So for those of you who have waited for this, your wait is now over, I'm going ahead and publishing the first chapter of this new story and sequel known as Through Diamond Eyes. This story takes place about a year from the previous story so after a full year, Lillian is now a freshman in highschool. One major change between this story and my previous, this story has no song quotes near the beginning, the upside to that is that this allows me more room to write and more for you to read. Also, the title is inspired by a line from a song by Shinedown. Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter One
Night had fallen upon the fair city of West Port, it would seem that all was at peace tonight or at least it would have been. Along the walls of the buildings, three strange and obscure shadows seemed to travel at very quick speeds. Carefully making the way towards the old West Port Zoo which was surrounded now by large metal fencing with barbed wire at the top.
"This is it?" a deep voice asked.
"You sure that this is where he said for us to go?" a female voice asked now.
"I already told you two, the place would be called the West Port Zoo, I can read the damn sign and that's exactly what it says! Now, you two going to stand there all night or are we going in?" said a third voice now.
There was a slight sound of metal brushing upon the ground but then, "Damn it, help me!"
The three shadows could be seen as the owners had decided to make an entrance for themselves through the fencing. After that, the shadows disappeared as the three creatures went inside. From outside, part of the metal fence looked like it had been bent in half, almost like a child breaking a stick. When the three creatures had made it inside, they traveled through the old exhibits until they had found within the middle of the old zoo its visitor center. The building had seen some signs of wear and tear along with some of the markings of graffiti, showing signs that humans had come upon this place once or twice.
The third voice spoke as its owner held a sly grin, "Huh, dark, spray paint on the walls, along with the scent of abandonment. I'm loving this new place already, a hell lot better than the old apartment, that's for sure."
"Okay smart guy", the female voice spoke again, "So when are we planning to meet the top dog for this operation?"
"Easy girl, he said that he's going to worry about that, we're just gonna lay low for awhile. I'm sure it won't be long before the cops will be looking for us once Ms. A has sent the word of our escape to this place. We'll chill for awhile til he meets up with us. Just relax and enjoy the scenery, it's not everyday where we come to a place with no rules for once."
The next day, it was nothing more but the start of a new school year and of course children were either excited, nervous, or just didn't care for the day. Lillian on the other hand wasn't sure exactly how she felt about today. She felt a type of excitement to the day but then again, she still couldn't help but feel nervousness because it wasn't just any ordinary school year. It had been nearly a year or so, Lillian had gone through the eighth grade and dealt with all of the typical stuff that was expected. She was fourteen now and starting herself out as a freshman in high school, a fish in a large pond. She pulled out of her closet a black shirt having a Victorian style zombie girl upon it, pulled on a couple of black rubber bracelets and grabbed her backpack. Heading downstairs, her mother had called out to her, "You need any breakfast?"
Lillian grabbed a pop tart from the pantry, "That's okay mom, I want to get there a little early so that way I'll be able to find the rooms for my classes."
"Have a good day then." her mother called as she went out the door.
Lillian ate up the pop tart pretty quick by the time she had made it to the old mansion upon the corner, she entered the building without giving it a second thought. Sitting upon the stool next to the piano was Morgana, she had gotten to the house a little earlier as she heard the creaking footsteps from her best friend.
"Hey, you ready for this?" Morgana asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"I'm sure you two will be just fine."
The girls smiled as Randall appeared in the room sitting upon his usual spot on top of the piano.
"Yeah, but this is high school we're talking about." Lillian reminded him.
"And it's still a school, just remember that everybody starts out as a freshman but once you get a feel for it then you'll be just fine."
"Well, we better get going if we want to get our schedules." Morgana suggested.
The girls took their leave as they said their goodbyes to Randall, the two would be seeing him again after school. He waved to them as he couldn't help but smile, high school was a pretty big step to make and in four years they would be graduating and then taking off into the world. He remembered that it was just about a year or so when he had first met Lillian. She was a young girl back then, had a few insecurities but as the time started to pass she slowly started to grow up. She had gained a little more confidence and even enough so to actually stop wearing the hoodie nearly every minute of every day.
Lillian and Morgana made it to the high school, it was very different from the Jr. High, that was for certain. The size of the building was pretty daunting from the outside but then again, this was just their first year. The girls walked inside, seeing some old faces from last year and a whole bunch of new faces of the upperclassmen.
"Hey Morgana, what's up girl?"
Morgana rolled her eyes as Kevin called out to her, "Nice to see that you're gracing us with your presence."
"So, did you miss me?" he asked with a smirk.
"Nope, not at all."
The girls took off as Kevin tried to find a response, "Uh…okay, see you later then."
"Morgana, maybe you should try being just a little nice to him. It's not everyday when a guy has a crush on you." Lillian told her.
"My future Romeo I would prefer to be Dracula, not the class clown." she explained.
The girls took out their schedules as they decided to compare and see where their first class would be. Heather and Mark also had made it to school but now they were on the same playing field as others of their freshman class.
"Okay, the first thing we need to do is find a way to cement our popularity status from last year." Heather explained while applying some lip gloss.
"We're popular, why do we have to prove that to anyone?" Mark asked her.
"Seriously Mark, are you that stupid? We're in high school, the new fish! If you want to stay popular then we have to make ourselves known! I swear that if you weren't cute that I would probably have gone for someone better."
Then she noticed a guy in a dark colored t-shirt and jeans passed her by with some blonde walking next to him. He didn't look like a freshman, that was for sure but he did look a little familiar. Damn, he's hot, she couldn't help but think but she needed to hang on a bit, she didn't know if this guy and his friend were dating.
"Hey Heather, we're running out of time to find our first class." Mark told her.
"Oh, yeah, okay, let's get going then." she answered, getting out of her daze.
About half way through the day, lunch came but unlike the Jr. High where the two lunch shifts was divided by the two grades, high school was different. There were two lunch shifts but it was pretty much random on who got what lunch shift. Lillian entered the lunch room but was relieved when she saw Morgana walking up to her. Heather, on the other hand, wasn't so fortunate since it appeared that Mark didn't share this lunch shift with her. Then she noticed the guy from before, he was sitting there with the pretty blonde from earlier. She noticed a table near where the two sat and decided to take a seat there. Then she noticed that the blonde suddenly got up, said something to the guy, and quickly went over to another table.
"Well…that's interesting." Heather mumbled to herself.
Lillian was in the middle of telling Morgana about some of her new teachers when suddenly.
"Hey you guys!" The two stared at the blonde and couldn't believe who it was! "Candi?" Lillian asked, shocked to see that it was her!
"Yep, it's me", she nearly squealed, "Whatcha been up to?"
"Life, finished summer, starting school, that sort of thing." Morgana answered.
"Want to sit down?" Lillian asked her.
"Yeah, sure."
"Since you're here, where's pretty boy at?" Morgana asked.
"Oh Brendan, he's sitting over there." Candi pointed out.
"I thought you guys moved" Lillian asked her, "So what happened?"
"Weeeellll, Brendan and I were doing pretty good over at that private school but it was a good thing I went with him…Brendan's not too good at making friends."
"Probably because most of his friends only hung out with him here because he's rich." Lillian pointed out.
"Yeah…I figured that was it but over there, a lot of people were really big jerks! So much for richer being better, puh-lease! A lot of them were pretty big snobs and stuff, so we stuck together pretty much."
"So what guys did you meet?" Morgana asked her.
"Um, actually, I really didn't find any guys interesting over there. I probably went on maybe one or two dates but nothing serious. I just kind of lost interest in some of those boys."
"Yeah but I'm sure that you probably had some fun." Morgana remarked.
Candi was a little confused but then she caught the meaning behind her words, "Well I kind of…stopped messing around with the guys…"
The girls were a little surprised but Lillian decided to speak up, "You know what, I think that's a good thing of you to do Candi. No guy should think that you owe them something just for going out with them. I think that you made a mature and smart decision."
"So you and Brendan aren't dating, right?' Morgana asked.
"No, we decided to just stick to being friends, no pretend boyfriend girlfriend stuff, why?"
"Because Heather is heading over to your other table there."
Sure enough, the redhead sat herself down next to Brendan, he glared at her for a bit. "Hey there!" she told him, while playing with a strand of her hair. He glanced at her before answering, "Hey…aren't you that one girl who hangs out with that Mark kid?'
"Oh, yeah, like so a long time ago, we don't hang out anymore. So, are you and the blonde a couple?"
Seeing what she was after, he answered, "No…the two of us are just friends."
"Really", Heather answered casually, "It shocks me that a good looking guy such as yourself is single."
Brendan could already see the type of girl she was, it was clear. She was queen bee back at Jr. High and apparently starting off as a freshman, she was hoping to keep that status. She probably did find him attractive but otherwise than that, she was hoping to gain more by asking him out. He gave it a bit of thought before answering, "Let me guess, you want to go out with me?"
"Oh, I wasn't thinking that but if you're interested then I don't mind." she answered him, smiling.
The first day of school was already over and while most everybody had themselves a pretty good day, the same couldn't be said for Mark. "What do you mean you're breaking up with me?" he said, sounding a little hysterical.
"Mark, it's not that hard to understand. Like I said, I'm breaking up with you, we're through, we're no longer a couple, not dating anymore, what else do I need to say for you to get it!"
"But why? We've been going out for two years, why break it off now?"
"Look, I met someone else and I feel that our relationship just isn't going anywhere, that's all."
"It's just the first day of school, who in the hell did you meet to where you want to break up?"
Then Brendan showed up, Heather's attitude quickly changed, "Oh hey baby, ready to go? Where's your friend?"
"She insisted on walking home today, does he need a ride too?"
"Oh no, we were just talking and nothing more", Heather said with a glare, "Okay, let's go."
Mark watched the two as Heather instantly attached herself to the guy's arm. Then he saw the blonde, what was her name, Candi or something like that? Wasn't she his girlfriend, he needed to find out.
"Hey, you girl!"
Candi stopped talking to Lillian and Morgana to turn towards his direction.
"Hey, um, weren't you and that Brendan guy dating?"
"Oh no, we decided that we were better off as friends."
"Oh…that's nice…"
"What's up with you, Mark? Looks like something happened?" Morgana questioned.
"Well, it's just that…Heather broke up with me and she's now going out with that Brendan guy! That just sucks! What does he have that I don't?"
"Well he's rich!" Candi excitedly answered.
Lillian gave her a slight poke and shook her head as a sign to not say anymore.
"Man…I gotta go."
He took off, clearly upset about how the day had turned out.
"I can't believe Heather would dump him? They have been together two years, is she really that shallow?"
"Well, if she wants to be so popular then yeah. She's probably just going out with Brendan now because he's the popular guy in the next grade." Morgana answered Lillian. Then the goth had a realization, "Hey! This means that Mark is single, he's available! Maybe you might have a shot with him!"
"Lillian likes Mark?" Candi asked.
"Think about it, now with Heather over him then she won't attack or go after you if you try flirting and hooking up with the guy!"
"But I'm not the flirty type." Lillian told her.
"Flirting is kind of like acting, you can learn how to kind of pretend!" Morgana told her.
"Oh, I can teach her!" Candi excitedly answered.
"See, she can teach you. Think about it, Mark could finally become your boyfriend!" Morgana explained.
Lillian really liked the sound of that, who knows, if they were able to make it together through high school then they could become sweethearts and even could get married! Sure she was thinking a little way too far ahead but hey, a girl could dream, right?
"Okay, yeah, I'm willing to give it a shot." Lillian told them.
The girls started to walk the way back to the old mansion but about halfway there, Candi felt like breaking away from the group, "Well, I better get home."
"You sure? We're heading over to Randall's place, you haven't seen him for a year."
"We've moved back for good, you guys. I have plenty of time to see old lizard boy but I really want to see how my old place is still holding up."
"Alright then, we'll see you at school."
"O-K, see ya!" Candi excitedly answered as she took off towards the old coliseum.
The factory of Monsters Incorporated were in a bit of a slight frenzy, CDA agents were trying to collect whatever they could from the door that was discovered active upon the laugh floor. "Mr. Sullivan, do we have any idea as to whom was working late last night?" Roz asked.
"As far as we know, nobody was here."
Then one of the agents came back from the security room, "Number One, we found something on the surveillance camera footage! It appears that three young monsters were the ones who activated the door!"
"Three young monsters? How young?"
"I would say around their teens it appears."
Roz shook her head, "That's impossible, MI doesn't hire anyone under the age of eighteen!"
Mike overheard them talking, "Wait, you said young monsters? Sulley, what about those kids doing community service?"
Sulley's eyes got wide, "That's right, we have three monsters doing hours here from time to time."
"Do you have paperwork on them or some way to get in contact with their probation officer?" Roz asked.
"Yeah, Celia has a copy of their hour sheets."
"I'll go get them." Mike answered.
Turning back to the agent, "Do we know where this door leads?"
"According to the file for that card key, the door leads to a closet within a town known as West Port."
"West Port? Are you certain?"
"Yes, Number One."
Then Mike came running back onto the laugh floor, "Here we go, this is their stuff right here."
"Alright then", Roz observed the sheet until she found what she was looking for, "Their PO is a Ms. Arsenic. Call her and see if we can get any more information on these three!" "Yes ma'am." answered the agent.
Lillian and Morgana had reached the old mansion, taking a little longer as opposed to the distance between the old house and junior high. "So…should we tell Randall about how Brendan is back?" Morgana asked.
"I don't know, they never got along and I don't think Candi was his favorite either…but sooner or later, he's going to find out about them anyway."
The decision was pretty unanimous, so there was nothing left to do but head inside. Once inside the old house, the girls headed over to the music room where Randall appeared upon the piano.
"So, how was the first day?"
"It was actually pretty good, teachers seemed nice, just like any other first day." Lillian told him.
"Okay", he nodded, "Anything interesting happen in school?"
"Well, Heather dumped Mark." Morgana answered.
"What? Haven't they been together for awhile? Why dump him all of a sudden?"
"Apparently, she felt that she found someone better", Morgana beamed, "But that's actually a good thing, it means that Lillian has a shot."
Randall had a feeling that was where the conversation was leading to, "Maybe you should wait until after Mark has had some time. I'm sure that he's taking this kind of hard."
"Yeah, sure, we know but if Lillian doesn't try making a move quick, somebody else will definitely snatch him up." Morgana explained.
"Okay, so who is the guy that Heather decided to dump him for?" Randall asked.
The girls exchanged looks for a minute until Lillian decided to speak, "Heather dumped Mark to go out with Brendan."
"Brendan? Are we talking about spoiled rich brat Brendan?"
"Yeah", Lillian answered him, "He moved back just before the start of the school year."
"And Candi?"
"She came back with him." Morgana told him.
"She's…she's back?"
The girls could see a different look in Randall's eyes, almost a type of relief.
"Yeah, in fact she was walking with us but then she said that she had to head back to her old place to see how it was holding up."
"So how did she like the rich kids? Knowing that girl, she probably found some special friends over there."
"She said that she went on a date or two but didn't find anyone interesting over there. She decided to kind of start over when they moved."
"Wait, if she's not going out with anybody and she wasn't fooling around over there, what about Brendan? Aren't they pretending to be a couple?"
"She said that they stopped doing that and are just going to be friends." Lillian told him.
Randall seemed to be a little lost, taking all of this in as the girls were trying to figure out his thoughts.
"So as we were saying, Candi was thinking on giving Lillian pointers in flirtation so that way she could get Mark to notice her." Morgana explained. Randall snapped out of his thoughts when he heard that word, "That's all she's going to be teaching you, right?"
"Yes Randall, she's not going to be teaching me anything sexual. I know the dangers of underage sex, I'm not going to be doing anything like that." Lillian told him.
"Okay, just checking. If there's one thing that boys have on their minds it's that, Mark may be an idiot but he's still a teenage boy."
"Please stop calling him that." Lillian scolded.
"I'll stop the day he can actually remember you by name and by your name." he remarked.