elite

Chapter one - Get your pencil case

             The yellow cab had stopped before the sidewalk. The young girl could see the small red brick buildings through the right window of the taxi — they were just like expected. After a few seconds of pure contemplation, she finally got out and closed the door behind her. The driver got out as well and walked directly towards the trunk. He opened it and got the girl's suitcase out. He moved as if to carry it any further but it seemed like the young lady was keen to do it all by herself.

"It's okay, I can take it from now" she said.

"You sure?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah, thank you" she replied with a brief smile.

"Okay" the driver mumbled before smiling back at her and getting back into the cab.

He closed the door and drove slowly away, joining the cars and the other cabs on the road. She watched the taxi going away until it was too far from eyesight. She then turned around and stared worriedly at the building, taking a deep breath.

"Here we go..." she muttered to herself.

She dragged her big suitcase behind her and climbed the few steps of the building right in front of her. The black front door was opened so she assumed someone must had gotten out a short time before she arrived. She looked around, looking for the board on which the names of the residents were written. She found it on the left side of the hall, next to the mailboxes. At the bottom of it was the name she was looking for: "Frances, second floor on the right". She pushed in the door leading to the flats and climbed the stairs to the second floor. She took a last deep breath before ringing the bell of the door on the right. She heard the significant noise of someone who hurries towards the door and watched it open from the inside. Tall, black, beautiful and smiling — the exact same way she remembered her — her aunt was standing on the threshold and immediately hugged her before she could say anything.

"Oh my God, Kenzie you look so beautiful !" she exclaimed looking at her up and down. "Come on in."

She moved aside to let the young lady through.

"So how was the trip? Why didn't you tell me you were coming today? I didn't expect you before tomorrow afternoon! You're taller than I thought you'd be! Let me show you to your room. So how are you doing?"

It was amazing  that so many questions could be asked in less than ten seconds, her niece thought.

"Hum...I don't even know where to start," she said following her aunt to her bedroom, "the trip was okay. I mean longer than I thought but okay. Yeah, I thought I would come sooner and have a look at the surroundings and be prepared for Monday before... wow that's my room?!"

They had arrived in the spare room her aunt had in her apartment which was bigger than it looked from the outside. The bedroom was beautifully decorated: the wooden floor was sort of brown-forest green, the walls were dark turquoise and the ceiling was beige. A big window was right opposite the door and the daylight lit the entire room giving it a dream-like aspect. The king-size faced the window and was behind the door, so that you still had some intimacy when the door was open.

"It's beautiful, thank you so much!"

"Yeah I figured you would enjoy these arrangements," her aunt replied grinning, "anyway I'm gonna let you unpack now, feel free to visit the place all you want."

She slowly closed the door behind her, leaving her niece admire the big wardrobe against the wall. It had a full size mirror inside of its left door. She then got to the window and looked outside: she had a view of the street beneath her and could see the yellow cabs on the road, "Tellement, New York," she thought.