Lost confidence

I see two large black doors of the front entrance begin to open, before I even reach the stairs I see my crazy best friend running to me full force, jumping on me and nearly taking me to the ground.

“Finally! I’ve been waiting just watching the clock, come on let’s go in!” she says and grabs my hand tugging me through the door.

“Okay love, come here, let’s go into the kitchen, I want you to meet some people,” she says as we make our way down a long hallway.

There are dimmed lights in black lantern-like fixtures hanging on the walls and it’s actually really beautiful against the cream colored paint. There are several closed doors on each side of the hallway until we reach the kitchen.

When we step into the kitchen I’m blown away, it’s spectacular. It’s always my favorite place in a house. All of the appliances are stainless steel and high-tech. The countertops are white marble maybe? With a matching large island in the middle of the room with black barstools wrapping around it. The contrast is really eye-catching in a good way. The cupboards are also off-white with gold handles. The backsplash is a gold honeycomb-style design. Everything in here looks so expensive I don’t even want to touch it for fear of breaking or ruining something. Gathered around the island, are four girls, all immaculately beautiful. I start to feel ridiculously self-conscious and wish I would’ve put more effort into my appearance today.

Steph speaks first “Everyone, I want you to meet my BFF Millie. She’s staying with us for a little while.” We greet each other by waving and smiling.

This is one of those times I envy Steph. She’s so outgoing and just fits in wherever she goes, she doesn’t overthink everything in social situations. I, on the other hand, have become so socially awkward and just hide in my shell until I get to know someone enough to feel comfortable being myself.

One girl speaks up and asks to whoever is listening “Is she going to be working here too?” She looks me up and down in disgust “Because if she is, she’s not staying in my room” I can tell she’s a bitch.

“No Penelope, she’s not working here chill out, she’s just waiting to get into her new apartment. She’ll be staying in my room with Mia and I,” Steph explains.

I greatly dislike Penelope already, she’s currently crossing her arms and rolling her eyes like she’s about to throw a tantrum. She’s got mean girl written all over her face. You can just tell by her stance she’s overly confident but I suppose if I looked like her I’d be that way too. She’s as fit as can be but clearly had some work done. There’s no way her boobs popping out of her cropped white tank top are real. She’s got the reddest hair I’ve ever seen, clearly not natural in any way but it suits her so well against her tanned skin. Her lips are damn near perfect, probably injections. To be honest, all of the girls sitting around the island look this way but Penelope definitely catches the eye more than the others. The other girls have more natural features compared to Penelope but are far from actually natural. These girls look like Hugh Hefner’s Playboy bunnies. There’s not a hair out of place with any of them, full face makeup, and the most revealing clothing which isn’t leaving much to the imagination.

Steph asks “Do you want a tour of the house right now or do you want to settle in first?”

I reply “I think I just want to settle in for now. Can you show me around later or tomorrow?”

I think the kitchen tour was enough for the day, all this is just a bit much for me right now.

“C’mon Mills let’s go upstairs and we’ll hang in my room for a bit,” Steph says while guiding me out of the kitchen.

I hear Penelope laughing behind me in a teasing way but I don’t pay her any mind.

She begins to explain “There’s an elevator on each end of the house, the east and west. I like the west one because it’s closer to my room. We’re in room 203 by the way, before I forget here’s your key card.” Steph hands me a credit card-like key. We reach the west elevator and she presses the arrow facing up. The elevator doors open and we step in. Steph presses the button that reads two and the doors close.

As soon as the doors close I immediately let out a deep breath. “Oh man Steph, how am I going to survive the next 37 days here? I don’t fit in here at all. I’ve only met a few people and they already seem to hate me” I say leaning against the elevator wall. “They’re probably sitting there right now laughing at me.”

“Oh Mills don’t pay them any mind, besides, you really won’t see any of them unless you’re in the common areas. Those girls have their rooms on the east side of this floor. The people that are actually employed here are on the west side of the floor. We have the bigger and nicer rooms. Penelope just got a room to herself last week because her roomie left, go figure, and she’s been loving the extra space which is why she was being so bitchy towards you. She was just thinking you’d be taking that extra room. Don’t pay her any mind, she’s on her high horse right now thinking she’s entitled to have any say in this house. Let me tell you, she’s very far from that.” Steph says.

The doors open revealing a very similar hallway to the one downstairs and we make the short walk to room 203.