CHAPTER 3

      ‘Would you like any drinks?’ the pretty air hostess asked them.

      ‘A Diet Coke please,’ Kelly asked.

      ‘Will you be paying in Sterling or euros?’

      ‘Can I not just pay in pounds?’ Kelly asked, scratching her head thoughtfully.

      The air hostess looked confused.

      ‘Sterling is pounds,’ Jade told her, stifling a giggle.

      ‘What? Really? I’ve never even heard of it,’ Kelly replied, completely miffed as she searched through her purse.

      An hour later the pilot announced they would be landing and Jade was relieved. She hated flying with a passion. The fact that they had bought the cheapest flight was partly to do with it, as they’d had to be up, washed, dressed and out the door by four thirty a.m. Jade tried to stretch in the confined space in her seat. Honestly, these seats were made for children, not adults with legs longer than a metre. She looked beside her at Kelly who had just dropped off into a sound sleep. She was so lucky. Jade could never sleep on planes at all, even if she’d only slept for four hours the night before; it was impossible. The three men laughing and talking loudly a few rows up weren’t helping either. How the hell did they have so much energy? She rolled her eyes when she heard one of them ask for a beer from the air hostess. Seriously, at this time in the morning? Probably their first stupid lads’ holiday.

      However, Jade’s mood improved when she felt the warm sunshine through the tiny windows on the plane. Three months of glorious sunshine beckoned and it couldn’t come quickly enough. For the first time in a long while she actually felt excited about meeting new men too. She wasn’t in a rush for a serious relationship, but a bit of fun wouldn’t kill her. In fact, she craved it.

      Jade thought back to the last month. Becoming shot girls had actually worked out perfectly. It had given them a taste of what to expect in Marbella and Kelly’s friend had given them the details of the manager of TIBU nightclub, Joe. They’d contacted him and he had agreed to hire them both; they’d squeeze in a one-week holiday to relax before they started. Jade just hoped the money was as good as shot work as some nights they had made up to one hundred and fifty pounds, and it had been fun working together with Kelly and chatting to men, convincing them to spend their cash getting drunk. It hadn’t exactly been hard. Then they’d met Stephen, a nightclub promoter who had asked them to be nightclub hosts, which basically meant hosting a table with a load of men, getting them to buy bottles of drink and getting paid for it. Of course, they’d agreed. They’d really enjoyed it at first as it just felt like partying for free, but after a while constantly dealing with sleazy drunk men started to get annoying. Despite that, Jade had enjoyed herself; being single wasn’t as bad as she had first thought. She had met some men that were quite nice and had cheekily snogged a couple like a teenager at the end of the night. Even though she couldn’t honestly say she was over Tom one hundred per cent, she was getting there. He had texted her once asking how she was, but she’d ignored him. It had made her feel stronger, knowing that she had the power to not reply like he had probably expected her to. She was ignoring him – not the other way round.

      The captain announced they were landing and Kelly stirred.

      ‘Morning sleepy head!’

      Kelly groaned as she tried to stretch. ‘What time is it? Are we there yet?’

      ‘Only about thirty minutes away.’

      Forty minutes later they were leaving the plane. Kelly pointed to a girl in front with dark brown hair scraped up on top of her head.

      ‘I know that girl,’ she whispered.

      The girl turned as if she had heard her and caught Kelly’s eye. She smiled and waited for them to catch up as they disembarked.

      ‘You alright Kel, babe?’ She hugged her. ‘How are you?’

      ‘Really well, hun. Haven’t seen you for a long while. Oh my God, you look tanned already!’

      She was right, Jade thought to herself. Kelly’s friend had a lovely dark tan and was wearing tiny denim hot pants to show off her slender legs.

      ‘Yeah, I only went home for five days. I’ve been working out here in TIBU club for the last month. I’m back now to do the rest of the summer.’

      ‘Oh shut up!’ Kelly gasped ecstatically. ‘We’ve got jobs there, and we’re out here for three months now.’

      Her mouth opened wide. ‘You’re joking babe! Cool. You’ll love it here, it’s so much fun and you can earn alright money as well.’

      Kelly nodded and then introduced Jade to her. ‘Jade this is Adele. Adele, Jade.’

      Adele said hello and then started to walk off. ‘Go to Plaza Beach today and I’ll meet you there. It’s where everyone goes.’

      Kelly waved her off. ‘I remember that from last year. Cool hun, we’ll see you there.’

      Adele disappeared and Jade asked Kelly about her.

      ‘She seems nice, how do you know her?’

      ‘I did a beauty course with her. I’ve always thought she was okay, but loads of girls hated her and said she was a bit of a bitch. Don’t see why though.’

      ‘Well at least you know someone we’re working with already. I’m a bit nervous about it,’ Jade replied, as they made their way to the toilets to freshen up.

      ‘Hun, trust me, we’ll be fine. We’re only going to be waitresses; all you have to do is host tables like in Essex and serve their drinks. But let’s not even worry about working until next week. Firstly we have a week’s holiday to do nothing but sunbathe!’

      ‘You’re right,’ Jade agreed. ‘Let’s just enjoy it.’

      *

      Adele walked over to the baggage claims searching for her case, which had a huge pink bow on so she’d find it easily. Much to her disappointment it wasn’t there already, so she waited, getting her phone out and texting Lee, her new boyfriend, to say she’d landed safely.

      She was glad Kelly was working in Marbella too. She didn’t know her that well, but she’d always seemed quite nice at beauty college. She’d been out with her once before on a night out, she recalled, and couldn’t help but feel slightly jealous when she uploaded her photos on Facebook and received messages from loads of blokes asking who Kelly was. She wasn’t that pretty, Adele told herself. She looked just as good as Kelly when she was done up with her false lashes and hair extensions, surely? Plus, Kelly was really photogenic, so she looked better in pictures. Adele did like her though; it was hard not to, seeing as she was so friendly. Kelly’s friend, Jade, seemed nice too. She was also attractive, Adele thought, a little bit resentfully. She could tell they were best friends and thought how nice it must be to go away and work with someone you were really close to. Adele had never really had a best friend. If she was really honest, she preferred the company of men and always thought it must be because she had three brothers. Sure, she had girl mates, but no one she liked the best particularly.

      Adele took a mirror out of her bag to check her appearance. Her hair was a bit of a mess and her new hair extensions were actually really hurting her head. She’d had weaves put in this time instead of glued ones because it was cheaper and quicker, and they’d done nothing but give her a headache so far. Her eyelash extensions looked good though. They were as thick as spider legs, just how she liked them. She needed to get back to her apartment, let her hair down, put a bit of make-up on and she’d be ready to go to Plaza Beach to sunbathe.