The Serpent Queen

Ace Degenerate | Part Two

The next afternoon, Phoebe woke up quite late. The jet lag really took a hold on her, dragging her into the longest and deepest sleep she had ever had. Her bedroom was larger than she expected. It had the same drab white walls as the rest of the apartment. Before and after the dinner from the night before she had put a few personal effects on the walls and around the surfaces of the room and the rest of the apartment. Like she hooked up the TV in her room and also the living room, a few photos were placed around and she had unpacked her clothes, shoes, makeup and little pink ornaments and put them tidily in their appropriate place. She wondered if the Diaz' apartment looked the same as hers with the coloured walls and the layout.

Grabbing the phone sitting next to a small lamp on her small bedside table, she looked at the time and it was after two in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the daytime temperature still hadn't dropped by much. Phoebe was so used to cold dreary weather that it would take her a long while to get used to the heat of the Golden State. She found she had a few messages from her friends back in England. The blonde messaged them back to say that she arrived safely and she met her cousin. After sending the texts, she realised that she would never see her old friends again. But she could make new friends here in the Valley. She had made one in Miguel and possibly one in Demetri.

Deciding to get up to salvage the rest of her day. She went into the bathroom, brushed her teeth and hopped into the shower. While she was washing herself and her hair, the water pressure coming from the shower head and the sink wasn't the greatest, if anything it was pitiful. Phoebe let out a yelp as the hot water turned to freezing cold in an instant and another escaped her lips and it went back to scalding hot. The temperature kept switching between hot and cold water for the entire length of her very quick shower.

After drying herself off and getting changed into a simple hot pink vest, blue floral skirt and a light denim jacket over the top with pink converse. She went back into her bedroom and reached over to her makeup bag on her desk that doubled as a vanity table applying a little mascara and lipgloss, a little concealer and eye shadow to finish off her look in the small standing mirror.

Phoebe went out into the joint living room and kitchen and didn't see her parents and found their door closed which meant they were still sleeping. Despite having quite the good feed in the Greek restaurant last night, she immediately went to the kitchen cupboards and took out a bowl and a spoon, then to the fridge to get milk to make a bowl of cereal.

While having a full mouth of milk and cereal that she swallowed, the part American, part Greek and part British girl, tidied up the kitchen and emptied the kitchen bin. Looking over to the pile of unpacked cardboard boxes tossed into the corner of the room, she was tempted to take them with her, but if they had to move again then there was no point.

Taking the big bag outside with her and quietly closing the apartment door, she squinted with the bright light of the afternoon sun. She could feel herself already beginning to break out into a mini sweat. She knew California was hot, but not this hot. She might as well be sunbathing in a bikini in Spain.

"Hey, Phoebe."

The girl turned her head to find the voice that spoke. She smiled when she saw that it was Miguel. "Hey, Miguel. Why is it so hot out?" She noticed that he wore a grey hoodie with long red sleeves and hood, light grey chino's and white vans.

Holding a few letters for his mother that he had gotten from the small metallic postboxes inside the entrance of the building doors, he said, "I guess that's California for you. I'm just glad it's not as hot as Ecuador."

"Is that where you lived before Riverside?"

"No, I was born there. I've lived in the States all my life." He paused for a moment, "Can I have your number? I mean since we're the same age, neighbours and also friends. Not that I'm just assuming we're friends, but it would be nice to have at least one friend here and we're both also new to the area and going to the same school next week...." He rambled nervously.