Sweet Roses
Chapter one
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Her high heels click gently and her gown whispers as the frill hit against her ankles. The noise in the room lowers and lowers till only whispers are heard. Her black and silver gown, her high-heeled boots, her hair held up in an elegant bun supported by a diamond comb… I can see it all, and remember it. But her face… it shows a history of pain and sadness, hidden away by a playful grin that only I can seem to see through; but that isn't what disturbs me, it's the fact that every time I turn away, I forget what her face looked like…
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27th April 1998
Dear Mary-Jane, Annie and Peter,
Guess what? I'm coming… yep that's right. Your lovely cousin Theodore Grandchester is coming for a week's vacation during spring break. Expect me at 4:30 am at Chicago Airport on the 1st of May, Friday. See ya then chums.
-Theodore Grandchester, child prodigy.
PS. You'd better be there to pick me up!
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30th April 1998
Dearest Theodore,
Yes we'll be there to pick you up, but say, how on earth did you manage to get your dad to let you come. Oh and Peter want's to know when your next movie's coming out, I hear they have shots of your new house in Beverly Hills at the beginning introduction. Oh and we've got something over here that we think belong to our great-grandfather… Hope you've packed up cause we don't want you forgetting anything, specially our presents!
Mary Jane Grandchester, child prodigy too.
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Theodore's smile widened as he read the short letter he had received just minutes before he left his house for the airport. He was already on the plane now and it had been only 15 minutes since take-off. Soon he would be in Chicago. He had never been to Chicago before…
He was looking forwards to seeing his cousins who hadn't seen for so long, Mary Jane, Annie and Peter. Ever since he had been offered the role of Brian McFon in the TV show "To die for Anna" when he was 3 and a half, he hadn't seen any of his relatives. So busy with those movies he was cast in afterwards and the schoolwork he had to catch up to whenever he left school for a shoot.
But it was different now, after winning the academy award he had around half a year to be free and just take his studies casually without the burden of the catching-up he didn't have to do anymore. Now he was assigned a personal tutor so that he could study on the set instead. Why his parents couldn't think of it before, he couldn't understand.
"Attention Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking. Please fasten your seat-belts, we'll be reaching Chicago in a few minutes."
"What?!" he thought. He'd spent heaven knows how long thinking that he'd forgotten to read the rest of the book his tutor had asked him to read while on the plane. "Never mind, I'll do that later. It's not as if my tutor would find out what he read on the plane and what on the vacation itself, as long as it was complete by the time I get back." Fastening his seat belt he opened his book to at least start reading it but fate had it's own plan at that time. The plane took a huge bump and his book flew from his hand into the alleyway and was replaced by a girl who tripped over into his lap.
For minutes they just sat there staring at each other.
"This is so like in the movies." Giggled one of the many airhostesses who were looking at them. The girl blushed and frowned. Her freckles seemed to appear clearer when she fretted. Swishing her blond curly ponies she got up and stuck her tongue out at Theodore. Then walked haughtily away down the aisle and disappeared behind a curtain. Theodore shrugged and picked up his book again. "Why did she look so familiar?" he thought as he snapped his book shut again… whatever, it seemed as if he wouldn't even start the book till the trip back home.
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"Theodore!" shouted a voice among the crowd, many faces turned his way but Theodore had his face covered completely by a scarf so nobody could recognize him. He caught sight of Peter waving and he quickly put his fingers on his lips (or where he supposed they were through the scarf) and waving his hands like crazy. He was hoping to keep a low profile but one look at his cousin's hyper-ness told him that was a bit impossible. However, it seemed that his father had sensed this as a problem and had already hired guards to be waiting for him when he arrived as at once a hand clamped over Peter's mouth and whispered something in his ear. Peter didn't look as happy as he did before but he was quiet. Theodore smiled and ran up to him.
"Hey Pete, long time no see pal!" he said hugging him. Peter seemed to have cheered up to that and hugged him back.
"Sorry my sisters couldn't be here but they had some surprise they wanted to fix for you." He said and ushered him into a sports car that was waiting for them.
"How on earth did you manage to wake up so early? I thought you were a heavy sleeper." Said Theodore to Peter as they rode through the morning darkness of Chicago.
"I stayed up all night." Said Peter. For relatives who hadn't met for 14 years they were very silent, after all, they had kept so much contact through letters that there was no news.
"So what's the surprise?" asked Theodore.
"It's a surprise." Replied Peter smiling. Theodore sighed. It was still dark when they arrived at the house. The household seemed asleep except for the attic light, which was on. The house seemed like a comfortable home for an average family of 5 and Theodore could sense the happy homely feeling of this house.
"It's not much to look at from front view but we've got a stable and a swimming pool at the back along with a mini-tennis court. We spend most of our time out-doors so dad thought it would be a better idea if we each got one out-door accessory we liked each and got a small house, makes life simpler. Right?" said Peter. Theodore shrugged.
"I've never been much of an in-door person anyway so I think it's absolutely cool!" replied Theodore as they walked in, with the bodyguard following with his suitcases.
"Theodore!" up rushed Annie and Mary Jane, his twin cousins. He hugged them both and then when they broke apart looked at one then the other.
"So which one of you beauties is Mary-Jane and which is Annie?" he asked. One hit him in the shoulder and said.
"You should guess." And the other blushed. Theodore turned to the one who hit him.
"You're Mary-Jane and the other is Annie." He said smiling knowingly. They laughed and Mary-Jane quickly showed him to his room.
"Mum and Dad left early to go to some emergency meeting out of town so we've got the house to ourselves for tomorrow. Now, let's go to the attic!" she said with out stopping to breath.
"Whoa, hold on… let me breath, I hardly glanced at my room." He said helplessly as she dragged him away to the attic,
"Oh you can see that later, my and Annie spent all night setting this up for you." She said and before he could protest she pushed him up the ladder to the attic.
"Will you let the poor guy even rest?" asked Annie as Theodore and Mary-Jane came in.
"No, now show it to him." Said Mary-Jane and without hesitating she led Theodore through a whole lot of boxes until they reached a huge shape covered by a cloth. "Okay, now, ready!" and without waiting she took off the cloth to show a huge carved statue of him.
"Whoa. You carved this?" he asked.
"No, it's a statue of great grandfather Terrence. It's been travelling with us since we shifted… we would like you to have, considering you're a famous actor now." Said Peter coming up behind him.
"Gee, it's gorgeous," said Theodore, "No, wonder he looks like me, we're both gorgeous." Mary Jane whapped him in the head.
"Okay Mr. big shot, don't get too big headed about this!" Said Mary Jane then she laughed too and sat down on a box yawning.
"I need some sleep, I'll wake up at 11. Till then you guys better not make a noise." She said and marched downstairs with Peter following. Theodore stared at the statue then turned to Annie.
"You need some sleep too, let's go." He said.
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It was that dream again… the girl in the black and silver gown. The blond beauty, I can see her eyes now… they're a pretty shade of green, the beauty they give her… maybe she's veiled… maybe that's why I don't remember, no but… I do remember seeing her face, I just don't recall the face… why do I always dream of her? What has she got to do with me? She doesn't even look anything like anyone I've seen before… otherwise I would surely remember her face…
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To be continued…
Author's Note: I wrote this at 1 o'clock in the morning after reading a whole lot of Candy Candy Mangas… as you can see I didn't bother to edit it and I never do (hey, it's not like it matters since nobody cares about my fics anyway). If people like it, I'll edit chapter two before uploading it… otherwise I won't bother ---- gee, it sounds like I've got a serious attidude problem….
Disclaimer: Candy candy does not belong to me, however, everything that isn't mentioned in Candy Candy does.
CHAPTER TWO PREVIEW:
"Hey Theodore, have a look at that girl in the front stands…" exclaimed Peter but Theodore wasn't listening, he was concentrating on a particular blonde who was up next.
"It's her… Candy!" he exclaimed.
Extra note: I know this sucks but I've never written a Candy Candy fic before, I'll get better as I go along.