Now 29, she shares her story for the first time. I grinned at Anna and she rolled her eyes β it was a bit of an in-joke; the fact that everything tended to go my way. My mum had died when I was a baby, so my two sisters and I were raised by our grandparents in the middle of nowhere in Wales.
Sure, we bickered sometimes β I went nuts when I caught my younger sister smoking weed with her friends β but we pulled together and made a functional little family.
I genuinely believed that the worst thing that could happen to me would be getting a bad grade or missing a netball match. Looking back, I wish I could shake myself. I walked home and stood outside my house, unable to bring myself to put my keys in the lock. Before I could talk myself out of it, I turned around and headed to the train station. It was Sunday night, but the next train was due at 7pm. London Euston, read the departures board. It was also freezing. I had a small cross-body bag with my pay-as-you-go phone, a lip balm and my bankcard, but that was it.
Pushing through the ticket barriers, I saw a New Look. I figured that would last me a month or so until I found work. By Wednesday afternoon, I was completely skint. Without any money to pay for another night in the youth hostel, I found myself sitting on a wooden bench outside Euston station, sobbing into the sleeve of my sweater.
My tears fell harder, and it started to rain. I only looked up when he walked over and crouched down next to me, one knee in a puddle.
