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9
“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do. The form was completed incorrectly.” The woman behind the counter in the student finance office swivelled her monitor around to show me. “There should have been an additional zero there, and you should have ticked this box. Oh, and we need an email address and phone number for the supervisor at your father’s previous place of employment,” she informed me in a bored tone.
“What am I supposed to do? My account is empty. How am I supposed to eat?” I rubbed my hand across my face. How could this be fucking happening?
She stared at me, completely unsympathetic. “You’ll have to wait until the amended form goes through the system. Once it’s gone through and been approved, the loan will be paid into your account within five working days.”
How had everything gone wrong so quickly? Two months ago, I wouldn’t have even needed student loans. But then my dad had been made redundant from his job as an AI engineer, and so far, he was having trouble finding anything else. There was also the fact that a big chunk of my parents’ savings had gone on paying for my grandparents’ retirement home, and my sisters needed providing for. Money was tight now.
As I stalked down the road towards the house, anger burned through me. Mostly at myself, but partly at Liam. If only he’d been more reasonable, I could’ve easily knocked out the dent in his car or waited a bit longer to pay him the money. Literally anything was better than this. Nothing left in my bank account, down to the last of my food, and no guarantee when I’d have any more.
Inside the house, I went straight to the kitchen. As I thought. I had enough food left for two, maybe three meals if I was lucky. Fuck. What was I supposed to do? I guess if it came to it, I’d have to swallow my pride and ask if anyone minded loaning me some money. The problem, other than my pride, was that I didn’t know exactly when I’d be able to pay them back.
My anger disappeared, and now I just felt miserable. I trudged up the stairs to my bedroom, not wanting to be around anyone else right now. Throwing myself onto my bed, I blinked back the unexpected tears that were threatening. How was I such a fuckup already when I’d barely begun university? LSU was supposed to be my fresh start, and I’d been determined to make it work, even though I’d be relying on the money from my student loan, whenever it finally came in, because I wasn’t going to let my parents dig into their savings for me. I’d seen this as my chance to prove to them, and to myself, that I could stand on my own two feet. But I was already failing.
My phone rang, disturbing me from my depressing thoughts.
Mum.
“Hi, Mum.” Thankfully, my voice sounded more or less normal.
“Noah.”
A wave of sudden homesickness hit me as her warm voice came through the speaker, accompanied by the background noise of Layla’s and Ami’s high-pitched voices.
“I wanted to see how you were getting on.” Worry threaded through her tone. “Did your student loan come through?”
“Yeah, all fine,” I said, lying through my teeth. I bit the inside of my cheek as I heard a palpable sigh of relief through the speaker.
“Thank goodness. There’s some good news on the horizon, or so I hope.” There was a pause where she told my sisters to quieten down, and then she returned her attention to me. “Dad’s got a job interview next Wednesday, so keep your fingers crossed for him.”
A cautious hope filled me. “That’s great. What’s the job?”
She gave me a quick rundown of the position, which, from what I could tell, sounded similar to his previous job. That had to be a good sign, surely. Before I had a chance to ask any questions, my sisters were wrestling the phone from her, and then they were both trying to talk to me at once. My mood lifted instantly. I spent the next ten minutes listening to their breathless rambling as they both raced to tell me all their news, talking over the top of each other. Eventually, my mum was back on the other end of the phone. “Keep everything crossed. Dad’s…” Her voice cracked, and she sniffed. It was like a punch to the gut, hearing her upset. “The redundancy hit him hard. He feels like he’s let us all down. You, especially.”
My stomach churned. “What? He hasn’t let me down. This wasn’t his fault at all.”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. I don’t want to put this on you. You should be enjoying your time, not worrying about anything.” Clearing her throat, she attempted a cheerful tone. “At least I can tell Dad that your loan came through so he can stop worrying about that. He’s been so concerned, Noah. I’m almost glad you weren’t here to see…never mind. I hope you know that as soon as he gets another job, everything will be back to normal.”
“I wish there was something I could do. I know you refused to let me before, but you know I can defer a year, and get a job instead. I want to help.”
My mum pointedly cleared her throat, and I could picture the severe look coming over her face, that stubborn set to her mouth that meant whatever anyone said, she’d made her mind up and wouldn’t be swayed. “Absolutely not. You carry on as you are. Enjoy yourself. Make the most of student life. We’re okay, Noah. We’re not living on the breadline by any means. We just have to make some adjustments.”
“Just say the word if you need me. I—”
“We’re not discussing this any further. Now, tell me. Have you met any nice boys?”
“Mum,” I groaned. “I’mnottalking about this with you. Ask me anything else.”
She laughed at that. “Okay. Tell me how your classes are going.”
I spent another fifteen minutes or so talking to her before she had to go to prepare dinner. After placing my phone next to my bed, I fell back onto my duvet, and closed my eyes.
The next thing I knew, there was a pounding at my door. Blinking, I dragged myself up into a seated position, glancing at my phone. Guess I’d fallen asleep because it was now almost 9:00 p.m. “Yeah?” I called.
Travis’ voice sounded through the door. “There’s two-for-one drinks at the student union tonight. Are you coming?”
“Not tonight, mate. Thanks for the invite, though.”
