♡ The Boy That Changed Me ♡

~ Chapter 7 - A Weird Place ~

Beep

The automatic gates open and I quickly step through as the thought of getting crushed crosses my mind. I hand Nirmala back her debit card and she places it back into her purse. Nirmala says that she'll get me my own Oyster card soon so that I don't need to use her money anymore. Though, I'm not exactly sure how they work yet.

"Keep up, Rani."

"Sorry!"

I jog a little to catch up with Nirmala, who is already at the escalators, waiting for me.

"You must stay close, Rani. I don't need you getting lost." She tells me as we step onto the escalator. "Don't let it get to the point where I have to hold your hand."

I shake my head, "Please don't." I gaze around us and take in the unfamiliar environment.

Busy and bustling with people. Lots of people. There's a group of teenagers shouting and fooling around on the other escalator. One's being pushed around and another is sitting on the handrail and laughing uncontrollably. Their accents are strong and I can't help but feel slightly insecure about my own. Compared to everyone around me, it's awkward.

I dread to think what the people at school will say about it.

"Fools." I look at Nirmala who is frowning at the teens with displeasure. Her gaze then turns to me, "Turn out like that, and you're out of the house."

I nod and snicker at her tease - but I think she's being serious.

"I'm not joking, Rani."

My smile immediately disappears. Yup, I thought so.

***

To say the least, the journey was... questionable.

To start, when we'd walked onto the platform, I was met with a strong, musty smell that made me sneeze uncontrollably. After I'd finished my sneezing fit, I'd almost lost my life when a fucking mouse ran across the platform. When I'd pointed it out to Nirmala, she'd told me, "Welcome to London! Isn't it great?" In a sacrastic manner.

The Tube journey was bumpy and stuffy - I was squished between two sweaty men who wouldn't stop shouting to each other even though they were a metre away from each other.

To top it all off, we almost missed our stop as no one was letting us through. We had to force our way through a whole carriage of people and they wouldn't stop giving us dirty looks. What's with this society?

"Do we have to do that again?" I ask Nirmala as I fix my messed up hair.

She groans, "Unfortunately, yes. You'll also have to make that same journey to school every day so I suggest that you try to get used to it."

Well, that's just wonderful.

"This way." Nirmala leads me through an entrance which leads us into a building lined with shops and restaurants. There's clothing stores and stationery stores and designer brands and cafes everywhere. As I'd said before, I'm not exactly a fan of shopping - but I might just be slightly excited by the variety of stores. This place is huge.

Back in Scotland, we'd only had one small shopping centre with very few stores. Mostly just food shops and a few classic brands like Primark, Next and H&M.

Here, there's Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade, John Lewis, and so many more expensive places. Wait - how are we supposed to pay for any of this? All I have is the £20 that Nirmala had given me.

"Where do we start?" I ask Nirmala who is fumbling around in her purse.

She gives me a small smile as she pulls out what looks like her work lanyard, "First, we get something to eat. I haven't had anything all day. What do you prefer, Starbucks or Pret?"

"Starbucks!" I immediately respond with a wide grin. Starbucks will and will always be number one in my opinion.

Nirmala smirks, "Why did I even bother asking? Come on, then."

-♡-♡-♡-

Hey, missed me 😅? I've been away for a lifetime, I know! Here's a little chapter as an apology for my disappearance. The next one should be a blast as we'll be meeting a special someone for the first time!!!!

Until next time 🩷