Linda said nothing, but the mouth was still moving.
“Well, in that case, why don’t you stay the night?”
Keira simply put the forms in her bag and walked out. Linda heard her go upstairs. A few minutes later she came down again and then Linda heard the front door open and bang shut.
Linda felt light-headed and a little nauseous.
“I’m having a break-down; that’s what’s happening; this is all a bad dream. I’ll go to bed, and when I wake up, everything will be back as normal!” she said aloud as if to make it happen.
Her phone buzzed at her. It was a text from Yvonne.
R U CUMING?
“It’s not a bad dream, is it?” she asked the phone.
The phone didn’t reply.
Connie sat as far away from Keira as she could; which wasn’t very far, as they were next to each other on the bus.
She could handle things when Kenneth was around, but this girl scared the pants off her. She knew that Keira could do strange things, and was not quite sure how safe she was.
“This is nice, isn’t it?” Keira said.
Connie smiled half-heartedly.
“Oh, you don’t have to be scared, it’s not like I’m going to do anything outrageous, or anything. I have had sixteen years of this planet, so I understand how to behave.”
“What happens if we meet anyone we know?” Connie asked.
“You just say that I’m your friend Keira, okay?”
“Okay, but, like, where do you live; or go to school?”
“You don’t know that, as we’ve just met. I’m a cousin of a friend from school.”
“Why are we going?”
“I need some girl stuff; you know; clothes and shit like that. I haven’t a clue, so need help.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t look so worried; what could possibly go wrong?”
Neither girl was aware, but Keira was about to have her second less than successful attempt to impart Justice.
Words could not hope to describe Keira’s emotional contentment as she and Connie settled down for a coffee in Cafe Nero in the Nicholson’s Shopping Centre. Connie couldn’t believe that the very pretty girl opposite her was the same person as Kenneth, her friend from school. Now wearing a new dress, underwear and shoes, she looked radiant and ecstatically happy. Although Keira’s bank account (actually, to be perfectly honest, it was Kenneth’s bank account) was reasonably flush, Keira didn’t want to spend more than she had to.
The shops were stocked with a huge range of clothes, but many were out of her self-imposed budget. Keira was happy just wandering up and down the aisles, looking at stuff she had never dared look at as Kenneth.
There were also some charity shops, but there was something slightly tacky about wearing stuff that some stranger had worn and then got rid of for whatever reason. After an hour of frenetic shopping, she came away with several tops, a couple of skirts, two summer dresses, underwear (yes, she now owned four bras!), tights, makeup and five pairs of shoes. She wore some of the underwear, a dress and a pair of shoes on leaving the final shop. Connie was actually feeling useful, as Keira never stopped asking for her advice and opinions.
Keira, for whom shopping had never been either a leisure pursuit of even a pastime that Kenneth enjoyed, was in a different realm.
“This is fun!” Keira said, sipping her coffee.
Connie had to agree. This was perhaps better than just hanging around Kenneth’s room watching him play computer games. However, suddenly not having a boyfriend was rather disturbing.
“He never was, Connie,” Keira said.
Connie jumped.
“Can you read my mind as well?”
“No, it was obvious from your expression. You miss him, don’t you?”
Connie nodded again.
“If I’m honest, I know we never had a thing going, but it made me feel sort of better believing that we might, one day.”
“You know now that it was never to be, Connie.”
“Yes, I suppose I do.”
“What time do you want to head home?”
Connie shrugged.
“My parents think I’m doing homework at your place; Kenneth’s place, that is.”
Keira smiled.
“Your boyfriend’s place, you mean?”
Connie reddened slightly.
“Aren’t they bothered that you’re alone at a boy’s house?”
“No, to be honest, I think they’re relieved. Dad is never there, as he works shifts at the Fire station, and mum is happy as long as I’m out from under her feet.”
“Oh yes, she works at two jobs, doesn’t she?”
“Yeah; what a great future we have ahead of us,” Connie said sarcastically, glancing quickly at her companion. “At least, I have.”
“What’s that suppose to mean?”
“Well, your parents are rich, so you’ll go to university and then, I don’t know, I suppose then you’ll be doing all sorts of wonderful things in secret.”
“The future is not written, so you can be whatever you want to be,” Keira said.
“As long as you have the money and or the opportunities.”
Keira smiled.
“Actually, you’re brighter than you look. But, the secret is in making your own opportunities.”
“Even if I get good grades at GCSE and then A levels; there is no way I can afford uni, what with the loans and living expenses. My folks just can’t afford it.”
“That’s what comes from having five kids!” Keira joked.
Connie looked down into the dregs of her coffee.
“I would love to be able to do what you can do. Hell, I’d just kill for a body like yours; you can keep all the super shit. I just want not to be the fat girl with the specs!”
Keira was silent. She felt very sorry for Connie, who, if the truth be known, was a lovely person. Her weight was probably due to insecurity and low self-esteem leading to comfort eating. Keira thought it might be a spiral downwards; in that the more she ate, the bigger she became, so she got more depressed, so she ate more, and so on. Even now, Keira had a coffee and that was it, but Connie had two enormous chocolate chip cookies.
“How about we do a deal?” Keira said.
“What?”
“I’ll help you get a body like mine, and you help me be a girl on this damn planet; what do you say?”
“You’ve got some super-power that transforms bodies?”
“No, but together we can get you slimmer through less crappy food and more exercise.”
“I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”
“Lots in life are choices. You can choose to be whatever you want to be, in spite of everything and everyone around you.”
“I suppose I could try,” Connie said, half-heartedly.
“No, Connie, you will do it, because you want to, and not for any other reason. Look, I’ve been watching all the people walking past. Only about one percent of men and women are anywhere near possessing something like a good figure and good looks. There are some with great facial features, but with a body that’s awful, and vice versa. We have a daft idea of the ideal person, which is a shame, because of the amount of money we all waste in pursuit of a perfection that is unattainable and in the end pretty useless.”
“You’ve got both; a great body and a face to die for.”
“Yeah, but I’m screwed to hell and gone. Believe me, you don’t want my hang-ups. You tell me that you’d like to be slimmer, which is great, because slimmer is fitter and fitter is healthier, but don’t do it for me, or other people, do it for yourself. Do you really want to be slimmer?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Then now is the time to make that decision. Say to yourself, ‘I want to work to make myself fitter and healthier.’ Now you’re committed, and I’m committed to helping you; okay?”
Connie smiled and nodded.
Keira looked at her watch.
“Okay, one more shop, and then we’ll go home, okay?”