47 Things (preview)

Chapter 2

IT'S FUNNY how you can go through life, thinking and feeling as though you're completely invisible to all those around you, and then one thing happens that lets you know that you have, and always will be, completely visible – the invisibility you experienced was entirely in your head.

That's how I felt while Tyler drove me the short distance from Sydney Uni to the emergency room at the Royal Prince Alfred. It only took about a minute of actual driving, but finding parking was a whole other story, and in that time, he managed to regale me with a lot of stories from our school years that involved me.

"I'm surprised you even knew who I was," I responded after a while.

He glanced over at me, a frown creasing his brow. "It was a country school, Sarah. Everyone knew everyone. Although, I admit, it wasn't until today that I realised you were you. I mean, you look kind of different to the Sarah at Moama Grammar."

I ran my hand over my thick chocolate brown curls. "That's because I'm not the same Sarah from Moama Grammar."

Tyler and I came from a town called Moama in country New South Wales. It's about eight hours away from Sydney and sits along the border of our neighbouring state Victoria. We grew up on farms – my parents owned a dairy farm, and his ran cattle.

Growing up in a country town is exactly as you'd imagine, and while Tyler seemed to flourish – he was great at sports and was the most popular boy in school – I didn't flourish at all.

I hated every shovel full of manure, and every bucket of feed. I hated going to a school that seemed to celebrate football achievements over academic greatness. Above all, I hated the country mentality. I hated the boredom, and I longed for the life of the big city.

Really, we were closer to Melbourne than we were to Sydney. It was only a couple of hours to drive down there so those at our school who did go on to university, generally applied to the big Unis down there.

But Melbourne wasn't big enough in my eyes. I wanted to go to the biggest city our country had to offer. That's why, when it was time to leave high school and apply for university, I listed every one in the Sydney area as my preference.

When I was accepted into Sydney University, my mother cried, and while I felt bad for upsetting her, inside I was overjoyed. I was finally getting out of there. I was finally going somewhere that I could just be me – just Sarah, instead of my father's awkward daughter or my brother's nerdy sister. I was heading into the city to become the best Sarah Kennedy I could be. And that's what I did. I shed the old Sarah and primped and preened myself until I was a glossy new version of myself that could leave everything about boring old Moama behind.

The last thing I expected on my first day was to walk in and see Tyler Lohan sitting there, chatting easily with a group of guys he probably only met just then – that was the thing about Tyler, he fit in anywhere without trying. Life was always so damn easy for him. Seeing him there pissed me off. I didn't want Moama's golden boy dominating the sunshine in Sydney too. His presence made me feel as though I'd never be free, and that Moama was going to follow me everywhere I went.

But, when he lifted his head and his eyes brushed over me, he paused slightly then moved on as if I was of no consequence.

You'd think that would disappoint me, but it didn't at all. Actually, it caused a huge smile to spread across my lips as I walked into the lecture hall and took a seat. You see, I'd gone to great lengths to leave that Sarah behind. I'd had my braces removed, traded in my glasses after getting laser eye surgery, and I'd learned how to tame my wild curls. In short, I grew up – I became the best damn swan I was going to be, and I relaxed into university life, figuring that if Tyler Lohan didn't give me the time of day from kindergarten to year twelve then he certainly wasn't going to give it to me once we got to Uni.