THE BEGINNING OF THE END

We had all left Lexi's place at 7:00 in the morning, I still needed some sleep. I had planned my entire day out in my head, I have a flight to catch by 12noon, so I decided to set my alarm to wake me up at 10am so I'll have two hours to get ready and that was exactly what happened.

At 11:30am, I was ready, I took one last look around my room just to ensure I wasn't forgetting anything. The room was empty, I zipped my box and a small bag I was carrying and stood it upright. Almost immediately, I remembered that I had left some windows at the back open, so I went to close them up.

Coming back to my room, I was startled by Leo who was sitting on my bed. "oh my-" holding my chest, I took a deep breathe "what are you doing here?"

"I'm not okay, can't you tell?" Leo responded falling flat on my bed. I let out a sigh, I didn't have time for this.

"You're only 14, what could possibly be wrong with you?" I asked

"Everything" throwing his hands up in the air, he continued "life is hard-I asked mom for a new game control set but she told me that if I wanted one, I have to get it myself." He sat up straight "The kids at my school are currently giving me a hard time, Megan broke up with me and now you're leaving, which means more house chores and generally more work for me-I can't do extra work am Leonardo" Leo complained pointing to himself, since he was the youngest, he barely touched a thing in the house. "what do I do?" Leo groaned and put both hands over his face

"Ok first of all, these aren't even real problems" I said and walked over to my closet

Leo glared at me "Yes they are! I need advice not your educational nonsense"

"Ok-so am no love expert so I can't fix you and Megan; that's a YOU problem"

"You're saying everything I already know" Leo shot back

"Let me finish" I tilted my head and waited to get Leo's attention. "I know a store that's looking for people to work, and you don't start school till next week, so why not take the job" I suggested but Leo wasn't an easy person

"You're saying I have to work to make money?" Leo asked with an irritated look

"Oh no, you don't have to-unless you've got something better genius" I replied

"Fine, am listening" Leo bluntly replied

"The store is just down the street, and I hear the pay is good; 50 bucks an hour for four hours a day, you'll be getting 200 bucks a day. Do that for a week and your making 1400 bucks" I said leaning out of my closet door.

"Ok that sounds cool-" he paused "a little too cool" Leo didn't seem convinced. But it was real.

"yeah its-wow. No-brainer, keep it up and you'll be-" I started but Leo interrupted

"I'll be rich!" Leo said in excitement.

"I was going to say; able to get your game set-but sure why not"

"This is so cool," pacing round the room, Leo continued "I'd be making my own money and can do whatever I wanted" Leo said with excitement dripping from every word. He somehow always got whatever he wanted

I looked at my watch "ok, that's amazing and all but you have to get out cause I have to get to the airport" I opened the door signaling him to get out.

"Oh yeah school, mom said she was going to give you a ride to the airport." Leo said while walking out my room door

"Well, where is she anyway?" I brought out my luggage's and shut my room door.

"Emiliana! Leonardo! Come on, we're gonna be late" mom yelled from down stairs. Leo and I got the bags and ran downstairs, I grabbed the car keys and rushed into the car, Leo followed me and shut the trunk after I put my luggage's in. Mom came out a little while later.

"Are you guys good? Emily you got all your stuffs?" mom asked and started fastening her seat belt.

"yeah, I did" I replied and we drove off.

We got to the airport a little late-so much for a perfect plan. By the time we got there, people had already started boarding the plane I was supposed to get on. We rushed to the reception, got my tickets and waited patiently for my turn, which by my calculation, should be in the next 30 seconds.

"Alright Emily, this is your last year in high school, be good ok. Take care of yourself-mommy loves you." Mom said and gave me a hug.

I turned to Leo "Be good. And don't give mom any troubles ok."

"Sure" Leo replied and dabbed me up.

"Number 36!" it was the announcers voice and that was my number.

"That's me!" I said and raised my hand to indicate my presence and used the other to grab my stuffs. After I got checked in, I turned around to wave my mom and Leo who were still standing there. As the line started moving, I couldn't see them anymore.

As I got on the plane, I stacked my bags and went to look for my seat, but there was someone in it, they had a hood on with their face in their laps, so I couldn't tell who it was.

"Umm-excuse me, you're in my seat" I said, but the person didn't move. Were they asleep or just being rude-I thought, so I went closer to tap the person, "Hey, I said you're in my seat" I said tapping the human figure, she raised her head; it was Gabrielle? I looked up and jammed my palms together in disappointment "why. What did I do?" I asked with my head still facing the roof of the plane

"what do you mean am in your seat?" Gabrielle replied

"This is seat number 36" I said, bringing out my ticket from my back pocket.

"yes. And it's my seat" Gabrielle shot back

"No, it's not" I said

"Yes, it is" Gabrielle protested

"Fine, let me see your ticket" I said, Gabrielle was about to say something but a flight attendant showed up.

"what's going on here?" the flight attendant asked

"This is my seat!" Gabrielle and I said in unison.

Turning to each other "No its not!" we screamed again in unison and the flight attendant broke us up.

"Alright enough-" the flight attendant whose name I had read from her badge was Tatiana Macroy "alright let me see your tickets" Tati said and we both pulled out our tickets, turns out Gabrielle was at 63 and not 36. So stupid, how could she read that wrong or upside-down

"Miss, your ticket says 63 and not 36, your seat is at the back there" Tati said pointing in the direction of Gabrielle's actual seat.

"Am not going to seat in the back" Gabrielle protested in a high-pitched tone.

"Well, you're not going to seat here either" I shot back

"Miss, your gonna have to go seat in the back, or I'll have to ask you to leave the plane." Tati said and Gabrielle packed her stuffs and went to her actual seat.

"Thank you" I said to Tati, she smiled softly and left.

"Everyone pls be seated, we are about to take off" the pilot said and everyone started fastening their seat belts. It was a safe ride, I don't really know what happened during the ride cause I was asleep, but Thank God we landed safely.

I got off the plane and took a cab to Stan Ville High. Everyone was present. School was a lot noisy cause everyone had stories to tell. I was finally in the 12th grade, which means I don't have to leave on school grounds anymore. There were houses built outside the school campus grounds, it was for the seniors or if your parents had the money to get one for you. There was a list up on the wall, it had our room names and our roommates.

Scrolling through the list; I was lucky. I got a room with my best friend Corinne Lee. She's been my bestie for about four years now-everyone in the squad has been; except for Ryker; we go a long way back.

"Hi Sunshine" the boys; Ryker, Parker and Walker greeted.

"Hey guys" I greeted back and dabbed them all up.

"we thought you'd never show" Parker said as he leaned on Walker

"Didn't we all" I said, took one more look at the list on the wall and turned back to the boys "have you guys seen Taylor and Corinne?"

"yeah, they're in your room." Walker answered

"They've been waiting for you all morning" Ryker added.

"You guys are off school grounds too?" I asked leaning on the wall

"Yeah, we are!" they all replied together and high-fived each other before chanting "SENIORS!" while leaving.

"See you guys later then" I said, but I was talking to myself cause the boys had left. I took my stuffs and went up to my room.

"Surprise!" Taylor and Corinne screamed as I opened the room door, their screams frightened me and I fell down.

"What the heck" I managed to say while trying to recover from the shock, I got up.

"Well don't just stand there, get in!" they both said and pulled me in.

"Woah, this place is huge" I said while dropping my jacket

"I know it's great" Corinne yelled in excitement

"Can you calm down; you sound just like Sophie Fergie right now" I said with a broad smile.

"who?" Corinne and Taylor asked

"Youtuber, actress-" I said with a cautious smile, but it was obvious they had no clue. "ok never mind" I said and jumped on the bed, then realized that Taylor wasn't our roommate.

"Taylor, you in here with us too?" I asked

"I wish" Taylor groaned "I got a room with king" she said and fell flat on the bed and covered her face

"Oh my gosh" I said almost laughing, and Taylor got up.

"I know it's scary" Taylor said and Corinne patted her gently

"You'll be fine" Corinne assured

"Yeah, you're always welcome to hang out here.

Taylor sighed "Thanks guys"

"Alright what are we gonna do tonight?" Corinne asked as she got up and waked towards the dressing mirror.

Corinne was always the wild one, Taylor was a lot calmer and I was more outspoken; not as wild as Corinne, but I could always say what I want whenever I wanted. We were the perfect trio.

"Am exhausted, I need a good sleep" I said and started unpacking

"well, that's one thing we are not going to be doing tonight" Corinne said

"I don't know Corinne, it's a Sunday evening, we will have a lot to do tomorrow" Taylor said

"Taylor's right. I do need some stuff-" I was saying but Corinne interrupted

"Then let's go shopping" Corinne said spreading out both hands. I pushed them back and continued;

"You didn't let me finish. I did a few grocery shopping on my way here" I said, bringing out the groceries "these should last us till Friday and we can go shopping on Saturday." I said and got up from the floor I was sitting on.

"That's a lot of stuff" Taylor said, picking up a pack of M&M'S

"Yeah, where'd you get the money to buy all this stuff" Corinne asked

"I worked during winter, remember." I replied with both my hands on my waist.

"Oh-yeah" they both said and started stacking up the groceries in the pantry.

I was finally done unpacking. "am going to shower, can you guys order pizza?" I said as I headed towards the bathroom

"Way ahead of you" Corinne said and with that I got into the shower. It didn't take long for me to shower, I got out, got dressed and laid on my bed.

"what are you guys watching" I asked while grabbing my phone from the outlet.

"The movie UP" Taylor answered eyes stuck to her screen.

"Are you guys just seeing it for the first time?" I asked

"Yeah, why" Corinne asked

"Nothing, I've watched it a dozen times thanks to Leo" I said and the door knob started shaking.

"Are you expecting someone?" Taylor asked looking at me.

"No-you?" I asked pointing at corinne.

"Oh yeah, it's our food" Corinne said and got up to get the door. The boys walked in holding boxes of pizza.

"Pizza's here." Ryker said as they walked in, dropping 4 boxes of pizza on the table.

"Hey guys" Taylor greeted.

"where's the actual pizza guy?" Corinne asked, looking outside as if expecting someone to come in.

"yeah, we saw him at-" Parker started but Walker cut him, putting his hand over Parker's mouth.

"No-uh, they don't need to know that" Walker said while holding parker's mouth.

"Oh well, I don't really care. Let's eat" I said, stood up and took a slice of pizza. We all started eating.

"Do you guys have any drink?" Ryker asked

"Yeah, there are some sodas in the fridge" Corinne responded.

Ryker stood up and walked to the fridge.

"whoa, you guys really went all out here" Ryker said as he opened the fridge, he squatted to select a drink. "The last time I walked in here this fridge was empty, now I got a lot to choose from" Ryker paused, scanned the fridge with his eyes "now let's see, what do I want?" Ryker said scratching his chin.

"Hey, can you pass me a can of Pepsi-" Parker asked

"I'll have a diet coke" Corinne said

"Soda for me pls" Taylor said.

Ryker turned "I am not here to serve y'all, get up and get them yourself" Ryker said and slammed the fridge.

"Dude-" I said, I was about to stand up to get the drinks

"Am kidding" Ryker said, spreading out his arms in defeat. "here you go" tossing us our drinks and saw himself to an empty seat.

"So, what do you guys want to talk about?" Walker asked opening his sprite can.

"How about, how this is going to be our last year in this school" Corinne said and took a sip of her drink.

"Or-how Taylor is freaking out about her new roommate" Ryker said and we all started laughing, except Taylor who didn't find it funny.

"Ok-now, laugh all you want, until someday I probably do something wrong and end up in a coffin" Taylor shouted, she was clearly not happy and couldn't hide it.

"Come on now-That's too far" Walker said softly. Taylor was still upset and it made us laugh so hard I started coughing.

"Are you good?" Parker asked still laughing.

"It's in my nose" I replied but still didn't stop laughing.

"Ok now-seriously" Taylor said plainly.

"I don't think she's that bad" Ryker said

"No one said she's bad, she's just scary. Like seriously she scares me" Taylor said, by now everyone had become serious again.

"She scares everybody." I took a sip of my drink then continued "you should be fine as long as you don't say anything, look her in the eye, touch any of her stuff or-" I paused to think, but Corinne continued;

"Basically, pretend like she's not even there" Corinne added

"Exactly" I said.

"What do you guys think made her like that? Taylor asked incredulously

"Better question, how does she even live like that?" Corinne said and folded her legs into her bed.

"I hear she doesn't like people" Walker said with his eyes stuck to his phone.

"Six years of High school and no one knows what she sounds like." Parker said and dusted the pizza crumbs off his palms.

"Do you think she talks?" Corinne asked cautiously

"Well Taylor's about to find out" Ryker teased. Taylor shot him a look.

"People who are like that probably wanted something so bad but never got, or lost something they really loved and cared about" I said while gathering our empty drink cans.

"You've been reading a lot of Nonsense, haven't you?" Ryker said.

"Let's not jump into any conclusions just yet" parker said and joined me to pack the cans.

"And let's drop the king topic, you're scaring Taylor" Corinne said.

Ryker's phone beeped, he looked at it; "Alright boys we got to go" Ryker said standing up

"Where are you guys going?" Corinne asked while picking up the pizza boxes.

"To the arcade." Walker said and put on his jacket "you girls want to come?" By now all the boys were standing and ready to leave.

"No, they don't" Corinne replied with a squeezed face.

"yeah, am good." I said and grabbed my phone.

"Me too. you guys have fun" Taylor said and got comfortable in in Corinne's bed.

"Told ya" Corinne said.

"Alright then." Parker said with a shrug and the boys turned to leave but Corinne stopped them.

"Wait I want to come" Corinne yelled.

"ok-cool let's go" Ryker said and Corinne grabbed a jacket from the closet and left with the boys.

Taylor and I were left in the room, we chatted for a little while before Taylor slept off. I thought a little about the new school year, prayed to get enough credit to graduate and get into college. I also tried to facetime my mom, but she didn't respond. I concluded that she might have gone to bed cause it was a little late.

I scrolled through IT GRAM, Leo had just uploaded a new photo, I dropped a like and a fire emoji; to which he liked and replied. Although, I continually wish to be extremely famous, there were times I wished I could go to a place where no one knows my name. I could be like that sometimes. I snapchatted the dance team; still no news on whether or not we got in. I turned over to plug my phone, reached for the table and got my journal. It wasn't a diary {anyone could read it} I just basically wrote down lyrics of songs I liked, some really cool designs of cloths I wish I had, lots of quotes, my own song lyrics, and some new dance moves to try, and stuffs like that, nothing personal.

I had slept off by the time Corinne got back, our room had a large bed, big enough for three people and a bunk bed. I slept on the lower bunk, since Taylor had taken the larger bed; when Corinne got back, she slept on the top bunk.

THE NEXT DAY: MONDAY

"Brrrinng" that was our alarm clock, that seemed to have woken only me up cause Taylor and Corinne didn't move. It was 6am, I sluggishly got out of bed. For me the hardest thing about life is waking up early. I had even once challenged myself to sleep for a whole day but failed.

"Guys get up" I said, rubbing my sleepy eyes as I tried to wake up the girls.

"Just two more minutes" Corinne said as she turned to the other side.

"That's what the Haschak sisters said and they ended up not going to the party-get up" I said dragging both Corinne and Taylor. Because Corinne was on the top bunk she fell when I pulled her.

"Ouch-ok am up" Corinne said as she hit the floor. Taylor had gotten up.

"That's one way to wake up" Taylor said as she stretched her muscles.

"Tell me about it" Corinne said, wiping her clothes as she got up.

"We're gonna be late if you guys keep complaining" I said, grabbed my things and went to shower.

"Time to head back to my room-and my creepy roommate" Taylor said and let out a yawn and shiver.

"Good luck" Corinne said.

"Yeah" Taylor nodded "I'll need it." With that Taylor left for her room.

On getting there, king was almost ready. Taylor tried so hard to avoid eye contacts and stay out of king's way. The two didn't say a word and Taylor was a lot more relieved when king left the room.

Two hours later, we all met on our way to class. History is our first lecture and our history teacher has to be the most boring person in the world, I am not even kidding. I always hated history anyway, maybe that explains why I never really passed it, like seriously though, what's the point of learning about the past when we are trying to secure our future. Luckily a fire alarm made the class to end thirty minutes earlier.

"History class was so hard" I complained. Karen who was sitting beside me heard me.

"What was so hard about it?" Karen asked

I yawned "I just couldn't fall asleep". Karen smiled and continued with what she was doing.

"I am so tired" I said as stretched out my muscles.

"You've only been here 10 minutes" logan; the guy at my left replied.

"Well, it feels like 11." I said and got up to look around.

There was no teacher and I noticed king wasn't present for history class. She could be like that sometimes; she hardly attended classes, and if she did; she won't pay attention, yet she always came out top of the class. {Her secret: she would stay in the library all the time, and since had no friends she had no room for distraction} The very noisy class became quiet as king walked in. As usual she didn't speak to anyone, she got to her seat, plugged in her headphones and laid her head on the table. The class became noisy again but this time people whispering to each other.

"I'm shook" Raven said in a whisper tone

"I know right, for someone who doesn't even talk" logan replied.

Raven was the reason people feared king. Before king arrived, Raven and her team of RAVENS; Molly and Stephanie owned the school. King arrived in 7th grade, when she arrived; she minded her own business, as she still does, wore a black nose mask constantly, no one knew what she looked like, but Raven and entourage took it upon themselves to unmask king and push her to the wall, literally.

One day a fight broke out in the gym, the RAVENS had tried to unmask king, they succeeded, but it was really a pyrrhic victory; as it didn't go down without a fight. By the time a crowd had gathered, it was already late; king had torn them into shreds, they were bleeding and had to go into comma about three months. They survived but had scars to always remind them of what happened. Ever since then, no one even as much as talked to king. No one had the guts to. I feel really bad for Taylor.

Monday was smooth. If anything, the entire week was. There were no big announcements, no news, nothing serious. I was getting anxious cause Saturday was drawing near and we still had no news about nationals.

The days were fast. It was a Friday night; the night before Nationals. I got out of the shower, got dressed and while I ate, I decided to face time all the girls'- I needed answers.

"What is going on? Tomorrow is THE day" I said, nearly screaming impatiently at my computer screen.

"Yeah Thersa, if something's going on, we have a right to know" Belle said. Everyone was nervous, normally we should have received the news on nationals 5 days ago, so we would have time to prepare for it, but now; we had no song, no dance and worst of all, we don't even know if we got in.

"I honestly don't know what's going on, seriously I wish I did." Thersa said, you could tell the pressure was getting to her.

"Why don't we just show up at Nationals tomorrow-" Olivia started, but Lexi interrupted;

"We don't have a routine" Lexi said

"And, you don't just show up" Vivi added as she air quoted show up.

"If you had let me finish, I was gonna say-" Olivia started but got interrupted again;

"That we show up without practice?" Trish countered.

"I-I" Olivia was about to continue but got interrupted again.

"We don't even have a song" I said impatiently.

"Let me finish!" Olivia shouted. The interruptions had made her furious.

"Geez, Olivia" Lexi said with sarcasm.

"Ok calm down" Thersa added

"Fine what did you have to say?" I asked and we let her speak.

Olivia took a deep breathe, then started "I was saying, that we go to nationals tomorrow, our choreography was good. It has to be the best one there-" Olivia was saying before Vivi interrupted her;

"Then what are we gonna perform?" Vivi asked, then looked at Olivia who had lost it "sorry" Vivi apologized and Olivia continued;

"Since we are for sure going to get selected, we could just perform one of our old routine-Or pick steps from them mix-match them and boom, we have a new choreography" Olivia concluded.

"That doesn't sound bad" Trish said with a shrug

"what about the song?" I asked

"Or, if we don't get in?" Vivi asked too.

"Oh, we will get in" Olivia assured

"Amen to that" we all said together.

"So that's it, everyone pls be there by 12noon or before that. Contest starts by 2pm so we should have two or more hours to practice" Thersa said

"Two hours, that doesn't sound like enough time" I said softly. Everyone was depressed.

"It's not, we have to make the most of it." Thersa said convincingly "everyone pls pick out various dance steps and your own suggestion of music" Thersa added.

"Deal." Lexi said

"Fine" I added.

"It's getting late, I have to go." Belle said.

"yeah, we all do-Good night ladies" Thersa said and we ended the facetime call.

I packed a couple of clothes in a bag for the next day, I also re-watched some dance videos, practiced some moves and calculated my travel budget for tomorrow before I went to bed.

Did you enjoy this chapter? Tell me what you think in the comments. Pls like, vote and share. Feel free to correct any typos you might find. Also, drop any new ideas you might have.

Xoxo khleeopathra.