"I expected you to pick something better Shelly." I look at her. We finally bought new sim cards before filling our admission forms so that we don't need to get our registered number changed in the college after we get our new numbers. "This is actually the worst one that you've picked in the last 2 hours. Come on, since when has your dressing sense grown so boring?" I rest my palm at my hips and give her a cold look.
"I don't know. Just don't feel good about this party. You sure we should be going?" Shelly's wrinkled forehead shows that she is uncomfortable with this idea. I know exactly the reason.
"You're scared because we'll be meeting all the college students for the first time right? I never thought that THE Shelly Sidren will be scared of going to a party?" I cross my hands around my chest and raise my eyebrows in fake astonishment. "Its okay. Everything will be fine. Trust me."
"I hope so. I really hope so." Shelly rubs her arms with her palms and lets out a sigh. "Lets go find a good dress for you."
"Mhm." I deny with some other plan in my mind. "Lets go have some yogurt. I really want to have some berry yogurt with rainbow sprinkles. That was what I used to have a lot when we kids. Remember?"
"And I used to love having mango yogurt! Good idea! Lets go have some!" Shelly claps her hands in excitement. "I'm as it is tired of this useless shopping."
"Nobody understands you better than me. Isn't it?" I giggle a little, waiting for her reply.
"And nobody knows YOU better than me." She replies with a grin. We laugh at this together as we step onto the escalator.
We took our choice of yogurt and headed out of the mall, without any dress for tomorrow. First day of college, I really need to put a good impression.
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My sleep is broken at 8 in the morning when my phone rings displaying an unknown number. "Hello? Ally Sidren speaking." I say in a sleepy voice yet.
"Miss Sidren, I'm Suzanne Arsenault, the head manager of the coordinators club from Strasbourg High. Can we have a talk?" A girl's voice replies from the other side.
"Yeah sure. Hi. How can I help you?" I say, clearing my throat and sitting up straight on my bed, still wrapped in my cozy bed sheet insulating me from the chilled environment.
"Actually. I'm the standard coordinator of events club for our batch. Since we have established, we have been a pathway for new students to be known in the school so that he/she can socialize more and be a part of the college events. And as you know, we are having our senior year party within 3 days. So, would you like to participate in any dance, act or band we're organizing?" Suzanne informs me. "You'll have to come for the auditions and if you're selected, you'll have to make it to the rehearsals."
"Umm. Can I let you know by today evening? I'll have to think over it a little bit. Because you know, we have just moved in from Arizona and we still haven't accommodated ourselves." I move my hands through my tangled hair, get up from the bed and start taking circles around the bed. "I hope its not a problem."
"Oh no no. Its perfectly fine. Just let me know max by 5 pm. Okay?" Suzanne assures me. "It was nice talking to you. Hope to see you at the auditions. Bye."
"See you then. Bye." I hang up after she does and walk towards the washroom to get brushed and to freshen up. I come out after 15 minutes, wearing fresh clothes and find Shelly still asleep. "Wake up. Sleeping beauty. We can't stay in a hotel for the rest of our life. Come on. We even need to shop for the party."
"Can't you go yourself to search for a house? Let me sleep would you?" Shelly turns her face on the other side to preventing the light from falling on her eyes. "I wanna sleep. Yesterday also you woke me up early."
"No. Wake up or I'm pulling off the blanket. Shelly. You need to come with me. It would be better for you to choose your own room type. Or else you'll crib all the time regarding the bad room. Come on you lazy bump." I pull her hand to make her sit up straight. She whines at it but then heads to the washroom.
After we are both ready to go another day hunting, I unplug my phone from the charger, switch off the lights and march to the lift. Like always, we gave the keys to the reception and our taxi was standing at the gate like always, waiting for us. "Good morning Weldon. Please take us to the Strasbourg city street" Shelly says to the driver.
"Sure." Weldon nods at us, cleaning the face view mirror.
"Oh first. We will stop at the cafe for breakfast." Weldon nods at my statement and gives us a sweet smile.
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In the last 5 hours, we have been madly searching for a room in every other house but our luck wants us to return back empty-hand.
"Okay. Thank you." Shelly says to the 4th couple who denied two young girls to stay in their house due to safety reasons. "Lets go back. I don't think its worth another try. Only one house to go."
"Lets try that house too. Man. My legs hurt. Seems like a great workout day!" I say making a tiring sound. "Only one more house, or else we'll have to search for a house away from the college." Shelly huffs in reply. We start walking to the next apartment as we see for the house number mentioned in the address. "there it is." I point out to a cream-colored house with dark coffee colored carved wooden door. "Number 07."
"Now you're the one who's gonna talk. I'm sick of conversing with all the old people. They are so judgmental!" Shelly regrets for trying to talk to the owner of this house where we are about to get denied because we are young and they will not want to hazard their 'safety'. I hope we are lucky enough to get a place in this house. Provided, we are moving in with good owners and I can already see a good view right in front of the city street.
"Fine. I'll talk. Can we ring the bell first?" Shelly lets out a confident breath and rings the doorbell. For the first few minutes, we thought that there was no one at home. But then, after about 2 minutes of waiting, A lady in her late 30's as it seems, opens the door, although confused but still smiling at us. "Hi. I'm Alisa and this is Shelly. We saw your advertisement in the newspapers regarding room no rent?"
"Oh yes! Sure! Please come in. Please don't mind me, I was just rearranging all the stuff." The lady gives an apologetic smile. "Would you like some coke? Or shall I get you some coffee."
"No. Just a glass of water should do." She nods and gets two glasses of water in a tray and forwards it at us. "Thank you."
"So. My name is Laura Millicent. Nice to meet you. You guys seem to be in senior year." The lady asks us. I nod in agreement.
"Yes. I'm in junior year and my sister, Ally is in senior year." Shelly informs to Laura. "You've got a nice house indeed." The house is painted paper white all over and has a sofa just in front of the huge window which allows a lot of light to illuminate the living room. On the wall opposite to the window, is attached an LED TV, below which is a little showcase with a lot of crystal show-pieces displayed inside. It looks really pretty. on the wall adjacent to the window are hanging two coffee brown lamps, matching with the sofa color and the other furniture.
"Thank you very much. So, when are you planning to move in? So we can make the papers accordingly." Laura asked us directly, crossing her left leg over the other. "Where are you staying now by the way?"
"We are staying in Hotel Paris House for now. But are you sure you want to let us stay here without knowing anything about us? Because, the house we visited before were more interested in knowing our life history rather than letting us stay in their houses. You've not asked us anything yet." Shelly says in astonishment.
"Well I'm not very good at interrogation. I don't find you guys to be any harm. After-all two teen girls can only be sweet. You guys seem to be good at heart. That's all that is required. You see, trust is very important. And once we get closer with one another, I hope you'll find me reliable enough to tell me about your past yourself comfortably. Anyways, I don't think you should spend even a night more at the hotel. You can move in today itself. Would you like to see your rooms first?" What Laura said to us, felt so nice that left me awestruck. Only mom and dad used to talk to us so nicely. "Are you coming Ally?" Shelly calls from halfway through the stairs, breaking my chain of thoughts.
"Umm. Yes." I say and walk up to her and Laura. The room is really huge with the same white on the walls and coffee wood bed. opposite to the bed is a study and adjacent to it is the washroom. Adjacent to the bed is a window which shows the view of sunset at the beach, just across the row of houses.
"I'll take this room. I always wanted a good scenery to look from the window." Shelly claps her hand in excitement. Laura gives her a sweet smile.
"Shelly. We're sharing one room. Its not our house. We are taking this room on rent." I say it clearly to Shelly at which she pouts, forehead wrinkled. "Be a good girl now."
"Oh no no. You girls are not sharing the same room. You have a different room to stay in. Let your sister have her own room." Laura sends forth a wave of confusion into me. "Come here. I'll show you your room." The other room is absolutely the same, except for the window on one side of the bed and the washroom on the other.
"But we don't have that much money to pay double the rent. The amount you mentioned in the article is of one room right?" I ask her, at which she giggles and says, "No dear. That is the amount of these two rooms. For people who move in with their brother or sister, like you two, its difficult for the young people to share one room. And if a person moves in alone, then the price is halved."
"Oh. Then you are renting your house at a very cheap rate. Sorry to ask. But does that not affect your financial status?" I ask, hopeful that I didn't ask anything very personal.
"No. You're getting it all wrong. I have my own fashion house at a drive of 1 hour from here and I'm paid well through that business. This renting of house is just for keeping me from staying alone, with nobody to talk to." Laura explains and that's when I find myself to be acting stupid in front of my landlady.
"Oh. Sorry. Silly me." I say, scratching the back of my head. "I act really weird sometimes."
"Oh that's the cutest part about you." Laura says, holding my arms with her hand. "Welcome to your new house." She hugs and Shelly joins in from behind.
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By evening, we pack our bags, pay the hotel amount and reach the Millicent's. Right now, we are unpacking our clothes, shoes and stuff into the wardrobe. In about 2 hours. we have set both the rooms by helping each other and with Aunt Millicent's help. I'm putting the old photos of our childhood and of our time with mom and dad on the wall, with a big photo of mom and dad in the middle of other photos. That photo was taken on mom-dad's wedding.
"Your parents look so cute together. Where are they staying right now?" Laura is leaning on the door's entrance, looking at the photo of mom and dad. My face droops at her question. I sit down on the bed and let out a sigh.
"My mom died of tumor when I was 7 and its hardly been 4 days since we left Arizona. My step mother and father behaved cruelly towards us. So we ran away from Phoenix." I don't meet her eyes while I say that. "Although Shelly is mother's own daughter, Shelly hates her more than I do. So we left Phoenix and came here as Paris is Shelly's dream place. We have now decided to start a new life here."
"Oh. So all three of us are going through the same situation. We have all lost someone close to us." Laura walks in and sits beside me on the bed. "I lost my husband a week ago when he was fighting a war. He was the chief commander of the army. He worshiped his job as if his religion. I was so proud of him. And I still am. But then he was shot right through his heart. I loved him so much. Anyways, I'd better go and prepare some snacks for you guys. Its hard to settle everything down in just 2 hours."
"I'll help you." I get up from the bed, zip the empty suitcase and put it over the wardrobe. "I can cook good things too. Although I never got a chance to make anything in the mansion"
"That's great to hear that a teenager is interrested in cooking. Not all of them have a liking towards this." Laura turns around in astonishment.
"Umm. To be true, yes. I love cooking, but mother never let me even step into the kitchen." I say, eyes checking out the clothed floor.
"Don't worry! You'll have to help me daily with kitchen from now on." Laura says, raising her eyebrows.
"I would love to." I smile and we walk to the kitchen. After we're done eating, I decide to walk down to the beach and start searching for a job at the cafe right at the beach. "Hi. I'm here to seek for a job. Do you have any idea whom I can talk to?"
"Yeah. Go right into that room. You'll meet the owner there. You can have a talk with him." A boy, of my age, standing at the cash counter says.
"Thank you so much." I smile and he smiles Joe (as stated on his name tag) smiles back.
I'M SO HAPPY WITH THIS CHAPTER! THE LONGEST ONE FROM ALL THE 11 CHAPTERS I'VE WRITTEN. NOT GOING TO REPEAT THE SAME THING AGAIN. LOADS OF LOVE....
-NEETIKA (SHINE_LIKE_CRYSTALS)