Lily

Chapter 5: Sarah

"Ms Sarah Johnson, what time do you call this?"

I checked my watch and almost fell over- I was an hour late. That's a first, even for me! But it's not my fault Hannah bailed on me. Actually, it could be. Maybe they finally had enough of my inability to shut up but, still, they could have given me enough time to leave the house earlier because if they had I wouldn't be standing in front of Mrs. Willis right now.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, I promise it won't happen ag-" She put her hand out to stop me.

"I really don't care. Whether it happens again, what your reasons may be, they are none of my concern. You have two options, work an hour overtime to make up the time, or I deduct twenty pounds from your salary."

I usually wouldn't care about twenty pounds but those twenty pounds could make up my manicure. Speaking of which, how much does a manicure cost? More importantly, how much did Lily's cost?

"I'll do the overtime."

"Good. Looks like you'll be here 'till seven."

I hate that stupid smug smile she does when she thinks she's one upped us. Little does she know that I'm actually gonna win, because I can pay for a manicure which means that Jake will pay more attention to me. That's not the reason I'm doing it by the way, I just really like nails and stuff but I guess that would be a bonus. A bonus I definitely don't care about.

"Yikes. Looks like someone's in trouble."

"Mariam... shush."

She gave me a hug. "Hey, where's that attitude when you speak to Mrs Willis?"

"It vanishes. Just like your hairline. I swear your forehead gets bigger each time I see you."

She smiled. "And you should thank your lucky stars that murder is illegal otherwise you wouldn't be here right now."

We began to walk to the changing room. "Why were you late, anyway?"

"Hannah bailed on me."

"Oh. That doesn't sound like them. Are they alright?"

"No. They're... sick."

I just realised that Hannah didn't cough once, and, as a matter of fact, their throat sounded completely fine. Perhaps they meant sick as in tummy troubles but I don't know, it just all feels a little off.

On second thoughts, they probably are sick. Lovesick. Yeah, that must be it. I actually can't believe they bailed on me because of their stupid feelings about Jake, so now I have to spend an hour later at work, which is going to throw my entire routine out of whack. And, no, I am not telling them that I'm doing overtime, so Hannah will have to wait on me for another hour and suffer the same as me. That's definitely fair and not at all mean, right?

"Well, I suppose I can finally see what you and Tommy get up to when I'm not here." Mariam nodded and giggled. Perhaps everything will work out in the end. After all, what difference does one extra hour make, anyway?