she was there on a scholarship. While it was a school for rejects, it was a bunch of rich rejects.
“Margot came from a middle-class background. And the others ostracized her because of that. And she believed I was like her.” She felt uncomfortable admitting her deception to Cade and lowered her gaze back to her half-eaten sandwich. “I liked her so much. And really wanted her to like me too. She was my first and only friend at that school. Before her, nobody’d ever cared enough to get to know me. Nobody wanted to hang out with me just because they enjoyed my company. I was afraid of losing the closeness I’d discovered with her and I allowed her to believe that I was the same as her. Middle class, with a struggling family, and a stepfather who wanted me out of his way. It was an easy lie to tell. The other girls ignored me the same way they did her. I didn’t receive lavish care packages like they did. When I did get stuff it was basic necessities. Toiletries, some snacks—most of them peanut based so I had to give them away anyway. Ugly clothes that everybody believed were hand-me-downs because of how ill-fitting they were.
“So, Margot and I were each all the other had. I was so envious of her. Of the stories she told about her family. Her care packages were humble but filled with so much love. Pictures of her mum and dad, homemade snacks, pretty clothing… While the rest of us were there to be hidden from the world, Margot was there because it was a way for her to receive a first-class education.”
“What happened?” he asked quietly and she took a sip of cocoa just to lubricate her dry throat.
“What do you think happened?” she asked, her gaze turned inward as she recalled the awful events that had led to the loss of her one and only friendship.
He hazarded a guess. “She discovered who you were and felt betrayed?”
“That came later,” she said with a soft sigh. “When we graduated, she had plans to study nursing. And I wanted nothing more than to escape from Granger’s clutches. I had no prospects for further education, no money, no job experience. Margot was moving home, to… well here, actually. To London. She would stay with her parents while she studied. They were kind too. They’d been hearing about me for years and had actually started including little treats and snacks in their care packages to Margot just for me. Can you imagine that? I was a stranger to them and they did that for me.”
Her eyes brimmed with tears, the sweet memory of it a sharp, painful stab to her heart. She swiped at the tears with shaky fingers and tried to gain control of her fluctuating emotions.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered self-consciously. “It’s been nearly ten years since all of this happened, but I haven’t thought about it in so long. I haven’t wanted to. It’s too…” She cut herself off and pressed her lips together. The rest of her fears emerged in a shamed, whispered confession. “But after everything you said tonight. I worry it’s happening again. That, like with Margot, I’m the worst thing that ever happened to you and I don’t know how to fix that.”