It'd been a while; in fact some would say it had been too long. I looked around the 4'4 empty, pink and white colour schemed room that I'd known as my bedroom for the past four years. Everything that'd ever mattered happened in this room, memories with best friends, boyfriends, family…everything. I never thought she'd actually miss living with my grandparents, after all at the age of sixteen I did jump on a plane without warning to live with Mitch, my older brother in California for two years but now I'm back in England and was ready to move out and gain my own independence in London, "Katie...C'mon, we're ready to go" I heard my grandma shout up the stairs,
"Coming…" I yelled back picking up the last box of random junk that needed to be packed into the car.

"Who would've that you'd move out before Tayla…" my nan exclaimed, still sounding surprised even though she knew I was planning to come back from California and move straight out as soon as I touched down in London.
"Well, I am a year older" I shrugged looking out the window at streets, cars and houses that were zooming past. It was the weirdest feeling in the world, I almost felt unknown…None of my friends from high school even knew I was back in the country, let alone getting a house of my own. I didn't know how to tell them. Just like I didn't know how to tell them that I was going to back to America for two years…So I didn't, I just left.
_

I smiled as I fit the shiny, golden key into the lock of my new apartment, 145 Portobello Road, to be precise. I looked over my shoulder to see my grandparents silver people carrier pulling away and disappearing down the road and surprisingly, I didn't feel sad anymore…in fact I felt happy, almost refreshed that the only person I had to depend on from now onwards was me.

The smell of wet paint hit the air as I stepped into the open plan apartment, the fact that my granddad had made sure the interior had been decorated and designed before I arrived back home had made my life a whole lot easier, the front room looked very fashionable with the black, white silver and gold design which continued down the hall until I reached my new kitchen which was mainly oak and marble, then there was the bathroom which was a light blue and slightly silver…the only thing I had to worry about was the bedroom since I hadn't decided on that yet.

ZZZ…ZZZ…ZZZ…
I glanced over at my blackberry and saw the little red light flashing…it was a text…
'Katie Bernal – Back in London'
Oh hi there old friend… I rolled my eyes and pushed my phone back across the surfaced kitchen unit, for ages there'd been a certain "online source" that had been watching every movement of the people in my so called friendship group, first off it was creepy but to be honest, now days it's just the average occurrence since it'd been happening since we were about fourteen.

What to do, what to do? I wondered my new apartment aimlessly wondering what to do with myself now I was back in the city…I could go up to Notting Gate Sixth Form and let them know that I'd be starting school Monday…but then I would've thought someone would've already done that for me…then it hit me, I picked up my phone again and began writing a broadcast on BBM as I walked towards the front door.

"Guess who? (:
haha, I'm back and you're all invited to my 'house' warming party,
145 Ferrell Street
Portobello Road
Kensington
9pm - See you there ;) x"

Why didn't I think of that sooner? A house warming party was the perfect opportunity to see what's happening now days…I made my way down the long market of shops until I reached one called 'Varsity Tastes' .

"I'll have a case of those…two cases of those…and another one of them" I said pointing to various bottles of drink on the shelves behind the man at the counter, as he collected them up and put them in the right cases I rummaged down my bags for my purse,
"that's two-fifty" he said placing them on the counter for me to pick up as I handed him the money and lugged the four cases of alcohol back down the road to my apartment. For some reason being back in London wasn't weird at all, in fact it felt right.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Ms Katie Bernal herself" I heard a familiar voice follow from behind me, I looked over my shoulder slightly as the person the voice belonged to walked besides me,
"Zayn" I smiled, I wasn't going to lie, this is the first time I'd felt nervous all day, "so you've come back after disappearing off the face of the Earth?" he shrugged taking two of the cases off of me as I smiled and thanked him,
"Something like that" I laughed answering his original question. Zayn had been my 'friend' for a long time, we had one of those things that were never fully on but yet they were never off and it was clear I'd always had feelings from him from the moment we got close…so after not seeing him for two years it was pretty weird knowing those feelings still existed.

We reached the gate outside my apartment, "did you get my broadcast?" I asked placing the cases carefully down onto the pavement to give me hands of break, he did the same, "yeah I did…house warming party…you've finally decided to get a place of your own…" he nodded, gesturing towards my apartment door, I nodded and picked up the cases again,
"so what are you even doing in Portobello Road? I thought you lived further up near Chelsea?" I asked him making my way down the front path trying to keep calm as I heard his footsteps following,
"yeah I do…I was just down here visiting Louis" he replied.

Louis. Another name I hadn't heard in a while.
"Oh yeah? So he lives around here too?"
"Yeah, literally at the other end of the street" Zayn laughed as I pushed open the door with my foot and lead the way to the kitchen where we put the cases of drink onto the table. There was an awkward silence as I watched him observe the kitchen, I know I've said this a million times but it was so, so weird being in his presence again,
"nice place" he finally said.
"Thankyou, can I get you anything?"
He's dark eyes looked over at the cases we'd just put on the table, "a glass of wine wouldn't go a miss" he smirked.

I crossed my left leg over my right as we sat on my long black corner sofa that still had that new furniture smell, "so are all the usual's still in touch with each other?" I asked out of curiosity, I was dying to know who was where,
"depends on who you class as the usual's" he replied, sipping his wine from the glass,
"Bex and Helen?" I immediately questioned as those words left his lips, you couldn't really blame me since they were my best friends,
"Yeah…They're still around, everyone that was here when you left are still here now" he explained, again observing the living room and not seeming to want to make any eye contact.

I nodded, for some reason I was relieved to hear that, I didn't like the thought of coming back to find a load of people had just disappeared – kind of like I had, but that was besides the point.
"That's good then" I smiled taking his empty glass and standing, "another one?"
"No…I better go, I've got bits to do before tonight" he explained standing up and heading to the living room door, "it's good to have you back though" he added with a smile, I nodded as I followed him to the door to see him out.

"I'll see you at nine then?" I half questioned and half confirmed, he nodded and continued to walk down the path before quickly looking over his shoulder at me,
"a word of warning…just because the same people are still around, don't expect the same situations that were here when you left. A lot's changed" we warned before smiling and continuing to walk down the street until he was out of sight from my front door, I frowned and shut it. What was that suppose to mean? Did it mean anything at all?

All I knew is it was good to be back.