Page 49 of Date with Destiny

‘I’m choosing Aquarius –’ she clicks her own sign ‘– and Scorpio.’ My sister’s star sign.

We click through to the final page.

Your answers are being analyzed. We are calculating the position of the planets, the sun, and the moon, as your results are being prepared.

After another minute, a new page loads.

Congratulations, your birth chart is ready. It alone holds the secrets to who you really are and what awaits you.

Simply click below to pay £279.99.

Ugh. I glance nervously at Myfanwy and Sonali. I don’t want to pay for this. Do I really need to know mypersonality vibrations? But maybe £300 is a good deal to discover what the planets are doing to my soul. I am dying to know what my destiny is telling me. Maybe I can borrow it from Toni for now or—

‘Bugger that,’ Myfanwy interrupts, shutting down the tab. ‘You’re not paying for this horseshit. Half of it wasn’t even spelled correctly.’

It seems even Myfanwy has her limits with the woo-woo.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Shawn has promised to ‘get us in’ at a club after dinner.

Not a thing that has happened to me, since I was seventeen. And even then, I didn’tactuallywant to get in to said club, I just didn’t want to appear rude when offered. Therefore, I am horrified about this evening’s turn of events.

Toni overheard Myfanwy moaning about all the ‘old people’ at dinner, and excitedly announced that Shawn was going to – and she kept using these words like we were going to a celebrity premiere –get us into the opening of a fancy club in Central London. Myfanwy and Sonali tried to explain that none of us wanted to be ‘got in’, but then Toni said there could be free drinks and everyone immediately shut up.

So now we’re here, outside this most special of all special clubs, which, from the outside at least, is mostly giving us hideous 1960s grey office block in Zone Six vibes. And the worst part of all is that Shawn hasn’t evengot us in; we’ve been in a queue for the last twenty-five minutes.

‘Guess how much these trousers cost?’ Shawn has made most of the conversation since we got here, and much of it has been in this kind of area.

Myfanwy sighs loudly, as Sonali impatiently asks, ‘I thought you weregetting us in? It’s freezing out here.’ She gestures at the unmoving snake of people ahead of us as Shawn indiscreetly rolls his eyes.

Toni removes her coat, handing it over to a grateful Sonali, who fixes Shawn with a stern look. ‘You do know prolonged exposure to the cold can fuck up the brain?’

I gasp. ‘Is that going to happen to us?’

She shrugs. ‘Well, no. It’s only mid-November and this is England, but if we end up standing out here all night, it’s definitely a possibility.’ She pauses. ‘If we also removed all our clothes and it dropped about ten degrees. Either way, it’s dangerous out here and Shawn promised toget us in.’

‘Iam,’ he explains slowly, as though Sonali were a small child. ‘This is the VIP queue. Believe me, babe, the other queue around the front is five times the length of this one. And even then, the place is so exclusive, they don’t leteveryonein from this line. I’ve called in many favours for you all. It’s a good job I basically know everyone in London.’ He nods smugly and Toni smiles eagerly up at him.

‘That’s amazing, Shawn, you’re the best. Thank you so much!’

He bestows a kiss on her cheek and she beams even harder. ‘So?’ He looks around at the three of us.

‘Right, yeah, um, thanks a lot, Shawn?’ I offer, unsurehow much gratitude is required when we’re standing in the rain without much movement.

‘You’re welcome,’ he replies magnanimously. ‘But I meant the trousers. How much do you think they cost?’

Myfanwy snorts a little at my side and I try not to look over at her. She’s always getting me in trouble by making me laugh.

‘Gosh, I don’t know…’ I begin, because I’m not totally sure what the rules of this game are. Plus, I’m not aware of how much men’s trousers cost, nor do I – if I’m being completely honest – care. ‘Erm, loads? Like £100?’

He looks at me with disdain. ‘Way more.’

‘A hundred and fifty?’ offers Sonali, fiddling with her fringe in a handheld mirror as Toni watches enviously.

‘More!’ Shawn beams.

‘Ten thousand,’ Myfanwy says spitefully and he glowers at her from under hisPeaky Blindersflat cap.

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