you want to be independent, but here is something for a rainy day." Her dad handed her a white envelope.
"Oh, thanks dad, but you really didn't have to do that. I'll be fine." Serena had tears running down her face and whispered, "You are the best dad," as she gave him a big hug.
Pia her younger sister was there too, wishing her well on her new venture.
"Come and visit me sometimes, it's not that far to Paris." Serena felt sad to say goodbye to the people she cared most about in the whole world.
There is a certain atmosphere of excitement at the airport, caused by the people coming and going from all corners of the world. Then the voice called from the loudspeaker.
"Boarding to Paris, Gate 2 last call. "Serena quickly gathered her hand bag and farewell gifts. She blew them all a kiss, and off she went toward Gate 2 and disappearing in the crowd. As soon as she was seated on board she started to relax. Now she was finally on her way to Paris to pursue her dream. She was determined that nothing was going to hold her back from what she wanted to achieve. She felt a mixture of excitement and sadness to leave her dear ones behind.
Paris is not that far away from Sweden and I can come back if I don't like it there. But I want to give it a good chance and get on with my new life without Tom. Serena started to daydream. Paris is where I have always wanted to go to follow my dream of becoming a fashion designer.
As she sat there in the plane looking out of the window, she thought back to her childhood and her school years. Serena left school early. She was pretty smart in most subjects and got top marks in Art. But she was never really happy in school. She was constantly teased by a small group of bitchy girls about the way she dressed. Anita was the leader of the group. Her family was well off, and she was always wearing the latest fashion. The other girls followed her out of fear of being left out, or maybe they were too stupid to think for themselves. Serena had felt awful being treated like that, it was very embarrassing.
They were all dressed in the latest fashion, while Serena was wearing second-hand-clothes or hand-me-downs. Her parents were not well off, and her mother would go to second-hand shops to buy her and her younger sister clothes. Serena remembered when she and Pia were kids, they had gone window shopping to look at the latest fashion and seen other kids dress really nice. Oh, how she had wished that it was her, wearing their smart fashionable clothes. That was when Serena started to form her dream goal.
"I want to be a fashion designer for one of the biggest fashion stores in Paris." She had told her parents and she had been pretty determined about that. She did not want to be poor. She swore to herself that she would one day show Anita and those bitchy girls she hung out with how well dressed she could be. Then one day, an opportunity opened up to her. One of the biggest fashion stores was looking for some teenage girls to model their new summer collection. Serena was picked out as one of the lucky ones to do the modeling for the store. Serena didn't know how beautiful looking she was with her long blond hair, sky blue eyes and her slim figure.
It had been exciting. They had liked her so much that she became a regular model for the store. She had let them know that she would like to learn dressmaking, and it wasn't long before there was an opening for a new apprenticeship. She was offered the job. Serena had jumped to the opportunity right away. Now, many years later, she was sitting in a plane on her way to pursue her dream. She had learned to sew and she was really good at it. She had made many smart dresses and outfits for herself and was no longer wearing hand-me-downs or second- hand-clothes. She had also created quite an impressive portfolio of some of her best creations which she felt extremely proud of.
The day she finished her apprenticeship and received her certificate for being a
Learning to Kill: Stories