Sunday 15 February 2015

Sunday, February 15, 2015 -

Erin's Cousin

by Susan Thomas
Published: Dec 26, 2014
Words: 18,774
Category: general
Orientation: M/F
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OPENING EXTRACT
When her cousin, Erin Bilsborrow, went to stay with her maternal aunt in the United States, Jessica was jealous. In fact she was always somewhat jealous of Erin. Erin's dad had done extremely well in business and was well off but her dad, although he had done alright, was nowhere near as well off. True they had a nice four-bedroomed detached house in a quiet cul-de-sac but compared to Erin's house with its huge garden and view over the moors, it was nothing. Jessica's dad had been a lorry driver but had quickly realised that driving was no life and had moved into training others to drive. He and a partner had a small company training HGV and PSV drivers and it did OK.

Erin was extremely clever and had been sent to an extremely expensive private school for girls. Jessica wasn't particularly clever and her dad hadn't been able to afford private school so she went to the local comprehensive which was a good school but since it wasn't as selective and couldn't push the way Erin's school could, didn't get such outstanding results.

Erin was exceptionally good at sport whereas Jessica was only mediocre - sure she made it to the school netball team but was never going to be the star player. She couldn't ride a horse at all unlike Erin or play the piano half as well or play tennis like her.

Jessica was sick to death of hearing how wonderful Erin was, especially as they were of much the same age, and indeed were only three weeks apart in age. It affected her behaviour and when she became a teenager she became rather difficult; her work was erratic and... Oh blow it I shall be blunt - she was a pain in the derriere.

So by the time Erin was storming through her "A" levels, getting grades that would make a genius green with envy, Jessica was only just coming out of her difficult phase. Her grades were clearly not going to be great and she was not going to make it to any university worth attending. After discussion, it was decided that Jessica would go to the local college which did run a few degree courses and take a degree in computer science as that was the one subject she did work at.

All this made the name of Erin Bilsborrow stink in Jessica's nostrils because she simply could not compete with her, except in one respect: she was as pretty and attractive as Erin. The silly thing was Erin seemed unaware of Jessica's jealousy; she was always friendly and cheerful with her and when they were together Jessica warmed to her cousin and simply stopped being jealous.

When Erin went to the US she asked Jessica if they could keep in regular contact via Skype and of course Jessica (warming as usual in her company) agreed.