Read Bobby's Girl for Free Online Page B

the Broken Hearted’ being belted out on the record player. She shook her head and pointed to her ears.
    Kate charged across the room. Oblivious to their game her overflowing bag hit their chessboard. A yoghurt and monster bar of chocolate spilt out knocking over half a dozen pieces.
    â€˜Pen, you’ll never guess—’
    â€˜Thanks for killing our game and so much for your diet, Kate,’ Rich griped. He and Kate had hated one another for years. Neither of them bothered to disguise their mutual loathing. She’d told both of them it wasn’t easy having the love of her life and best friend at constant loggerheads but her protests hadn’t had the slightest effect.
    â€˜I’m talking to Pen, not you,’ Kate snapped.
    â€˜That’s my rook you sent flying across the room. And I was winning,’ Rich carped, when Kate swept the board again with the edge of her mac.
    â€˜No you weren’t. Pen had a cunning plan to checkmate you in three moves. She always does.’ Kate picked up the rook and turned her back on Rich. ‘The union’s chartered a plane. It’s leaving for New York the first week of Juneand returning mid September. Forty-eight pounds return and they’ll help any student who wants to go to find a job.’
    â€˜Forty-eight pounds! You sure?’ She abandoned the game.
    â€˜Where are you two going to find forty-eight pounds?’ Rich scoffed. ‘It’s two weeks into term but everyone I know has an overdraft.’
    â€˜Not me. After watching my mother struggle with the tallyman for years I know how to hold on to my money.’ Kate had been brought up by a widowed mother on a council estate. The poorest and roughest in Pontypridd.
    â€˜Do you have forty-eight pounds?’ she asked Kate.
    â€˜I handed in my cheque ten minutes ago.’
    â€˜Rob a bank or gone on the game, Kate?’ Rich goaded.
    Kate ignored him. ‘I met Joe Hunt in town. He was on his way back from a meeting at the university union. The notice won’t be on the board until tomorrow morning. There’s bound to be a rush for seats because the offer’s open to all Swansea students in the Uni, Tech and Art colleges.’ Kate gave Rich a mocking smile. ‘As for the forty-eight pounds, the Dragon Hotel was advertising for a waitress. All day Saturday and Sunday and two week-night evenings. Five pounds a week plus tips and a free ride back here at the end of the shift.’
    â€˜You’ve taken it?’
    Penny didn’t know why Rich had asked. It was obvious from the triumphant look on Kate’s face she had.
    â€˜It gives me four months to replace what I’ve taken from my grant cheque and save spending money.’ Katewrinkled her nose. ‘Not that we’re going to be allowed to take more than fifty pounds out of the country. Stupid government and their stupid penny-pinching rules to stop the rich spending abroad; if we don’t find jobs within a day or two in the States, we’ll be sleeping in the street.’
    â€˜Do the union want all the money upfront?’ Penny’d tried to calculate how much was left of her grant cheque in her bank account. She’d a massive overdraft before Christmas and spent more than she should have on presents for her family.
    â€˜Do you think I would have handed my cheque into the union office if they didn’t? I’m still living off what I made working in the Post Office at Christmas. I haven’t touched my grant. I won’t need any extra cash for a few weeks and, when I do, I’ll have my Dragon wages to fall back on.’
    â€˜You’re going to wear yourself out, waiting tables two days and four nights a week as well as studying. Most people who flunk out do so after the second-year finals.’ Rich couldn’t resist the opportunity to forecast doom for Kate.
    â€˜You’re thinking of students of low intelligence and no stamina, like