21

She takes my hand and leads me to the fitting rooms. We walk all the way to the last room and luckily for us, it's empty. She drags the curtain close and sits down on the floor with her legs crossed. I sit down with my legs crossed as well.

"I don't know where to start."

"Well, why not start from the reason you boarded the plane?" I look at her but she's looking at the cardboard in front of us. "I just thought something didn't add up when you said you were living with Vanessa but I also didn't want to ask you seeing as we had just met," she explains and I just nod.

"Let's see; my parents died in a car accident when I was three," I hear Lyha gasp and I feel like stopping, but I have to continue. "Mrs Grand was a friend of my parents' and therefore asked my grandparents their permission for me to come to Manhattan to live with her for the year."

I told Lyha everything, from the way Kian treated me to the way Mrs Grand was to Gretna and I. I also told her about Cara's different attitude towards me and also how Kian and Ryan were avoiding eye contact with me and how I was wrong to assume Laura was like the rest of them. I'm so glad I told Lyha because she didn't interrupt me that much and she followed every detail I told her. She also reprimanded me on some parts and advised me along the way.

"And that's that." I look up at her and see her smiling.

"Hold up," she raises her hand, "you're talking about RHPS, am I right?" I nod and she beams.

"Well," she pulls out her phone and shows me a picture of a brown envelope with the RHPS sticker on one corner. "We're attending that school as well!" I scream as I hug her tightly.

"When are you starting?"

"Supposed to start on Wednesday, but something might come up," she rolls her eyes as she puts her phone away. "We initially came here to get some supplies, but of course Dylan being Dylan, said he needed to see Laura."

"Which class are you in?" I ask her. I'm secretly hoping we're in one class.

"I don't know, but my dad said Dylan and I are in the same class." At least she won't be completely alone even if we aren't in the same class. "Why don't we have some fun?" she asks as she gets up.

"Fun sounds painful," I tease as I follow her outside the fitting rooms.

"You wont even realise you got hurt." We take an elevator to the first floor and stand in front of the escalator coming down all the way from the third floor. People are about doing their own things so this should be less embarrassing. Lyha stands in a racing position and looks at me, her eyes sparkling with determination.

"On 3," she says and I nod. "1...2...3!" She yells and we race forward. Luck seems to be on our side because this escalator is partially empty. She's a good three steps ahead of me and I grin as I'm catching up with her. I feel like my legs are being pulled back but we just have to defy gravity, as she said earlier.

I look up and see that we're now on the second floor. One more left to go. My breathing becomes shallower and I stand a bit, almost falling backwards but hold onto the railing. Lyha stands and clutches her stomach, her chest rising and falling heavily.

"Come on," she ushers me forward and again we start racing. We got lower from where we were when we stopped for air because this thing is going down. The person that started this idea should really compensate us with free cold drinks.

We force our legs to carry us further and it felt like hours before we finally reached the last floor. I don't know where Lyha got the energy from, but she sprint faster and I held my breath as I followed her. My legs were so numb from the adrenaline that I felt I was going to fall over and die.

Lyha jumped from the second stair onto the floor with her face to the ground and I followed shortly, falling right next to her. We turned on our backs and noticed people laughing at us. I felt myself blush because of the attention we dragged onto ourselves but Lyha just smiled and waved.

"That was fun!" I exclaim as I get up, my stomach hurting from the lack of air. Lyha's chest is still rising and falling with every breath she takes.

"Help me get up," she reaches for my hand but another hand beats me to it. I follow the hand to see who it belongs to. It's the same guy from the elevator when Laura and I came. Where's his red-haired friend?

"You good?" the dirty blond guy asks as he helps Lyha to her feet.

"Yes, thank you."

"I'm Miguel, you?" he holds Lyha's hand while his other hand is in his pocket.

"I'm Lyha," she smiles at him. Oh wow, I didn't get to third-wheel at Laura's so I'm third-wheeling at Lyha's.

"Kira, right?" the guy asks me again.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I saw you around school but didn't have a chance to speak to you."

"Alright," I nod as I look around the place.

"By the way, I called Kian. He and Ryan are on their way," he nods in my direction.

"You what?!" I shoot daggers at him. "Who are you to do that?"

"I'm Mi-gu-el," he says slowly and I cross my arms across my chest. That is surely not what I meant. "I'm the guy you spoke to on Facebook, remember?" He raises his eyebrows and I squint my eyes.

"Wait," I giggle as I remember him. "You're Miguel Gibbler?"

"In flesh," he nods proudly.

"Why'd you call Kian though?"

"He was worried sick about you. He kept on asking how he'd tell his mom he lost you at school," he laughs and Lyha chuckles.

"Here you go ladies," the red-haired guy appears behind me and hands us cold soda cans. Lyha winks at me with an impressed smile and I thank him.

"You wanna sit with us while we wait for the others?" red-haired asks and we nod. I take a sit next to red-head and Lyha is next to Miguel.

"How did you know I was here?"

"I didn't," he takes a sip from his coffee. How do you drink coffee in this heat? "I saw you in the elevator and called Kian to ask him to send me another picture of you, and when he did, I confirmed that it was you I saw."

I'm about to ask how Kian has a picture of me when a voice speaks loudly.

"You better not tell me you skipped school," a loud, frustrated voice speaks from behind us and we turn our attention to it. Kian and Ryan are walking to our table and they don't seem happy.

"If it isn't the two assholes," I murmur as I turn my head back to focus on the table we're sat at.

"Hey guys," Ryan greats us.

"Hey," red-head says. I have to get his name soon.

"Sup," Miguel nods.

"Hi," Lyha gets up and extends her hand. "I'm Lyha."

"Ryan," he shakes her hand.

"Kira?" Kian's voice is full of anger.

"What?" I ask not even bothering to turn to him. He bends his head to look me in the eyes and I fake a smile.

"That looks painful," he points to my smile and I roll my eyes. "Get up," he pulls my chair back and tugs me by my hand.

"Watch it," I pull my hand from his grip and fold my arms. He clenches his jaw and looks me straight in the eye.

"Just keep up." He walks away and I turn to the others. Ryan waves at me and Lyha gestures for me to follow him. I speed walk to get to him and hear him cursing to himself.

"Get in," he stands in front of the open elevator and I step in and lean against the wall. He stands next to me and waits for the elevator to close. As soon as it closes, he presses one of the buttons to stop it from moving. Ohh shoot. I'm in trouble, aren't I?