All I Ever Knew

Chapter 1 - Moving In

A normal, boring life was the last thing she wanted. She wanted a life full of adventure. She dreamed of getting away from the small town she lived in, where nothing of interest ever happened. She dreamed for that one thing, that one moment that would change her life. Yet she didn't realise that, that moment was closer than she thought.

I'd made it! I'd finally taken the leap and convinced myself to move away for University. No more hiding away in the shadows at home, afraid to take on something new and exciting. I'd done it! I was officially a student at the University of London. 

Amara Daniels! The new and improved Amara Daniels.

I'm not the most outgoing of people, actually scratch that, I'm the least outgoing person I know. I always wished for something bigger but I've never had the guts to do it. I'm naturally shy. I'm confident within myself, don't get me wrong, I like my face, I like my body and I'm a good build. I mean, I'm short but that's never been an issue for me. My hair is a mousy brown. I tried dying it darker once, probably the most outgoing thing I've ever done, but I thought it was too much hassle so now I leave it as it is. But the one thing that I love, are my bright blue eyes. They are 100% my favourite thing about myself, they're the one feature that actually makes me feel beautiful instead of just average.

I'm not going to lie, I find myself absolutely hilarious - some people might have something to say on that matter but I think I'm the funniest person there is. It tends to come in handy when I need cheering up, which lately has been a lot of the time.

I come from a small town in England, no one has even heard of it so I won't even bother mentioning it, but I lived there with both my parents. I had a decent life, it was all pretty boring, apart from one thing. The one thing that made me who I am today, that made me want to take risks and change my life. That made me not want to be that innocent boring nobody. The thing that led me to the University of London.

The University of London has been my dream for so long, I've been desperate to move into a whole new flat, with a bunch of new people and start to create a new life for myself.
I'd just about moved all my things into my room. It took me about 5 trips up and back to my car to grab all my things, I didn't even realise how much stuff I'd brought until I had to drag it up 4 flights of stairs. Yup. The elevator was broken, just my luck.

I was just hauling my last set of bags through my doorway to my room when one of the other doors in the flat opened revealing the hottest guy I'd ever laid eyes on. He was wearing black jeans that hung just below his hips and no shirt. There was a shirtless, gorgeous guy standing in my flat, right in front of me and all I could do was stare at him, possibly drooling. He had a sleeve of tattoos on one arm and when he lifted his hand to run it through his dark hair, I could see he had one on his hand, but I couldn't quite make out what it was.

After about 30 seconds of me standing there, staring, I realised he was looking down at me with his eyebrows furrowed together, a smirk on his face. Shit! He'd caught me staring.

"Urm.... hey" I managed to stutter out, I'm pretty sure my cheeks were starting to turn a bright red colour.

He just stared at me, the same smirk still on his face. But he didn't acknowledge my 'hey' he just walked towards me. My breath caught in my throat, what was going on? He kept his eyes glued to mine, the smirk never leaving his face and just as I thought I was going to pass out from holding my breath he shrugged past me, barging my shoulder, as he made his way to a door at the end of the flat corridor. That must be the kitchen!

"Oi, watch where you're going!" I turned around and shouted to his back. He stopped walking and slowly turned to face me cocking his head to the side as he focused on me again. However, he still didn't make a move to say anything. I stared at him dumbfounded.

"Excuse me, are you going to answer me?" I blurted out, getting slightly frustrated, who the fuck does he think he is? And oh god! Is this where he lives, I couldn't believe my luck. Sharing a flat with this idiot. I'd only just moved in and I already wanted to move back out.

Just as I was about to shout at him again for still refusing to talk to me I heard a door open behind me. I turned around and saw a girl coming from the room this guy had just come out of. Was this his girlfriend? She was tall and gorgeous, she was a natural beauty, you could see she wasn't wearing much makeup. She had her hair tied up in a high ponytail and was wearing what looked like workout clothes (black leggings and a black sports bra). Damn I wish I could look that good. My stomach was flat but I had no boobs and my ass was definitely not as pronounced as hers.

"Oh, hey" she said when she spotted me "have you just moved in?" I looked at her and gave her a small smile.

"Yeah that's my room there" I said pointing to my room that had the door propped open by my last few bags. I hadn't had the chance to put them inside yet. "Do you live here?" I asked.

"Yeah, my name's Ronnie. I suppose you can guess which rooms mine" she said, with a slight laugh, pointing back at the door she came out of. So it was her room! I let out a sigh of relief, thankful that it wasn't this idiot over here's room.

"Hi, I'm Amara" I said giving her a slightly awkward wave.

"Hey Amara" she laughed, before turning her attention to the guy behind me "Thought you were going to make some sandwiches?" She said. I half expected him not to reply so I was shocked when he answered with

"I was, but this prude over here got in my way". I turned to face him with my mouth wide open in disbelief. A prude, I mean I don't throw myself at every guy I meet but I'm not a prude. He didn't know me or my past. He was insulting me and he didn't even know me.

"Close your mouth sweetheart, or I might think you want me to use it for something else" he smirked again at me before looking behind me to Ronnie "Now I'm going to make sandwiches" he said before turning sharply and walking through the kitchen door.

I turned back to Ronnie still in disbelief. Once again, who the fuck does he think he is?

"What a charming boyfriend you have" I mutter under my breath not entirely sure that I wanted her to hear my comment.

"Who? Jace? Naaa he's not my boyfriend, he's just my best friend. We met in our foundation year, neither of us could get in with our grades unless we took the extra year"

I looked at her not sure what to say.

"Sorry about him" she continued "he's not always like that, he's just had a rough day"
I nod weakly still not sure what to respond, I've only been here 5 minutes and I already want to crawl into bed and forget about this disaster of a first day.

"I'm gonna go help him make the food before he fucks it all up but we should hang out sometime, I need some new girl friends around her" she said. I nod my head.

"Yeah. I'd like that." I gave her another small smile and pushed a lock of hair behind my ear.

"Okay so maybe later today we can go grab a coffee, I can show you around campus if you want?" She asks.

"Yeah. Sounds cool, just knock on my door when you're ready" I said.

"Okay great! I'll see you in a bit then" she said and quickly walked past me, half jogging, into the kitchen. Just as I was picking up my last bags to take into my room I heard

"How the fuck did you make this much mess?" coming from the kitchen just as the door closed behind a now furious Ronnie.

I stifled a laugh as I pulled my bags through my door and let it close behind me. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here after all. I let out a sigh of relief as I collapsed on my comfy double bed. I shouldn't let it get to me, but what the hell was his problem? I'd only just met him and he was so rude to me.

Jace. I kind of like the name and oh my god he was absolutely gorgeous. Too bad his personality absolutely sucked. I lay back and closed my eyes. I didn't want to let him get to me, I wouldn't let him ruin my first day at this amazing Uni. Taking a few deep breaths I calmed myself down before I jumped off of the bed, ready to start unpacking.
This was going to be a long day.