Lucy Lahey trusted the man she was dating, and it turned out to be her biggest mistake. Reeling in the aftermath of a rape that stole not only her virginity, but her confidence, her love for MMA, her clarity and more, Lucy now finds herself in Jerse...
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At lunch time on Friday, I sit in alone in the cafeteria. I'm not sure where Arlette and Florence are, sometimes they just don't show up for lunch, they have other friends and commitments I suppose, and I'm not close enough with anyone else to move in on their crowd.
The people here are nice enough though, I can sit at the same table as someone else and I won't get scowled at. There are no mean girls and Bradley keeps to himself even though he's still bruised and purple because of me. As pleasant enough as it is, I haven't connected with a lot of people.
The whole cafeteria is humming with excitement for tomorrow's dance. I overheard a group of girls discussing their make-up artists and limos and hairdressers. If I'd been at home for homecoming, Nari, Gia and I would've been doing the same thing.
I'm not familiar with the makeup artists in the area and most of them would've been booked up a while ago, so I'm doing it myself tomorrow night, along with Nari of course, who's meant to arrive first thing in the morning.
Scrolling through Instagram, I double tap each photo on the timeline, subconsciously picking at my nails resting at the back of my phone. Such a bad habit. My lunch is mostly untouched, and I stab at the slab of lasagna with my fork when my phone starts ringing.
Nari.
"Hello," I say.
"Hey, did I catch you at lunch?"
"Yep."
"Oh good," she says. "I was trying to line it up with my first break and your lunch so we could talk. I have some kind of. . . bad news."
My stomach falls. "What is it?"
"So, I just got an email from the airline and my flight has been cancelled."
"Wait, for real?"
"Yeah. There was something about an engine issue and it being classed as a high risk situation and it was in the best interest of the passengers to delay the flights but the next available one isn't until Sunday and mom doesn't want to pay for a new flight with another airline."
"Dude, noooo. This sucks. You're supposed to be my date. Sad girl hour."
"Sad girl forever."
"I hope it's not forever. You still have to come and visit, even if it's not for homecoming."
"Uhh," she cries out, I can hear lots of background noise, people talking excitedly and in Korean too. "I really wanted to do our last homecoming together, Luce."
"My cousin has a private jet," I say. "Should I beg him to let us use it?"
"Do you think he would?"
"I could ask," I say. "He lends it out all the time. I'll call him and ask?"
"Yessss. Mom couldn't complain about having to pay for it then. That would be so fun too, no pressure but I've never been on a private jet before."
I laugh and feel excited to think of us on a private flight, a glass of champagne, the entire cabin to ourselves. We hang up and I find Drayton's contact.
