Forget Me Never

went on behind the scenes. Maybe if I never made it in cricket, one day I’d be working for a business like this.
    At half twelve I was shown back into Cherie’s office.
    ‘Good morning?’ she asked, pressing the key command to lock her computer.
    I nodded. ‘Learned a lot.’
    ‘Good. I’ll show you the canteen in a minute – we don’t tend to go out at lunchtime. Too much of a security faff, and there’s nowhere decent round here anyway.’
    ‘You don’t have to.’ I’d been secretly hoping to get a chance for a poke about while everyone else was at lunch. ‘Wouldn’t want to mess up your routine.’
    ‘You aren’t,’ Cherie said, and I decided I’d best leave it. Maybe I’d have more freedom tomorrow.
    The canteen was bustling. The rows of tables gave me an idea of how many people worked here. As we were queuing, I caught sight of Aiden a little way ahead. He was wearing glasses and work clothes but I recognized him instantly. Good job I was here rather than Sophie. There was no way she could have stayed unseen.
    ‘Word of advice: stay away from the soup,’ Cherie whispered, making me turn my attention away from Aiden. ‘It’s always a regurgitation of the previous day’s leftovers. And today’s Monday – even worse!’
    Once we’d got our meals – a jacket potato for Cherie, and a plate of chips, a protein bar and some cake and custard for me – we went to sit down. To my horror, Cherie headed straight for Aiden’s table.
    Shit! I thought, quickly realizing the flaw in my plan. If Cherie mentioned to Aiden that I was Sophie’s friend, I’d be totally blown! This was such a failure of planning that I wanted to smack myself. How had Sophie and I not anticipated this?
    ‘Hi, everyone.’ Cherie placed her tray on the table. ‘Let me introduce Reece – he’s on work experience from Berkeley Boys’ School, thinking of studying pharmacy at uni. He’s only been here three hours and he’s already charmed the boss with his cricketing know-how. Reece, this is Aiden – he’s a research assistant. That’s Lottie, who keeps our admin ticking over, and the other two are Leroy and Amit, from the labs.’
    ‘Hi,’ I said, flashing them a smile that hid how uneasy I felt. ‘Hope you don’t mind me gatecrashing.’
    Cherie sat next to Leroy. I took the last chair, between her and Lottie. Lottie started asking me polite questions about my school and family. When I said I had a three-year-old sister, she made cooing noises. Cherie, who’d overheard, rolled her eyes at me. I resisted the urge to make a sarcastic comment. This could be significant. Wasn’t ‘Lottie’ short for ‘Charlotte’? OK, so she was mousy-looking with one of those droney voices that made you want to fall asleep, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be the Charlotte in the emails. She was lunching with Aiden, after all.
    I noticed that Aiden had stopped eating. He was stirring rice around on his plate, eyes on me. I began to feel uncomfortable.
    ‘What makes you interested in pharmacy?’ Aiden asked when there was a lull in the conversation. His tone was deadpan, impossible to read.
    ‘Chance to help people,’ I said. It was the first thing that came into my head. ‘Drugs change sick people’s lives. It’d be great to be able to contribute to that.’
    ‘It’s not all about helping people.’
    ‘Really? I thought that was what pharmaceuticals were for.’
    ‘They are. But it isn’t easy. And sometimes, in developing drugs, there are problems. Not very nice problems. Sometimes we get it wrong and people end up worse off.’
    I stared at him. Aiden returned the gaze, his face composed and unreadable.
    ‘Aiden!’ Cherie said, a reproving note in her voice. ‘We’re supposed to encourage youngsters, not scare them off! Got out of the wrong side of bed this morning, have you? Go and get some pudding and sweeten yourself up.’
    ‘Just giving the kid my insight,’ Aiden said. ‘Wouldn’t want him to think all this is a walk in the park.’
    He looked directly at me. For a moment it felt as though the temperature had dropped several degrees. But then one of the other guys cracked a joke about the food and the mood lifted. I stuffed chips into my mouth, avoiding meeting Aiden’s eyes. Maybe worrying about him sussing me was paranoid. He was probably always moody and miserable.
    As we cleared the plates Lottie said, ‘Don’t let what Aiden said put you off. He’s normally such a lovely guy. I