cheque. “The manager from the hotel yesterday called me personally to say what a good job you did.”
That would be the slimeball who’d squeezed my bottom while I was dusting. I forced a smile.
“That’s good. I don’t suppose there’s any chance of extra hours?”
“Things are slow at the moment, but if more work comes in, you’ll be at the top of my list.”
Where had I heard that before?
I kept my fingers crossed as I walked home, because while I was off the breadline, it still came down to a choice between heating and eating. With my new-found sense of optimism and the sun shining from above, I searched for the silver lining in the dark cloud hanging over my life. Hmm… At least the lack of work meant I had free time to explore the city I now called home. There we go.
Over the next few weeks, I did the tourist thing and visited Maymont Mansion and its beautiful gardens, Monument Avenue, and Agecroft Hall. Apart from a single horrid trip abroad with Billy, I’d never had a vacation, so I pretended I was on one now. The number of Kodak moments made me wish I could take some photos, but I’d pawned my camera to pay for Momma’s medication. Think positive, Lara. Maybe I could learn to draw instead?
On rainy days, I huddled under my umbrella and walked to the library. While the world outside glistened in shades of grey, I transported myself to far-off places through second-hand romance. I’d given up hope of finding my own Prince Charming, but I still loved to dream. In between those adventures, I flicked through math textbooks to give my mind a workout. College may have turned into a nightmare, but I’d always be a geek at heart.
While I loved the books, the building itself brought back unwelcome memories because it was in the school library that I’d first spoken to Billy. As I’d done every day for the last ten years, I rued ever meeting him. Back then, I’d thought it was a magical moment, but I soon learned not all spells were good.
And Billy Cooper was no wizard.
Teenage me hadn’t had the benefit of hindsight on that fateful day. It was mid-afternoon on a rainy Thursday when Billy Cooper, the wide receiver on the high school football team—some said the best wide receiver ever—strutted into the library and asked me to help him with his math homework.
Me!
Lara the Loser!
What was I going to do? Say no? Of course not—I’d read those stories about the nerd ending up with the football star, and they gave me hope, okay?
I spent an hour working through all the problems with him and explaining two or three times what I’d done, and when we were in class three days later, he passed me a Post-it with a few scribbled words.
Full marks! Your a genius!
I kept that note stuck carefully in the back of my math textbook, and every time I looked at it, a smile crept across my face. Looking back, the fact that he didn’t know the difference between you’re and your should have given me a hint we weren’t compatible, but when you’re sixteen years old, you tend to turn a blind eye to these things.
The next week, Billy came into the library again and slid into the seat beside me.
“Hey, Einstein, gimme some help with the new math assignment?”
Mesmerised by Billy’s grin, I refrained from pointing out that Einstein was a physicist rather than a mathematician.
“Sure.”
Our weekly library sessions became somewhat of a fixture, and I counted down the hours, minutes, and seconds until he walked through the door. Back then, he’d been sweet to me—he’d bring me a soda one week, a bar of chocolate the next.
For a girl with few friends, the attention was flattering. I wasn’t Lara the Loser anymore. I was Lara-who-Billy-liked. People began to notice me, to see me in a different light. Now, I understood it was the attention that had attracted me rather than Billy himself, but as a teenager, I was blinded by his rudimentary charms.
After one particularly gruelling algebra session, he slammed his textbook shut and sat back in the chair, fingers laced behind his head. “I’ve got a game on Saturday. Wanna come? We could go get a burger after.”
Like I was going to decline that offer. My pulse sped out of control as I willed my voice to stay steady. “I’d like that.”
A burger led to a trip to the cinema,