17 Chapter 17

The sun was shining directly on my face as I watched people jogging in the streets from the balcony. All of them had waved at me as they passed, most of them even stopping to say 'hi' and to ask me my name. I brought my hand up to shield my eyes from it when Clareta thrust a pair of gold rimmed sunglasses into my face. I immediately lean away and see that she's wearing one.

"Do you know they have tons of these in the master bedroom? And fur coats? There's a gym downstairs and a pool in the back... " Her mouth was going a mile a minute.

She suddenly stopped talking. "Sorry, I forgot you lived fancy."

"Huh?" I muttered absent-mindedly as I watched a woman performing yoga in a compound.

She took off the glasses and furrowed her brows at me, "Cheer Road... hot houses and even hotter girls."

What? I always thought our schoolmates called it that because most of the cheerleaders lived there.

I frowned as I turned away from the sun. "That sounds like a dumb motto."

"It was Jeff Garner's motto."

"Ew," I blurted out as I remembered our school's jock. "Emphasis on dumb."

She began to laugh just as a voice came from below.

"Good morning!"

Clareta quickly ducked inside as I turned around. There were six kids, four boys and two girls, on bicycles in front of the house. They looked like they were Alison's age.

"My mum said there's a kid here. Can she hang out with us?" one of the girls said.

"Jeez," I muttered as I turned around to look at Alison who was behind me. She was sitting on a bistro stool and tapping away on one of the tablets Laleh brought with breakfast this morning.

"I think they're talking about you," I said.

She doesn't answer.

"Alison."

She lazily drags her head up to look at me and blinks slowly before she resumes tapping on the tablet. "They're looking for a kid. There is no kid here."

"We're going to the game house. Laleh said she wanted to go," the girl says.

There's a game house?

Alison's head lolled back and she let out a groan before she got down from the stool. "Bye Enny."

"Have fun!" I called out and grinned when she threw me a look over her shoulder.

After a few minutes, she ran out the front door with Jack before she quickly ran back in, appearing with a bicycle this time. I watched them ride down the road till they rounded a corner and I couldn't see them anymore. I later retreated from the balcony after a couple of 'hi's' and what's your name.

Cassandra had gone to see the person that runs this place. Hae In was at the medical centre across the street with Laleh and Tatyana. Daniel and Zeke had been asleep since they got back from whatever they were doing at dawn. Ezra was in the living room when I last saw him and Faye hadn't stepped out of her room since yesterday.

I pause outside Faye's room to listen for movement. There was none. I was starting to get worried since I hadn't heard anything the last three times I did it.

"Faye?" I tentatively called out. "Are you okay in there? ...Faye?"

"What?!" she barked from inside and I jumped back from the door before placing a hand on my chest to calm my racing heart.

Well, she's alright.

"Breakfast is downstairs." I said as I walked away.

Tatyana was in the house when I got downstairs and Clareta was listening attentively to what she was telling her while Ezra was asleep on a couch.

"Enny, Tatyana wants to take us on a tour. Do you want to go?"

"Sure," I said since I didn't have anything else to do. "Is Ezra com- "

"Not interested," he muttered from the couch.

I shrugged as Clareta sneered at him before going to grab a sandal from the shoe rack. The sandal and the shoe rack were golden. They took the gold in Goldcrest and made it the theme of almost everything in the house.

Clareta was particularly excited about seeing the game house and the dining hall. According to the map, the estate also had a tennis court, a basketball court, a football field and two parks. We were going to the game house first.

We walked out into the sunny morning, the brilliant rays hitting my exposed skin. The sky was blue with just a few puffs of clouds making their unhurried way through it. The 'hi's' and introductions started the moment we stepped out of the compound. I was officially tired of meeting people and I was a hundred percent sure I wouldn't remember most of their names the next time I see them.

We rounded the corner Alison and the other kids took earlier and saw a delicate marble fountain in the middle of the road. The soft gurgling of the clear water melodic as it resonated in the surrounding silence.

"Tatyanaaaaaaaaaa," a guy called out as he came down the road on a skate board. He was one of the guys standing under the lamp post last night. He came to a stop beside us, flashing a smile. He had tousled dark brown hair and deep ocean blue eyes.

"Hey Wesley."

"Hi," he said he pulled Tatyana in for a hug before moving over to me.

I held out my hand for a shake but he clearly had other plans as his arms were outstretched to give me a hug.

"Oh," I muttered and I moved to hug him, to be polite, but he'd stretched his hand out for a shake already.

Jesus.

I stretched out a hand and he'd wanted to hug me again so I just grabbed one of his hands to give him a sort of handshake high-five.

Christ.

I tried not to grimace as he gave me a weird look while still smiling. He looked like he wanted to burst out laughing but he had the courtesy not to. Clareta didn't. She let out a snort as she stumbled away from me before she burst out laughing. I could feel the heat growing in my cheeks as he flushed marron, from his hairline to the collar of his shirt.

He cleared his throat as I let go of his hand and went back to his skateboard. "I'll uh... see you guys later." He got on his skateboard and soon enough disappeared around the corner.

"That was so awkward I wanted to die," Tatyana said with a hand covering her mouth. I could tell she was smiling from the twinkle in her eyes.

Tell me about it.