Background: Angela is shocked when William, an old friend from her past, who she hoped never to see again, comes back into her life, after he applies for a role at her work and successfully secures the job. William’s sudden reappearance puts Angela on edge. She’s terrified he’s discovered her secret, which she needs to protect her family from. William’s convinced Angela knows what happened to his former girlfriend, Caz, who hasn't been seen for twenty years, and that something terrible happened to her. The only person, who can help Angela, is her once best friend, Michelle, but Angela hasn’t seen Michelle for more than a decade. Faced with the threat of William’s return, they know they’ll need to work together to save their future, even if this does mean reopening old wounds, and revisiting a past they'd rather keep buried.

*************

The memory of last night at the club is like a fuzzy dream, like I’m trying to tune in an old black and white television. There are snatches of pictures struggling to fit together, of the four of us on the dance floor, drinking tequila and Sambuca shots. I run my tongue over my teeth.

Apart from Michelle, I’m the only one up. She left a short while ago to go for a run, like she always does of a weekend. There was no way she was going to be in bed with a hangover this morning. I think she had two glass of white wine last night, and that was it, a third glass would be her limit. It was her slamming the front door shut ten minutes ago that woke me. Her sour face from last night fills my mind, making me shudder. 

It’ll be forty minutes or so before she gets back. I’ve a sinking feeling, when she does get back, she’ll want to talk to me about what happened before she left. I throw my bed covers off and pull myself up from the warmth of my bed. There’s an unpleasant taste on my tongue. It’ll be from the shots. I do a couple of stretches, to try and rejuvenate myself, before heading out of the bedroom, and into the main living area, holding my hand over my mouth.

‘Your friend gets up early.’

My hand goes straight to my chest, and then my eyes fall on Caz, flopped out on our sofa with a blanket thrown over her. She’s still wearing the same clothes she wore last night. Her tops got a stain on it, from where she spilled her drink on the dance floor. A memory resurfaces of us banging our heads together and getting our hair entangled.

‘Jesus, I forgot you stayed here last night,’ I say.

She stifles a yawn and stretches her arms. ‘Yeah sorry about that, I think none of us had a clue what we were doing, it’s a miracle we made it back in one piece. I was in no fit state to be making my way back home by myself, especially not all the way back to Stratford. It was a fabulous evening though; I’d be up for doing it again.’ Caz rubs the corner of her nose, and her eyes drift towards the front door. ‘I don’t think your friend was pleased when she saw me just now, you know, gave me a right cold look. She made me want to get up and go, but I wanted to wait until you got up first. I think she’ll be expecting me to be gone by the time she gets back. Why did she go off like that last night?’

‘Oh, she was just tired.’ I lie. I don’t want to hurt Caz’s feelings, by telling her that it was really because of her that Michelle left, but I guess she’ll be able to tell I’m not being honest with her.

‘Yeah I bet she was just tired,’ Caz says, and smiles, which tells me she couldn’t care less about what Michelle thinks of her.

‘Don’t worry. Michelle’s very serious, she got a degree in law and history at uni, but once you get to know her she’s great, at least I think so anyway. She’s a great listener, and she’ll do anything for you.’

‘Law, that’s very impressive.’

‘Her parent’s pushed her into it though,’ I say, remembering our first conversation, when I found out she was studying law, after bumping into her outside my dorm. ‘She wanted to do history, so her parents compromised and said she could do both. She got a first in each, but I’m not sure her heart was truly in the law degree.’

‘Well, I doubt she would’ve got a first if she wasn’t somewhat interested in it. So what exactly does she want to do with it, her degree?’ Caz asks.

I sit on the armrest of the sofa. ‘I don’t think she’s entirely sure at the moment. She doesn’t want to be a lawyer. I think she’d like to get a job in history, as a curator or something like that. The law degree should definitely help with that.’

‘Ah, I bet she’ll get to work with a load of cool artefacts. Imagine being the first person to touch something that hasn’t been held by a human for hundreds of years,’ Caz says, looking slightly lost for a brief moment.

‘Are you into history then?’ I ask.

She shrugs and sits up. ‘Bits of history, you know. I love anything to do with Henry VIII, I could walk for hours around places like the Tower of London and Hampton Court. Bet you didn’t see that coming did you? Now if you don’t mind, I’m just going to jump in the shower and I’ll be out of your hair. Oh, and if I can borrow your telephone, I’ll call my boyfriend so he can come and meet me.’

‘Yes, yes, fine,’ I say. ‘Won’t he be worried about you not turning up back home last night?’

‘Nah, William will probably have been pleased to have had the bed all to him for a change, you know. He’ll probably still be soundo himself. It’s very rare he gets up before midday on the weekend. You’ll like William, although I’m not sure Michelle will, if I’m totally honest.’

She gives me a big smile, throws off the blanket, and then hurries into the bathroom. A few seconds later the sound of the shower running fills up the flat. That’ll annoy Hayley and Lauren. It always wakes me if someone decides to have a shower while I’m still asleep. It’s like the sound of someone drilling. We should get someone round to take a look at it, but it’s a job we keep putting off, and I really can’t be asked to start looking up plumbers.

Caz doesn’t seem to be feeling too bad after last night. Why she was out on her own? Perhaps she’d been with some other friends and they’d left. If I was in that position I would’ve gone home. There’s no way I’d want to stay out by myself if I’d been abandoned.

We’re a ground floor flat here, with only two bedrooms. Hayley and Lauren share one, and me and Michelle share the other. We’ve got a nice courtyard at the back of the kitchen as well. It’s nice sitting out there of an evening and watching the sun go down. Hayley strung up fairy lights on the walls, which makes it look really pretty.

I get down from the armrest and mooch into the kitchen, grabbing two slices of bread and throw them in the toaster. What I really need is a greasy fry up. There’s a café we sometimes go to on a Saturday morning round the corner, but I can’t be bothered to get dressed and walk. I fling open the cupboards. Damn, we don’t even have any eggs; I can’t even make a fried egg sandwich. I make a mental note to remind myself to go shopping before we all go out for a big night. It’s going to have to be peanut butter.

I spread a thick lump of peanut butter on my toast; the last moments I spent with Michelle last night filtering into my mind. I still can’t quite believe how angry Michelle was with me, when I introduced Caz, which makes my skin prickle. She’s never spoken to me in that way before and it . . . it doesn’t sit right with me. I get Caz might not be exactly Michelle’s cup of tea, but why does she have to be so bitter about it? We’ll likely never see Caz again after today.

I’m suddenly aware we are staying at Michelle’s place because of the generosity of her dad. Knowing Michelle, she’ll be thinking we’ve committed some sort of act of mutiny, by bringing Caz here without her permission.

Yeah, it’ll be fun talking to her later.

***********

Character List:

Angela Watkins - Protagonist 

Paul Watkins - Angela's husband

Rebecca Watkins - Angela's daughter 

Michelle Blake - Angela's former best friend 

Kirsty - Receptionist (Angela's friend) 

Olivia - Angela's boss

William Harris - Angela's former friend 

Caroline (Caz) - Angela's friend 

Hayley - Angela's former friend

Lauren - Angela's former friend