• Hey. I'm Lucilla Charlotte Kathryn Leeman. Lucy for short. My BF Casey calls me Lucy C.K Lemony. (more on that in a minute...). I live in a small terraced house with my mum Jo, my stepdad Callum and my baby half-sister Rosie. I don't know my real dad. He legged the moment he knew Mum was pregnant, apparently. I don't care. Men are useless. Mum always taught me that. Until she went head over heels for Callum of course. Yuck. Remind me never to fall in love. Callum's a decent enough bloke, it's just.... well, have you ever felt like people forget you exsist? Ever since Mum and Callum got married, and Rosie was born, she just doesn't seem to have time for me anymore. Oh, and one more thing you should know before I get on with things. Mum was dead young when she had me. Granny and Grandad disowned me. Tragic, isn't it? Not really. You don't know my grandparents! Granny still treats Mum like a toddler, despite the fact she is a grown woman with a family of her own. Honestly. I said I'd tell you about why Casey called me Lucy C.K Lemony, didn't I? Well, we are both weird and random, and my nickname stands for Lucy Chocolate Kitties Lemony. Chocolate, cats and lemons are my fave things. Geddit? Don't worry if you don't. Most people don't get me. I don't either sometimes. Anyway, one day I was at school mucking round with Casey. A few boys thundered past, playing some stupid game. They wolf-whistled at us. I threw a stone after them. We get that a lot, me and Casey, if I'm being honest. I don't want to sound disgustingly boastful, but quite a few of the boys fancy us two. Casey is tall with long, dazzling, auburn hair and huge brown eyes. I am average height with long golden waves, blue eyes and a flat stomach. No matter how much junk I stuff, I stay skinny. It's great! That afternoon, in boring old French, Jamie Walton, one of the wolf-whistlers, wouldn't stop staring at me. It kinda creeped me out. I couldn't look up from my book without seeing his eyes burning into me. When I got back from school Mum handed me an envelope. "It came in the post," she told me. Who could it be from? I excitedly hurried upstairs, clutching my letter. I sat on my bed and ripped it open. My heart was hammering hard. For some reason, I had a strange feeling about this. I unfolded the paper within, and read. You won't believe what it said. I had to run to loo and throw up. Really. This is what it said:
    Dear Lucilla,
    I don't really know what to write. How do you tell a 13 year old girl that you're her father? Because that is what this letter is about. I want you to know I never willingly abandoned you. I was forced to. My parents found out, though I tried to keep it from them, that your mother, my girlfriend, was pregnant. They upped sticks and moved the whole family 100 miles away. I never saw your mother again, and I never even saw you. How awful is that, not even seeing your own daughter? Lord knows I wanted to. With all my heart. Ever since moving away with my parents when I was 16, I have made desperate attempts to contact you. A few weeks ago I eventually found out your address. I would like to get to know you. As for you getting know me, I currently live in West London with two dogs called Charlie and Pip. I have recently split from my girlfriend of three years, Amanda and I work as an office clerk. I cannot say I enjoy it. My life is pretty boring. I just know that having my beautiful little girl in it would make it better. Please get in touch. If you do not want to, I can't say I blame you. I will allow you some thinking time. Just consider it. Please.
    Adrian Maynard.
    Your Father.

    After puking in the toilet and washing my sticky mouth, I sat and read it again. And again. It didn't really sink in. My cat, Brandy, climbed onto my lap, settled down, and began purring. I sighed and let a few silent, hot, salty tears trickle slowly down my face as I gently stroked her. I loved Brandy to bits. She was the only one in my life, aside from Casey, who understood me. "Lucy? Are you OK?" Mum called. "Sort of" I called back croakily. She came upstairs and into my room, saw the tears running down my cheeks and immeadiately sat beside me and wrapped her arm round my shoulders. "What's up?" she asked. I passed her the letter. I saw her face pale as she read it. "Oh Luce-" she began, only to be interrupted by Rosie crying. She pulled a sympathetic face and left to go see to her. That's how it always was. Anythime she tried to help me, Rosie or Callum interrupted. So it was just me and Brandy. Even she was asleep. I just sat there, feeling totally, totally alone.

    PART TWO COMING SOON!!