a renegade; W2S

9

*HÉLILLE'S POV*

The air is bitingly windy as we exit the airport building, ready to board our metal sky-vessel to the City of Angels. I can't help thinking I've had some strain of luck. We are staying in a mansion, a Beverly-Hills old time beauty that oozes exuberance.

Everyone, even Freya, are too excited to care at all I'm coming with them, despite meeting them yesterday. They are welcoming, more welcoming than the people I used to know, and I think I'm growing on Gee. I've spent most of the time with either her or Talia.

"Do you make a lot of money from streaming?" I ask her as we board, I'm sitting next to her on the plane, a boy called Callum, or Lux as they call him to my left and her to my right.

"Fuck yeah! So much more than I ever thought you could," she says and now I'm suddenly doubting my decisions to have gone to uni, why not just become a YouTuber or streamer?

We sit down in our seats and Lux squeezes past me, winking and I grimace at him making him laugh.

Eventually, we're in the air and that's when I start to get bombarded by questions from both sides. It's like I'm some sort of hidden treasure everyone is desperate to find.

"Did you have a boyfriend or anything in Australia?" Lux asks me with a joking smirk and I resist the temptation to remove his eyes from his face.

"I did, he was called Jack. I don't miss him," I say and they laugh. I forget there's people that aren't just used to me taking normally.

"What are you going to do for a job once we're back?" Gee asks me and I have to take a little while to think.

"I have no clue to be honest. I have a degree in Civil Engineering, so I should probably do something with that," I say, my mind wandering to the mind-numbing office jobs that would consume my future.

"Become a youtuber!" Gee shouts quite loudly and I laugh, not realising she's being slightly serious.

"Wait, do you mean that, like, really?" I ask her, now facing her. She nods her head vigorously.

"We can get you started when we land," she says excitedly. "I'll be your little blue-haired mentor."

"I feel like it's a bit of a cliché though. New girl meets YouTubers, becomes a YouTuber, dates one of them at some point and then dies," I say.

"Fuck it who cares. We all die anyways," Gee says and I can tell I'm going to get along great with my little blue-haired mentor.

"You have an incredible rack by the way," I say, referencing her tits. I feel like we know each-other long enough for this conversation to be appropriate.

"Yours aren't too bad either," Lux says leaning over to join in on mine and Gee's little moment.

"Die horribly," I say while trying to conceal a laugh and Gee bursts out laughing, while Lux retreats also near laughter.

No way am I actually enjoying this. I'm definitely due some bad karma soon. It's almost too good to be true.

The flight is long, but passes by in a whirr between jokes and sleep. We finally land in L.A and I can't believe I'm even here. Everyone is so smiley and when I bump shoulders with Freya as we're exiting, she doesn't even scowl slightly.

"Bro, this is fucking sick," JJ says as we leave the airport, the sun is setting over L.A, igniting the city like some sort of hazy dream. The air is warm and feels like heaven to touch, and I thank my lucky stars for me finding Talia again.

It feels like stepping in to every film you've ever loved, as you're speeding down the streets, recognising certain corners from the movies you cherish. It makes me wish I were an actress so that I could call the City of Angels my home.

"This is going to be fucking amazing," Ethan says, his smile as wide as the valley. And I bite my lip as I realise these two weeks are a sanctuary. A sanctuary away from the pressures of a stable job or a cheating boyfriend.

I'm going to enjoy every second, see every sight, experience all the food and the people this beautiful place has to offer. And I'm going to spend it all with these people, who despite my earlier wishes to make my own friends without Talia's help, who are as great as people can be.

"Hélille, right?" A blue-eyed boy says to me, scratching his chin beside me in the car that we hired to take us to the mansion. He seems so awkward as I make contact with those ocean eyes. He's pretty, and has a smile that runs up his face into those blue orbs.

"Yeah, how do you like to be called?" I say back to him, slightly turning to look out the window and enjoy the view.

"Harry," he says and I smile at him, before letting my eyes wander again to the hills covered with each millionaire's playground.