Afterlife - Stephanie Hudson Page 0,31

She wore heels that looked far too high to be comfortable, the type that I would most definitely fall down in.

“You look nice.” She smiled and tried to twist a stray curl back into her bun.

“Thanks. And you’re sure that you don't mind me going to work, it's just that this client has brought the due date forward and…..”

“It's ok, you don't have to explain, I told you I will be fine.” I would have hugged her but my rubber gloved hands that smelled of bleach wouldn't have mixed well with the power suit.

“I'm just going to do some housework and maybe try and get some reading done ready for next week.” This wasn't a lie, so how come it didn't sound so convincing? I think I could now add paranoia on to my long list of failing attributes. After all I didn't really have much else to do around here and it was raining cats and dogs outside, so a walk was out of the question. I couldn't wait to start work and college, I was getting seriously bored. But that still didn't make the butterflies in my stomach ease off. As much as I was looking forward to tonight I was also a little bit terrified.

“Ok, well I'm off. Frank's already gone so you've got the whole house to yourself. What time are you meeting up with the 'Goth Gang'?” This was no doubt her new nickname for my hopefully soon to be friends.

“Umm, I'm not actually sure on that one, she said she'd ring but I will ring you on your mobile to let you know the details.”

“Don't you mean cell phone?” She said in her best American accent, which was about as good as mine, which was weak.

“Oh yeah, don't want the locals getting all rallied up 'cause there's a stranger in town, ha, ha.” God my red-neck accent sounded more German. I laughed at myself.

“Nope but I think the town will be more pre-occupied with the other newcomers, the scarier ones.” She said this bit in a dire tone and she wasn't laughing. Why did she dislike them so much, had she even seen them, from the sounds of things, not many people had.

I spent the rest of the day trying to find things to do and consequently my list of jobs didn't take as long as I thought they would have. RJ had called to confirm I was still 'up for it'. I think she was excited about being the one to introduce me into society. “The Goth rock” society that is. To be fair, any would do at this point. I just needed to get out and would have joined the chess club to have got me out! And after all my little day dreaming incidents, the last thing I needed was more time on my own to allow my imagination to get even more out of control. It made me miss my little ford fiesta. What I wouldn't do now to just be able to get in a car and drive around and explore the place. Well tonight I was going to get that chance and to say I was a bit nervous was a huge understatement.

After ringing Libby on her “cell” and informing her of the plan, I finished getting dinner ready. I had made a casserole so all they would need to do is heat it up. I'm sure even Libby could handle that without burning it. Or maybe I should put in into bowls ready to just shove in the microwave. That way she wouldn't have to light anything. I chuckled to myself as I remembered the pizza on my first night here. I decided to leave it in the pot, not wanting to hurt her feelings, the bowl idea was a bit obvious about what I thought of her cookery skills.

I decided to get a shower and start getting ready for tonight. I had done the girlie thing and asked what RJ was wearing tonight, not wanting to stand out even more. Not that I ever really wore anything to stand out, but still I had to check. I had been quite relieved to find out that the place wasn't really the “dress code type”. So I was just going to stick to my old faithful blue jeans that weren't as baggy as my usual ones and a long sleeved black top with a v neck but had a bit of black embroidery across the neck giving it