Chapter 4: To the mall

Musa rang the doorbell of her house. She saw that there was an extra pair of shoes in the shoe rack when she was taking off her shoes. Musa had ridden the limo that was sent by the school to her house after she had picked up something to eat at the airport. The gardener, Hagen, had let her in when the limo dropped her outside of her gated house. Sally, the housekeeper opened the doors and smiled politely at Musa as she went in.

"Hi, Sally." Musa hugged Sally and she gave her a kiss on the cheeks.

"Hello, dear. We're not expecting you until tomorrow." Sally looked confused.

Musa gave her suitcase to Sally, who took it up to her room and went to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water before heading to the living room.

"Musa? What are you doing here? Spring Break isn't until tomorrow." Musa's father, Ho-Boe asked as soon as he saw Musa.

"Hi dad." Musa greeted her dad. She delivered the news in a surprisingly calm voice. "I was expelled."

"You were expelled?!" Ho-Boe exploded. "This is the - how many school have you been expelled from? Four? Five? Six?"

"Jeez, you're exaggerating. It's only the third. No big deal."

"No big deal? Musa, how can you say that? This is the third school you've been expelled from and you're only 15 years old." Ho-Boe signed and sat down on a sofa.

"Whatever, I don't care. Anyway, I'm going to my room."

Her room haven't change a bit. The four walls still have the pale yellow shade that she insisted the painters paint it when she decided to redecorate her room as her 12th birthday present - just before she went to her first boarding school. At one end was a big piano shaped bed, a dressing table, and a whole wall of build-in cupboard. At the other, there's a sitting area with a couch, a coffee table, a bookshelf, a chair and a desk. There's a few musical instruments in the room like a guitar, another flute besides the one that Musa brought with her to the boarding school, a violin, and a harp in one corner of the room. There was a whole wall of window at the opposite side of the - double - doors with the pale yellow wall as a frame. The curtains was held back with thick red and yellow ropes. The adjoining bathroom have huge mirrors, a huge shower and a bath like a swimming pool.

Musa entered her room and started taking her clothes out from her suitcase, which Sally had placed by the door before throwing them in the laundry basket to wash. She set her phone, iPod, laptop, headphones and other electronic things on her desk. Her flute, she put it on the rack that was reserved for it. She went out of her room and into the one beside her's. She opened the door to see a spiked magenta haired boy siting on the bed reading a book.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Musa crossed her arms and demanded harshly. "Get out."

"Whoa, a bit harsh are we?" the boy smirked at her but made no move to get out of the room. "I'm living here now, are you Ho-Boe's daughter?"

"My dad let you in?" Musa uncrossed her arms and stared at the boy in disbelief. "But why did he give you this room?"

"Beats me." he shrugged and resumed reading. "What are you doing anyway? Barging in without knocking. It's rude, ya know."

"Like I should care. This is my house, I can do whatever I want, whenever and however I want." Musa started towards the wardrobe.

"And here I thought girls are suppose to be 'prim and proper'." he signed tragically.

"What century are you living in?" Musa sneered at him, her hand hovering in front of the wardrobe's knob preparing to push it open. "Not all girls are 'prim and proper', ya know." she opened the wardrobe and took the contents out of it before going towards the door. "There, you can put your clothes in it."

"Wait, you're not gonna pry information out of me?" the boy looked at her in a confused way. He had already abandoned the idea of reading. "I thought girls need to know everything."

"Why should I? I'm not interested in your life. Besides I'm not those girls - sluts, whatever you call them. Don't get me mixed up with your girlfriend. And now I must ask you to excuse me, I have a load of clothes to carry, and it's really heavy. You don't need me to close your door now, do you?" without waiting for an answer, Musa dived into her room and dumped the contents in her arms onto the bed and started putting them in her wardrobe.

'Cool girl.' Riven smirked at the thought and got up to close the door.

His phone beeped, announcing a text had arrived. He looked at his phone and saw that it was from Stella.

Stella: Shopping. No excuse. Must come.

"Stupid Stella. Can't she take a break?" Riven muttered under his breath.

He pocketed his phone and car keys. Then he went downstairs, to where Ho-Boe and his daughter was sitting, conversing over a cup of tea - or coffee.

"Um, Ho-Boe, I'm gonna go out with my friends. Probably won't be back for dinner." Riven informed Ho-Boe.

"Good idea. I'm gonna go with him. Bye dad, don't wait up." the girl jumped up and turned to Riven. "Wait for me, I'm gonna go change."

Riven shrugged and went outside to wait for her. A few minutes later, she came out wearing a white singlet T-shirt, baggy jeans and casual sneakers. She wore some bangles on her right hand and a watch on her left. Her phone, iPod, money and credit cards were shoved into her pockets.

"Wow, that was fast. I thought you'd need at least half an hour to dress."

"And keep you waiting in the hot sun? I don't think so." she said sweetly and let herself in the passenger seat.

Riven got in the driver's seat.

"Actually, the car's in the shade. It's in the garage." he pointed out.

She shrugged and turned up the radio, which was playing 'See you again' by Charlie Puth. She hummed along and occasionally sang with it. Riven discovered that she had a nice voice.

Riven arrived the mall, where he was lucky enough to find a space close to the front door.

"The mall? What the hell are we doing here?"

"I didn't ask you to come, you invited yourself to join me. So," Riven smirked at her. "too bad. You're stuck."

The girl glowered at Riven and got out of the car. Riven also got out.

"Not my fault. My dad was lecturing me. I can't help it if I was expelled."

"You were expelled? That's cool. No wonder you were home early." Riven looked at her with a somewhat amused and impressed expression.

"Finally! Someone who appreciates me being expelled." the girl grinned at Riven and went into the mall.

Riven looked after her until she was swallowed by the crowds. Then, he took out his phone and texted Helia.

Riven: Where we meeting?

Helia: Starbucks

He went to Starbucks and saw that the rest of the gang were already there.

"Finally." Stella stood up and address her friends. "Me and the girls are going shopping. You guys can do whatever you want."

"Then, why do I even need to come?" Riven groaned. "I should be napping."

"Because - " Stella was about to answer but Sky butted in.

"Let's just go, man. We already heard what she had to say, and we don't appreciate having to hear it again."

"Fine." Riven huffed and let himself being dragged to where the guys wanted to go.