“You gonna be much longer in there?” my flatmate asks as I apply the finishing touches to my make-up and give my ever-growing hair one final brush.

“Just a sec,” I reply. “Just got one last thing to do….” I smile as I reach into my medicine drawer and retrieve the two packets of pills that over the last two weeks have become beyond precious to me. The fact that one packet is labelled ‘progesterone’ and the other ‘oestrogen’ should be all you need to know why.

“Some point today would be good,” Luke yelled through the closed door, growing increasingly exasperated by his sister's procrastination.

“Just a sec, I’m nearly there,” Lucy replied as she looked at her reflection in her mirror.

“Is this one?” Leanne asks as she holds up a blank DVD. “I found it between those two bookcases.”

“Does it have any writing on the label?” I ask.

“Just letters and numbers, ‘TC fourteen dash one,’ whatever THAT means,” my girlfriend replies.

“ ‘TC’ will be for ‘Team Chwilen,’ ” I explain. “Stick that in the envelope too, heh.”

“Ugh,” I grunt as for the third time in as many mornings, I’m woken by the sound of not just traffic, but pedestrians passing by outside my window. With a sigh, I brush my hair out of my face, drag my tired body out of bed and slink through to the kitchen where — again, for the third time in as many mornings — my flatmate is already awake and eating her breakfast.

“Morning!” Martha says with a giggle between mouthfuls of muesli.

“Liam! Come here!” I hear a voice yell, making me grunt as my eyelids flicker open and I take in my surroundings — my bedroom in Sonia’s flat, with bright sunlight streaming through a gap in my curtains. However, it isn’t Sonia who’s calling me. “Liam! I haven’t got all day!”

“Come on, up and at ‘em!” Paul yelled as he banged on his son’s door, eliciting a tired groan from the twenty-year-old. “Just ‘cause football’s one step closer ta comin’ home, it doesn’t mean ya can lay around all day!”

“Yes, yes, okay,” the young man grunted through the door as he threw back the covers and sat upright, brushing his messy hair out of his face and shielding his eyes from the bright summer Sun.

“Same goes for you, Luke!” Paul yelled as he banged on his other son’s door.

“So… exactly how many high school fantasies are we fulfilling right now?” Paul asks as I tune my bass guitar, and I can’t help but smirk as I can already guess how the impending argument will go.

“Bit inappropriate to ask about MY high school fantasies, but I’ll let it slide,” Stuart replies, and I sense my opportunity to chip in.

“If it helps, Paul, I’m wondering the same thing,” I say, chuckling at the mock-offended look on my mentor’s face.

“…Okay, yes, every music student dreams of playing in a garage band in an actual garage,” Stuart concedes.

“Annnnnnnnd that’s £500, please,” Lil says with a smug grin, which widens as I sigh and hand her the pretend pink banknote. “Much obliged, Miss Williams!”

“Do NOT stuff that one down your bra, as I’m going to take it from you very soon!” Lydia teases, before rolling the dice and continuing our game of ‘Angels Monopoly.’

Today is day nine of our ‘incarceration’ in the Lincolnshire mansion, and the restlessness is already starting to kick in — hence why many of us have already resorted to Monopoly.

“Okay Dina, ya’s up!” Lil says, making me giggle as I approach the table, straightening my casual tank top and short denim skirt before brushing my long hair out of my face. With a determined look, I pick up the ball and the paddle with my immaculately manicured fingers and make my serve, giggling at the noise the hollow plastic sphere makes as it bounces back and forth between myself and Martha.

It’s been two days since Ginny became the first candidate to leave the ‘Angel Mansion’ and, in that time, I’ve made a real effort to get to know the rest of the candidates better.

I have to keep myself from smiling as I touch up my lipstick, before liberally coating my long brown hair with shiny hairspray. Once my look is complete, I stand up from my dresser and examine myself in my bedroom’s full-length mirror.

I bite my lip nervously as I watch the countryside whizz by outside my window, partly because this is, by far, the furthest I have ever travelled as ‘Dina,’ but mostly because of what lies ahead of me — and what I’ve left behind me as well.

“Come on then, hopalong, we ain’t got all day!” Paul said with a chuckle, which became a full blown laugh when his son regarded him with an angry glare.

“It DOES still hurt, ya know,” Luke replied as he hobbled into the house, carrying a shopping bag in one hand and leaning on a crutch with the other arm.

“Aye, and tha doctors say it’ll hurt more in tha long run if ya don’t regularly exercise it,” Paul retorted. “And yas got ta keep those lungs o’ yours working too!”

I let out a surprised and mildly annoyed grunt as I’m awakened by the feel of someone crawling over me — though the grunt quickly turns into a low moan of satisfaction as I feel a pair of breasts in a sports bra threaten to smother my face.

“Sorry babe, did I wake you?” Leanne asks, barely suppressing a giggle. “I just need to check my phone, see if I’m needed actually IN the office today.”

“There IS a nightstand on the other side of the bed,” I remind my girlfriend, who responds by just leaning more of her weight on my head — something I, obviously, have no problem with!

"William!" My father hissed quietly. "Look at the camera!"

"Sorry, dad," I whispered as I turned my attention back to the photographer, who was ready to capture today's visit for posterity. Though in my defence, as an eight-year-old boy, it was natural for me to be distracted by the visitors who came to my grandfather's home — after all, it's not every day that you have your photograph taken with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

“And… we’re fine,” Jamie said as she showed her husband the two test strips they had prepared twenty minutes earlier. “I’m not sure that my make-up is from how much sneezing I did after shoving that thing up my nose, though…”

“GIRL,” Stuart teased his wife, who giggled and stuck her tongue out at him before checking her make-up in the mirror one more time. “Though I’m not going to miss covid tests either, heh. Assuming we ever get to the point where missing them is an option. Hard to believe it’s already been a year since the first lockdown.”

“You okay?” Lucy asked her American friend, who paused to take several deep breaths before replying.

“Yeah,” Phoebe replied, momentarily lowering her mask to take a deep breath, but making sure to raise it back before exhaling. “I dunno if it’s the mask or not, but this is kinda harder than I remember!”

“Okay,” Kacey- the leader of the class- said as she observed the two students taking time getting their breath back. “I think that’s as good a time as any to take a break. Lucy, can I have a word please?”

“Another one?” Sonia asks as my phone pings to inform me of a new message. “Really?”

“Nothing else for us to do,” I reply with a shrug. “Not while we’re in tier 4, anyway.”

“Unf,” I grunt as I’m woken from a dreamless slumber by my phone, though it isn’t my alarm that wakes me, but rather an incoming call. I try to smile as I click the ‘answer’ button- normally I'd be happy to see the identity of the caller on my phone's screen, but it's much too early- and much too cold- for that right now.

“Good morning, Ian!” Grandma says with a cheerful tone. “Or rather, happy birth-eve!”

“Thanks, grandma,” I say quietly as I prop myself up in bed and huddle my sheets around my shivering form. “Is everything okay in Cardiff?”

“Luke!” Paul shouted up the stairs. “Come on, get out of bed, it’s nearly 10 o’clock and we’ve a lot to do today!”

“Yeah, alright,” Luke grunted in reply as he threw back his bed sheets and pulled on his dressing gown, only pausing to look at himself in the mirror before leaving his bedroom.

“Liam?” Sonia calls from the living room, making me groan as I wake up. “Come on, time to get up!”

“Yeah, I’m awake,” I reply, not even bothering to stifle my yawn.