Lola still didn't feel like herself. It was a weird feeling for her, it was like she was there physically but her mind was always somewhere else.
She was always thinking about something. It wasn't even always about what happened in the alleyway that day, she was just always caught up in her own thoughts.
It was clear to Lola that her family had noticed the drastic shift in the girl's behaviour as every time she was around them, they acted like she was made out of glass, as she'd break at any point from the smallest of wrong movements.
If Lola was being honest with herself, they were probably right. Lola was fragile as of recently. The smallest things that went wrong sent her over the edge.
A few days earlier, Lola had been sitting in the kitchen with John and Esme, drinking tea in silence as the couple engaged in idle chatter and Lola accidentally dropped the cup when she was bringing it over to the sink, which ended in her hysterically crying for nearly half an hour.
Her aunt Polly had told her that she was just in shock from all of the things that had happened in the last month but Lola knew it was more.
She couldn't see herself coming back from this, the hate in her heart for everything was becoming permanent and Lola could only accept this.
⁂
Lola was sat at the table in the betting den, picking at the skin around her fingers, feeling incredibly uncomfortable being around so many people.
"Right, I've brought you all here today because this is the day that we replace Billy Kimber," Tommy told them.
"This is the day we become respectable. The day we join the official National Association of race course bookmakers." he continued, smirking slightly.
Lola turned to look at Tommy, mostly uninterested in whatever he was saying but decided to at least look like she was listening.
"But first, we need to do the dirty work" Tommy pointed, earning a small sigh from Lola.
"We've all known this day has been coming, I just haven't told anyone the date." he carried on, Lola frowning deeply as she, in fact, didn't know this day was coming.
"We're going to the Worcester races. The track opens at one. We'll get there at two. Now, Kimber thinks we're going there to help him fight the Lee brothers" Tommy rambled on, Lola rapidly losing interest, knowing this didn't even involve her, and so not seeing the point in her being there.
