Finding Grace(41)

She couldn’t wait for the course to start, so she could fill her day with purpose. Up ahead, the library loomed. She had seen it on the initial tour but hadn’t spent any time in there yet. It was another place she could go to while away the hours at the end of the day, if necessary.

The noise level from the girls in front ramped up suddenly and they made a right turn, on to a short path that lead to a building signposted as a café.

Impulsively, Lucie found herself following.

Her stomach was growling. She hadn’t had breakfast this morning as someone had used the last few slices of her bread and she’d drunk the last of her orange juice.

Inside was a bright, modern space, but she realised with a start that there were no small tables free where she could tuck herself away as she’d hoped. Most people seemed to be sitting together in larger groups. Chatting, laughing, generally behaving like the sociable students she’d anticipated – and half dreaded – being amongst.

She felt sure people were turning to stare at her, this nervy-looking girl, still obviously alone with no new friends at the start of her course.

She looked longingly back at the door, but another large group of students were already approaching, blocking the exit. She shuffled in closer behind the girls she’d followed into the café, in the hope that it might look as though she was with them. Before she knew it, she was in the queue for food.

A few minutes later, she carried a tray over to a large table to the right of the emergency exit doors. A group of around seven students, male and female, sat at one end of it. She placed the tray down at the other end, far enough away from them for it not to be rude not to ask if the seat was free.

She removed her plate with the jacket potato and tuna and the small bottle of fresh orange juice, and then propped the tray against her chair. She cursed herself for not bringing a book with her, but she’d only intended going to the shop, hadn’t she? Coming here was never part of the plan.

If she kept her eyes on her plate, she wouldn’t see people gawping at her: the pathetic lone student in a whole room of groups. The imposter.

‘Lucie!’

A clear voice cut through her thoughts. It came from the other end of the table.

Lucie’s head jerked up to see who had called out, her potato-loaded fork hovering in mid-air.

It was the mousy-haired girl who lived on her landing. Lucie wished she’d paid more attention to what her name was, as the girl obviously had to hers.

‘Don’t sit there on your own; come and join us!’

‘It’s fine.’ Lucie smiled shyly. ‘Thanks, though.’

She ate the forkful of food and looked back down at her plate. Even the little mouse had found herself a group of friends! But Lucie wouldn’t have people feeling sorry for her. If she had to get through the next four years with no one to hang around with, then so be it, she resolved.

She didn’t need other people. She just needed her qualification, and then she’d go back to Nottingham, back to her dad and everything in her life that was familiar.

How ironic that the very things she’d initially set out to escape from now felt like a sanctuary she’d happily return to in a heartbeat.

‘Lucie, isn’t it? I’m Stefan.’

She jumped slightly and her fork clattered down on to her plate. A tall, muscular guy who looked to be in his late twenties stood over her. She felt her skin heat as he smiled, showing even white teeth and a strong, square jawline.

‘Sorry, didn’t want to startle you. Come and join us; we won’t bite, you know.’

Lucie found herself smiling mutely, then picking up her tray and loading her plate and drink back on to it to move to the other end of the table.

She would never forget the decision she made to join the other students that day, because it was the first time she ever laid eyes on Stefan O’Hara.





Twenty-Nine





I’m the invisible person around here, the person nobody is interested in.

There’s only one thing worse than being ignored, and that is being overlooked.

But I’m not stupid, I’ve learned you can make people notice you. With the right planning and the right research, most people have things in their past they’d rather stay hidden away.

Yet some things need to be revealed. People who have been silenced should be given a voice and not forgotten.

And that’s where I come in.





Thirty





Lucie





Sunday evening





When we get back to our own garden from Bev and Mike’s house, I can hear the faint buzz of the press talking from the front of the house.

We’ve barely taken our shoes and coat off and moved into the sitting room when there’s a commotion out in the hallway. A blast of crowd noise and then the door closing. Muffled, concerned voices.

Blake peers around the door, then turns back to me.

‘My parents are here,’ he says.

A shiver of nervous energy zips up my spine. Nadine always makes me feel so inadequate, sometimes without even saying a great deal. God only knows what she’ll have to say about Grace.

I wish Oscar was down here, nuzzled close to me. And I could do with Dad’s support, too. I glance out of the window and see Jeffery from next door standing near the gaggle of press and staring straight at the house. I shiver and push the thoughts that present themselves out of my head.