The Party Scene Saga: Stories Yet To Unfold

Part 31

"Can you actually believe my dad is letting me move in with you guys?" Kara smirked. "Like, he's such a fucking drama queen. I half expected him to say no and make me live in a convent but no. He agreed."

"Well we need a place first." said Lisa in her matter-of-fact voice, which she'd got so used to using recently.

"And we'll find one! Jheeze..." I chuckled. "I can't wait for a new start with my girls after graduation."

Myself, Lisa and Kara have spent every day of spring break so far trying to find a little apartment with cheap rent for the three of us. We've not had much luck as yet, but there's still time. They've been worrying so much since the whole adoption fiasco and my lack of communication with Zack, but it doesn't bother me anymore. He hasn't bothered to talk to me, even though his therapist specifically asked him to. I know for a fact he's been back at least twice; Jack told me that both he and Alex had walked in on a bloodied Zack once each. It killed me inside to know he still felt the need to hurt himself and that me not speaking to him was making it worse, but I can't help how I feel. I'll approach him when I'm good and ready and not a moment sooner. Lisa brought me out of my daydream as she slowed the car.

"Ladies, I think I found one." she smirked.

Me and Kara followed her gaze. She was staring up at a little apartment block, possibly only around 12 apartments. Okay it didn't look perfect, but we didn't care. As long as the rent was affordable for three high school seniors, we were okay. Myself and Kara got out and waited for Lisa to park up, then the three of us went inside. There was a list of apartments still available on a huge notice board as we walked in, along with a breakdown of the rent for each of them.

"Ugh why does this not make any sense...?!" whined Lisa.

"Sure it does." I said quickly. "We can either pay by calendar month - so on the same day every month - every four weeks or per week. This one includes bills and utilities in the rent, as does this one, but all the others don't."

"What the fu-"

"Mark taught me a little about money and property." I murmured, staring at the ground as I shrugged. "Told me it'd come in useful someday."

"Aw babe..." Kara murmured, stroking my arm.

"I'm over it." I shrugged. "Anyway, this one looks good considering it's a 2-bed. Shall we go check it out?"

They nodded, so we headed to the elevator and pressed for the second floor. We got to the apartment to find a group of college students - three guys and a girl - already being shown around by a realtor.

"I'm still not sure, Bobby." the girl whined.

"Babe it's real cheap rent." the guy known as Bobby reasoned. "There's barely any apartments with this kinda rent and so close to a train station."

"But it's dirty..." she hissed.

I couldn't hold it any longer. "If she doesn't want it, we'll have it." I piped up.

All of them turned to stare at me, the realtor smirking slightly. The group he was showing around made some bullshit excuse just so they could leave. He let out a sigh of relief as they closed the door behind them. "Thank Christ." he breathed.

"That bad, huh?" smirked Lisa.

"You have no idea." he chuckled. "You girls aren't college students too, are you?"

"Not yet." smiled Lisa. "Graduating high school soon and then we're off to college."

"Yeah I won't be..." I said quietly.

"What?!" gasped Kara.

"Well Albuquerque turned me down straight away, Pennsylvania state asked for me an interview then cancelled it and Washington State are giving me an interview but it's doubtful."

"To be honest, it's better to work your way up. I started out as an intern at my dad's real estate agency, now I have my own business." the realtor piped up.

"See?! You don't need college!" I exclaimed, causing them all to giggle.

Kara launched into real estate talk, which got us serious for a moment. She and Lisa were purposely acting more ditsy than they actually were just so they could flirt with him; well he was kinda hot! But I genuinely listened, because I wanted my own piece of independence. I wanted to be my own person, living with my best friends until they go away to college.  What seemed like minutes later, we were attempting to barter on the rent they originally wanted and successfully too I might add!

"Right, well I'll head back to my office and draw up some paperwork. I'll call you girls when it's all ready." he smiled.

We all gave contact numbers and started to make our way home. Well, Kara and Lisa did. I was going back to a house with people who were just about putting up with me. Me and the girls need to make this work. I don't care how we do it; it just has to.