40

The next few weeks were confusing and weird to say the least. My desk was moved out of Mr Stone’s office, and I realised how unlikely it was going to be that I would ever return to the ‘Sky Lounge’.

Thankfully they let me work next to Louise. I think it was partly under the guise that I was now focusing my attentions on the social media ads for Blast, but from the way people raised their eyebrows at me, I wasn’t sure they’d bought it. Louise was my saving grace, helping me to be distracted from the gossip, and making sure she always ate lunch with me.

Mr Stone never contacted me directly after that. My make-up lessons with Adrianne ended, so there was no reason for me to visit his flat. I saw him twice in total, and that was only to watch him stride through the marble lobby to the lifts. The only thing I saw from him was impersonal emails to the Blast team about our work. Even within this, he never named me.

This is what I’d as