Kate sat in the middle of her bedroom, clothes spread out all around her in messy piles. She sat staring at the wall.
'Kate, what the…?' Kate jumped as her mother walked in. 'Did you just empty the contents of your suitcases all over the floor?' Carole said, shaking her head at the mess.
It had been two weeks since Kate had told William that she was moving back to Bucklebury. In that time, she had been living in a daze, going back and forth to London, emptying her things from her Chelsea flat; and working her notice at Jigsaw.
Kate shrugged, not really taking in what her mother had said. Carole knelt beside her daughter. 'Look, I know you're hurting, but you need to pick yourself up.'
'How?' Kate chocked on the word, her eyes filling with tears.
Carole stroked Kate's hair from her face, 'Well we can start with this room', she smiled, 'and then tomorrow , you can start work at the office.'
'I guess I should keep busy', Kate agreed, her voice coming back.
'Exactly – now how about we start with throwing this old thing out', Carole said, holding up a large purple polo shirt.
'No!', Kate grabbed the shirt. She may have been ready to start putting herself back together, but she wasn't ready to throw Will's polo shirt out. She decided her mother didn't need to know who's shirt it was just yet.
The next morning, Kate pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt, and pulled her hair back. She couldn't be bothered with make up today. In fact, she hadn't been bothered about making any effort with her looks since leaving Will.
She walked into the kitchen where her dad was sitting at the breakfast bar, 'oh, you're up early', he said, folding his newspaper in half and tucking it under his arm.
'Yeh, I'm going to work', she replied eyeing up the newspaper. 'Dad, why are you hiding that paper under your arm?'
'Urmmm, no reason' He was a terrible liar.
Kate raised her eyebrow.
'Ok, it's just a stupid story about you' he said 'it's nothing to worry about'.
Kate sighed, she still wasn't used to the media attention. 'What does it say Dad, just tell me.'
'Well news of the break up is out, they're claiming it was William who ended things' Michael said nervously.
Kate closed her eyes. 'You know what Dad, starting today, I'm not gonna read this stuff', she said, resolve strong in her voice. 'I don't want to see any of it'. She grabbed the paper from under his arm and threw it into the recycling.
Kate spent the next week working at Party Pieces. On the outside, she seemed to be coping. She was sticking to her promise to herself not to read any stories about her or Will. But on the inside, she was suffering. Will hadn't been in contact since that day he stormed out of the flat. She had text him telling him that she was sorry about how it had happened and saying she hoped they could be friends, but she'd had no reply.
At night she had often spent the early hours sobbing, while clutching that polo shirt. His smell had long since left it, but it still comforted her.
'You know, he's probably missing you just as much', he friend Alice told her over the phone one evening.
'Why, what have you heard?', Kate said, trying to sound casual.
Alice giggled, 'nothing, babe, I haven't heard anything! Listen, did you get your invite to Sam's party thing tomorrow?' She said, changing the subject.
'Yehhh' Kate replied.
'Well he was wondering if you were coming'
'Of course not! William's going to be there!' Kate said indignantly.
'But you're missing him right?' Alice replied, 'Don't you want to see him?'
'Yes, of course I do, but he clearly doesn't want to see me. I think it really hurt him, splitting the way we did.'
'Ok, but you need to get out of that house!' Alice teased. Kate had become somewhat of a recluse.
'For your information, I'm going out to the pub tonight', she said with mock pride.
'With who?'
'Urm, my parents', she said twirling her hair.
'For….?' Alice enquired.
'A pub quiz', Kate said sheepishly.
Alice laughed, 'you really are living on the edge, aren't you?'
It seemed the whole of Bucklebury was at the pub that night and Kate found that with the support of her friends and neighbours, she was enjoying herself for the first time in weeks.
'Ok! Question four!' the quiz master boomed, 'who is currently second in line to the British throne?'
Kate's face flushed and her parents looked round at her, worried at her reaction. She gave them a reluctant smile, and wrote down 'Prince William'.
At home that night as Mike and Carole complained to each other about the pub's insensitive choice of question, Kate went straight to her room.
She realised it had been two and a half weeks since she had vowed to not read any press stories, and she had decided that it was long enough. She had neither read, or heard anything from friends about what William had been doing. She was so used to knowing his schedule that this was hard to deal with.
Sitting on her bed, she loaded up her laptop, and clicked into Google News. For the second time that night, she wrote 'Prince William', and hit the search button.
The first result hit her like a punch in the gut. The headline 'Wills' night with mystery blonde' blared out at her. She clicked on the result leading her to the Sun website, which showed pictures of William dancing with a blonde girl in a club, his hands all over her. The byline read: 'all thoughts of Kate Middleton disappear as Wills declares "I'm free!"'
Kate slammed the lid down, her heart was racing. 'How could I be so stupid?' she thought, 'did I actually believe he was missing me?' Holding the tears back, she thought of herself telling Alice how she believed William was hurting. She felt like a fool, and her anger began to rise.
There she was hiding away, barely dressing up for work, wondering if she had done the right thing, when William was out partying, and letting everyone believe that HE broke it off. She was no fool, but he was making her look like one.
She paced the room, furious now, before finally picking up the phone and punching in the contact. The call was answered in seconds, and Kate didn't hesitate,
'Alice? I've changed my mind. I'm going to that party.'