AN: Try not to get too excited kids, I'm not some miraculous writer who updates every twenty minutes, I've just had the past few days off work so I've had plenty of time to write. So anyways here's chapter two, I know the first couple chapters are kind of bland and unexciting… but it'll get better. So anyways, enjoy!
-iwabo
Chapter 2
Aubrey and Abby found themselves stumbling out of the Lincoln town car that was sent to pick them up at the airport as they arrived at the Palm Woods Hotel. They gazed towards the building that would be harboring them for as long as they could manage to not get kicked out.
"So this is home?" Abby asked not removing her eyes from the building.
"Mmhmm, guess so," Aubrey replied glancing at her. She turned towards the car they had arrived in, "we should probably get our…" she began when she noticed all of their bags was neatly stacked on a luggage rack, "…bags." She smiled at the driver who had taken the liberty of doing that dreadful task for them. Abby leaned in towards Aubrey with a confused expression.
"Were we really starring at the building for that long?" she whispered. The driver looked at her and smirked.
"No, I'm just that good at my job, have a good time in L.A. girls," he said as he waved goodbye and climbed back in the car. The girls nodded simultaneously and looked at the rack.
"Still doesn't look like fun to push," Abby noted.
Aubrey laughed and took the front end. "You push, I'll pull." Abby groaned and positioned herself behind the cart and began pushing. As they entered the lobby a rather stout man with dark short hair and obnoxious glasses shuffled towards them. Both taken aback by his assertive walk they stopped immediately.
"Can I help you?" he asked almost frantically.
Aubrey glanced to Abby who shrugged. "Umm, maybe, we're Aubrey Parker and Abigail Hudson, we're moving in today."
"Oh yes, you're two of the four! I'm Mr. Bitters, hotel manager, let me get your room keys, the other girls will be arriving with in the next hour or so, you'll all have to meet me in the Palm Woods School room to discuss hotel rules, etc. I'm thinking around…" he paused and glanced at his watch through his thick glasses, "4:30ish." Both girls were attempting to stifle their laughter long enough to get their keys and get upstairs while avoiding any trouble on their first day.
"Sounds totally cool man," Abby said in a somewhat masculine voice. That was more or less all it took for Aubrey to loose her composure and let out a slight laugh. Mr. Bitters looked up at the two girls skeptically. He leaned over his desk with his eyes narrowed.
"You girls should know I don't like shenanigans, they are one of my least favorite things. I won't hesitate you have you girls thrown out, so don't try anything," he said in an animated voice. Both the girls put on sarcastically serious expressions. Aubrey leaned over the counter almost meeting him halfway.
"We wouldn't dream of it," she smirked and grabbed their room keys from his hand.
"Thanks!" Abby said as they pushed their carts towards the elevator. Mr. Bitters didn't respond but held his glare towards the girls.
"I'm going to have to keep my eye on them, that's for sure," he said to himself aloud.
As the girls walked through the lobby to the elevator they glanced over at the pool area where several teenagers their own age sat around enjoying smoothies, tanning, and swimming. Aubrey stopped to enjoy the site for a moment. Abby raised an eyebrow and leaned in towards Aubrey's face.
"Well there is absolutely no shortage of hot guys here," she commented. Aubrey let out a sigh and smiled.
"You are correct about that my lovely little friend. Let's go check out our apartment," she suggested as she began pulling the cart again. They loaded it into the elevator and when up to the third floor. They found their room and opened the door. They walked into a spacious living area with a large kitchen and dining area and a plenty big enough living room. Everything was fully furnished with bright modern sofas and tables. "I dig." Aubrey said while nodding her head in approval.
"I agree whole-heartedly, this place is awesome," Abby added as she gazed around clearly impressed. "Let's check out the bedroom situation." She left the cart and went to the right between the kitchen and living room where there was a small hallway; to her right was a door where she found a generously sized bedroom with two single beds, a split closet and two dressers. Across the hallway was an equally generously sized bathroom. She peaked her head out of the bedroom to see Aubrey walking from the hallway on the opposite side of the apartment. Aubrey stuck her head in the bedroom and bathroom where Abby was and nodded in approval.
"So what do you say? Roomies?" Abby asked. Aubrey shook her head.
"I say we split up," she replied.
Abby looked at her anxiously, "Why would we want to split up? I mean we already know each other."
"Abs, it'll make the experience more organic for both of us, think about it, our room mates are coming in here not knowing either of us or each other, I just think we'll get more out of it if we put ourselves out there," she paused and wrapped her arm around Abby, "besides, you would get so pissed at me and my organization and constant need to have the room clean." Abby smiled and laughed knowing she was right.
"Okay then let's throw our stuff in here and maybe try to get a bit settled," Abby suggested. Aubrey nodded in agreement. Once they had unloaded the bags off the cart and put them in their respective rooms Aubrey decided to take the cart back downstairs. As she got to the main floor and exited the elevator she saw a girl in desperate need of the cart she currently possessed. The girl stood a good four inches taller than Aubrey and had long straight brunette hair. Aubrey pushed the cart up to her and smiled.
"You look like you need this a whole lot more than me," she said. The girl looked at Aubrey with relief and smiled.
"Thanks so much, do you know where I go to check in? I'm supposed to be moving in today and I can't seem to find one employee that works here," she asked. Aubrey nodded towards the front desk.
"Yeah, the nutty hotel manager should be around here somewhere," Aubrey paused and noticed the girl's guitar case. "Hey you wouldn't happen to be one of the four moving in today would you?"
The girl looked down at Aubrey, "yes actually, I'm Scarlet, well I go by Letty."
"Nice to meet you, I'm one of your new room mates, my names Aubrey," she held her hand out. Letty took it gratefully and sighed.
"Oh it's so awesome to meet one of you finally, I've been feeling somewhat apprehensive about this whole thing, but it's good to know at least one of you is nice," she replied. As Aubrey was about to respond Mr. Bitters came out from his office.
"Ah another new girl!" he said excitedly. Aubrey smiled and looked back to Letty.
"Meet you upstairs?" she said. Letty nodded and smiled anxiously as she glanced at Mr. Bitters. Aubrey waved and headed back to the elevator and up the stairs. Just as Mr. Bitters was about to relay the same message as before to Letty the final of four girls drug her luggage rack through the front doors of the lobby.
"Ahh perfect timing, you must be contestant number four!" he said excitedly. Bailey looked up attempting to nod her long wavy brunette hair from her face.
"Huh?" she asked with a confused expression.
"You're moving in today?" he replied bluntly.
"Oh yeah, Bailey Rose," she said. He glanced at the computer then back up to Letty.
"So that must make you Scarlet Danwick?" he asked. Letty nodded and smiled at Bailey.
"Well meet your new room mate girls, here are you room keys, and we'll be meeting down here at 4:30 in the Palm Woods School room to go over the hotel rules," he said. Both girls nodded coherently and headed towards the elevators waving a goodbye.
"Any idea what our other room mates are like?" Bailey asked Letty as they entered the empty elevator.
"Well I met one of them, Aubrey, she seems nice enough," she replied.
"Cool," Bailey said as she looked down at her flip flops with her brightly painted toenails.
They quickly found the door to their apartment and walked in with their two luggage carts. Aubrey and Abby stood in the kitchen browsing through the well stocked fridge and cupboards. They both turned around quickly when the door swung open. Abby waved at the two newcomers and exited the kitchen.
"New roomies!" she almost squealed. Letty and Bailey laughed and shut the door behind them.
"I'm Abby, this is Aubrey," she said excitedly.
"I'm Scarlet, but you can call me Letty, everyone does," Letty introduced herself and offered her hand. Abby opened her arms and smiled.
"I'm more of a hugger," Abby said. Letty laughed and hugged her. Abby moved on to Bailey, "and you are?"
"Bailey, Bailey Rose," she replied. Abby hugged her and stepped back. Bailey stood awkwardly not sure what to make of her rather friendly new room mates.
"Well, on to your bedrooms. Abby and I, despite our love for each other, decided to room separately, she wouldn't be able to stand my incessant need to organize for more than two days," Aubrey explained.
Letty held up her hand. "That puts us in a room together, most definitely."
Aubrey smiled, "hallway on the right, there's a label maker sitting on the nightstand if you need it."
Letty's eyes lit up, "I think I love you." All the girls laughed simultaneously. Abby looked at Bailey.
"That puts us together, but sorry no label maker," Abby joked.
Bailey smiled. "Thank god." They rolled their eyes at Letty and Aubrey's giggling and excitement over the many ways of organizing their room. Abby helped Bailey drag all of her belongings into their room. Bailey scoped out the room and nodded. "This'll do." Abby laughed and sat on the far bed.
"Hope you don't mind I just took this bed," she said. Bailey shook her head.
"Works for me," she said as she threw one of her bags on her bed and opened it. Aubrey stuck her head in the doorway.
"Abs! Bailey! Meeting in the living room!" she squealed as she ducked back out quickly. Abby and Bailey looked at each other and shrugged. They walked into the living room and took a seat on one of the couches. Letty and Aubrey had already pulled out some snack foods and sat chattering on the couch. "So turns out Letty's parents were kind enough to call ahead and have our kitchen stocked full of food so we have less to worry about our first day here, how cool is that?" Abby and Bailey nodded in approval.
"That's awesome, thanks Letty," Abby said.
Letty nodded. "It was their idea; they figured we wouldn't want to spend two hours of our first day grocery shopping."
"Good thinking on their part, that's the last thing I'm interested in doing right now," Bailey added.
"So I'm thinking we try to get to know each other a little bit better seeing as we're going to have to at least tolerate each other for quite a while," Aubrey suggested. All of the girls nodded in agreement.
"Good idea, so I take it you two already know each other? Where are you from?" Letty asked Aubrey and Abby.
"Lake St. Louis, Missouri, how about you two?" Abby replied.
"Cleveland, Ohio, but I've moved a lot because of my mom's job," Letty explained.
"I'm from good ole Seattle, Washington, born and raised," Bailey said.
"Groovy, so what brings you to L.A.?" Aubrey asked.
"I'm a guitar freak, plus I love to write poetry," Letty said.
"Me as well, well the guitar part, I can put together half way decent lyrics to sing with the guitar but I'm no Shakespeare," Aubrey replied.
"I'm into singing, ever since I was a little kid I've loved it," Bailey chimed in. "How about you Abby?"
"Dancing, just dancing, although I've been nominated for several awards from singing in my shower," Abby said. Aubrey laughed.
"I nominated her for one of those, and that duet you did with my sister… golden," Aubrey joked.
The girls spent the better part of the next half and hour chatting and attempting to get to know each other better. They had almost lost track of time before they realized they only had five minutes before they had to be downstairs to meet with Mr. Bitters. The girls grabbed the two luggage racks and headed for the elevator. They squeezed all four of themselves plus the racks in the elevator and went downstairs. Almost immediately after they'd gotten off the elevator a group of four guys ran up to them. Letty and Aubrey stood in front of the racks and jumped back.
"Whoa! Can we help you?" Letty asked. All four of the guys looked taken aback.
"Yeah we're uh…" one with light brown shaggy hair began before Mr. Bitters walk out.
"They are the exact group of people you want to avoid being like if you want to stay here at the Palm Woods," he said glaring at the group of boys.
Aubrey smirked and without removing her eyes from the boys leaned back to the girls. "I don't know about that." She muttered quietly. The girls all giggled quietly.
"We'll take these back for you," the tallest of the four said as he grabbed one of the racks. His brunette hair seemed almost perfectly done. Abby elbowed Aubrey in the back who smirked at her.
"Ready to go girls?" Mr. Bitters asked. The girls nodded and left the boys standing in the lobby with the luggage racks, before he shut the door he turned around and looked at the boys, "no luggage rack races!" He yelled. The girls laughed as they took their seats at various desks. Mr. Bitters shut the door and looked at the girls. "Not a good group to get involved with." He said.
"Why? Who are they?" Letty asked.
"A boy band, Big Time Rush," Mr. Bitters said bitterly. The girls all exchanged blank glances.
"Never heard of them," Aubrey said finally.
Mr. Bitters leaned in towards her, "good." He cleared his throat and found his way to the front of the classroom. "So the rules here are relatively simple. I think I can skip most of them because most of them are only in place because of 'those boys'. First and foremost, no parties! Don't think you girls can get anything past me either."
"No parties? But we're teenagers," Bailey pointed out.
"No parties!" Mr. Bitters yelled. The girls had to attempt to hold back their laughter again. Aubrey looked around at the girls.
"No parties… in case you missed it," she whispered sarcastically. The girls had to further attempt to prevent themselves from laughing. Mr. Bitters glared at them and waited for them to settle down.
"Keep the noise level in the apartment down at all times, three strikes you're out," he paused waiting for some acknowledgement of them having heard him.
"Because I'm sure all the teens around here are just ready to turn each other in for outrageous noise levels," Aubrey chimed in quietly again.
Abby leaned towards Aubrey, "Bree, quiet sarcastic remarks are best saved for full classrooms, not right now necessarily." Aubrey shrugged and faced front again.
"If I may continue," Mr. Bitters began the girls nodded, "No rough housing by the pool, and finally, in order to stay in the Palm Woods School you must have a job as a performer, classes are four hours a day from eight to twelve, and you must retain at least a C+ average to perform." The girls nodded knowing that would be a piece of cake for all of them.
"So can we go then?" Abby asked.
"Do you understand everything?" Mr. Bitters recanted.
"What's not to understand?" Letty asked. He shot her a glare.
"I'm keeping my eye on you girls," he said. Aubrey tried not to laugh. The girls stood up to leave. Aubrey turned around before walking out the door.
"Better keep both on us," she smirked and pulled the door shut.
