"Maya, are you sure this is the place you want?" asked Tasha as she walked around the empty living room.

"It's not so much as the one I want. It's the one I can afford." I looked around at the one bedroom apartment. It wasn't the nicest, by any stretch of the imagination.

The off white paint was peeling from the walls. The fluorescent lights blinked in the kitchen, and the floor was drafty. The building itself only housed eight tenants, and all of them seemed to be old and reclusive.

But it's cheap, and the most of those things I can fix.

I can cover the spots with posters. And I can buy blankets to keep me warm when it gets too cold. If the light gets too annoying I can simply turn them off.

We had been looking at apartments for the last few weekends and this is the only one I've found that's in my budget and not a complete shithole.

"But with a little fixing up, it'll be great," I said optimistically.

Greg, the building manager leaned against the front door. We had woken him up from his afternoon hangover nap to give us a tour. I would describe him as....greasy. The little hair he had was incredibly oil and stuck to his head in thin strips across his bald spot, and his thick beard looked like it had lent stuck in it.

Rubbing a hand over his beer belly, he asked, "So are you going to take it?"

"Yes," I nodded. "I'll take it."

"I'm going to need first and last month's rent," he said pushing away from the wall.

"Is it okay I pay a few months rent in advance?" I had been saving since I'd started working at the record store. It's been hard, but I'd saved enough to cover my first year of rent.

"Hell, yeah," he grunted. He went downstairs to grab the leasing agreement leaving the girls and I alone.

"Oh my gosh, you have your own apartment!" Tasha squealed as soon as we were alone again.

I grinned, ecstatic. "I can't believe it."

I've been waiting for this day since my social worker dropped me off on Roxanne's porch when I was six years old. I'm finally free.

I don't have to do chores if I don't want to. I can sleep in. I don't have to share anything ever! I can walk around pants less. I am now free to listen to my music on a speaker, without fear of Roxanne storming in and threatening to throw it against the wall if I didn't turn it off.

"I hate that you won't be close by anymore," said Nia from the kitchen.

"I'm only twenty minutes away." My apartment is in Glendale, it's right in between Jefferson Heights and Westbrook, where Nia goes to school. It's not as nice as Westbrook and it's not as dangerous as Jefferson Heights, it's a kind of a run down in between.

"At least you don't have to worry about being robbed or shot anymore," Tasha chimed in.

Nia wandered back into the living room where Tasha and I were. "We should celebrate!"

"We should!" Tasha agreed.

"Nick's having a back to school party tonight, we should go," suggested Nia.

"A party with the East Chapel Academy elite," I said. "I'll pass." My eviction notice from Roxanne had kicked in as soon as I turned eighteen last week, so I need to pack my shit and haul ass before my stuff gets thrown out.

"Come on," Tasha pleaded. "It'll be fun and I've never been in a mansion before."

"And you like Nick," Nia added.

"I barely know him." We've met a few times, but I've never had a full conversation with him. The only things I know about him is that he's rich, he's white, he likes cars, and he's very attractive. I think he has a girlfriend, but I can't remember her name.

"Please," they pouted, coming together to try to wear me down. Nia paired her pout with large brown puppy dog eyes.

"Fine," I sighed. "I'll go to his party. I at least hope the music is good. I know what type of music those East Chapel kids listen to, and if I hear any Chainsmokers, I'm leaving."

Nia grinned. "Deal."

I know I said the 24th but oh well. How did you enjoy chapter one of Reckless Entitlement?