Rejection emails are processed differently, Jade had learned. She scanned the text for the now-familiar key words, which leapt off the screen directly into her heart.
‘Re: Your screenplay, Tomorrow… whilst we enjoyed… unfortunately… highly selective…’
Jade slammed the laptop shut, as though the message couldn’t hurt her if it wasn’t witness to her tears. When the images of the Netflix parties she wouldn’t be hosting started flashing through her mind, she turned to red wine and The Beatles.
Half a bottle down, and midway through the second chorus of Yesterday, she passed out.
Waking with a hangover was less painful than waking without one when the sting of rejection was still raw. At least she could focus on the ache in her head instead of the one in her soul. The sound of the doorbell pierced both.
Alex and Meg barged in, paper bags rustling, the smell of baked goods and coffee wafting from them. Despite herself, Jade’s mouth watered.
‘Thought you might need cheering up after your drunken messages last night.’
There was nothing like bonding over shared despair with fellow writers, and soon Jade’s creativity was reignited.
‘Know what film I wish I’d written?’ she said, drunk on caffeine, sugar and friendship. ‘Yesterday.’
‘Never seen it,’ said Meg.
‘Me neither,’ said Alex. ‘What’s it about?’
‘Picture this: The Beatles have been erased from history. Only you remember them. So, you’re faced with the ultimate dilemma. Do you ‘write’ all their songs and cash in?’
‘Yes!’ said Alex. ‘You’d owe it to the world.’
Meg clinked her coffee cup against Alex’s. ‘Absolutely! It’s not plagiarism if they don’t exist.’
Jade dropped her croissant. ‘What? I could never do that! It’s cheating!’
But Alex and Meg were looking at their phones, faces knotted in concentration.
‘Funny,’ said Alex, still scrolling. ‘I can’t find any film called Yesterday. You sure that’s the title?’
Jade rolled her eyes. ‘Ha, ha.’
Meg nodded. ‘He’s right. Look.’
Jade reached for her phone and typed into Google.
‘Film Yesterday.’ Nothing.
‘Jack Malik Beatles.’ Nothing.
Something fizzed through Jade’s veins. Excitement? Fear? She wasn’t sure, but she couldn’t just sit here. She ran outside, leaving the front door swinging.
James and Laura, her neighbours, were strolling past with their baby in a sling.
‘Have you seen Yesterday?’ Jade blurted, breathless.
Laura frowned, her hand hovering protectively over the baby’s head.
‘What?’
‘Yesterday. The film about The Beatles?’
They shook their heads, looking at her as if she was quite mad.
No-one in the Co-op had heard of it. No-one she messaged. No-one who replied to her frantic Facebook post.
Jade sprinted home. Alex and Meg were loitering outside.
They tilted their heads. ‘Are you ok?’
‘I should go to bed,’ she said, her voice rising hysterically. She needed to be alone.
As soon as she’d closed the door behind her, she let out a loud scream-laugh.
Then she rushed to her desk and typed like there was no tomorrow. And, more importantly, no yesterday.
