"Now what?" I mutter out loud to myself. I stare up at the night sky where raindrops are slowly starting to fall off of the leaves of the tree. I tie my braids into a ponytail and put my hood on. I feel like a huge idiot standing outside of this enormous Edwardian style house that looks like something Angelina Jolie would live in.
It's a part of the few gated communities in Beaumont where only the people who could afford to have 3 cars and take family trips to the Caribbean every year live.
I feel very much out of place, standing in my grey parka and black beat-up plimsolls, I definitely do not look like I belong let alone feel like I do.
Shivering in the rain, I press a gloved finger against the buzzer for the fourth time.
Maybe she can't hear me? I should text her. I pull out my phone from my pocket. I'm feeling so jittery that I almost drop it on the wet grass below me.
Just as I unlock it, I hear a muffled giggle through the speaker.
"Hello?" a shrill voice sings.
"H-hi, it's Harley-Blair, Parker's friend." I pinch myself for forgetting to shorten my name to just Harley. It sounds less like '1950's housewife' that way.
"Oh...Yeah." I heard another muffled snigger that makes my stomach feel uneasy. Why did I feel like this was some kind of prank? "Come on up, I'll buzz you in."
I hear a loud beeping sound and the large metal gates swing open. I stuff my hands in my pocket and trudge across the decorative white pebbles that cover the ground leading up to the already open front door.
I tentatively walk in, making sure I didn't leave the dirt from the bottom of my shoes on the pristine, cream coloured tiled floors.
Standing at the bottom of the huge spiral stairwell smiling at me was Jasmin. Her stylishly messy dark hair trapped on the top of her head with a clip. Her pale pink silk pyjama set exposed her long tan legs and brown shoulders.
"Hey, glad you could make it Harley-Blair!" She says, enthusiastically. She claps her hands together and ushers me in.
"Just Harley," I tell her. I couldn't keep eye contact with her, I keep on staring at her perfectly polished toes.
She strolls over towards an open door that leads to a kitchen. I follow her as she opens the massive fridge. It's stocked to the brim with every possible food you could think of.
It looked as if I had stepped into the M&S frozen food aisle for a second.
"Do you want a snack or anything? Hunter can get you whatever." She pulls out two cans of Pepsi cherry and gestures over to the port smartly dressed old man standing in the corner of the room nodding his bald head at me.
I stumble back in surprise. I hadn't even noticed him standing there.
A butler? Who in the world is Jasmin Jelani?
"I'm fine." I decline politely and nod my head back at the old gentleman. "Thank you."
We walk up the stairs, taking years to finally get to her room.
The door was slightly ajar and the sound of All Time Low was floating out into the hallway.
Cassie was lying on her back with her head dangling off the edge of the princess-like canopy style bed. Her blonde hair practically swept the floor. Her eyes are focused intently on her phone and her fingers are typing away furiously.
"Ugh!" She grunts and dashes her phone across the bed where it lands luckily on the pillow. Finally, she acknowledges my presence with a kind smile and a wave. "Hey, Harley-Blair."
I was just about to correct her when Jasmin beats me to it saying "Just Harley, Cassie." as she enters behind me.
I wave hello and sit on the beanbag on the floor. Jasmin closes the door behind her, nodding her head slightly to the music and sits cross-legged on her plush cream coloured carpet. An opened bottle of wine sat on the dresser and I noticed two already half drunk glasses sitting on the floor. I thought about how mad Papa used to get when Pops would drink wine on our couches, he would clean it 20 times after compulsively and would still argue that it was now filthy even if there wasn't a spot of wine on it in the first place.
Jasmin notices me looking and asks, "Do you want some?"
"No, I'm fine," I reassure. I wonder if I am smiling too much and whether it's borderline creepy but they just carry on talking about whatever it was they were talking about before I arrived.
"So, are you gonna do it with him tonight or not?" Jasmin moves to her vanity mirror after taking a large sip from her can. Her white socked feet are placed lightly on the ground as she stares back at herself smugly in the lighted mirror.
I wonder what it's like to be the daughter of a well-known actress. Imagine having a butler and a room as huge as this?
She starts applying eyeliner to the lids of her eyes which accentuate the almond shape.
Cassie groans and puts her head in her hands again and then dramatically sits up. She begins brushing her hair aggressively. "I think so."
"It's better to get it over and done with now," Jasmin assures. She turns around with her hands now readily tooled with a mascara wand, waving around. "And Sander's not a bad choice for the first time." She pretends to go all googly-eyed and dream-like. "Look at those big muscly arms!"
"Careful Jas," Cassie shoots her the evil eye. "That's my boy you're talking about."
Jasmin shrugs and smirks. "Just admiring..."
But then Jasmin's enchanting eyes find their way to mine. She tilts her head to one side innocently and purses her lips. "Have you ever done it, Harley?"
I flush bright red. "Done what?"
She flips her back and coyly smiles, "Oh, you know sex, shagging, fornication, or whatever the kids call it these days."
Visibly flustered, I begin stuttering as Cassie sniggers behind her hand.
"Stop, she's probably a virgin, Jas." Cassie rolls off the bed lazily and strolls towards me.
"Like you?" Jasmin retorts raising her perfectly arched eyebrows. She looked like a bitchy model out of Italian vogue.
Cassie sticks her tongue out at her and rolls her eyes. "Who cares? Sex isn't that serious it's more about the personal connection you feel with the other person. I'm happy I haven't lost it yet but I do wonder how it is sometimes." She has a glazy look in her eyes as starts to play with the braids I put in.
"Here you go with that hippy shit." Jasmin snorts, turning back to her mirror.
"The body is a temple, namaste bitch." Her large doe-like green eyes gaze at me expectantly. "How do you want your hair, babes? You're going as a superhero right?"
"I am?" I look at Jasmin, confused but glad the conversation wasn't about sex anymore. I thought I was going to explode if I heard any more about Zacchias and Jasmin's sex life.
"Oh, I haven't told her yet." She ambles across the room where her large pink wardrobe stood and pulled out a black bag.
Inside she retrieved a purple metallic superhero costume that looked like something a Vegas stripper would probably wear. "It was my mums for an old movie."
My jaw drops when I see it. It was beautiful but it definitely wouldn't suit my short stubby body. "You can't possibly expect me to wear that?"
Jasmin side-eyes Cassie and they both smile at each other mischievously. "You're going to look so hot. Parker's going to be drooling when he sees you."
Half an hour later, Cassie and Jasmin had finished getting ready and did my make-up which I was grateful for.
I stare into the black velvet rimmed vanity mirror wondering who that girl was looking back. They had used a dark purple eyeshadow that matches the colour of my costume and used a heck load of eyeliner to go around my eyes. Jasmin insisted on putting these huge lashes on which I could barely see out of but they look nice.
I look like a different person. I feel like a different person.
"What's your hero name going to be?" Cassie asks me, spritzing some pineapple scented body spray onto herself and then on me.
"I don't know," I hadn't thought that far yet.
"Just Harley," Jasmin suggests, placing two stud earrings into her ears.
Cassie squeals and claps her hands excitedly, "Omgee, that's perfect!"
I smile, looking at the acceptance in their eyes. "Just Harley, it is."