"You're so beautiful. Are you sure you don�t have a boyfriend?" He stares straight into her eyes and she feels like the luckiest woman on the planet.
"Only you." She tells him truthfully and to her surprise he leans over and kisses her. She's shocked but she doesn't pull away. They stay like that for what feels like forever. Anna never wants it to end. But eventually the both pull away, Anna grinning like a Cheshire cat. Quickly Anna glances down at her watch and sees with some surprise that its almost 12, an hour after she should have been home.
"I've gotta get home." Anna says apologetically.
"Okay, can I walk you back?"
"Of course." Anna is just grateful that he's not mad about her curfew.
They walk along, arm in arm, discussing plans of when they should see each other again. Anna doesn't want this moment to ever end but when they come to the start of her road she knows that she's got to say goodbye.
"This is where I live."
"Do you have to go right now?"
"My mum's expecting me back."
"Well, she wont mind waiting a minute longer will she? Just one goodbye kiss?" He pleads with her with his eyes and in the end she gives in. Anything to please him.
"Okay. Just one." She says as she stands up on tiptoe to kiss him. He puts his arms around her and pulls her round so her back's against the wall. As they kiss he starts to put one hand up her top. She giggles and puts his hand back in the safe area of her shoulders. But he doesn't take the hint. Slowly he moves his hands down and to where her skirt was fastened. Now she began to feel uncomfortable.
"Don't Jo." She says as she pulls away and she takes both his hands and holds them in her own in front of her.
"What? It's only a bit of fun Anna." He said as he went back to trying to kiss her but she wriggled away from him.
"I don�t want to." Anna says simply.
"Everyone does it, it's nothing unusual."
"Not everyone does it. I don�t."
"Come on Anna, stop messing." He pushed her back against the wall.
"I don�t want to, I'm not ready."
"You mean you're a virgin?" His voice was somewhere between amusement and disgust.
"Of course I am. Why did you think I wouldn't be?"
"Well, the way you dress�" Anna looked down at her clothes. There's nothing tarty about her knee length skirt and black top but suddenly she feels disgusted with the way she dresses. She starts to say something but he puts his hand over her mouth to stop her. Suddenly she's scared, really scared. Of him and what he could do. She bites down hard on his hand, until she tastes blood and he yelps in pain. And then she runs. Her heart beats faster than she ever thought possible as she runs along the street and towards the safety of her flat. She can hear his footsteps and his voice as she scrambles up the stairs.
"You're a tease Anna, a f***ing tease! You'll get what you deserve, I'll make sure of it." She gets to her flat, panting and out of breath and as she fumbles for the key in her bag she thinks she hears him behind her. She glances round and sees that it's nothing more than a stray a cat. She thinks she's lost him but she cant feel safe until she's behind a locked door.
She finds the key at the bottom of her bag. It takes her a few minutes to get the key into the lock, her hands are shaking so badly, but eventually she manages it. As soon as she inside she slams the door behind her, puts the catch down and the chain on.
"You're late Anna!" She hears her mum call sleepily from one of the bedrooms.
"I know, I'm sorry."
"Was it a good party then?"
"It was�" Anna pauses. It was what? Could she really tell her mum the truth? That she'd been kissing some boy she'd just met whose last name she didn't even know. Could she tell her mum what a tart and a tease she had for a daughter? "Wonderful. It was great, really fun." Her voice is shaking and she hopes her mum is too sleepy to notice.
"That's good, I'm glad you had a good time sweetheart. Now go to bed."
"I will mum." Anna shouts back as she sits down on the floor. She can't think of anything except hoping that he's not coming after her. She sobs quietly as she tears away at her skirt. She feels sick just thinking about him, about him touching her, kissing her. She knows he isn't here but she feels his hands on her, her back against the cold, harsh wall and the taste of blood in her mouth. She curls up in a heap on the floor, hoping her mum will think that her sobs are just the noise of the wind. Hoping that he wont come after her. Wishing it would all just go away.
Part five
Welcome back to the on going story of this girl�s life. Hardly a girl anymore she's 22 now, but she's back where she started. Back in Birmingham, standing in front of the flats she knows all too well. The ones she remembers wasting half her childhood crying in. She had always sworn never to come back here, always said that she would run away from that part of her life and never look back. But here she is, standing outside, trying to pluck up the courage to walk in and confront the fears she�s been trying to forget.
As she stands and stares up at the building she sees a tall, skinny woman bent double over a buggy, cooing to a baby. She wears jogging bottoms and a fake sports jacket; gold hoop earrings grace her ears and turn them green while more fake gold piles up around her neck, wrists and fingers. Her greasy, brown hair is pulled tightly into a hair bobble at the back of her head, which seems to pull at the very skin on her face. She is the original council flat mum, the one you thought only existed in stereotypes, she could be anyone of the millions of people out there like her but for some unknown reason she catches Anna�s attention. Anna stares at her, fixated, and quick as a flash the other girl looks up and meets her gaze. Embarrassed, Anna knows that she should glance away but there is something about those deep, brown eyes that is so familiar.
�Anna?� The woman questions quietly, the sound of her voice brings back floods of memories to Anna.
�Donna?� she asks. Can it really be her old school friend? After all these years? The woman nods and Anna runs to greet her. They hug like the old friends they are.
�Oh my god!� Donna screeches happily. �How long has it been?�
�Too long.� Anna replies a little sadly. �It must be, what, six years now. Before I went to college.� Anna feels guilty at mentioning college. She feels guilty because she got to go to college while Donna was still stuck in this dump.
�so what did you do after college?� Donna asks as she picks her baby�s dummy from the pavement.
�Well, I�ve just graduated from four years of training to be a nurse.�
�Wow, you�re a nurse.�
�Student nurse.� Anna corrects her quickly.
�But why did you decided to become a nurse? Last time I heard you wanted to concur the world.�
�I still do! But I decided to take it a bit at a time, and nursing seemed a good a place as any to start. So, what have you been doing?�
�Umm� well, I started to my A-levels but after about a year I couldn�t stand the people there any more. I hate them all, I hate that school.�
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