Evangeline

12

I was skipping school today.

I know I shouldn't be, but I wasn't up to facing Thomas today. Or Seeley, to be honest. Not that he did anything wrong. I'm just confused. Sometimes when that boy opens his mouth, I'm convinced he speaks another language. Half of what he says doesn't even make sense to me. Like what he said at the party the other day? What the heck did that mean? And then he apologised yesterday for doing nothing? My mind is a mess, and I needed some space to collect my thoughts. Mum was okay with it, since it meant she could pick up an extra shift today. I felt bad though, I wished she would just take a break. She deserves a day off.

But I can't say I don't understand her reasons. Anyway, it doesn't matter. I didn't even get a chance to sleep in this morning, since I had to get up at my usual time to tell Molly I couldn't give her a lift in. It was pretty sucky of me, but she understood.

So overall, I just spent the morning lounging around the house, since I had it all to myself. It was nice. I ended up doing my Italian homework, and doing an online quiz for biology, to make myself feel like I was being productive.

I managed to catch Mr Jackson before I finished work last night, to tell him I could come in today. It meant that I could have an earlier night, and that I was at least doing something. Plus, it meant I could wrack up some more hours for myself, which certainly didn't help. He said to come in at 11am, and I could finish around 4ish, which was not long after school finished. It was just turning 10.15am, and I needed to walk to the office since I was home alone.

With my headphones blaring Natasha Bedingfield, I locked the front door behind me and started the walk to the office. Today I felt pretty feminine, so I was donned in a cute long sleeve dress, that reached just above my knees. It was flowy and flowery and I felt nice. And the fact that nobody my age would see me helped a tad with my confidence. I arrived at the office just as my phone read ten to eleven. Just in time. I entered the lift and pressed the button. I had a lot to do today, there was a massive pile of cases on my desk, and the thought of them waiting for me upstairs made me excited. It felt like they were the first proper legal work I would be doing. I took out my headphones just as the elevator doors opened on to my floor.

The place was crawling with people in suits, and I suddenly felt really under dressed. I looked ridiculous, and I felt like a proper idiot. They must all think I'm so stupid. Nobody spared me a glance as they rushed by, and I had to take deep breathes in to calm myself down as I made my way to my desk. Putting my bag into the cubby under my desk as I slumped into my chair, I let out a massive sigh of relief as people could barely see the top of my head unless they were at my desk speaking to me. Starting up the chunky desktop, I tucked my headphones into a pocket inside my bad, and pulled out my phone charger, plugging it into one of the outlets on the wall of the desk and connecting it to my phone, flicking the switch on.

After logging on to the computer, I grabbed the file off the top of the huge stack on the top shelf of my desk, and began copying the file title into the search engine. Locating the file, I opened it and started to change the information on the online document so that it matched the paper copy I had open next to me. Half an hour into changing and editing the online files, I decided to plug my headphones back in. It's not like anyone was going to speak to me anyway, Mr Jackson had already explained everything I needed to do in the email I received in response to mine last night. Connecting the headphones to my phone, I shuffled one of my Etta James' playlists and turned the volume to a medium level. I could listen to Etta sing all day.

It took me about three and a half hours for me to update all of the files, but I had finally worked my way all the way through the massive stack that Mr Jackson had left me. All I had to do was return the files to the file room, and then draft the minutes for a couple of depositions, and then I was done for the day. Gathering the files into my arms, I unplugged my phone from charging and placed it on top of the files, keeping the headphones so I could keep my music playing as I went. After my Etta playlist, I had listened to a few Dolly Parton songs, before playing the entire Mamma Mia soundtrack - one and two. I was more than halfway into the sequel's soundtrack, and fully jamming to Lily James' voice. Making my way down the hallway and past the coffee room, I looked for the door for the copy room. Katie had mentioned a few emails ago that the copy room wasn't far from the coffee room, and I wished now that I'd asked her for proper directions.

My eyes caught sight of a slightly open door, and as I ventured forward I found that the copper plaque on the door read 'file storage'. Nudging the door open further with my elbow, I entered the dimly lit room, the opening cords of Angel Eyes sounding loudly in my headphones. As I walked further into the room, I began to search for the shelf I needed, having to go quite deep into the room as the Laird case was at the top of my pile. As I passed the shelves row by row, I noticed how a boxed case file had fallen on to the floor in section E-I. Walking into the section, I angled my files and phone oddly so that I had a spare arm, and squatted awkwardly to pick up the file.

My hands began to shake as I read the name of the file. Shoving the file into a random spot on the shelf in front of me, I turned and legged it out of the file room with a racing pulse and an oncoming anxiety attack. I slammed the door shut behind me, and as I made my way to my desk, I tried desperately to calm myself down. 

Little did I know, if I'd walked further into that file room, I would've found more than just a triggering file.