I’m naturally blonde, but my hair goes darker as the years pass, so now I require a blonde ‘top-up’ every six months. I say goodbye and thank Monique for turning up and dragging me out of the doldrums, with a promise to ring her tomorrow. I have twenty minutes before I need to pick up Joe. I slam the car in gear and head to Bettina’s house. It’s a detached house, on one of Handsworth’s better estates (we couldn’t afford one). Determined, I march up the driveway, and ignoring the doorbell, pound on the door. I can see her moving behind the glass panel. She opens the door and looks at me warily. ‘What do you want, Lauren?’ ‘I came to ask you to just stop it. You’ve probably ruined my business now, so there you go. You’ve created more trouble for me than I ever did for you at school, so please can you just leave us alone? I don’t know how you managed the different eBay addresses, whether you had me send the stuff to relatives or what, but enough’s enough.
