CHAPTER ONE
Nine years Ago
“Harley!” the voice echoed down through the entire classroom, the red headed girl looked up from the journal she was scribbling in, tongue licking her dry lips. She watched as new pair of eyes from the front dart to look at her, seated alone in the back like she always does.
“HARLEY MARIA ANDERSON, THE PRICIPAL OFFICE NOW!!” rising to her feet abruptly, knocking her journal to the floor. She picks up her book fixing the peeking tinted pages which had been detached back inside the confines of the book. Satisfied, she keeps her hair down, heading towards Mrs. Coleman her English teacher, who was waiting at the door.
Many thoughts ran through Harley’s mind as she wonders what she must’ve have done this time, staring at her dirty chuck Taylors she blindly follows through until they reach the large oak doors.
Knocking on the door, a come in passing as a grunt sounds from inside the office. Pushing open the door, Harley’s eyes meet the woman seated inside, typing profusely on her keyboard, pausing half way her eyes lands on Harley’s own, a weak smile forming on her lips before facing the computer again.
Harley is certain that she didn’t do anything wrong but something wrong must’ve happened when she spots her next door neighbor, Mrs. Lane seating opposite her principal.
“Harley…” Mrs. lane trailed off, her groggy voice making her heart beat in her chest.
The next few words said to Harley puts her in a daze, her eleven-year-old self-trying to comprehend what was truly going on. Getting home in the back of Mrs. Lane Volvo, she watched as the apartment she used to love turned sour, the trees by the side, wilting as the winter wind comes by blowing her hair into her face and taking her back to where she was.
End of flashback
“Miss. Anderson, MISS. ANDERSON!” Harley felt the nudge on her side, blinking rapidly, a small blush creeping up her neck as she watched the whole class staring at her.
“Miss Anderson, I know I said we’re supposed to be day dreamers, but not especially when a class is ongoing.” Mr. Sal said, earning a few snickers from the class. Harley couldn’t do anything but nod, her hair falling in her face trying not to die from humiliation.
“Now back to the board, come on.” The professor directed, drawing the rest of the class attention to the front.
“must’ve been something good.” A voice beside her whispers.
If her eyes weren’t wide before they were now, she had always sat alone at the back of the class, never having trouble seeing the board or her lecturer. It was better for her. Safer actually. And now, she had company, a boy something she didn’t want.
“oh its fine if you don’t want to talk, you can just nod instead.” he said again. She ignored him, moving a seat away to distance herself from the new being.
“ouch.” His voice sounded hurt.
“that would be all for today class, by next week, your project is meant to commence so get ready, good luck and have a great day.” She stood up from her seat as fast as she could, avoiding the gaze of the stranger beside her. Bursting into the semi empty hallway, it was only a matter of time before she the rest of her course mates would leave the lecture hall, and she wanted to hide and quickly. Three, two, one. The door bursts open and the sea of college students bursts out from every side, loud chattering, happy young adults floods everywhere.
“red!” the familiar voice that had spoken to her earlier called out. She quickens her pace, not sure if he was talking to her but she needed to leave and fast.
“RED, WAIT UP!!” He yelled again, this time louder than before, Harley didn’t bother to look up or back.
Finally reaching the outside, she dashed towards the road, flagging a cab, she gets in and lets out a breath she had been holding.
“Hectic day?” the young man driving asked. She leans her head backwards and nods.
Walking up the stairs, due to the broken elevator, she huffed out frustrated on getting to her room. The almost empty space welcoming her, she had tried her best to fill out the space but being the type to always place things in order, there was nothing more to do than accept it.
Plopping down on her bed, her auburn hair sprawled out behind her, she watched the ceiling, the white light hanging from it flashing into her eyes. Not bothered a bit, she closed her eyes, falling back into the trance she was in twenty minutes ago.
“what do you mean?” she asked her voice shakily. “does that mean dad would come back too since mum’s sick?”
“Harley…” her aunt tried to explain. Fell at words on what to tell the young girl as she watched her mother under the tubes.
“your dad isn’t going to come back. But it doesn’t matter since you have me and uncle Jared, and then Glen, Rose, and Mark. We’ll be with you.” Her aunt said.
Harley just stared, watching her mother, eyes closed, breathing almost unnoticeable but it was there. She watched as the only woman who loved her lay on the bed, at the mercy of tubes and machines.
The vibration of her phone brings her back to the present, snaking her arm around to find it. She turns groans when she doesn’t find it until she gets on her feet. She swipes on the screen.
“hey, aunt.” Her monotonic voice answered.
“hey, Harley. How are you doing?” the chirpy voice from the other side answered. “I hope you’re settling down nicely.”
“I’m good. My class has been going great. My rooms are great, I don’t see why I should get a roommate though.” She said walking towards the window.
“Harley, it would be nice to have someone to keep you company.” Her aunt tried to explain.
“I have books to keep me company. I’ll be fine on my own.” She responded.
“Harley, remember you really can’t afford that room by yourself. Even if you do now sooner or later you might need someone who you can split the bills with.”
“I’ll think of something before then, don’t worry.”
“think about it. Take good care of yourself, I love you.”
“love you too.” She murmured ending the call.
Sooner or later she would have to agree that her aunty was right and starts searching for a roommate.
Chapter TwoThe next morning, Harley woke up to her blaring alarm which made her wince as the sound reached her ears. She blindly looked for the clock on the bedside table and punch it off when her hands touched the plastic material.She groaned as she rolled out of bed, she threw her blanket to the side exposing her legs to the fresh cold air coming from her window which was slightly ajar. She must have forgotten to close it after finishing up her homework which also explained why her room was somewhat cold.Her sock cladded feet moved towards the window to shut it when she saw the apartment caretaker talking to some random guy."Must be someone looking for an apartment." she thought.Speaking about roommates, she was supposed to meet with hers by 3 p.m today at the Black Winx cafe before they head back to the apartment together.Apparently, she had put it on the rent-an-appart app and a couple of minut
Roommates 3 She was two hour into reading the art of story telling when the scraping of chair from close by gained her attention. It was annoying that anyone would do something this aggravating in the library. She tried to ignore it and focused on the writing on the book but then something else got her attention. From her peripheral vision, she could see someone seating opposite her clumsily putting out text book in front of them making a clattering noise. She choose to ignore this also trying to believe that this was the persons first time in a public space and that the person was just nervous. By the time she heard the numerous dinging of the notification bell from her neighbours phone she had had enough. Slamming her book shut, she glanced up at the stranger. A sweet bitter smile on her face. "Don't you think you should put that out." she said through her tight teeth. The boy in front of her looked up from his phone, his face
Chapter 4"Are you stalking me or something?" she asked irritation filled her voice."Surprisingly no, this is just fate bringing us together." he replied charmingly."I won't be surprise if you were a stalker though." she muttered under her breath."So why are you here?" he asked her like they were friends."I should be asking you that." she retorted folding her hands over her chest."Well, I'm here to see some guy name Henderson." he shrugged his eyes scanning the cafe. "He told me he was here and for some reason he said he was seating just right where you are." he said turning back to face her.Harley frowned, she had not seen any guy come seat inside here except the bald dude who kept typing on his computer on one of the center tables in the cafe. She on the other hand decided to send Grey another text to see if she was still outside the cafe. The notification bell of the guy opposite her rang out."Weird?" he frowned
The rest of the week had gone by smoothly without her setting eyes on Grey even in class. She had bumped into Brad once or twice when she was coming back into the library. He was in a hurry and always waved her bye as he rushed to wherever he was going.Now Harley was still without a roommate and no one had taken up her offer. Grey on the other hand had not texted her concerning the apartment and she was glad for it.She spent most of her day time studying and staying healthy and at night she was completing home work or watching video seminars on writing.She was finishing up her home work that night when she heard the tumbling in the hallway. It was eleven p.m and she wondered who it might be, scared out of her mind she sat still until she heard the banging on the door opposite to hers. She jumped in her seat trying to push the fear bubbling within her.Before she could calm herself down, her feet were already taking her towards
Grey paced around her room waiting for her to step in. He was beyond pissed with her arrangements and had to confront her about it. "You know...." her voice died down when she saw Grey in her room and her face became straight. "Grey, you should stop coming to my apartment unannounced. I get that we're close but coming to my place without any form of invitation is you trespassing." Skylar said. "What did you tell her?" he asked glaring at her. Skylar walked past him, placing her bag and scarf on her desk. "The truth." She answered taking off her shoes, followed by her jewelry. "You told her that I was out fighting." He said. Skylar turned to him, her full brow raised. "Were you not?" she asked before sighing. "You came to my apartment last week beaten and bruised, was I supposed to lie to her?" "I didn't start anything up," he muttered. "Those guys asked for it." he seemed through his teeth. "W
Roommates 7 Harley stared at him as he cleared up his relationship with the girl living opposite her. She's his older sister. "Oh." she muttered. "See, it was an absurd thing to say, Skylar being my girl friend..." he shuddered. "So you mistook my room for your sister's and you're here now." she stated out and nodded walking towards the door. "Since you're not unconscious, I think you should head to skylar room instead." she said unhooking the locks. Grey watched her motioning him to leave her room, not in the bit disturbed that he was injured. "You really are kicking me out, even in this state, wow. Hospitality: zero, Red: one." he said dryly. "I don't have to host a stranger I'm not comfortable with." she argued. "Oh come on. I'm the least harmful person you can ever know." he defended. "Yet the most annoying." she added. Grey seemed tired from all the bickering, he opened his mouth to sa
"Turn that thing off." Grey groaned turning to his side at the unpleasant sound of the alarm clock. His eyes peered open as the annoying sound only continued, groaning her rose up from the floor when he laid. Stretching out his stiff bones, his sleepy eyes moved towards the window glaring outside which was always still dark. Shit, he must've slept off. His eyes darted to the phone making the noise, sighing when he spotted Harley's phone he turned off the alarm. It was just four a.m, he wondered why she would want to wake up this early. Grey studied her sleeping form, lying on her stomach, Harley's red hair which was packed in a bun had several strands pulled out from the black scrunchie holding them together. Her shirt had ridden up a bit revealing her waist and a bit of her back. He couldn't help himself but stare at her exposed tanned skin, even though he wanted to look away he couldn't. His eyes eventually drifted downwards to her cotton shorts which hugged her peach butt.
CHAPTER 9 “So there is a party coming up this weekend, are you coming?” May asked Hayley as she placed her order on the table. “No.” Harley answered before muttering a thank you. “Oh come on, why not!” May said excitedly occupying the space opposite Harley. “Because I don’t want to go. Attending parties are not all there is to life.” She answered strictly while May stared at her with amusement. “What are you, the boring nerd from high school?” May joked and Harley didn’t laugh. “Sorry.” She cleared her throat. “Come on, it would be the best thing you’ll ever attend all through fresher year.” May pleaded. “No May, I’ll rather stay in my room reading or watching harry potter than drinking and dancing with random horny teenagers who will regret it the next morning when they realize how sick they are to do anything.” Harley pointed out in one go. May’s eyes were wide at her words and she let out a sigh. “Spok