I was just walking along, minding my own business that not so sunny October morning. Making my way down towards Fourth and one of the Starbucks. I didn't have any more classes that day, and my evening consisted of doing, well, absolutely nothing, to be honest. I made it to Starbucks in record time, landing in a neatly organized landslide of books and bags and papers. I hate coffee. Always have, probably always will. I ordered a chai from the nice boy behind the counter and took it back to my table. It was packed, crowded to almost full capacity in there, a mixing pot of voices and colours and faces.

She entered the shop about five minutes after me, all cool collected calm and perfectly done brown hair and friendly confidence. She caught my eye because there were no empty tables, and she was carrying quite a bit of stuff. Her cell rang as she was waiting for her drink, and she pulled it from an inside pocket of her black jacket that had to be fake leather that had about a million little silver chains attached to it. The call ended quickly, and she glanced around for somewhere to sit. She looked about the same age as me, and I was feeling generous so I waved her over.

"Hey, thanks," she said as she sat down across from me.

"No problem," I replied, shrugging.

"My name's Tyla," she informed me, holding out a hand.

"Ana," I replied, shaking it and giving her a polite smile.

She shrugged out of the jacket, letting it fall to the chair revealing a pretty white and green shirt beneath. She caught me staring at the jacket.

"What?"

I blushed. "Sorry. Just…you don't look like the sort of person who'd, um…I mean, I…" I was a complete idiot, that was what I was, but I wasn't about to blurt that fact out to her.

She laughed. "The jacket? It was a present from a friend."

"Um, oh," was all I could think to say.

"So you go to UBC?" she asked, sipping her drink.

"Uh huh," I nodded. "I'm majoring in Astronomy."

"Cool. I'm taking Art History. The prof's are boring as hell, but the course material is actually pretty interesting."

I laughed. It was only a little forced, I swear. "Yeah. I don't mind my Profs…they're nice enough."

"You stay on campus or off?" she asked.

"Um, off. I'm staying with my brother and his wife for now until I finish university."

She nodded. "That's cool. My friend and I rent an apartment downtown by Robson."

I blew out a breath. "That's a little expensive, isn't it?"

She shrugged. "We live."

I suddenly felt very small and childish to be living with a sibling free of charge.

I somehow ended up catching a ride with her. She said she'd drop me at my brother's house, but we somehow ended up agreeing to go hang out at a local club, and so she just drove back to her apartment to leave our stuff there instead of leaving it in the car where it could easily be stolen. I followed her up the stairs to a high floor. "I could never live this high up," I told her.

"Yeah, one more floor up and we'd have a penthouse," she told me.

"Wow, really?!"

"That doesn't mean we could afford it,” she cut in quickly. “These apartments are same price as any others in this building." We ended up at apartment 42, and she pulled a card from her back pocket and slid it into the lock.

Inside, it was nothing special, just a small, over crowded living space like so many other apartments I'd been in. “Ty!” a red and black blur through itself at my new friend, almost knocking her over in her? Enthusiasm.

"Hey, Vira!" Tyla hugged the other girl, grinning. "How was your trip?"

The girl pulled back. "Bloody exhausting. If I never see Saskatchewan again it'll be too soon. OOO, who's your new friend?"

"Vira, this is Ana. Ana, my housemate, Veronica."

"Call me that and die," the girl warned me. I smiled helplessly up at her. She was shorter than Tyla, taller than me with waist-length black and bright red hair, sparkling gray eyes heavily lined with coal, and wearing a flowing silky maroon top and a black leather skirt.

"Where're you going?" tyla asked her, taking in the outfit.

"Out," she said shrugging. "I dunno where. Might go with Kira or Chriss or someone else…you should come."

She rolled her eyes. "Ana and I are already going somewhere."

"But…but…but…I'm your best friend and you love me and I just got back from Saskatchewan and Chriss is gonna be there…"

"I've got plans!"

The Goth girl pouted, and looked up at Tyla with wide eyes. I could see Tyla's resolve breaking down. Vira pouted a little more, and Tyla through up her hands in defeat.

"What do you say, Ana, wanna hang out with my friend and her weird friends tonight?"

"Uh, sure," I shrugged. Vira bounced cheerfully.

"Lemme go change," Tyla told us. She exited the room, leaving me alone with the psychoticly scary girl.

"So how'd you and Ty meet?" she asked. I filled her in on our coffee shop encounter and her subsequent offer to drive me home.

"Huh. Cool," she nodded. "My friends aren't weird, don't worry. There's Kira, who is the most into the clubbing and partying scenes. She hangs out with us sometimes, mostly with that Carmin girl and her friend….N--…shit," then, raising her voice, "Hey, ty, who's Kira's friend's Carmin's friend? You know, the one with the, to quote you, amazing eyes?!"

"Niel," Tyla called from in the bedroom.

Vira snapped her fingers. "Yes! Niel! But, anyway, Kira's cool. And no matter how much Tyla may try to convince you to the contrary, I do not have a crush on her."

I blinked rapidly. "Uh…..You're…um…L-"

She shook her head quickly, forestalling my continued floundering. "By. Totally. Yeah."

I had a sudden idea. "Are you and Tyla…"

"No, no!" she laughed. "Everyone asks that. No, she's got a boyfriend. That's Chriss. He hangs out with us, too. Sort of a punk/geek/sweety/…I don't know, he's Chriss! He's also very much Ty's property."

I just kind of continued to blink. At that moment, Tyla came out of the bedroom. She had changed into long black pants, a navy blue tank, with dark brown eyeliner and her hair pulled up into chopsticks. Black/silver stones glittered in her ear, and an intricate silver not hung from a leather cord around her neck. Vira bounced up and hugged her, grinning manically.

"OOO, shiny!" she bounced.

Tyla grinned. "Yep. Well, I figured I might as well fit in somewhat."

The door swung open, and I remembered that Tyla hadn't locked it. Three new arrivals entered, chatting among themselves. A tall Japanese girl in pure black with chains and glitter, a blond guy in very nice jeans and a well pressed black tee shirt, and a Chinese guy with soft black hair that I instantly wanted to pet and warm brown eyes.

"Hey, kids!" the girl said cheerfully.

"Hey," Tyla and Vira chorused.

"Ana," said Tyla, "I'd like you to meet Kira, Niel and Chriss. Guys, this is Ana."

"Hey," said Kira.

"Nice to meet you," Chriss smiled.

"Hi," Niel said with a little smile. I grinned back and promptly felt like an idiot.

"You look amazing, Tyla," Chriss, the blond, told her. She blushed and smiled sweetly back.

"So, where we going?" Vira asked.