Chapter 3

     The afternoon was warm. Warmer than New York that's for sure.

     This morning I woke up extra early thanks to the jet lag. When I woke up though I did find a note from Bella on the counter. It just said that she had work and she would be back later. If I wanted to I could borrow her spare car, but I decided not to because one, I don't know my way around this place, and two I could see so much more if I just walked.

     So that's what I decided to do, walk around and explore.

     I brought my guitar obviously, I cant leave the house without it. The palm trees were so pretty and the sky was so clear. The people here were also so nice. They greeted me and asked me about my guitar and I answered all of their questions. I walked through a nice a plaza with shops and food stores all around. Families were out and about today I noticed. Kids, running around with ice cream and parents trying to control them.

     As I passed through there, I came across the building where that one girl was standing yesterday when I was in the car. She was there today for a desperate attempt to probably get a record deal. I didn't believe in that anymore, and if you did I thought you were stupid. Considering I had nothing else to do at the time, I decided to stop by with the mini crowd that formed and I listened.

     I loved music, and she was singing too beautifully to be standing on some steps trying to impress people.

     I made my way to the front of the crowd and watched as she had a smile plastered on her face and singing like she was on a stage. Nobody was complaining, but not many people were dropping money at her feet either.

     When she was done she picked up her sun hat and went around to collect money, but very few people offered and instead walked away as their entertainment was over.

Disappointment struck across her face and soon she was left with nobody around. I rummaged through my pockets to find a spare dollar or so but I only found one. I walked over to her and placed the dollar in her hat.

     "Sorry, this was all I had on me." I said feeling bad that's all I had. She looked up at me with the most innocent face. "That's okay, I appreciate it." She gave me a warm smile and put the money she earned in her hand purse she had with her.

     When she looked up again, she saw that the guitar was sitting on my back. "You play guitar?" She asked curiously.

     I nodded my head, "Yeah it's like my best friend." I said looking at the ground and regretting saying that. Did I really just say that? Smooth one champ.

     "That's pretty awesome. I wish I played guitar, but I cant." The girl said eyeing the guitar. "Hey um, if you don't mind me asking, what's your name?" She made eye contact with me and then extended her hand out in front of the both of us.

     I gradually did the same and shook her hand nice and gently. I was afraid if I squeezed anymore I would shatter her, she looked so fragile.

     "I'm Ariana Lovalo." She said sweetly. "Hunter, Hunter Bowens." I responded and then I let go of her hand. "Nice to meet you." I said smiling and she returned it, "My pleasure." We stood there for a few seconds of awkwardness and the she broke the silence.

     "Well I should be going, maybe I'll see you around." I started backing up slowly but I never took my eyes off of her. "Yeah see you around." She responded and then I turned around and continued exploring around San Diego.

***

     Let me just say, personally the ice cream here was fantastic. I walked up to an ice cream parlor earlier today and asked for directions back home and told them that I was new around here, and they gave me a free ice cream! How amazing was that?

The day was going by really fast it seemed like. I decided I should go home and maybe look at colleges on the computer around here. That is one of the main reasons I came here other than the fact that I wanted to live here.

     "I'm home!" I yelled walking into the house that I now call home. When I heard nothing in return, I shrugged my shoulders and went looking for a computer or laptop.

It wasn't in the living room or kitchen, so I kept looking. I was walking toward Bella's room, and I glanced over to my right and saw that there was an empty room. It had wood flooring and plain white walls. Seemed to be it was a little smaller than my room.

After glancing over at it I continued walking to her room. "Ahh here it is." I said to myself and picked up the computer and walked out.

     Sitting down on the sofa, I made sure I was facing the double glass doors. I could see the ocean and a little part of the beach. Most importantly, I could relax and watch the sunset when it comes.

     I had too much free time on my hands right now, so as I was looking up colleges that girl Ariana popped into my head. Did she go out and sing everyday? Does she know she is wasting her time and that nothing good will come out of that? Poor girl.

When I realized I was more consumed with the thoughts of the girl rather than looking at colleges I shook my head. Colleges, remember?

     I actually found results. There were a few colleges near me! Only two of them had the kind of music stuff I wanted to study, so I picked the one that was closest to me and I checked it out. Luckily the school was a half hour away and it would be easy to go to.

"Hunter!?" I heard a familiar voice yell. "Are you home?" she asked and I turned my head to see Bella walk through the door.

     When she saw me she laughed because she just yelled when I was right there. "Do you think you could help me with dinner?" She asked while she was struggling to walk in.

I bolted up carefully placing the computer down and helped Bella carry in the bags.

Whatever the food was it smelled really good. I was hungry considering I haven't had a thing all day except ice cream and now I was craving the food item in the bags.

"What did you get?" I asked curiously ripping out the small boxes of food. Chinese! My eyes widened at the sight of that. Chinese was literally my favorite food and it made me happy that Bella remembered that.

     "Slow down!" Bella said laughing and grabbing plates for the two of us. We placed everything on the table and we had a nice "family" dinner.

     "So I was looking at colleges today, do you think maybe we could visit one tomorrow?" I asked hoping she would say yes. The sooner the better.

     After shoving a fork full of noodles down my throat, she answered. "I think I can take half a day off. Of course we can go, but we would have to go early." I nodded my head in agreement and the rest of the dinner consisted of small talk and mostly catching up.

Bella asked about how dad was doing and I told her he missed her but he was doing okay. She was happy to hear that and the rest of the conversations were just small talk.

Soon enough my plate was completely cleaned off in a matter of minutes.

     I insisted I clean up dinner because Bella bought it. At first she protested but I won, I always did.

     Then with nothing to do, I opened the glass door and walked out onto the balcony. There was a slight breeze that gracefully made its way through my hair and onto the back of my neck. Although it was warm, it could be a little chilly at night too.

     The sun crept its way down the sky, until it was invisible to us and disappeared under the horizon. The sky was a nice pink, orange, and yellow. I looked down to see the families leaving the beach as the sunset was over. Maybe living here would be the best thing that could ever happen to me.