My So-Called Life

On the way to my apartment we stopped at Golden Pizzeria for a whole pie. They made the best pizza in Manhattan! It was family owned on a street called Waverly Place, and the daughter was a total sweetheart, too nice if you asked me. Carmen and I walked into the brick stone building, yammering about Allie Carters newest toy. We waved at the host, who just smiled and nodded at us as we made our way to stand in the fast lane. Anyway, Allie had just turned sixteen and her parents brought her a black 2010 Infiniti Essence. One crazy-ass sports car, if you ask me. Of course, we were invited to her party, which was being held in one of their mansions up-state New York. I seriously didn't get why she was having her party after her birthday. But knowing Allie's parents, they needed more time to make it some big, ginormous blow out.

"Please, the chick's family is beyond rich! I don't get why she's not in private school or private tutored or something." I rolled my eyes toward Carmen in exasperation.

"Malia, I don't see why you're so upset, so she has money," She threw her hands in the air like the point she was making was average for anyone. "Newsflash girlie, we all do!" My eye twitched and I decided not to voice my opinion on the case of hurt feelings.

Yeah, most of us that went to MI-HS were rich but not everybody. Public school or not, tuition was seventy-five thousand dollars a year. Some of the employees children would go there for free if they were really smart or a scholarship kid. They didn't need to pay because it came with the package. Fact was, Manhattan International was an amazing school that offered many different opportunities for you. This was why I didn't want to argue back with Carmen. The Richie's weren't as smart as the Scholars and Carmen and I were no exceptions. We both had mediocre grades, high C's ranging to B+'s. Quite a difference compared to the above average that the Scholars received.

I scanned the large three story brick building with admiration all over my face. It really was amazing how the Gold's built this place from scratch and turned it into such a masterpiece. The walls were a vibrant shade of ruby red, contrasting nicely with the gold colored bar stools, that sat in front of a giant marble counter shaped in a rectangle, at the far side of the room. To the right of the hosts' station was the restaurant/diner part where there were circle topped tables that varied in size and seated from two to as many as ten. The designing of the building was immaculate and sufficient. The brick outlined fire place that was next to the kitchen was surrounded with employee of the month pictures. For people that wanted their food to go, there was a separate line, called the fast lane which you could locate at the left of the host's station; which was where Carmen and I were waiting. They even had a place for you to watch the pizza's being made, it was usually surrounded by kids and overly zealous teenagers. The wait staff were very nice here. The second floor of the building was a apartment that the Gold's rented out and I'm not too sure what was on the third floor.

My eyes landed on the back of a petite read head, who at the moment was arguing with a tall, skinny guy with tousled, sandy blond hair. As we got closer to the front of the line their words got clearer.

"Just tell me the truth, Riley!" The pretty girl exclaimed.

"That is the truth, what made you think you had the right to through my phone in the first damn place?!" He was just as frustrated.

"I thought I was doing you a favor! They called five times, I thought that maybe it was your parents and it might have been important!" Her cheeks were flushed a deep crimson from anger...or maybe embarrassment. "Oh, I'm sooo sorry for caring about you!" She sarcastically retorted. I snickered and looked away from Tiara's scene. It was about time that girl got some backbone. Her boyfriend, Riley walked all over her and I didn't think it was right in the least. But none-the-less, she was too sweet to speak up about it and at the end of the day it wasn't my business in the first place.

It was finally our turn. I stepped up and placed our order; a large pepperoni, bacon and sausage pizza with extra cheese, and a order of zeppo's, two dozen to be exact. Our usual order in other words. In case your wondering what zeppos are, they're kinda like dough-nuts but much better, after they're fried they're sweetened with powdered sugar. I paid and we slid over to the watcher's zone to wait for our order.

My mother was in California for a fashion shoot, she was suppose to be back in three days. Being her usual paranoid self she left me two emergency credit cards, the checkbook she got me and $800 in cash. We lived in a beautiful apartment behind central park. The twenty-second floor.

>>>>FF 10mins.>>>>

I walked into the building with Carmen on my heels. Ivan, the elevator attendant was old as the invention of lying. My mother would give him a nice tip after every ride up to our floor so I started to do the same. He was a generous old soul, giving my mother and me a special type of candy from his home country, France, whenever he had the chance. A double chocolate surprise that exploded in your mouth and made your taste buds dance to a joyful song. Once inside my apartment, Carmen walked to the kitchen and laid the pizza down on the counter while I relieved myself of my leather jacket by hanging it on a bar stool. I got two plates out the cabinet after washing my hands and we dug in. Pulling a piece of the pizza out, the cheese literally started to slide off the slice as I folded it in half, and I put my mouth under it just in time. Mmmm...

As I devoured my slice of pizza I watched as Carmen -for the millionth time- took in my apartment.

The walls painted ivory white, every room except the dining room had a 58' flat screen or larger. The living room was adorned with an all white furniture set. There were two ceiling to floor windows that showed a lovely view of the park, a enormous, white built-in fireplace, and two chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The white Italian furniture sat next the bookshelf and between the windows. Diagonal from the bookshelf was the white marble, spiral staircase.

The dining room was kind of built in a similar fashion, with a off-white carpet instead of hard wood. There was a glass table that could seat ten but was rarely ever in use. A chandelier hung from the ceiling and two plants rested against the far wall. The kitchen was accessed through two openings' either you walked around a hallway corner to get there once you enter the apartment, or through the dining room. Upscale kitchen set, I guess you could say that Martha Stewart would be very pleased.

The den was an area strictly used for social events that my mother had when she was in town. The expansive room was different from the others, painted a gold color, equipped with plush, snow white carpeting, two ever-comfortable chocolate brown sectionals, a glass coffee table, two walnut end tables, a matching loveseat, an olive green chaise lounge, LCD flat screen, antique floor lamps, two sets of bay windows, and a set of french doors that led to the stone balcony.

Around the corner from the den was a game room that had every board game, video game, and computer game you could ever wish for and down the hall was my mother's home office.

And that's only the first floor.

On the second, there were six more rooms, not including the wash room.

I owned a queen-size sleigh bed in my room that was three inches off the ground, a LCD flat screen, and my computer desk filled with my school supplies and on top of it lay my Dell notebook laptop. Built in closets that look like lockers but go back much deeper. Behind my closets, was a little opening with a window that had a windowsill so long, two people could comfortably sit and occupy it, feeling like you had power over the entire world. On the other side of my room, you could locate my vanity dresser (from there I had a system that I could digitally pick out my clothes) and private bathroom. The room across from mines was the home gym, next to that was the theater and go one more door and you'll find my mother's meditation zone, -basically her bedroom.

We had four bathrooms. One on the first floor, one on the second floor and of course on in our own rooms.

"Sooooo, what's going on with Milo and you?" Carmen said with her mouth full of the messy carb. I shook my head at her lack of manners, gave her a napkin and went into the refrigerator to grab a couple of vitamin waters. It really didn't surprise me that she remembered our earlier conversation. I sighed because sadly, there were no more vitamin waters left but mostly because of the fact that Carmen could never let anything go.

I grabbed two sparkling waters; tossing one to Carmen, I uncapped mine taking a long swig. I knew she was getting impatient again and I smirked in recognition. She glared in return.

"Nothing," Plain and simple.

"You expect me to believe that after; 'Oh my god! Oh my god! Milo knows I have a big, gigantic, crush on him!'" She batted her lashes and waved her hands in the air for dramatic affect. I cleared my throat.

"Are you done now, Jacqueline Martin?" My tone was clipped. She was doing more than teasing, she was pissing me off. Her Cheshire grin let me know that she knew what she was doing.

"Yeah, enough of the theatrics, for now." Her eyebrows rose far, waiting. "But tell me what you think of him."

"I think he's cute, is that enough?" My lips were pursed and my eyes narrowed.

"It's a start." I couldn't really read her expression. Her eyes were unfocused and her jaw looked set. Not a really joyous look if you asked me.

>>>>FF 1 hr. 48mins>>>>

I walked Carmen down to the lobby.

"Bye!" I yelled, waving my arms in the air like a maniac, even though I would be seeing her again tomorrow. Her response was the same.

I walked off the elevator and onto my floor. Ivan had gone home so I had to press the button myself. What a bummer. I had picked up the mail from the post box and wasn't really looking ahead of me when I slammed into someone. Automatically, my hands clutched the mail against my body and I tried to balance myself with my feet but pair of pale hands placed themselves on my hips and held me steady.

I looked up into a deep set eyes full of emotion. Color? You might ask. Bluish-green...