Chapter One | Judgement Day
Her hands shook as she took the envelope from the teacher who was holding it before her. She managed to choke out a small 'thank you', despite her mouth being ridiculously dry. This was it for Lizzie Williams; judgement day. It was the day that every eighteen year old had been dreading. It was A Level Results Day. The results that lay in the envelope would change Lizzie's life forever, although, she didn't realise just how much.
With trembling fingers, she slowly peeled open the envelope and pulled the contents out. She looked to her side, where her best friends Amber and Keira stood, and they grinned nervously at her, holding their own folded result sheets.
"On the count of three?" Keira whispered. The other two girls nodded. "One, two... three!" They all hurriedly unfolded the paper and Lizzie was suddenly very aware of her heart pounding in her chest as she read what was written on the page.
"One A* and two As!" Keira squealed and Lizzie was vaguely aware of the other two girls high-fiving as Amber announced her triple A score. She guessed that she had been quiet for too long as she felt someone tapping her on the forearm and she swore someone was saying her name, again and again.
"Two As and B," she managed to whisper. "I didn't get in."
***
"Hi, it's just me again. I was calling to see if next week was a good time for me to come down and visit or if it would be a bad time. I just thought that since the last few weeks were 'a bad time', that maybe you would be free soon. Call me." Lizzie hung up and almost threw her phone down the street in frustration. She was tired of talking to an answering machine, which was all she'd got to talk to every time she had rung either of her supposed best friends.
Both Amber and Keira had headed off to Exeter University to study English on the course that all three of them were meant to be taking together. However, having missed out on getting on to the course by a few points which had caused her to get a B grade instead of the A she required, Lizzie had had to wait until the following year to apply for a University that did a similar course to the one at Exeter but only asked for the grades that she had. Therefore, her friends were having a great time studying and partying and just generally enjoying University life whilst she was stuck in her boring hometown working in a supermarket.
After having been a till girl at the supermarket for a little over two months, Lizzie was already fed up with the monotonous job of running items through the scanning system, rude customers and rude fellow staff members and supervisors who seemed to lack the memory capacity that was needed to remember her name. She rolled her eyes as she entered the staff locker room to put her bag and change of clothes in her locker. Standing in front of the mirror, Lizzie was able to admire just how unattractive her uniform was. Her tall, slender body was swamped by the vile, sickly green blouse and checked green and white pinafore. Letting out a huge sigh, Lizzie tugged her leggings up and left the room to sit at her till for two and a half hours.
She sat down and started the system up. As she entered her pin into the till she was aware of someone sitting down at the checkout till opposite her. Looking in that direction she saw a girl frowning at the monitor before her.
"Need some help, Newbie?" Lizzie asked and rose to her feet before the girl answered her. The girl positively beamed at her and tucked her shoulder length pale blonde hair behind her ear.
"Thanks," she said brightly and then added, unnecessarily, "It's my first day!"
"Yeah, I guessed. Here, just open this window here and enter your pin. That's it, there?" Lizzie asked, nodding the post it the girl had stuck to the top of the monitor. She nodded and grinned happily.
