Chapter one

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This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated,all characters,names,places, businesses,food and events in this book–even those based on real places,events and people are either a product of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Therefore,any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations,events or locales is entirely coincidental.

{Notice!!! I may have changed some identifying characteristics and details such as physical properties,food,occupations and places of residence.}

                           Emily's POV

"We're here!" Kyle announces and I unplug my earphone. My eyes move to the windscreen and I take in my environment. 

We're parked in front of a building polished with red bricks and old cream colored walls which are adorned with polished glass and rails framing the bay windows.

High brick walls with cream colored patches and limestone rocks flanked the porch with a low sloping roof shielding the entrance.

A few leaves littered by the side of the building,along the entrance, surrounded by an over-packed dumpster by its side with an awfully untidied overgrown lawn and a garage which has tattered roof and peeling walls. 

The building seems a bit nice,only that this one has the most awfully looking environment unlike the rest of the buildings we had driven past on our way from the airport.

"You've got to be kidding me" I say, gasping in disbelief as I stare back and forth between my brother and our supposed apartment.

"Believe it or not sis,this is where you'll be spending the next four years of college, trapped with me" Kyle winks and pulls the key out of the ignition and then opens his side of the car to climb out as he makes his way towards the trunk of his car.

I open the passengers door and climb out, slamming the door shut behind. I follow him to the trunk with my backpack hanging loosely on my right arm.

"This is… awful" I say at the same time Kyle says "Beautiful" I cringe in disgust and stare around me, making a mental note to clean the place up once I'm fully settled down.

I've never been to a place like this. For my first time in New York I had expected to see something mind-blowing but here I am,in front of the most awful building I have ever seen.

"Couldn't you have gotten a better place?" I ask, wrinkling my nose in disgust.

He lets out a laugh as he begins to pull my luggages out of the trunk of his car, "There's really nothing you can do about it Em,no one really cares about these kind of things here…. welcome to New York where the students only care about parties and séx. Most students here don't really spend the nights in their apartments cause they are either drunk and wasted somewhere partying or working their butt off on low paying part time jobs''Kyle says and I roll my eyes as I watch him pull the forth box out of the trunk before slamming it shut and locking the vehicle.

"Why are these so heavy,what did you pack in here?" He asks as he takes two of my boxes in his hands.

"Let me help with that," I say, bending over. I stretch my hand forward, about to take one of the boxes from him but he stops me before I can.

"No Emily, I don't want you doing this" He doesn't wait for my response as he starts to walk towards the building. I sigh and follow him, trailing closely behind him as he makes his way towards the building.

"You know… you can be sweet at times" I tease him.

"Please I'm anything but sweet" He groans as we arrive at the porch, climbing on a set of sagging wooden steps which leads to the door.

"That's why I said 'at times" I let out a laugh to which he shot me a playful glare. As soon as we arrive at the doorway,he pulls out a bunch of keys from his pocket and inserts one into the keyhole.

Twisting the doorknob,he pushes the door to reveal the inner part of the house and walks in with me trailing behind.

My eyes wander through the place and the first thing I notice is how small the living room is.

Of course,what was I expecting? Some fancy apartment with space big enough for a crowd?

The room is two times smaller than my bedroom back home in LA but it's spacious enough with an improvised and untidy kitchen area by the corner of the room and a large light bulb hanging lowly on the popped ceiling.

Pure white walls dotted with artificial designs circulate the living area along with a set of gray colored couches furnished with colorful throws by the center of the living room and a pair of sandy boots lying by the corner of one of the couches.

The furniture is painted in mostly white and coffee brown colors with beautiful cream colored drapes framing the windows, allowing daylight beams to flood the room. 

A large flat screen TV hangs by the wall facing the couches with a desk sitting at the far end of the living room with drawers underneath it, housing a set of books and other stuff.

I cringe in disgust at the upper layer of the walls which has a few cobwebs covering the sides of the air-conditioning facing each other on opposite angles of the living room.

A few wrappers of cookies along with an empty box of pizza and cans on doctor pepper littered the polished wood floors covering the entire room.

"Do you ever clean this place?" I furrow my eyebrows as I stare around me and then at my brother who is busy making his way towards the staircase by the corner of the room.

"Trust me,we don't" He says between laughs as he makes his way up the stairs.

"You mean you've been living here all this time in this mess?" I splutter in disbelief.

How pathetic is that?

"Nah, Anna comes over during the weekends to help me clean them" He yells as he disappears into the hallway and then reappears a few seconds later.

"Who's Anna?" I ask while busy fiddling with the bunch of keys on a desk by the corner of the living room.

"My girlfriend. You'll meet her soon don't worry" He tells me as he climbs down the stairs, walking towards me.

"I'll be right back with the rest of your things,you can go to your room for the meantime" He informs me as he makes his way towards the doorway and I'm about asking which room is mine when he answers my thoughts by saying "It's the second door upstairs by the left" and then he walks straight out of the house, slamming the door behind.