Euphonious Memories {H.S}

2

"Oh tell me something I don't already know"

Fall 2015

"Yes ma'am," I say to my grandma, for what seems to be the millionth time. I look around at the strangers in the airport who are looking at her and giving us smiles.

"And remember Townes, don't let anything or anyone bring you down sweetie," She tells me as she pulls me in for a hug. "Oh. I'm going to miss you, but South Carolina is no place for you right now, you need to explore and test your limits."

As I hug her and say my goodbyes, I run onto the plane and find my seat. My seat is in the middle of a small old lady and a middle aged man with a beard. The man has earphones in and the lady looks like she is preparing to take a nap, so I pull out my book and try to read it, but my nerves get the best of me. This is my first time on a plane and I am extremely afraid of heights. Once we got in the air, I could close my eyes an pretend I was just sitting in a car. It was still a little bit terrifying, not having anyone I knew beside me though. The flight was pretty long and awkward considering the old lady snored the whole time.

 When we finally land, I feel my stomach drop.I have never been to New York City before, much less alone. But I know that I have to do this. If I want to become a successful writer I have to go to the best college. I am going to NYU and going to be living with a stranger.

On the website for apartments, it said that she was a dancer and her name was Raine Hyland. I just hope we are compatible. The last thing I need is an annoying roommate.

I didn't want to live in a dorm, but I didn't want to live alone either. So when I saw that she was looking for roommate for her apartment, I immediately let her know that I would live there.

When I find the apartment number, I knock on the door. While I wait, I sit my giant suitcase down and knock again. After a few moments, a petite blonde haired girl answers the door.

"Hi you must be Skyler," She says with a big smile. "It is so nice to finally meet you come on in."

She shows me where my room is, so that I can put my things down. My room is blank and boring, but I can fix that. The bed looks comfortable and that is the most important thing.  When I get everything settled, I walked back into the living room.

"So you're a dancer right?" I ask her and she nods.

"Yeah I'm going to school to become a professional," She smiles "You look a little tired," She says chuckling at my nappy hair.

"Yeah, I am just a bit stressed from all the people and traffic. I am definitely not used to all of this," I say laughing nervously.

"Don't worry it gets better, believe me," she says as she lightly pats me on the back. 

Around 4 o'clock in the evening, Raine takes me sight seeing. We are walking down the sidewalk when we pass a store that looks like a shop for dance shoes.

"Ooh! Wait right here Skyler, I will be right back," She says and quickly walks into the store. I stand there feeling awkward all alone on the sidewalks of New York City. As I turn around, a tall figure bumps into me knocking me to the ground.

I wince as I fall flat on my butt. I look up to see a tall guy with long brown curls glaring at me as if I am the one who knocked him down. 

 "Watch where you're going," he comments rudely.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to..."

"Just watch it," he says cutting me off. I then slowly pick myself up off the ground. When I stand up, I see him still standing in front of me.

"Can I help you?" I ask confused. He doesn't say anything he just glares at me with his green eyes. "Look I'm new here and I'm not used to big cities, so if you could please just keep on walking, that would make my day a whole lot better," I say wrinkling my eyebrows in frustration.

"I would gladly do that if you would just give me my wallet back," he says through his teeth and I notice that he has a British accent.

"Oh. That's my fault," I said as I look down and notice the black wallet I had knocked to the ground. When I try to hand it to him, it slips out of my hand so I bend down to pick it up again.

"I'm so sorry I'm such a clumsy idiot, " I apologize and hand it to him.

"Tell me something I don't already know,"  He mumbles and then walks off. I scoff, watching him as he strides away without one glance back. I don't want to stand alone anymore, so I decide to go into the store that Raine had went in and find her looking at a pair of pointe shoes.

"People here are so rude," I whisper into her ear. She laughs and picks up the pair of ballet shoes.

She checks out and then we walk back to the apartment.

When we get there, I go straight to the shower. I take my makeup off and hop in the scolding hot water. When I get out, as usual, my skin is a soft pink color from the hot water. I'm not one to take cold or warm showers. I have to have the water as hot as it can get.

I put on my nike shorts and a big t-shirt and walk into the apartment living room.

Raine is sitting on the sofa watching Glee.

" Oh. My. Goodness," I screech with excitement. "I love this show!" She smiles at me and pats to the spot next to her on the couch, motioning for me to sit next to her. We sit there and watch three more episodes laughing at the humorous parts, crying at the emotional parts, and singing along to almost every song that they sing.

It was at this moment that I don't feel as scared of the big apple as I was before. I know that New York can't be as bad as I had thought, as long as I have friends.

"Oh Skyler I forgot to mention that my cousin is coming to stay here in two weeks. I hope that's okay. His apartment is getting renovated and he doesn't have any place to stay."

"Oh that's fine. How long will he stay?" I ask her curiously.

"Unfortunately three weeks. There was a fire in his building and the apartment was badly damaged," She says.

"Oh no!" I say. "Yeah it is totally fine. He can stay as long as he needs," I say wondering what her cousin is like. I am sure that if he is related to Raine then he has to be a good person.