Okay, here's the start to the next part, and as you can probably see, each part is (mostly) based around one word. Anyway, we get to see a few more characters now…

Xx

Part 2 – Change

A lot of things changed for me, and for a minute I almost thought the changes were not going to stop coming. But at least I had a new home… for how long though?

Xx

Chapter 5 – New Digs, Old Friends

Not much happened the next day. Helped with a bit of cleaning, ended up going with Izzy to the grocery store down the road, and washed all my clothes I bought.

But the day after, when Eva was apparently due to come back, was the day when I decided to make the move. And Hollywood was where I was going.

I wasn't exactly that into the celebrity craze, but just going to Hollywood to live for… some amount of time still felt a bit surreal. Sure, I'd been to Beverly Hills (obviously), Malibu, Santa Monica Anaheim and Pasadena (where I was originally from), but not Hollywood. So in short, it would be a new experience for me. And what I hoped would be a good experience, too.

Everything was going to plan – I had all my clothes in a bag that Izzy let me borrow, and I still had the drawstring bag, which was sitting in my temporary room for the entire time that I had been there. I even had a wad of cash with me – at Izzy's insistence. She then told me that it was from Owen originally, who won a hundred thousand dollars in some competition the other week. So I had money too.

There was just one thing that had to be out of line – it was raining. Hard.

I had woken up that morning and was nothing but confused when I heard hundreds of raindrops hitting the tin roof. But not long after I got up, Izzy told me that rain was meant to come overnight, which apparently seemed to be accurate. But I had no time to think about rain – all that was on my mind was the fact that I had a little bit of a move ahead of me.

It was half past ten in the morning, and I was waiting in the living room area with my bags, sitting on the couch and watching TV. It had been a peaceful morning so far, and would have been more so if there was no rain. Zoey was sitting next to me, drinking a glass of apple juice and with a book on her lap. "What time's your bus?" She asked after putting her glass down on the nearby side table.

"I… think it was close to an hour from now." I replied, trying to remember when my bus would come. "Twenty-five past eleven?"

"Yep, that's right!' Izzy called from the kitchen.

"Okay, it is twenty-five past eleven. Fifty minutes to go."

Fifty minutes somehow managed to go past way too fast, and I was standing at the driveway entrance to the apartment block, both bags I had packed with me. And fortunately the rain had stopped, but I knew there was more to come. I'd put the wad of cash (which had a rubber band around it) inside my drawstring bag, and had taken one note out to pay for the bus fare. I looked back at the apartments, just in time to see Zoey run down the steps.

"Wait!" She called as she got onto the driveway.

I put my bags down and looked at the spare watch I was given by one of the people from the apartment next door – twenty past eleven.

"I've got five minutes, so I guess it better be quick." I told Zoey with a shrug. And as soon as I'd said that, I was pulled into a massive hug, which I quickly returned.

"I'll miss you." Zoey said quietly, letting out a sigh. "I have no idea when we'll see each other again."

"Well… whatever happens will happen, and we'll just have to live with whatever life throws at us." I said as we pulled away.

"Okay…"

I picked my bags back up and stared down the road for a few seconds before slowly starting to walk off. I looked back at Zoey once I was about twenty feet down, and waved to her. I didn't get to see the response, but I somehow knew that she would have waved back anyway.

Once I got down to the corner, I heard a bus engine coming up behind me. I looked back, but saw that it was a bus to central Los Angeles – not quite where I was wanting to go. So I sat down inside the bus shelter and waited for the Hollywood bus. And just in time for it to start raining again.

I ended up having to wait at least ten minutes, as the bus had seemed to be delayed. But of course it eventually came, and I got on as soon as the doors opened. After handing the driver his money and sitting down close to the front, it left.

I didn't know where exactly I had to go, but I did know what stop I had to get off at – which was apparently right outside the apartment block Geoff lived in. I was told that he would be home, as well as one of his roommates, and to go to room 413 first.

Being pretty lost in thought, I only just managed to hear a voice pipe up from behind me.

"Uh… excuse me?"

I looked over my shoulder and saw an Asian girl with long pigtails in the seat behind me. She almost looked quite a bit like the other girl at Izzy's apartment block – Emma. But I had a feeling they wouldn't be related.

"Are you… okay?" The girl asked, seeming to have noticed me looking funny at her.

"Oh, sorry." I quickly apologised. "Just… you remind me of someone at my friend's apartment block."

"Is her name Emma?"

"Uh… yeah, it is."

"Oh, she's my sister!"

"Really?" I felt mildly surprised for a few seconds. "I didn't think you two would be related."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." The girl laughed. "Oh, you can call me Kitty! Just… do not call me Katrina. I hate it so much."

"Okay… so what did you want to ask me?"

"Well… I was just wondering if you knew where the supermarkets are in Hollywood. I've just… got no classes today and I wanna get some stuff for my roommates."

"Oh… well, I actually don't know. I've never been to Hollywood before."

"You haven't?"

The conversation went on for the rest of the bus ride, which was mostly us talking about where we had and hadn't been to in Los Angeles – and even California. Once the bus went around a corner, I saw that my stop was coming up, quickly checking a small piece of paper to make sure. And at the same time, Kitty asked me a question I had been dreading.

"Hey, what's your name? I think you look kinda familiar too!"

I felt like a deer caught in headlights at that point. I opened my mouth to speak, but just ended up shutting it again. "Um… I'll have to tell you later, this is my stop!" I said far too quickly, grabbing my bags and bolting down the aisle, almost falling over in the process.

It took me just a couple of seconds to leap off the bus, stumble onto the pavement and somehow manage to drop my drawstring bag. I picked it back up, then ran under the shelter of a nearby tree. I looked back, and saw the bus drive off. Kitty was staring at me through the window, a confused expression on her face. I could only shift my gaze to the ground as I caught my breath.

Right then, it started raining heavier, and several drops leaked through the tree leaves and onto me. I ran out and over to the veranda of a rather flash looking block of apartments. I stopped and looked at the automatic door, the gears starting to turn in my head. It was right next to the bus stop, and looked to be at least six storeys high. Was this it?

I thought about it for a minute before deciding to go inside and see. I walked over to the elevators opposite the door and pressed the up button, the middle elevator immediately opening. I went inside and pressed the button for level four after hesitating for a couple of seconds. I still wasn't sure if it was the right one – what if it was across the road?

I was pulled out of my thoughts as the elevator dinged loudly, then opening its doors. I started to walk out, but stopped as a large, dark skinned guy came over to the entrance. I quickly looked up at the top – it was only level two.

"Sorry." I said, stepping back.

The guy simply smiled and nodded before coming in, pressing the button for level five. And just a few seconds later, the elevator was up at level four. I walked out into a mostly white hallway, apart from the carpet, which was black with the odd few coloured squares – red, blue, yellow and everything in between. I looked down to the left, seeing several windows along the far side of the wall, and beige coloured doors on the other. A shiver ran down my spine as my mind was somewhat flooded with memories from back at the mansion, but I shook them off – I had to find room 413.

I decided to go down the left side first, and looked at the numbers of each door I went past – 405, 404, 403… I seemed to be going in the wrong direction. I quickly turned around and walked towards the other end, going past all the doors until I got to room 410. I froze for a few seconds, but saw that there was something around the corner. I ran around it, but stopped when I saw that it was an open laundry door.

"Someone there?" A voice called from inside the laundry.

I quickly stepped back, deciding that I didn't want to be found. But in that case I was out of luck – a short girl with brown hair, most of it being in a very high ponytail, ran out from the laundry and quickly noticed me. "Are you… uh, looking for someone?" She asked. "There's more apartments through the other door in here!"

I wasn't too sure what the girl meant, but then realized – there was a door on the other side of the laundry, which lead to more apartments. "There's more apartments?" I repeated.

"Uh huh!" The girl nodded eagerly. "Come through here and I'll show you!"

I could only follow her through the laundry, which also had white walls, but a light blue lino floor. And sure enough, there was a door on the other side of the room.

"Oh, thanks!" I said to the girl, hoisting my slowly-slipping drawstring bag up over my shoulder.

"No problem! If you need more help, then I'm in apartment 409! Oh, and I'm Beth!" The girl smiled.

"Okay!" I walked across the room and pushed the other door open.

The new hallway was no different than the first one, only of course with more rooms and no elevators. There did seem to be a stairwell at the end of the hallway though.

I turned right and walked down the side, passing apartments, 411, 412… 413. This was Geoff's apartment. I knocked on the door three times and stepped back, waiting for someone to answer the door. At least a minute passed, and no one had come. So I knocked another three times. Still nothing for thirty seconds, and at that point I considered going back round to the other side and down to the ground floor. I started to walk back down to the laundry, but just as the door opened.

"What?" A voice asked, sounding a bit peeved.

I stopped in my tracks – that definitely wasn't Geoff. I looked over my shoulder and the first thing that caught my eye was a green mohawk. Despite still feeling slightly shocked, it took me a few minutes to notice other features – multiple piercings, blue eyes… which were looking right back at my own dark brown eyes. I felt myself slowly stepping towards the end of the hallway – I didn't want to go, but at the same time I did.

"Hang on, don't go anywhere." The guy said, stepping out into the hallway. "What do you want?"

For a second I couldn't remember what I was going to say, which did confuse me, as I normally never got scared. But this guy seemed to be pretty intimidating… unless he actually was annoyed about something. Eventually though, I found my words again, and they fell out slower than I thought they would.

"Is… Geoff in there?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly.

"Oh, you're looking for Geoff. I'll just go get him." The guy stepped back into the apartment, then calling out. "Dude, there's some chick here who wants to see you."

"Coming!" A much more familiar voice called back, and a few seconds later, Geoff jogged out, almost immediately noticing me. "Oh, what's up dudette?" He said cheerfully. "You alright there?"

"Well… I guess so." I replied, letting out a deep breath.

"You- oh, right…" Geoff looked over his shoulder. "Dude, can you stop scaring new chicks when they come up here?" He asked, walking back inside. "It's kinda not cool."

"Come on, I just found out where my ex actually is a few minutes ago, and you expect me to be all fluffy and crap?" The other guy retorted. "And I thought I was apparently the problem in that relationship."

"Just… don't do it again, man."

I waited there as the conversation continued, but it only lasted another minute or so, and Geoff was back in the hallway. "Sorry about that, Duncan's just not a happy dude today." He told me. "Oh, you'll be in 414, where my girlfriend is! I told her that you'd be coming, so there's another bed set up for you."

"So do I just… go in there right now?" I asked, walking over to the door.

"Uh… I'll check to see if she's home. Her friend Leshawna might be."

Leshawna… that name definitely rang a bell. I was friends with a girl called Leshawna prior to my Playboy mansion days. But before I could say anything else, Geoff had opened the ajar door.

"Hey Bridge, you in here?" He called, pushing the door wide open.

"Yeah?" A voice called back. A voice that I knew… very well.

"Bridgette?" I exclaimed.

"Hold on… Gwen? It's you who's coming?"

xx

Welp, there's one chapter out of the way. Next new characters won't be for a while…. Although there is a couple of cameos… anyway, next chapter up this time next week as per usual. Now if I can get it up earlier than like 10pm at night…