Coached ➳ l.p [au]

chapter 37

"Open this door and I can tell you," she impatiently barks while I spring up from my mattress, eager to know where the crap we're going. We never go anywhere together, anymore at least.

When I open my door, I see that she's dressed in her usual pencil skirt and button-up shirt, but she's tapping her feet at me.

"You need new clothes, considering Liam has made a big improvement on you," she says- her eyes scanning my baggy shirt. I'm a little offended, and a little annoyed by her comment but why should I even care what she thinks?

"So where are we going?" I clear my throat, ready to shut the door in her face.

"I can't believe that you've forgotten already, Jolissa. You were the one complaining about it at the beginning of highschool."

My jaw drops. "I'm going to meet Channing Tatum?!"

This is the moment that I can delete- well, not so much delete- the shirtless photos in my phone from paparazzi, and get my own personal ones in real life.

"No," my mother shakes her head. "We're going to look for your new apartment. You are nearly eighteen years old and I think it's time for you to have a place of your own now that summer is almost coming to an end."

"Oh," I shrug. "Okay."

"Now get dressed," she snaps before leaving my doorway, her heels clicking behind her.

-

"These look nice, don't they Jolissa?" My mother slows the car to a stop, parking it in the process.

This building was the fourth complex that we had visited today, and unlike the other places that were apartments- these were duplexes. I was scared of that idea because what if the person who lived on the other side of the house was a complete creep?! Or what if every second they knocked on my door, they asked to borrow one of my cutting knives so that they could murder another one of their victims?!

I couldn't risk that.

"No, these don't look nice. They look hideous, please keep driving," I say, refusing to unbuckle my seatbelt.

It was actually a lie though, because these duplexes were kind of cute. They were nice, colorful, and all the yards were freshly cut and green. But you can't just trust places like that!

"Quit being silly," my mother remarks, stepping out the car. "Come inside."

I groan, knowing that I had no choice but to follow after this woman who has dragged me here to find somewhere to live. Yeah at first the idea seemed cool, but now I can't stop thinking about the fact that I have no idea what the crap I even want to be when I get older.

When we finally get to see inside of one of the available duplexes, I follow after my mother who reminds me maybe a thousand times to straighten out my posture. I ignore her though, because i'd rather slouch my way inside.

"This," the leasing agent unlocks the white door before pushing it open, "is what it looks like on the inside." She steps inside, and my mother and I follow after her while she smiles at us. The atmosphere smells of paint, and every wall inside reminds me of manilla construction paper. It's a medium-small place, but I guess I wouldn't need that much room unless I decided to become Fatty Jo again.

"Nobody lives on the other side, right?" I ask, surprisingly my mother doesn't give me a glare for sounding so rude.

The honey-blonde leasing agent nervously smiles at me, "Actually, yes, someone is living there right now. But don't worry, you won't be able to hear anything because of these thick walls. Also, I hear she's pretty friendly."