Start Again // [SQUEL TO THE POPULAR KIDS]

Chapter 9

We stand on the huge escalator after getting our baggage and are immediately dumbfounded at how many people are here. There must be thousands of people here. When we get to the bottom of the escalator we walk off slowly, gazing around the huge room, looking for our father. Eventually I see him to my left and I nudge Caleb. We walk over to him and I hug him lightly.
"Hey hun! Hey Caleb, buddy! You're so tall now!" He exclaims.
"Yeah! I've grown a lot." Caleb says excitedly. I smile wearily at them.
"You guys ready to leave? I'm thinking we can go home and you guys can unpack, I think you'll love your rooms by the way, and then we can go out and grab some food. I don't know if you guys want to go somewhere fancy or keep it casual or-" He says but I cut him off.
"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea, Dad, and lets keep it casual. I imagine we're both kinda jet legged, its only 4 pm here while in London its like 9." I tell him.
"Oh right, those damn time zones. Well okay, lets do that and then you guys can go to bed or do whatever, I'm going to stay up and watch the hockey game, so I'll be awake until midnight." Dad responds.
"If you want, I'll watch it with you. I really like hockey and I slept a lot on the plane so I'm not tired at all." Caleb offers cheerfully.
"Okay kiddo. Sounds fun. Now lets go see the apartment." Dad says. We agree and start to follow him out to the car. Caleb walks beside dad and they seem to be getting along great. I walk a little bit behind while I try to quickly send Jide a message with the airport wifi.

me~im in NY. we're headed to dads flat now. he'll definitely have wifi. he and caleb are getting along well. ill try to facetime you soon.
jide💘~alright. hope the flight went okay, shits going down over here in London. Simon had Maya over and she started talking shit about you, so simon freaked out since you guys are like best friends and he kicked her out, but he was supposed to drive her home. so she called her older brother to get her, turns out he just got out of jail for murder, interesting huh?anyways there was a huge fight, the neighbors called the cops and turns out he didn't just get out of prison, he broke out. we had to install a new window because he broke it but its fine. simon is pretty beaten up but josh and i got him. anyways, now im sitting with a bag of peas on my eyeball to try to make the swelling go down.

I get JJ's message just as we're pulling away from the airport so I can't text back but I read it like, 7 times. Then I pass it to Caleb to read. While Caleb reads it, I talk to dad.
"So, is your apartment nice?" I ask casually.
"It's a pent house actually so yeah, It's pretty nice, top floor, nice view, you get the big bedroom. I has a walk in closet and a bathroom. Caleb's has a smaller bathroom but not a huge closet. You guys can go shopping if you want to fill your closets." He tells me.
"Well we both brought clothes so we don't need anymore." I tell him, immediately regretting it. I'd actually love to go shopping.
"Well if you change your mind just tell me. If its while I'm working I'll just tell you my safe number." Dad says. My eyes bulge out of my head, "Another thing, speaking of work. I work 7 am to anywhere between 7 and 10 every week night, so you guys will be on your own a lot so you'll have to make or buy your suppers, which I'll pay for of course, but yeah you might be bored, but don't worry, I have high speed wifi." He tells us. I don't think Caleb is even reading JJ's text anymore, I think we're both too stunned about what dad's talking about.
"Dad, do you think theres anyway we could get our phones hooked up here in New York, so that we can send texts without it costing a fortune?" Caleb asks.
"Yeah, for sure. Do you want to do that now before we get home?" He asks.
"Sure." We both respond at the same time.
Dad finds a parking place and we walk into the phone store. Dad takes our phones to the counter while we look at all the phones that are on display. About 10 minutes later dad hands us our phones and a bag with our old SIM cards in it.
"Okay, you have unlimited texting, calling and data. So if you want to call your mom or someone you can." He tells us.
"Thanks dad." I say.
"Yeah, you rock." Caleb adds.
"Do you guys want to get food now? We can just take it home and eat it there. It'd be easier that way because then we wouldn't have to come back out." Dad offers.
"Yeah lets do that. Emma really needs to eat, it's been like 10 hours." Caleb tells him.
"Oh my, I'm hungry and it's been like, 3 hours." Dad tells us, making me laugh, "What do you guys wanna eat?"
"Pizza." Caleb answers.
"Emma? Is pizza okay?" He asks.
"Pizza is always okay." I say. We all laugh and dad starts talking about how good the pizza in Italy is.

When we get to the apartment with three boxes of pizza, dad heads to the kitchen and puts the on the island. His kitchen is huge. The counter tops are white marble with stainless steel appliances. It has a huge window over looking NYC. Dad walks to the fridge and opens the doors to get us water bottles.
"Dad you have like, no food." I tell him, looking in the fridge.
"Well I live alone and I eat out a lot. The only food thats ever in there is leftovers from what I brought home to eat the night before." He tells me. I cock an eyebrow at him, "I'll give you money if you want to go grocery shopping, but that whole thing just isn't for me."
"Okay, I'll go later tonight or tomorrow." I tell him.
"Alright, now grab your box of pizza and water. I'll get your suitcase and I'll show you your room." He tells me. I grab my box of pizza and follow him up the stairs. I open the door to a huge room. It has a double bed with white bedding with a dark, wooden floor thats all throughout the apartment. Theres a makeup vanity (which is white), a desk to study at (which is white), a white fur rug on the floor in front of my bed, a long mirror (perfect for mirror selfies) and a huge window overlooking the other side of NYC.
"Dad this is gorgeous." I tell him.
"Yeah. Yesterday after you agreed to coming I got one of the woman that works for me to go to a makeup store with me and get you a bunch of stuff that you might like, Caleb was texting me about all the stuff you want and the proper shade. I just wanted to make you feel at home here." He tells me. I turn around and smile at him.
"Thanks dad." I say. I walk over to the desk and put the pizza box and water on it before walking back over and hugging my dad. I take my suitcase from him and throw it onto my bed.
"I'll let you unpack now hun. See you later." He tells me before shutting the door. I immediately go to the bathroom. It's gorgeous. It has a bunch of skin products already in there and a bunch of lush bath bombs. I pick up a piece of paper off of the counter.

Okay, So I bought you more than just makeup.
-Love, Dad

I squeal a little bit. I walk back out into my bedroom and compose myself before FaceTiming JJ.
"Hey!" He says answering, a huge smile on his face.
"Hey. So this place is amazing. My dad is like, really fucking rich. He bought me so much shit and he pays for everything, also, he's actually kinda cool." I tell JJ.
"I'm glad you're liking it. Wanna see my black eye? Or should I say, my bruised eye, my eyes are always black." He says, making me laugh. He takes the bag of peas off of his eye revealing a huge black and blue bruise.
"Ouch. How long will it take to heal?" I ask. Bringing my phone closer to my face so I can see his eye better.
"I'm not sure, it should be better by the time you come back though." He tells me.
"I wish I was there. I would've attacked that guy if I saw him hit you." I tell him. We both laugh. Jide starts taking me around the house to the guys. First we go see Josh.
"Hi Josh!" I say, waving.
"Hey Emma! How's New York?" He asks.
"Big. How's the window?" I respond, laughing.
"Broken. I'm pretty handy though so I'm going to fix it myself." Josh tells me.
"No. You definitely are not." JJ says, laughing, "Okay, we're going to see Vik now."
"Bye Josh." I say.
"See ya Emmy" He responds. JJ knocks on Vik's door.
"Come in." Vik's muffled voice says from in his room.
"Hey Vik." JJ says.
"Hi Vik!" I smile. Vik is always so nice to me and I like his puns so he's one of my favourite sidemen.
"Hey JJ. Hey Emma. How was the flight?" Vik asks me.
"I slept for most of it but the plane was really rickety." I tell him.
"And you got through the airport fine?" He asks.
"Yeah. You make it sound like I was smuggling drugs or something!" I laugh. They laugh too.
"Did I hear Emma up here?" I hear Simon's familiar voice ask. JJ turns around so I can see him.
"Hey Simon." I say, "You're in rough shape." I continue, looking at his black eye and scrapped up cheeks.
"Yeah. I'm not sure what I'll do in videos. I might have to wear a mask. I don't want this," Simon says, pointing at his face, "All over the internet."
"You could wear makeup but it might hurt to put on your bruised eye." I suggest.
"I guess I could." He says. I hear my dad call for me downstairs.
"Hey, guys, I gotta go. If any of you wanna talk you can text me. Bye." I tell them quickly before hanging up. I jog downstairs.
"Work just called me in. I gotta go now. But I'll be home by 10. There's emergency numbers on the fridge." He says before rushing out of the door. I look at Caleb.
"Well," He says, looking out over the city, "It doesn't get much better than this."