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Rose
I grippedthe paper so tightly my fingertips drained of blood. A perfect row of A’s stared up from it, filling me with dread.
A presence shifted to my shoulder and a sharp intake of breath told me Remi was taking them in too.
“That. Is. Badass.”
I carefully folded the paper.
“I always knew you’d rack ‘em up, Rose. You’re the brightest person I know.”
I huffed out a sigh. “We both know these grades won’t do me any favours.”
Remi tucked away her collection of A’s and B’s and rested her hands on the tops of my arms. “Have some faith. Maybe once your mum and Jeff see them in black and white, they’ll change their mind about letting you go to Uni. Surely they know it’s not right to hold someone back whose grades arethatgood.”
I forced the edge of my mouth to curl. “Yeah maybe.” But doubt filled my mind. My mum didn’t really have a say anymore. My stepfather, in the space of four years, had managed to brainwash her into believing we couldn’t afford to send me to Uni.
When she first brought him home, I was happy for her. He seemed nice. Had a good job – that made a change from her usual ‘type’ – and he asked me questions, showed an interest. Again, not typical of Mum’s previous boyfriends. And most importantly, he made her happy.
So, when she announced he was moving in, I was okay with it. When she announced they were getting married, I tried really hard to be okay with it. I never once gave her reason to believe I wasn’t.
When they both signed on those fateful dotted lines, I tried even harder to be okay with it, but overnight… things changed.
“How is it at home?” Remi asked, tentatively.
I heaved my bag over my shoulder and made for the exit. “Not much has changed. Mum still spends most of her time in bed, resting. She gets a lot of migraines these days.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. And Jeff?”
“He commandeers the remote control most nights so I just grab a sandwich or something and head straight to my room.”
I turned to catch her wide-eyed expression morph quickly into a thin-lipped sympathetic one. “It sounds lonely, Rose.”
I steeled myself. For some reason, the idea of anyone knowing I was lonely was far worse than anyone thinking I was a bitch, or stupid, or fat or ugly. Or something I was far more accustomed to being: scarred. Loneliness was simply one stigma too far.
“I’m not lonely. I like my own company and I prefer studying in peace and listening to music.”
Remi breezed past me and headed straight for the road. “Do they know you applied to Uni anyway?”
The ever-present dread in my chest picked up like a choppy sea. “No. No way. Not after Jeff strictly forbid it.”
Remi faced me and narrowed her eyes. “I don’t buy that they can’t afford it, honey. He has enough money to cruise around town in a top of the range Audi.”
“His inheritance, apparently.” I shrugged. “A case for higher education isn’t a patch on the feigned grief he’s suffering over a deceased, estranged aunt.”
Remi stopped and put a hand on one of my shoulders. “But this is your future, Rose. You’ve been top of your classes the last two years. It would be a fallacy for you to not continue your education. I mean, you want to be an architect, right?”
I nodded.
“You’re not going to get there with just on-the-job experience, even if you worked for free.”
I held up my hands. “I know, I know.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
I sighed. “I’m going to find the money myself.”
She bit back a laugh. “I’m sorry honey, but, how?”
