Chapter One: Bianca at Primark

After she had finished her required community service hours they began paying her for working at the senior shelter. It was only 6 pounds an hour, but it was more than Livia ever gave her.

Money, being Bianca's biggest obstacle, had sparked her love for Primark. It was the only store she could afford. Her entire wardrobe was from Primark. The cute tops she wore to every extra – school activity were from Primark. Her shoes, all 84 pairs, were from Primark. Bee's addiction to shoes prevented her from owning more than five pairs of jeans, but nonetheless she couldn't go a week without buying a pair.

There was another reason Bee loved Primark: no one from Larson Prep shopped there. Her time spent at Primark every Saturday was her time away from the materialistic snobs she spent everyday with.

Primark to Bianca was salvation. It was her hang out and the little café next door was the other half of her salvation. She lived there, spent more time there than at home. And when she wasn't there she was organizing outfits with her shoes and clothes she bought drinking coffee from Le Chat Noir. Bee's addiction to coffee made her one of the world's perkiest people, despite her situation.

Bee strolled through the cheaply priced clothes racks at Primark while thinking about graduation and the prom. People would be dressed in Versace, Missoni, Blumarine, and every major designer in the world. Bee would love to imagine herself in a Givenchy gown wearing Jimmy Chou's with her hair done up by Paul Simone- London's biggest hair stylist. But that just wouldn't happen. She would be in a discount department store Nicole Miller gown which she spent 40 pounds on, she would be wearing a pair of Primark shoes, and she would do her hair herself. Prom would be a night to remember: she would wander around alone again.

But at least she had the clothing racks at Primark and her shoe collection, which was about to be increased to 85 pairs. Gaining on the register Bee considered the consequences of spending her earnings on another pair of shoes and then a cup of coffee. It would take money out of her prom dress savings. She knew she'd regret it. But looking down at those patent leather red sling back pumps with the open front she decided she couldn't do without them.

So Bee rung the shoes up at the register and made her way over to Le Chat Noir. It was empty, as it always was. Le Chat Noir may have had the best coffee in London, but its dingy atmosphere didn't give it a good name. And the fact that no one knew about it may have contributed to its reputation too. The furniture may have been comfy, but it was mismatched. It was relaxed yet the broken lights forced people to get coffee elsewhere. And the music may have been good, but it wasn't played on the radio so no one wanted to get an espresso there. It was Bee's ideal getaway.

She took a seat in her ideal getaway after ordering a mocha latte. Pulling out her laptop (she had gone a year without a single new pair of shoes to afford it), she noticed someone else enter the cafe. He looked familiar, but the only people Bee knew were from her school, and she didn't even know them well. There was no way he could be from Larson Prep. Larson Prep kids didn't hang out in the part of London Le Chat Noir was in.

He ordered something at the bar without even looking at the menu and then took a seat not to far from her. Bee took one final glance at him and then stopped caring. He may have been bloody gorgeous with the dark hair that fell luxuriously into his eyes, but she saw a lot of gorgeous people. They didn't care about her so she'd learned not to care about them. It was her routine. She went back to working on her lit essay.