Chapter 5

Alice sat on the bus, hands firmly grasping her bag. She was travelling into the city and not to the 'so-called' good side. 

After her job at the gallery fell though, due to it having to close, the Jobcentre helped her find alternative employment. It was only part-time, but as an art and design technician at Rowshill school, she would at least gain experience.

The area was rough. As Alice glanced about at the signs of urban decay—closed storefronts covered in graffiti and open bins spewing trash—she told herself to quit being a snob. People here were poorer than in her town, but they were still just people. 

'You're going to be fine,' she assured herself.

As she wandered through the gates, a group of male students gaped at her. One of them said something she didn't quite catch, so she continued walking to the office, head held high.

By the time she'd found her way to the art department, Alice regretted her choice of clothing. The little tight black dress, although smart, was figure-hugging. She was drawing lewd stares from the guys and the odd bitchy look from the girls. 

'It's not my fault I have a decent body,' she thought to herself. Yes, it was vain, but there was no point denying it. Plus she worked hard to stay in shape: eating the right things and doing regular exercise. Why should she hide her beauty from the world?

'Especially now I'm single,' she thought, hanging her head. She's stayed up late for the past few nights, debating whether or not to contact him. He hadn't bothered to message her once, so it was probably pointless to think about him. He obviously didn't care. All he would have to do to get her back was to atone for his actions: to apologise.

'He won't say sorry because he's not sorry,' she thought. 

When the head of the art department explained her role in greater detail she nodded along and said yes at the right points, but her mind was still on Adam. 

"Since we can't do a lot of practical work right now, the job is mostly cleaning and preparing for next term," Mr Lowe was saying. "The students are meant to be staying in their seats which is making life pretty awkward."

Alice nodded with a sympathetic smile.

"Still, it's good that you stared now, so you get a chance to ease into things at a gentle pace," he said. 

"Yes." Alice nodded. 

Mr Lowe was a middle-aged man with kind brown eyes and a warm smile. He wasn't exactly boyfriend material, but he seemed like someone she'd get along well with.

"Okay, I have a massive order to complete, so I might just get you to take stock of what's in the drawers and clean up as you go if that's okay?" he said.

"Sure, I can manage that," Alice told him with a confident smile. After he showed her where the cleaning equipment and stock sheets were kept, he left her to get on with it.

The Art and design teacher sat behind the desk as she entered, almost spilling her water as she fumbled with the door.

"You okay, love?" Miss Woodward asked.

"Yeah, sorry," Alice said, placing her bits down. "I just need to do the stock check and clean if that's okay?"

"Sure, no worries," the teacher said. "I've got D7 next. Oh Lord, take me now."

Alice laughed, though she had no idea who D7 were. A notorious class was her best guess.

As they piled in, one of the boys deliberately got in her way.

"Sorry, Miss," he said, pushing up against her as he made his way to the sink. "Am I in your way, Miss?"

"It's fine," Alice said, trying not to act phased as his friends snickered and whispered.

He squirted some hand gel into his hands and repeated the same process on the way back, apologising for quite deliberately getting in her way.

"Don't be annoying, Kai," the teacher barked in her defence.

She cleaned out the drawers and counted up the brushes and other items as she went along the side of the classroom. Most of the drawers had random items stuffed inside—plastic bottles, bits of screwed up blue roll and the worst thing... chewing gum.

As she knelt to empty out the bottom drawer, a wad of tissue fell at her feet.

"You missed a spot," a voice sneered.

When Alice turned to address the rude student, her words got stuck in her throat. She found herself staring into a set of two different coloured eyes.

"Riley."

"The one and only," he said, grinning at her. "How's your boyfriend doing. I heard he got out of the hospital."

Alice took a deep breath. She tried to pry her eyes away from him but found it impossible. "I wouldn't know. Me and him... it's over."

He shocked her by letting out a deep throaty laugh. "He'd not having a good week."

Riley turned to the guy seated behind him. "You hear that Felix?"

"Poor Adam," Felix said, smiling with false sympathy. He crossed his feet beneath the desk and leaned forward, placing his head in his hands. "But lucky for you. How a pretty little thing like you ended up with an awful guy like that is quite the mystery."

Alice looked down, staying quiet. Telling them the whole story wasn't an option. Aside from the fact it was shameful, it wasn't exactly a topic considered 'safe for work.'

She decided to change the topic instead. "You can't really expect Mike to pay you back eleven grand?"

"No." Riley smiled. "I expect him to stop acting like he's above working for me. Is it a coincidence that he decides to go clean after my brother gets put in prison? Hmm? I think not."

"Isn't going clean a good thing?" she asked.

The question made both Riley and Felix snort with laughter. 

"She's kind of adorable," Felix said to Riley.

"She's kind of living with her head in the clouds," Riley corrected him. "Life isn't fairy tale."

"It's not a post-apocalyptic horror story either," Alice said, face deadpan. 

"Are they bothering you?" Mrs Woodward asked, leaning up from her desk with a questioning look.

Alice shook her head. "It's fine."

She picked up her cloth and went to move but stopped when Riley grabbed her by the wrist. She tried to pull back, but his grip was iron. 

"Come find me at lunch," he said, an amused look on his face.

"Why?" Alice frowned. 

"Because I said so," he replied.

As Alice tried to pull away from him, his smile only grew. 

"Okay," she conceded, not wanting to make a scene on her first day of work. "Just... let go."

With a smug look, he released his grip.

"See you soon... Alice," he said, reading from her lanyard.

Alice turned away. She had no intention of meeting him at lunch. He was a student, so it would be weird for her to sit with him. She'd prepared a lunch box and was planning to eat it in the canteen with the rest of the art department. 

'I'm sure he'll forget about it,' Alice thought.