Further

Chapter 3

Sofia stood at the front door, all her things squished into three large suitcases. Zoe, Tatiana and her parents had already left for work and school, leaving her to wait for Ash to arrive.

A few minutes later, Ash's Ford Fusion pulled into the driveway. Pulling on her shoes, she lugged the suitcases out the door, giving one last glance at the house she grew up in before disappearing into the car.

They drove in silence for a good ten minutes, turning down side streets into a place of town she had never seen before. He turned the car up a long dirt driveway. At the end stood a huge old brick house, the kind in movies with the vines crawling up the sides. It looked to be about four stories high.

"This is where you'll be staying when you're not working," he said as they got out of the car. She followed him up the stone walkway to the door.

Ash reached out to grab the door handle, but the door swung open before he had a chance, revealing a small girl with a head of brown curls and startling hazel eyes. She looked to be about four years old.

"Ashie!!!" she cried, launching herself at him.

"Hey Noelle, how's it going?" he asked, picking her up and spinning her around.

"Good, but Ryan stuck a pea up his nose again," she said, rolling her eyes.

Ash set her down, "Noelle, I want you to meet Sofia, she'll be boarding with you from now on."

She threw her small body at Sofia, clinging to her waist with no hesitation.

"Noelle, why don't you show Sofia around and introduce her to the others," Ash suggested, "Then we can talk rules."

"Okay," she exclaimed, her face lighting up with excitement. She grabbed Sofia's hand and pulled her down the hallway. They turned into a room, a kitchen. Seated at the table was a pudgy boy eating a sandwich.

"This is Ben," she said motioning towards him, "Ben, this is Sofia and she lives with us now."

"Mmph," he said, mouth full of turkey.

Before she had a chance to respond, Noelle had already dragged her off down the hallway. She led her up a set of stairs and into a room.

It was painted all black and had a single bed in the centre. A boy, about sixteen years old, sat on the ground, a huge set of headphones over his ears. His music was playing so loud, the beat could be felt through the floor.

"That's Victor, he doesn't talk much," she explained, "But secretly, he likes to play Barbies," she whispered into her ear, giggling.

Noelle pulled her down the hallway to another staircase that led up to the third floor. She burst into a room where a boy about her age sat on his bed, a laptop resting on his lap. 

"Auggie!!!" Noelle screeched, running towards him.

"Hey Ellie," he responded, giving her a hug.

"This is Sofia, she's living with us," she said.

He glanced up at her, his blue eyes sparkling, and gave her a warm smile, "I'm August, nice to meet you."

"You too," she replied, suddenly getting nervous jitters in her stomach. She couldn't be falling for him already, could she?

"SOFIA!!!" she heard Ash call up the stairs.

"I should probably go, nice meeting you!" she called over her shoulder.

She rushed down both flights of stairs, meeting Ash a the bottom, "I've decided to let you visit places within walking distance while you're not working, as long as you have my permission to do so," he said.

"Where are we anyways? I didn't recognize the roads we took from my house," she said.

He pulled out his phone, "I took the only route available for a vehicle, if you cut down the path in the forest, you can get back to your house in a few minutes. That doesn't give you permission to visit home, as your family expects you to be at boarding school. On holidays, you will be allowed to visit them, but otherwise you will stay here. Curfew is nine thirty, your room is on the top floor. I have somewhere to be, lunch is on the stove."

With that he hurried out the door and back out to his car, leaving her in the empty foyer. She grabbed her suitcases, one in one hand, and two in the other and began to climb the three flights of stairs leading to her room.

By the time she had reached the top floor, her arms felt like they were going to fall off. She pushed the suitcases to the one door on the floor. Turning the handle, she opened it to reveal her room. It was really modern, unlike the rest of the house, her bed was queen sized and was raised about a foot off the ground by a gray platform, which connected to one on the ceiling. Light glowed from beneath them both. Two doors were against the next wall, which she assumed were her bathroom and closet. Against the third wall was a large vanity, and the fourth wall had a ladder that led to a sitting area above her bed. The whole room was painted in a pale lavender, her favourite colour.

She lugged her suitcases into the closet with the remaining strength she had. It was a huge walk in closet, with a small second floor just like the bedroom. It was already half filled with clothes, so Sofia left her bags there, figuring she would unpack later. She grabbed her bag of toiletries and headed into the bathroom. It had a long counter with two sinks, a toilet in the corner, and a small staircase leading up to the bath and shower. She left her bag on the counter and went downstairs to have some lunch.

(A/N: Sorry this is so bad, I needed a filler chapter)