Susan Francis - Two versions of the same song

I would first like to thank my editor, Chris Newton at Memoirs Publishing, for once again doing a wonderful job with this novel. My manuscripts go to Chris as gems in the rough (they are precious to me) and he turns them into polished jewels ready to be sent out into the world.

Thanks to my eBook publisher and distributer, Josh Pritchard, at Primedia eLaunch who provides an exceptional service.

Special thanks to my friend, Ben Webb, who is one of the first to read my novels and whose feed-back and support is invaluable.

Finally, I would like to thank the friends and fans on Goodreads who have supported me. I hope you enjoy reading Two versions of the same song as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Serena

(Now)

Serena, lets go! my brother Will calls out to me from downstairs. I am in my room, taking a final glance at myself in the mirror.

We are going to the theatre with friends to celebrate Kris and Tashas birthdays. They both turned 18 last month. Kristina Hansen is Wills girlfriend. She and her brother Kai were still in Australia visiting their mom, Monica, on her birthday.

A year ago, Monica was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was worried that telling them would jeopardise Kris and Kais studies, so she kept it from them for almost a year. They had flown out to Sydney to be with her in July, after they had been told. It was obviously a tough time for them. By then Monica had already had surgery, had completed her chemo and was at the early stages of recovery. She was now in remission.

Daniel, Kai and Kris dad, arranged this theatre trip for Kris and her friends. He is taking his new girlfriend. We know this trip has also been orchestrated so she can meet Kai and Kris.

I was reluctant to accept when they invited me, knowing once again that I would be the one who made the party an odd number - the one without a date.

I decided to go for the smart-casual look. I am wearing black skinny jeans and a black satin camisole. Over it I am wearing a charcoal grey transparent chiffon blouse my mom made for me.

I stand in front of the mirror and examine myself in my outfit. I glance at my flat chest and scrutinise my lack of height; I am just five feet one. I focus on the positives. I have often been told I am pretty, and the number of guys Ive caught checking me out hasnt gone unnoticed, but looking at myself I dont see it. I see neither beauty nor ugliness; I just see me. I have a small waist, well-proportioned hips and my legs are okay.

Then I chide myself for my vanity. I know it shouldnt matter. It is the beauty within that matters; this is what I keep telling myself. But it has been like that recently, a constant seeking of reassurance that I look okay and that there is nothing wrong with me.

I slip into black high stiletto suede ankle boots and pull on a grey long-sleeved shrug over my blouse. It contains mohair, so it feels warm and I decide I will not need a jacket. I grab my purse.

Will calls out to me again.

Come on Serena, lets go!

Okay! Im coming I say, switching off the light and hurrying out of my room.

* * * * *

About me

My name is Serena Wilkins and Im 17 years old. Ill be 18 in two months. My twin brother, Willard (a name he still has not forgiven my parents for bestowing on him), and I were born at the BC Womens Hospital, Vancouver, Canada on November 23rd, 1992. I also have a little brother, Anthony, who is nine. My parents are Michael and Sandra Wilkins.

Dad is second generation black British of Caribbean descent. His parents left Jamaica and immigrated to the UK in the mid 1960s and he was born and raised in London. At the age of 22, my dad would have been referred to as an angry young man. He said he moved to Canada because he was tired of being constantly stopped and searched by the police and made to feel like a criminal. He did find a better life and career opportunities in Canada. He got a job working in IT support at a college and studied computer science at night school. After five years of part-time study, he became the first person in his family to get a degree and was promoted to IT manager at the college.

Mom was a student at the same college, studying business, when she met Dad. She and her side of the family are Canadian, although her mom, my grandma, is from Belize in Central America.

When I was 12, my parents told us that we would be moving to England. Dad had become an IT consultant by then and was going into partnership in a consultancy firm in London.

Neither I nor Will was thrilled about leaving our home and our friends, but we came around to the idea - eventually. Anton was too young to care.

My parents bought a house in a relatively new residential area called Aintree Court, a gated community in Ealing, West London, from property developers Carol and David Marshall. The Marshalls had explained that at Aintree Court they wanted to create a close-knit community for families, and that was what attracted my parents to it.

There was a selection process involved in purchasing the house. They had to agree to sell it back to the Marshalls if they wanted to move, but they managed to jump through all the hoops required to secure a property there.

Dads firm did very well, but things did not work out so well for Momor at least not for a while. In Vancouver she worked as a management accountant at a law firm. Soon after moving to London, she found a job working in the City, Londons business and financial district, but was made redundant two years later. She struggled to find another job after that and became depressed. She was like that for about a year.

Then something changed. One day a parcel arrived for her and she seemed very excited about it. Will and I watched her open it and remove what was inside.

What is it? Will asked, looking at it, puzzled.

Its a sewing machine, idiot I said. Admittedly, Id had the same reaction the first time I had seen one. There were hundreds of old-fashioned sewing machines forming the display in the window of a shop called All Saints. My friend Phoebe had put me straight.

Mom had ordered the sewing machine for herself from a TV shopping channel. Will and I thought she had finally lost it; that she had become like those sad old people who spend all day watching TV shopping channels and ordering stuff they dont need. Mom has always been fashion-conscious and has a reputation for being stylish. We discovered that before starting business school she was a fashion design student. She changed course because she thought a business degree would offer better job security. It turned out that actually she had a talent for clothes design. After she got the sewing machine, she began to create beautiful clothes, specialising in formal wear, mostly for weddings and proms. She got some regular loyal clients who recommended her to others, and she started to make a name for herself.

She also got more involved in the community and joined the Aintree Social and Volunteering Committee. These activities really turned things around for her. Now she says losing her job in the City was the best thing that had happened to her.

Will and I started school at Aintree High in September 2004, the year we moved to London. We settled in and made friends with some of the neighbours kids. First, I made friends with Kris and she introduced me to her best friend, Phoebe Hart, who lived in the house a few doors away from ours.

Will and I were enthralled by Aintree when we first moved here; mostly because together the terrace houses are curved, forming a perfect circle. There are four breaks between each cluster of houses, forming arches that allow access from the outer circle to the centre - the inner circle.

I remember when I saw the inner circle for the first time on the day we moved in. It was summertime. Will and I accessed it from the glass doors at the back of the house that led to the garden. What we saw, beyond our small private garden, was a circular communal garden with the backs of all the houses looking on to it. As well as a shared space we use it to access each others houses, which is also a handy short cut to the main entrance if you live on the far side of the main gate, as we do. We can cut across the diagonal of the communal garden, enter the Hansens from the back, walk through their house to their front door and be at the main gates in a few minutes, rather than walk around the outer circle, which takes forever. Of course, this is only something we do when we go out with Kris and/or Kaiwhich is most of the time anyway.