"Those" people

Chapter 1: The beginning

All was well for those few years.

We actually stuck to the seemingly ridiculous plan we made back in high school. Back then, we only spoke on social media. separated by distance and different schools. We spoke constantly those first two years of high school, and one of our most memorable conversations being contemplating about a dream future that included us all. We laughed and relished in a future we thought was unattainable. Our little group was strange. We were all different on a physical and sometimes intellectual level, and yet were so similar.

Arina was our sort of mother, being the nicest. You could always spot her in a crowd wearing pink, slightly retro clothing and with beautiful makeup applied after years of practise. She just radiated happiness and sun and summer.

Delilah on the other hand was rather the opposite. She had a record of getting in trouble with the police, usually on counts of breaking and entering or sometimes for illegal substances. She was always dressed head to toe in black, sporting a band tee and dyed hair.

Toby was the only one slightly unhappy about the apartment situation as his dream was to adventure all the time. Even though we lived in the city, Toby still dressed like he hiked from small town to the next. His hair was unkept and scruffy, he wore a scuffed pair of combat boots and a slightly messy overcoat.

Eve was the closest one to Arina physically. She often wore pink too, especially any cute march she could get her hands on. She loved games and constantly had her hand console with her to whip out when the conversation got boring.

Then there was me. The key way to recognise me was the tweed bottoms I wore religiously, usually alongside a turtleneck and my long black coat. As Eve had her console, I had my books. I read books whenever I could, and always had one in my hand, wherever we went.

This did not stop us from being the closest we could be. We had met thanks to common interests online, and had met a few times in real life, but not nearly as much as we would have wanted. We always talked about the most random things, and the most important things. We had a lot of long running jokes that made it easy to start up a conversation after a long period of not talking. Things were never awkward. 

The last two years of school dragged us on different paths. Exams and relationships and social media cleanses quieted our once loud groupchat.
But, the last few months of senior year, we all logged in again. We were all troubled by our uncertain future. We all were online at the same time, on 1 AM, as per our usual. For once Eve was awake that late too.

'I have to apply to universities this month but I have no idea where to go.' Toby whined.

'I've applied to a few, and I think I'm going to get accepted thankfully.' Eve stated.

'Yeah me too.' I typed.

'Oh my god guys guys guys guys!' Delilah's message radiated excitement. 'We should put our old plan into action and live with each other!'

Arina's avatar appeared just as Delilah's message sent. 'Hi guys! And oh my god yes I agree we have to do that!'

'Actually my dad has some connections in London that could help us find a good affordable place! So it's very much possible...' I noted

'Ok but we said NEW YORK' Delilah reminded us 'and we all know thats mine and Arina's dream!'

Arina agreed.

'I know I know' I explained 'but I got accepted into Imperial College London! I can't just turn them down can I...'

'Woah Amy I applied there too! And I got in!' Eve was ecstatic.

Suddenly things started to fall into place and we sketched up our plan. Arina and Delilah had made their perfect portfolio in advance and sent it to the Royal College of Arts, and it was no wonder when they were accepted. Eve had already applied and gotten into Imperial like me, perhaps remembering our childish deal. Toby had been paranoid and applied into half the universities in London, and thankfully got into Imperial alongside us.

Next was finding an apartment. We needed somewhere big enough for us all, but not insanely expensive. With the help of friends of friends of friends, we found a beautiful three room apartment. It was above our price range but we didn't care, taking out loans and begging family members. Toby was the only one who got his own room, being the only boy. Delilah and Eve decided to share a room, being the early sleepers, so Arina and I bunked together. Now, our apartment was strangely perfect. As you can most likely tell, we had different passions. This made our apartment... entertaining.

Delilah's side of the room was intricately decorated to a strange perfection. The walls were covered in band posters, carefully positioned. The only empty places on her wall were spray painted with profanity. A few bottles of alcohol perched on her bedside table from late wild nights. She also had her electric guitar usually tossed onto her bed after late night playing sessions. Eve's side was mostly her gaming setup, with some games strewn across the floor. She often lay on the floor amongst them to play whenever she got a chance, so she very often fell asleep right there. She fell asleep much earlier than all of us, which we found rather amusing. Her side of the room wasn't always organised, but it always felt beautiful, thanks to the colour scheme and different screens she used for her games.

Arina's half of our room was a beautiful pastel colour, and her bed was her pride. It was the biggest piece of furniture in the room, and had an array of stuffed animals carefully displayed every morning. She had her ukulele carefully leaning on her drawing desk, where she spent most of her time. She has created her room to be perfect and thanks to her passion for interior design she had succeeded. My half was quite different. My bed was a single bed, with black sheets, never any other colour. I had an antique desk on which were old candles resting on letters, notes and old stories I carefully hand wrote. Because of the small room, all the free places on my side were covered with books, so much that you couldn't see the floor. My bed was right under the only ceiling window, because I loved the rain and watching it calmed me.

Toby was given the smallest room, since he didn't have to share. His room was the messiest yet the coziest, thanks to the layers of blankets he had thrown on his bed and the brown colour of the rooms. Old maps were hung on walls and thrown on the floor. He spent his sleepless nights planning trips and organising his maps.

Our strange array of rooms collided into one big mess in our living room, marble statues of greek philosophers, pastel coloured objects found at charity shops, dozens of band pins, pink headphones and camping items all clumped together on the shelves.

Another thing to note was our array of pets. We were very good to them and cared for them a great deal. We had three dogs and two cats. A bernese mountain dog to accompany Toby on his hiking, a fluffy slobbering golden retriever that cuddles up with Arina and finally a sleek gray whippet that lay at my side when I read and came with me to the library. We also had two cats, a british shorthair who slept on Delilah's bed and a bengal that loved to rest on Eve's warm gaming setup. The dogs were all rescues, saved from being put down. We had no choice but to adopt them when we found out.

That was the setting of how things were before everything happened.