My time in San Fransisco had been amazing so far. I never even thought of making such good friends so easily. Sure they're annoying at times, but I love them anyway. I miss Rochelle a lot, but there's no point brooding over it. She promised to visit again before leaving last week. It was so good to see her after such a long time.
I sat on my bed flipping over the pages of the scrapbook she'd given me. I delicately run my fingers over each and every picture. It was hard to decide whether it was Chicago or San Francisco that I loved more. I'd lived in Chicago basically my whole life. That was home. But, if I think of it, I never had true friends back there except for Rochelle. We were like peas in a pod. I never actually bothered talking to anyone. I was always afraid of what people would think of me.
Here, in San Francisco, these people had accepted me for who I am. Each and every one of them had been so welcoming. So even though I've said this before, I'll say it again. I'm so grateful.
I was putting the scrapbook back in my bookshelf when my phone rang. Lucy's picture flashed across the screen.
"Hi Lucy."
"Hi Mavis. I'm coming over to pick you in 5." She said.
Today was Allison's birthday, and her parents were throwing a fancy masquerade ball for the whole town. She was their only daughter and they pampered her too much, but Allison was never snobby. She was beautiful, inside and out.
The girls and I were going to get ready at Allison's house. We had already bought our dresses when we went shopping last week. Allison was beyond excited. I picked up all my bags that held my dress, shoes and cosmetics, put on my sneakers and walked out of my house after saying goodbye to mom, dad and of course, Caramel.
I open the back seat door of the car and Taylor, who was sprawled inside, lazily waved at me, not taking her eyes off the DS on which her fingers were furiously tapping away. She wasn't very thrilled about the party. She hated anything fancy or girly. Allison had to emotionally blackmail her into buying a gorgeous dress. Putting my things inside, I got into the passenger seat, beside Lucy. We reached Allison's house in 20 minutes.
Her house was just like mine from the outside. Although, she had a beautiful fountain near the entrance. We rang the bell and a few seconds later, it swung open and there stood Troye, smiling.
"Hi guys." He said, opening the door wider. Allison walked up from behind him just as we walked in. The house was silent apart from the sound of our footsteps on the wooden floor.
Why is he here? Not that I mind.
"Hi." She greeted, giving each of us a hug. We wished her a happy birthday and she smiled widely. "Welcome to our humble home." She announced, leading us to the living room, where Mr. and Mrs Brooke were seated.
It was spacious, with wide bay windows that were decorated with cream curtains. The walls were painted beige. An antique sofa set was positioned in the centre. The wooden floor was covered by a beautiful cream rug. A grand piano rested in one corner and a grandfather clock in another. Allison's house was very classy.
"Good evening." We all greeted them.
"Hello girls." Mrs. Brooke smiled. "Thank you all for coming. You should go upstairs and start getting ready now. The guests will start arriving in two hours.
Lucy gasped. "There's hardly any time. Come on people!" She walked over with Allison to her room upstairs. I looked around to see talk to Troye, but he was nowhere to be seen. I followed the girls to Allison's room. Her room was the opposite of mine. The walls were painted a light blue. A queen sized bed lay in the middle of the room with wooden side tables on each side, on which sat photo frames of Allison and her boyfriend, Jacob. The windows were decked with blue curtains.
Her walls were adorned with beautiful paintings of landscapes.
