Edited✅

Chapter 6

I had convinced James to come to New York with us, to delay his flight. He had agreed on the condition that he would be the one who would give me the tour in New York.

Okay well, the truth was that yesterday we woke up very late, and no one had put an alarm so we all ended up waking at like two in the morning. James' flight was early at eight.

He had insisted that he could just book another flight and leave that day but I made him wait one day here and spend it with us.

So here it was, we all are at the airport saying our goodbyes. "Who knows when we'll see each other again?" Cries Sally, yes she was crying, and as much as I tried to stop myself, I was crying too.

"If you guys can't visit, we will," I smile in encouragement as I hugged her, "I promise."

"We'll visit," Says Matt and Ricky nod along, "We can't just forget each other, we've known each other since we were like in diapers!"

I smile at the memories, "I'll really miss you," I sniff hugging Matt, he hugs me back tightly.

"Me too Eve, please stay safe alright?" He murmurs in my hair. We break apart and I go to hug Ricky, he smiles and hugs me back.

"Don't forget us," He says. I break apart and lightly hit him on the shoulder.

"Of course I won't! I will call or text you guys every day!" I say.

Sally smiles wiping her tears with her sleeve and she hands me a small box with a red ribbon around it. I raise my eyebrow taking it from her, "What is this?"

"It's a gift, for you and Luke," she says smiling, "Open it once you are in the plane," she finishes and goes to hug James who was awkwardly standing there, "Don't forget to stay in touch."

James hugs her back, "I won't, and maybe I can visit you guys with Evelyn and Luke."

Sally smiles real big at that nodding enthusiastically. James chuckles and hugs Ricky and Matt they both hug him back, patting awkwardly on his back.

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James, Luke and I conduct the necessary procedures once we enter the airport. We enter the plane and sit in our respective seats. Curiosity gets the best of me as I quickly open the gift Sally gave us. A USB? I take out my laptop to plug it in but the air hostess tells us to power off all electronics as the plane was taking off.

Once we are in the air, I open my laptop to see what Sally stored on the USB. James and Luke face the laptop to watch it too. There is a video, I smile and click it. The video starts with a picture of Matt, Luke, and I as babies.

Luke was born at 11:55 P.M on Monday, and I was born at 12:05 A.M, Tuesday. Luke and I smile at each other. The video continues, with pictures of us growing up, and then when we met Sally and Ricky in grade 3. I don't know how Sally got the picture of us as children but she was always into capturing the moments, there are also clips of some of our most beautiful moments.

Like Luke's first basketball game, "I remember being so happy that day, I cheered till my throat was raspy," I mutter smiling.

There is also a picture Matt and Ricky holding Luke on their shoulder while he holds a trophy that he won that day.

Luke chuckles and tells James, "Assholes dropped me the minute, they took the picture I ended up with a bruised butt."

James smiles.

There is even me in my first swimming competition, I hadn't won that one but the clip reminded me of why I liked swimming in the first place.

James laughs at my dorky smile and I slap his shoulder.

There are more moments, like Sally's first stitched dress and what not, my heart swells at all of those beautiful times and memories.

At the end, there is a footage of our water fight and I gasp, how did they even film it? we all look so happy in it, just throwing balloons at each other aimlessly... finally, there is a picture of all of us even James when we took a selfie at the end of our water fight, we all look such a mess, and our reactions when we proceed with our respective punishments. The video ends and my heart clenches at the thought of my friends, I miss them already.

James says "I didn't expect them to put me in the video."

I smile at him, "Of course we would, you're part of our squad now, there's no escaping it."

James smiles back, "You say that as if I want to."

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For the rest of the journey, we listen to our music and eat breakfast.

Soon the flight comes to an end and, before we know it, we are in New York collecting our baggage.

"Welcome to the city that never sleeps," Says James gesturing in front of us. There were many people who were embracing each other, shaking hands, and kissing each other.

We collect our baggage and walk outside, "Who is picking you up?" Asks James fixing his bag on his shoulder.

"Umm... Probably a driver," I reply. Dad would never have time to pick us up he'd be too busy, neither would mom. "Who is picking you up?" I ask James.

"I don't think anyone is," he shrugs. "Mom and dad are out on vacations they would come later today, I'm probably going with a taxi."

"Nah bro, we'll drop you off," Luke smiles dropping an arm on James' shoulder. I look up searching for our driver when I see a man in black shades with a sign held in his hands.

"That's us," I say pointing to the man. The sign read in bold letters, Mr and Ms O'Connor, "Come on James, let's go."

We walk to the driver, we hand the driver our bags and we follow him to where he parked.

"A Limousine?!" Exclaims James seeing the driver open the Limo and keeping the bags in, I roll my eyes, what a dad thing to do, "Okay, I knew you guys were rich, but this rich?!"

"Eh," I shrug taking a seat, by now I'm used to people reacting like this, "My parents are rich not me, and they love to flash it."

"Well... if my parents were as rich, I would so use the money!" James says grinning like a kid who found many gifts under the tree on a Christmas morning as he takes a seat beside me and Luke follows behind.

"It's cool sometimes," I say shrugging, "but not all the time," I frown, but shake my head smiling, "Anyways do you want to drink something?" I asked opening the mini-fridge; it had chocolates, juice and all other delicious stuff.

"Yeah, a water would be nice," He smiles politely, I take a water bottle out and hand it to him, I take the chocolates and start eating them.

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After dropping James off at his house -which had a very homey feel to it- the driver drove us to our house.

"Whoa," Mutters Luke, we were driving through a forest and when it came to an end there was a huge gate, "That's our house?"

Behind the gates wasn't a house, no it was freaking Mansion, a Huge ass mansion. We drove through the gate, there were fancy bushes around the house, the grass was cleanly cut and was shimmering with water droplets. There was a fountain in the middle and the driver drove around the fountain and stopped by a huge brown oak door.

"Way to go, Mom and dad," I mutter under my breath, I rolled my eyes ringing the bell since we didn't have the keys yet.

The door opened with a short old woman standing, "Oh, Evelyn!" She said engulfing me in a hug, "Come in! Come in!" She said ushering me in. I hug her back a little confused and smile.

The house was a huge as it seemed from the outside. We go in and the butlers and staff go out to collect our baggage, "God, Luke! They did it again," I frown looking at Luke; he doesn't seem to notice as he looks around the house in awe and curiosity.

I roll my eyes at his behaviour and walk up the stairs. There were two staircases leading ultimately to the same floor, between the staircases was a huge picture, a family picture from when Luke and I were six. It was our sixth birthday,  I smile faintly,  mom and dad looked so happy, we used to be such a happy family.

The corridor on the second floor was long with many doors, I walked in the room that read Evelyn, "Wow!" I gasp, my room looked very fancy, it felt like a freaking hotel room; in the middle of the room was a king-size bed with many colourful pillows on it, the room was covered with white fluffy carpet. There were empty bookshelves covering the cream walls and of course, there was a study table and other necessary stuff. I looked around and noticed that there was no dressing table.

That's odd...

The bed was facing what looked like a closet, I walked towards it opening its door.

The tall white doors opened to a Walk-in closet which was filled with different types of clothes, from fancy dresses to casual clothing.

I guess that's an advantage of having a fashion designer as a mom.

I walk further into the Accessories section to see all types of brands, from Chanel perfumes,to Gucci shoes, to Hermes handbags and various other brands.

In the middle of the closet was a dressing table with many, many different brands of makeup covering it, there was one word to describe how I felt;

Awe.

As much as I was amazed, I would give it all to spend some quality with my family. I bet mom didn't even buy all this for me, I bet she just hired someone to buy it for her.

I was still exploring the multiple different clothes when I heard a knock on my door, I walked out of my closet and opened the door to see an Awed Luke, "Eve!" he exclaimed rushing in, "This is place is so cool! There is a swimming pool in here which is huge and Dude! There's even a freaking home theatre!"

I smile at his childish behaviour, "Luke, are you high?" I ask as we both flop down on the bed, "I mean don't you think that the only reason our parents got this big Mansion with so many things to distract ourselves with is so we don't feel their absence? So we don't miss them?"

Luke frowns as he hugs me, "Evelyn, I-"

"Evelyn, Luke come downstairs!" Dads booming voice cuts him off, I roll my eyes getting up and walk downstairs with Luke beside me.

"Hi mom, dad," I say faking the best smile I could as I greet them, Mom hands me a shopping bag, and I take it and open it to see a... uniform? "What is this for?"

"This is your uniform honey," Mom smiles handing Luke a bag too.

"Tomorrow is your first day to St.Louis private school," Dad says proudly, "It is the best high school here in New York, and all the most influential people go there."

At that I snap, all the anger that I've been holding in for the past years comes out, "What the fuck is wrong with you guys!?"

"Language!" Mom scolds, I ignore her and continue, I have to say it I've been ignoring it for way too long.

"I don't fucking care! You guys, all you do is work, work and guess what? Work! I don't want to be stuck with some rich snobby brats in some rich ass school! Yeah, I get that you earn a lot of money but you guys don't have to showcase it to the whole fucking world! A mansion? Why in this world would you buy a fucking mansion? Oh, let me guess! To showcase your fucking money? I mean we are only four people, scratch that only two people that are supposed to live here, do you seriously think we would need a fucking mansion? With like what? Eighteen fucking rooms? And a fucking fountain? Like why the fuck is there a fountain?! Most importantly why the fuck do we live in the middle of a fucking forest?! And why would we need a fucking home theatre!" I yell.

I take a deep breath and continue, "Mom when was the last time you cooked dinner for us? Like actually cook it? not just fucking order it. Three years ago? four? Dad, do you even know when our birthday is? How old we are?" Luke puts a hand on my shoulder but I shrug it off.

"Mom did you know that I fucking hate pizza?? But you still get it! Because of course, you won't remember! I mean why would you? why the fuck would you even care that you have kids? I mean I bet it's not even important! At least dad remembers that I hate pizza! But I bet you both forget that you have two teenagers living all by themselves, what if we got kidnapped? would you care then? or would you not give a shit and continue working!? when was the last time we had proper family time?

"Yeah, you guys send us to different places all around the world but when was the last time you guys came with us? When was the last time we laughed together?" tears fill my eyes, "Where were you guys during all my swimming competitions and Luke's basketball matches? At work? Too busy? You guys were never there to support us! The last time we had a good time was before-" I wipe the tears that were now streaming down my face before I break down and stop.

I know that they want to say something but I walk away from them, kicking a vase on my way to the door, it was probably worth a hundred or so dollars but they could easily replace it.

I mean they are rich.

I fume in anger as I walk outside, this was a new place I had no clue where I was going but I had to escape from here. Since my car was still in LA, I walk through the forest trying to remember the way the driver drove us through.

I take my phone out and put my earphones in my ear putting on my favourite song For You, it helps me calm down a little as I stroll my way to the city.

The street is beautiful and has many shops and markets, I spot a café as I realize that I'm starving.

All this ranting and shouting got me hungry.

I check my pocket and feel my wallet, thank god I got my wallet.

I enter the café and inhale the delicious aroma of coffee and other baked goods.

I approach the cashier and see a barista with his back to me busy organising the shelves, "Excuse me," I say and my breath gets caught when he turns around.

I was not prepared for this. He had the most beautiful and perfect figure I had ever see. Even with his red snap-back, you could see that he had beautiful brown hair, his jawline was carved and sharp and his eyes, oh god, they were this rich chocolatey brown and as he locked his eyes with mine my heart fluttered.

"Yes, how may I help you?" He replies, his voice sounding like molten gold.

"Um... I'm new... so I don't know what to get...can you please help?" I say in a quite embarrassing stutter.

He looks at me with a weird face and hands me the menu, "Here's the menu please order whatever you would like," he says smiling, but I can easily tell that its a fake smile.

I read the menu, "Okay, I would like a chocolate croissant and an iced chocolate mocha, please," I say politely.

"I'll bring your order in a few," he mutters writing it down, I smile and take a seat waiting for my order to arrive.

As promised he brings my food in a couple of minutes, I flash him a smile but he just turns away walking back to the counter without a second glance.

Rude much?

I roll my eyes and take a bite, Oh god this is so good! I couldn't help but moan as the creamy hot chocolate fills my mouth.

I'm enjoying the delicious food when I feel something cold and wet spread through my pants, I look down on my jeans to see the mocha spilt, "I am so sorry!" Apologises the same barista from before.

I face up to see him frowning, "It's okay" I smile, "Mistakes happen all the time, could you please get me some napkins?"

I guess it's something that I said that makes his frown turns into a deadly scowl, "What do you mean mistakes happen?" His voice comes out angry, " Some mistakes are not bound to happen! You're not supposed to forgive people just like that!"

"Listen here, Mister..." I look at the name tag, "Aiden, I don't know what crawled up your ass and died but that is no way to talk to someone!"

I get up and walk out of the café, I walk back home to see Luke sitting on the front porch he gets up when he sees me coming, "Where the hell were you!" he says glaring at me.

"Just around," I shrug trying to remain calm, he takes a step closer and his face softens, he grabs me all of a sudden and hugs me.

"I was so worried about you," he murmurs in my hair, I hug him back tightly, "It's a new place and I thought you were lost because you didn't answer my freaking calls!"

I pull away from the hug and check my phone, 32 missed calls from Lukey, "I'm so sorry!" I smile sheepishly, "I was just so pissed, so I went to this café where the waiter was a fucking ass!" I sigh, "Like he was the one who spilt mocha all over my jeans and he was the one who snapped when I forgave him, like who crapped in his cheerios?"

Luke chuckles, "Hmm, looks like someone had a bad day."

I look at him and mutter, "Bad day? Try horrible."

"As much as I don't want your day to get any worse," he says trailing, "Mom and dad want to talk to you."

"UGH" I groan, "I don't want to go!" he shrugs and drags me into the house by my arm, "LUKE! I hate you!" I say as he leaves me in the TV lounge where Mom and Dad were seated.

"Love you too!" I hear him yell as he runs upstairs leaving me with my parents; I look at my dad whose face is still redder than the devil's himself. I'm about to run upstairs and lock my room when my mom speaks.

"Please take a seat," she says her voice tired, as much as I wanted to walk away just then I took a seat in the nearest couch, "Your Dad and I thought about what you said and as rude as you were," she sighs, "You were right."

I raise my eyebrow not getting what exactly she was referring to, she sighs looking at my confused face, "what I mean is tomorrow you can go to Prescott High," She says scrunching her face in disgust, "it's a public school."

I'm about to say something when Dad speaks, "You can either go to that school or St.Louis, it's your choice."

"I am so sorry for the way I reacted, I shouldn't have said what I said earlier," I sigh getting up to hug Mom, "it's just that you guys don't spend time with us anymore..."

Mom hugs me back tightly, "Sweetie, we didn't know you felt that way, it's just without work you won't get all this luxury."

"That's the thing!" I say pulling away, "I don't want all this luxury! I just want to spend time with my mom and dad."

"Oh Hun," Dads says pulling me in a hug, it had been forever since we hugged and I felt secure in his arms, "We promise we will try to spend more time with you both." He kisses me on the forehead.

I smile, "Thank you, that all I want," I say going upstairs to my room, I guess this day wasn't that bad after all.

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Huh, that's it? Wow, that was short...

So today Aiden and I were just talking about the book and he was telling me about some annoying redheaded girl when my friends came so I was like:

Me: Aiden say hi.

Aiden: No

Me: Aiden! say hi!

Aiden: Bitch bite me! *Flips the bird*

Aiden: Bye *Walks off*

Me: Okay....*shrugs* I wonder what's up with him? *waves, walking away*