Chapter One - Wake Up The Nation

　
　
How long had she been sitting there. An hour? 5 hours? 'Thats the trouble with 24 hour news coverage' Leah thought. It makes it hard to work out how many times you've seen the same footage and how long you've been watching various reporters go over the same scant pieces of information they have, desperately trying to make them sound more meaningful and more thought provoking each time.

Leah leant back in her chair and took a sip from her wine glass, recoiling in disgust as the cheap booze stung her lips and made her wretch. 'Note to self' she thought. 'Always spend £7 on a bottle. It's not worth the pain of saving 2 quid but having to drink floor cleaner'. It was still a celebration however and some god aweful wine was not going to change that. She hadn't celebrated anything in a long time so she was buggered if this was going to pass her by. The biggest terrorist in her lifetime and America's most wanted had been killed and the world was rejoicing. (Well the Western World was anyway). To be honest Leah was more celebrating the fact that she cared about this at all. One year ago she hadnt given the slightest shit about world politics and events. She had drifted past in her own little world happy and oblivious to all around her but since the split, well things were different. Maybe she had to care about something as she clearly didnt care much about herself anymore but she now had opinions on everything from global warming, to foreign politics to whether Kate Middleton looked good in her wedding dress or not.

Leah suspected that she, like everyone else of her generation was simply looking for someone to blame. They had been monumentally failed. By governments, by the education system, by the media who had promised they would all be made famous by the X Factor before their 21st birthday and she was pissed off with it. Mainly she thought because no-one else in her eyes seemed to care. Sure, most her friends pretended to if she raised an important subject in the pub but they all had their own issues, failings and addictions to deal with and were not prepared to discuss in any great depth how New Labour, Ben Elton and Noel Gallagher had failed them even though they knew it to be true.

In fairness Leah had her own addictions. She was addicted to men. Not like Sash was. Leah had only had sex with seven people whereas she was pretty sure Sash had once had seven in a week. No, she was addicted to boyfriends. To being with someone,and not being alone and unfortunately; needing to be with someone meant you were often with dickheads. Being addicted to Men would not kill her like Stokes or Craigs addictions might but it would do something much worse. She had depression and had had it for over a year. She now cared about every little thing in the news as if it was all some conspiracy which Simon had been part of and was now haunting her from beyond the relationship. An article about the rainforest could bring her to tears and her hatred of politicians and other world leaders was through the roof. The standard of living in this country was terrible at the moment. Leah felt herself lucky that she had a job, even if it was only bar work. However this meant she had to be sober for the majority of her life. Whereas her friends could drown their own social failings and frustrations in a sea of booze, pills, smoke and powder Leah could not afford that luxery. She didnt live at home, she had rent to pay, bills and debts coming out of her arse and she couldnt even drown her sorrows on a daily basis. It was making her eyes well up just thinking about it.

It also frustrated her that she was better off than most of her friends but they didnt seem to be as annoyed or fed up as her. So much so that some of them were vey upbeat annoyingly often. Could they not see how the country had gone to hell? Of course not. They were shit-faced and didnt ask questions; just as no-one else who might represent her age group ever did properly. 'If the last generation was called Generation X then there is no way this one was called Generation Y' thought Leah. It's the one thing we never ask. WHY? Why are University tuition fees so high that no-one can go? Why do we invade certain country's almost instantly whereas others are left to fight their own civil wars? Who actually listens to Michael Buble? All these questions. The answers unknown to Leah. Unknown to everyone her age. She was 23 and suppoosed to be a successful graduate by now, maybe looking towards settling down in a few years. Instead she was a heartbroken bar maid who was tipsy before midday on a Monday afternoon. Her head filled with the angst and frustrations of an angry nation. No wonder she suffered from migraines.

Still, at least now she was doing something. She had persuaded her closest friends that what they were about to do today was going to make a difference. Even if she didnt believe it entirely herself she felt that making them go with her was achievement enough. The door bell went. It was time. She grabbed her placard and turned off the Sky news footage of Americans burning Bin Laden pictures and made her way towards the door. She'd never been to a protest before but was excited. She would never of done something like this with Simon. he couldn't of given a fuck about anyones tuition fees. She was doing something different and making a stand and that felt good didnt it? Even if she hadn't managed to get a degree she was going to do her best to make damn sure the kids of the future didnt have it even worse than her. She looked into the mirror and raised the briefest, tiniest of smiles before heading out knowing she was kidding no-one but herself.