When Fate Gets It Wrong
After finishing teacher training college, Marianna returned to her hometown of Little Wellingham to teach at the same school she had once attended. She liked her colleagues, loved the quiet village life, and had always missed her parents and childhood home.
Since childhood, Marianna had been best friends with her neighbour, Julie. The two were complete oppositesMarianna calm and thoughtful, Julie wild and reckless, never showing respect to her elders and always speaking her mind. They shared the same class, and teachers often held Marianna up as an example.
“What do I care about Marianna? Ive got my own head on my shoulders,” Julie would snap back.
“A heads no good without a brain inside it,” the headmaster, Mr. Thompson, once told her in Year Eleven after yet another incident landed her in his office.
“Whats it this time?” he asked.
Their form tutor, Mrs. Bennett, a respected and experienced teacher, nearly wept as she explained, “Julie told me I smell like a grave and should retire before I try teaching anyone else.”
Mr. Thompson was speechless, but Julie just batted her eyelashes and said, “I never said that. Shes making it up.” He let her gowhat else could he do?
Marianna went on to teacher training college, while Julie barely scraped into nursing school, often cheating off her friend in exams.
Julie was stunninglong dark hair, flawless figurebut after qualifying, she treated her elderly patients with contempt.
“These old wrecks should be in the ground, not wasting NHS money,” shed sneer at colleagues, leaving them stunned.
“Why even become a nurse if you hate it?” theyd ask.
“None of your business. It was the easiest option.”
Complaints piled up, until the ward manager overheard her reducing an elderly woman to tears. He fired her on the spot.
“Julie, youre dismissed. Ill make sure no hospital in the county hires you again.”
Back in the city, Julie hunted for a rich husband, but luck never lasted. Men lost interest once they saw her true colours. She never felt guiltythats just how she was raised. After three years, she gave up and returned to Little Wellingham, working briefly as a supermarket cashier before quitting.
“Hey, Marianna, hows life?” Julie called her childhood friend. “Listen, Im coming home. Your mum works at the clinicput in a word for me, yeah? See you soon.”
The moment she arrived, Julie barged into Mariannas house.
“Spill the tea! Hows teaching those brats and the stuffy old teachers?”
Marianna stayed calm, pouring tea and setting out biscuits and jam.
“Lets talk about you first. Last I heard, you hated village life.”
Julie smirked. “Changed my mind. So, what about you? Not getting married, are you?”
“I am, actually,” Marianna replied softly. “Oliver proposed. Were getting married in two months.”
Julie burst out laughing. “Who, the geography teacher? Or some tractor boy? Theres no decent men here.”
“Olivers a farmer. He owns livestock, machinery, employs peoplehes doing well.”
Julie nearly choked. “One decent bloke in the whole village, and hes yours? Must be something wrong with him.” She always thought Marianna was plump, though it only made her look softer and prettier.
Just then, a deep voice cut in.
“Evening, love. Whos this?”
Julie spun aroundand froze. In the doorway stood a tall, handsome man in an expensive tracksuit and trainers. Envy burned through her.
*No way this hunk is marrying plain old Marianna.*
Forcing a smile, she purred, “Im Julie. You must be Oliver. Mariannas told me *so* much about you.”
“Dont flatter me,” he chuckled, gazing fondly at Marianna.
They chatted for hours, but Julies mind raced. *He should be mine. I deserve him, not her.*
“Mum, have you *seen* Mariannas fiancé?” Julie stormed in later. “Why didnt you tell me theres a catch like him here? He should be with *me*.”
Her mother grinned. “Darling, of course youre the better match. Well make him chase youjust need the right moment.”
That moment came when Julie ran into an old classmate, Tanya, at the clinic.
“Julie! Youre back! Come to my birthday partyMarianna and Oliver will be there.”
Julies eyes gleamed. “Wouldnt miss it.”
On the day, Marianna felt ill but insisted Oliver go without her.
“Give Tanya my gift,” she urged.
At the pub, Julie pounced the second Oliver walked in alone. She piled his plate, spiked his drinks, and when he staggered, she “helped” him hometo *her* empty house.
The next morning, Oliver woke with a pounding headacheand Julie beside him, smirking.
“No this didnt happen,” he whispered.
“Oh, but it did,” she cooed.
He fled, showered, and rushed to Mariannasonly to be blocked by her furious mother.
“How *could* you? Shes gone. And you *sent her photos*?”
Oliver checked his phonethere they were, tangled in bed. *Julie took these while I was out cold.*
He smashed the phone against the wall.
Heartbroken, Oliver avoided Julieuntil she cornered him.
“Fine, hate me. But our babys innocent.”
*Baby?!*
That sealed it. They married quietly, though Oliver refused a big wedding.
Their marriage was ice-cold. Then Julie panickedshe wasnt pregnant. She called Tanya, a nurse.
“Help me fake a miscarriage. I *hate* kidsbut Oliver cant know.”
She never saw Oliver behind her, hearing every word.
The divorce was swift. Later, Tanya took pity.
“Oliver Marianna had a son.”
“*Whose?*”
“Yours, you idiot.”
Oliver raced to the countryside, screeching to a halt outside a cottagewhere Marianna hung laundry, a blue-eyed baby in a pram nearby.
“Anton,” she whispered.
Oliver knelt, tears in his eyes. “Forgive me. Ill never leave you again.”
She did. They had two more childrenand this time, fate got it right.
