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up.
    While her parents spent a good part of the rest of the evening achieving very little else but moving the mess from the front two rooms to the back two rooms, Alice fell asleep, and dreamt about her brand new life.
    She was young enough to be happy starting again, and hadn't really spent enough time in Earlsfield anyway to build up enough of a life to miss it. She was also an adventurous girl, much more so than her older brother, and seemed happy to try new things, while he was almost the complete opposite. James already knew what he liked, and there was nothing else he needed in his life apart from those things. He was going to be a doctor like his father, and work as a surgeon in the same hospital when he was old enough to do so. He was going to play rugby at the weekends, and if he was good enough and trained hard enough, he was going to play for England.
    The only thing that Alice knew for certain, was that she was going to be a writer, and nothing else along the way mattered that much as long as she reached her goal. In fact, all the other things along the way would just make her better at what she did, because it would give her ideas for more stories. As long as she was writing things every day she knew she'd be happy, and the great thing was, that Alice knew writing was something she could do anywhere, and quite often did. She could do it tucked up in bed at night, she could do it on the bus to school in the morning, she could do it when she was daydreaming in class or while she was eating her dinner. She only needed a pencil and a piece of paper, and sometimes a rubber when she made mistakes. When she was old enough she was going to ask her parents for a typewriter, because that's what she knew would make her the best of all.
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
    ' You have got to be kidding me', I said, looking at the two playboy bunny outfits that Sophia was holding up.
    ' I know, right', she said excitedly, 'aren't they cute?'
    Some of the other waitresses were already dressed in them and looked ridiculous. Ok, they looked ridiculous to me, but I'm sure they looked exactly like the organiser of this event wanted them to look like to everyone else. Cute, sexy and erm, rabbit like?
    I worked during the day in a small Italian restaurant, but every once in a while got roped in on one of Sophia's evening functions. This was some kind of charity do/award ceremony/who knows what, and I would have walked straight out of the door again if the money wasn't so good.
    ' It's never going to fit me', I complained to Sophia, while she merrily stripped off to her panties and bra without a care in the world. Sophia would have done the whole ceremony naked if they'd asked her too, and she probably would have preferred it.
    ' Just put it on', Sophia said, 'it's only a bit of fun. You'll look good.'
    ' It's demeaning', I said. 'Why do we have to be playboy bunnies? Why can't we be, I don't know, women superheroes, or famous women writers.'
    ' Women writers aren't sexy', Sophia said. 'And besides which, we all have to look the same.'
    ' What is this thing for anyway?' I said, reluctantly pulling off my clothes.
    ' Rich people', Sophia said, 'So make sure you smile when you pour the champagne, you might get a tip.'
    ' That'll be the day', I said.
    ' Fifteen minutes', Janice called out. She was our boss, and looked like she was made entirely of wire bent around itself several times to make a frame, over which someone had hung some clothes. She was at least seventy, but could have been double that, had smoked all of her life and spent all of the years I'd known her, and god knows how many before that, eating her food through a straw so she didn't mess up her lipstick. She came over to check us both out.
    'Marvellous Sophie', she said to Sophia, never able to get her name right. Sophia didn't let it bother her. 'Who's your friend?'
    I had met this woman a handful of times, and every time we had the same conversation over and over again.
    ' Alice',