Free From Rags by Suzanne Wright

deciphered. He quickly lifted his friends up, palms out. “No, me and Chris aren’t a couple. Just mates. And when I say mates, I mean friends. As it happens, I’m hoping to corner my ex. She’s been texting me and phoning me the past couple of weeks talking about us getting back together. She doesn’t know I’m coming tonight.”
    “I’m hoping to find myself a nice, rich actor,” sighed Anna dreamily.
    “That won’t happen unless you learn not to faint when they get near you,” Jaxxon told her. Anna always became very intimidated in the presence of celebrities.
    Anna bounced in her seat. “I know, I know, but I just get all tongue-tied and it’s like the blood just leaves my head.”
    “In Bruno’s case, the blood all rushes to a particular body part, giving him the hard-on from hell,” chuckled Chris.
    “I don’t know what you’re laughing at,” spat Bruno. “You’re as bent as a boomerang and yet you only ever seem to attract women.”
    “What’s with the stubbly face?”
    Bruno scratched his chin self-consciously. “Just thought I’d try out the rough look.”
    “You’re not pulling it off. You’re face…it’s too pretty .”
    “ Pretty ?”
    “Boys, boys,” soothed Jaxxon. “We’re here.”
    The venue – a five-star hotel – was huge and impressive, Jaxxon noted as they all hopped out of the limo and into the lights of dozens of flashing cameras. Again Jaxxon got that sense of not belonging. Never would she have imagined setting foot in a place like this. Just like she never would have imagined being asked for autographs or photographs – mostly, though, being renowned for telling people to sod off meant that she didn’t get too much of that. It was something that she suspected would always feel weird to her, just like the special treatment she received and the invites to parties of celebs who she’d never even met. More shocking was that she’d actually been asked to feature on a reality T.V. programme, to go to various castings, and been asked several times for interviews. Ollie and Richie didn’t mind so much that she refused; they thought it went in her favour that she was mostly a mystery. Besides, she was busy enough already – another thing Ollie and Richie liked.
    What did Jaxxon like the most about her new life? Not the attention or the fancy car or the designer clothes or the constant mingling with celebs. It was the financial security; the fact that she didn’t have to fret every day about whether she’d make her rent money or afford enough food to last the week. What’s more, not only did she feel as though she was finally in control of the direction her life was taking, but her life was actually taking a direction instead of her just plodding along. She was still adjusting to that, but it was an adjustment she was gladly making.
    Still, though, a conflicting cocktail of emotions assailed her; awe at the grandness before her, awkwardness at entering this other world, and also dread at having to be around people who were for the most part condescending to her. It wasn’t the fact that they were celebs that had Jaxxon rumpled, it was the judgmental looks and the smiles that were so sickly sweet they were simultaneously acidic. Where Jaxxon had grown up, if you had something to say you said it. In this world, it was all indirect insults and whispering behind your back. Groan! Not that everyone was like that, but the ones who were just grated on her nerves. Jaxxon swore that she would never allow herself to become so used to luxury and money that she was snobby and narrow-minded.
    Basking in the attention, Anna took her time heading through the break in the gang of reporters, posing and smiling and blowing kisses. Chris waved like he was royalty. Bruno just nodded and smiled with his hands tucked in his pockets. Jaxxon might have given a fleeting wave if the lights weren’t getting on her bloody nerves. It occurred to her that the frustration would leak into her