Currents

One ~ Change

One ~ Change

Someone once said, travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.

Money caused me enough problems, though, so I could add that to the list of reasons not to spend the summer away from home.

"Why don't you at least try to smile?" my mum said to me under her breath as we followed the crowd through to customs. "You're getting a holiday out of this. Be grateful."

Frowning, I said nothing. She knew she'd screwed up my plans, ruining a summer I'd been planning for six months—a summer my friends would now enjoy without me.

As soon as we were heading towards baggage collection, Mum pulled out her phone and began to prod at the screen, her manicured nails making an infuriating tapping noise each time they met the glass.

"Will you keep an eye out for the bags?" She didn't lift her eyes. "I have a few calls to make."

I wandered over to the carousel, rooting around in my bag for my own phone. Would any of my friends care about spending the summer without me? My last three months before university were supposed to be memorable so we could go our separate ways knowing we'd done everything we wanted.

With the feeling of dread in my stomach intensifying, I decided to call the person who probably cared the most about me being away from London, if only because it meant I was away from him.

While my eyes locked onto the conveyor belt, awaiting the arrival of our luggage, I kept the phone pressed against my ear as it rang out. Alastair was constantly attached to his phone, so what possible excuse could he have for ignoring me?

Maintaining my composure, I left him a brief message, knowing better than to reveal my irritation.

"Hi, it's me. Just letting you know that I've landed. Speak to you soon. Love you."

I dropped the phone back into my bag and pulled it further onto my shoulder. I knew I was lucky, and that many girls would kill to have my lifestyle, but all the money in the world couldn't buy decent friends or a faithful boyfriend. In fact, in my experience, it did the opposite.

"Still no bags?" Mum asked, appearing beside me, also irritated. It promised a very long journey ahead.

"How far away is the house?"

My head muzzy from the flight, I was shattered and wanted nothing more than to lie down in a comfy bed where I could fall asleep and pretend this had all been a dream.

"See, if you'd taken an interest in this trip, you'd know the answer to that," Mum said, her tone laced with disapproval.

"An interest?" I replied, careful to keep my voice low. "I wasn't going to take an interest when I didn't want to be here in the first place."

"I'm tired of this, Rosalie. You've spent the last year with your friends instead of going to university. A few months away from them isn't going to hurt."

While I didn't expect Mum to understand my distress at spending the summer away from my friends—she wasn't aware of the real reason I took a gap year—I at least wanted a hint of sympathy. She could have even pretended; I wouldn't have minded. After all, so many of the behaviours she'd ingrained into me were based on concealing your true feelings and presenting the best version of yourself. It was hypocritical to make her disappointment in me so visible.

Not that hypocrisy was a new concept to Mum. She lectured me on the importance of having a well-connected circle of friends, a respectable partner, and a social status that would earn me a good reputation, yet she wanted to drag me away from all that by forcing me to join her in a tiny, unknown town in North Carolina.