Page 96 of Did My Love Life Shrink in the Wash?
‘Not enough people know aboutVillette,’ she replies. ‘Usually it’s all Jane Eyre and Heathcliff with the Brontës but that book is all about independence, growth, loneliness. I get it.’
Oh, how I love this girl. Half my career is trying to get kids to be as enthusiastic about books as this, rather than them staring blankly at the walls or texting someone under a desk while I’m trying to teach them about Chaucer. But now, I’m having a literary conversation in the corridors of the Hammersmith Apollo.
Her eyes light up, maybe even more than when she’s on a set with a stuffed lion in the background. ‘Thanks for that Zadie Smith recommendation too, I loved it,’ she adds.
‘I’m glad. So you write all your own lyrics then?’ I ask her.
‘Yeah… I performed them as poetry to start and then I don’t know, I guess you could say it snowballed. My brother put it on YouTube and then people got in touch.’ She sips quietly from her can of soft drink.
‘So this was never the dream?’
‘It’s… something. I’ve had to put university plans on hold. It’s all been a bit of a surprise. One moment, I’m Kimmie from Tower Hamlets and now I’m the voice of black female youth in Britain. We had Beyoncé on the phone the other day.’
I laugh. I see that’s a big weight for such small shoulders, so I urge her to sit on the floor with me and relax for a moment. I don’t know what I’d do if Beyoncé called me. I’d sing her songs back at her including any Jay Z raps and attempt all the high notes in between, which would probably do the opposite of impress.
‘What were you going to study?’ I ask.
‘English literature I think, maybe creative writing.’
I smile and put on my professional cap for a second. ‘You know there’s still time for that, right? This here doesn’t define you. I have students do all sorts of gap years. I have some who have to stop school to work and earn money and they do their studies part-time or much later.’
‘Really?’
‘I’m going to assume you don’t rap 24/7. You have gaps in between to keep reading and you can go back to it when you’re ready.’
‘That’s true. I guess I’m just not sure if this is for me, forever. I’m still trying to figure out who I am.’
Her words ring so very true to me. I don’t think that ever changes. But I don’t want to freak her out by saying you can get to thirty and still not have a bloody clue what you’re doing with your life. The door suddenly flies open again and the tall gentleman who was guarding the door stands there, glaring at us.
‘Kimmie, you should be in here,’ he tells her. I’m not overly fond of the aggression in his voice.
‘She’s just having a breather,’ I tell him.
‘And who are you?’ he asks.
‘She’s my friend, Kyle. Piss off.’
He slams the door shut and I worry for a moment about poor Giles as the music gets turned up.
‘That’s my brother. He thinks he’s a hard man but really he manages a phone shop and still lives at home,’ she says with the attitude only one can have when talking about a sibling. I study her face. I can’t quite tell if she’s happy or not. I’d imagine this is overwhelming, being yanked out of your everyday and then landing in something that you’re not one hundred per cent prepared for. I put a hand to hers.
‘I’ll give you my number later. We can start a book club,’ I joke.
‘I’d like that. Follow me on Insta? I want to see pictures of Joe, he really is so cute.’
‘I will.’ She’ll be the coolest person out of my followers, bar none. I’m mainly friends with people like my uncle Jack, who posts pictures of his allotments and boasts about the girth of his marrows. ‘And you know, thank you. I’ve told some of my students that Joe was in your video and now they think I’m marginally cooler than I was before.’
‘Excuse me, you’re totally Gucci,’ she says, defiantly.
I assume that’s some sort of slang because I’m totally high street. ‘Kimmie, your dad spilt a drink on me. I had to change into an elf T-shirt, at a rap gig. The elf is actually flossing.’
‘I just thought you were being ironic. Harry Styles is in there and he’s wearing pearls.’
We both laugh. Harry Styles is in there? Don’t tell Lucy.
‘You’re rocking it, Beth. You’re one of the few people in this game that I trust. You talktome, not at me, not down at me. You’re just trill.’
‘Is that a good thing?’
