Hi this is my first ouat fic, thanks to ouat fan for pointing out I needed to revise this chapter, because she was right, and I happen to love constructive critics, this chapter had so much potential already
Part 1: the girl who wasn't a candidate for misfortune
Ughhh I thought as I read the problem again
For boys, the average number of absences in the first grade is 15 with a standard deviation of 7; for girls, the average number of absences is 10 with a standard deviation of 6. In a nationwide survey, suppose 100 boys and 50 girls are sampled. What is the probability that the male sample will have at most three more days of absences than the female sample? (A) 0.025
(B) 0.035
(C) 0.045
(D) 0.055
(E) None of the above
Looking at the clock above the teacher my heart began beating in a nervous pattern, lord, I hated statistics, accounting and marketing where starting to seem like joy ride subjects compared to this, still, studying business had been my decision right?.
Giving up my dream of becoming a writer in favor of a career that would give me more working range had been my choice, so suck it up, a tiny voice inside my head taunted laughing.
And I was, I really was doing my best; here in Mayfield, but apparently my best was still a B plus short of it's true potential.
Finally the bell rang, signaling the end of life as we knew it until spring break was over, at last, I thought once the final bell rang and all the people around me erupted in loud cheers making me wince slightly, gosh if that sound wasn't annoying, then nothing was, smiling I made my way up from my seat and headed out, feeling the tension begin to ease from my shoulders if only for a few minutes, finally, I was getting a break, a much needed one.
But the thing was, that this year in particular, I wished college would have given me more things to keep busy with over the days.
Absentmindedly my fingers reached for the heart shaped costume jewelry ruby pendant I'd taken to wearing lately, playing with it back and forth, Jason, even his name after all these months brought a blinding pain, making me burn inside, fast I dropped my hand and averted my gaze; feeling the pain retreat to the place I'd given it in the darkness of my heart; Jason was someone I shouldn't think about if I was ever going to have my sanity back.
But vacations where especially hurtful these days.
"Hey Celeste thanks for lending me the Davinci code, I'm still hung up on it, care if I return it after the break?" Suzy, a frie..Girl I studied with asked, I smiled and told her to go ahead, after all I had the eBook in my trusty blackberry.
Well hello there, how impolite of me, I haven't even told you who I am yet, or what you are doing here for the matter, my name is Celeste Morgan and you are here because the weirdest thing happened to me this spring break.
I live in a city called Santa Andalucía, a small metropolis just outside of Barcelona in ( you guessed it) Spain.
It's a bustling city akin to somewhere like New York; where anyone who's anyone is either wired to an Iphone or a BlackBerry, everyone is always busy, there is always something that needs to be done here and there, we have a bunch of colleges for tons of careers and all our malls have more than seven wi-fi connecting options.
The only thing wrong is that I don't exactly fit in with people my age, in Santa Andalucia, I'm considered something of an oddity or a fluke in the universe's natural order, in other words the people who know me think I'm strange
guess that when one is eighteen (practically an adult) you can't just waste your time reading and writing, daydreaming with far away looks in your eyes when you could be dancing and partying like normal people; at least that's what my few friends say when I ask why we don't hang out as often as before.
in life one has to be mature, sensible and responsible, working hard and leaving your dreams for the time your hard work paid off.
I believed that, I'd been living with that belief since getting into college, but still, I was never into things that people my age did for fun; getting drunk in clubs and hooking up with people I just met wasn't my thing
in my free time I liked to do other things, I liked to read at least one whole book a day, museums with exhibits on interesting subjects, photography, long walks to daydream in my head, to stay up reading until my eyes dropped with a flashlight under my bed, and writing, that I loved
Grandma used to think I had the eyes of a fairy changeling, said I was born seeing things differently, that my eyes saw beauty in places people never thought to look, old soul she liked to call me
Maybe she was right, maybe I'd always been this way, quirky and odd, with a perchance for writing stories on the margins of my economy notebooks and spending my free hours in Mayfield's library.
The point is; I'm not the kind of girl that's a candidate for misfortune; or even bad luck, actually, when you look at my life people would say that even when family wise, I'm not exactly lucky, I'm not stuck in a ditch either.
Let me explain, I'm the eldest of four, both of my parents are still alive, my grandparents too, on both sides, I've lived with my mother all my life and I have a good pseudo-relationship with her, all my siblings(little brothers) adore me, even my dad, who lives on the other side of town with Kara (his wife) and my other two little sisters, likes to say he loves me, our relationship might be strained but I still like to spend the holidays with them when I can, needless to say I have absolutely no daddy issues or deep family emotional trauma, my family is quite normal and supportive
I get good presents on Christmas, live in a house that even while it's small and needs a couple of things done, is not really a hut either, my life is pretty simple, and when one ignores the bad things like the fact I still pretty much depend on my parents for money, my lack of car, personal computer, privacy, friends and time for myself, I realize that compared to lots of people, I AM lucky.
This is why I never considered myself the type of person that needed to be taught a magical lesson or be sent on a mind-enlightening trip across the universe, those things where for martyrs and heroes, girls who deserved good luck and well wishes… not me, I was good where I was, I had my family, my health, my third semester in business school, a struggling dream to become a writer and my trusty blackberry to make my life complete.
Too bad that somehow wasn't enough for the universe.
Part 2: How Celeste ended up stranded in who knows where
"Mom I think I'm spending spring break with Dad, if that's okay with you" I told her the next morning, looking around us to the four boys vying for her attention, while Mark (her husband and my step dad who had raised me like his own since Dad abandoned a knocked up mom) typed away in his computer.
"Sure you don't want to stay? Celeste I know the house seems a bit chaotic" she dodged the flying ball of pudding Mark Jr had sent from his baby seat "but we do need you in the house, in fact I'm pretty sure I need all the help I can get too, work is awful" I loved mom I really did, she was someone who always understood me and helped me, even in her own overprotective way, she wanted me to be happy, which made discussions like these all the more difficult
"mom I just finished my first semester, studying in my room the past months while Lewis and his friends played guitar hero next on one side of my wall and Taylor blew things up with science chemicals on the other wasn't exactly good for my stress levels" Lewis and Taylor where the ones closer to my age; almost nearing puberty they usually alternated their moods between loving me and annoying me when it suited them.
"But you made it and I'm proud of you honey" mom smiled patting me in the head, "we all are"
"Yes I made it, but I still really need some down time, and we both know I'm not going to get any here" I pointed out, "please, I need this"
"well okay, if you want to" Mom sighed warily, she was struggling I could see, between being her usual overprotective self; and putting my needs before her own, lucky, her selfless side won "pack your things then, but you'll have to ride the bus, I'm a little held up here and can't drive you" she gave me a kiss in the temple and I went upstairs to grab my always-ready-to-escape-to-dad suitcase.
There in my bed, packed with enough things to last me the whole break, was my roller blade pink hippie painted suitcase, I added a few more things and half an hour later happy with myself, I bounded downstairs and waved goodbye "bye guys, if you need me here or if there's an emergency, you know I have my blackberry right?, call me beep me if you want to reach me, or in this case, tweet me, mail me, MySpace me, Facebook mail me"
"Bye Celeste, love you hun" Mom called from the kitchen, coming over and giving me a hug, these trips to dad where becoming so constant that she didn't seem to be as worried as she'd been before I turned nineteen
"Take care and don't talk to strangers presiosa" Mark shouted from his studio, I smiled and shouted back "will do"
As I mentioned earlier my dad lived in the other side of town, in a fancy private suburb that had a security guy at the entrance, so the bus that I had to take from my house to his, had to take his time getting through Santa Andalucía to get to his place, which meant, I was doomed to spend half an hour bored to death in it.
Not if I can help it, I thought taking out my phone.
the good thing of having a step dad that works in Microsoft is that when you get tech, you get it high, and my last birthday gift had been a memory card with enough space to download the pentagon and still have memory, lucky I didn't want to download the pentagon or any other government agency when I got it.
just season one of once upon a time, which I might or might not be obsessed with, scrolling through my memory device I realized how much junk I had downloaded lately, sure I had a library's worth of books in pdf format, enough music to last me an eternity and most of it I didn't even like, I had spam, and chain mail, I sighed and began deleting stuff, relegating the movies I had to a folder, the books to their own folder, the TV shows too (ouat,house, revenge, the vampire diaries) heaving a long sigh when I realized how much eps I'd missed since I'd started college, well it doesn't matter, I tried to convince myself, I'll catch up in no time when I get settled.
"you are so strange Celeste" a image of Jason intruded my inner pity party "I don't understand why you obsess over shows you can watch online later" he'd said good-naturedly once when I had begged him to watch Once with me. "because it's fun Jace, come on, just this episode" I pleaded plopping myself in his couch and tuning in the once upon a time winter marathon "not in this lifetime love" he'd replied, only to sit next to me fifteen minutes later with his laptop pretending he wasn't watching
Again I sighed dejectedly, was that what my life had been reduced to?, slaving off in College, with reading books and watching TV as my only joys?. My friends where probably out enjoying themselves , I tried not to think about Jace who was usually busy around these times of the year, (no Celeste, stop thinking about him, stop it,) my friends, my friends, my friends, those who hadn't dropped out of college to pursue their dreams, where probably either partying or traveling and me?, I was just here, in a place where my only hope of changing my routine was going to my dad's house "excuse me child is something wrong?" an old lady who I hadn't noticed sitting next to me asked.
Startled I stared at her frozen, "what. I mean, no, nothing is wrong nana" I said using a Spanish endearment for elderly ladies
"ohh it's just that you looked so sad right there, reminds me of a wilting flower, my Dannie, always used to have that face that she did" her eyes looked so kind, her cotton ball hair was braided in a simple way and her flowery patterned clothes looked as though taken from a hallmark card, reminded me of what a Mrs. Santa should look like.
Suddenly I felt the strange urge to be honest with her, the old lady just looked so concerned, and for a stranger, that was almost touching.
"it's just"I tried to explain "my life, I just realized I've become something, so, so predictable, and don't get me wrong nana I love my life, I'm happy with it, but it's just that, I feel I'm stuck, normally school keeps me busy, but, I don't have many friends, and I'm so bored, not doing anything that really fills me, where's the adventure?, shouldn't my life be more exiting?, shouldn't I be spending my spring break doing something, I don't know, something else, something daring" but then I stopped myself "but then again that's crazy, I'm a goody two shoes, I wouldn't have the guts"
"Ohh I understand" the old nana said smiling, her pruny skin stretching making her face seem like a apricot seed "you want to have an adventure"
I laughed "Adventure, that's about everything that's missing in my life, that and true love"
The old lady laughed with me "well me says when you find one, the other usually comes around, maybe they are one and the same" again I tried not to think about Jason unsuccessfully, feeling the pain slowly squeezing my heart, wondering if he was ever thinking about me, if he was even in the state; trying to keep my hands from flying over the phone keys to check if he'd updated his Facebook.
Only shaking myself out of that stupor when the old nana squeezed my hand "such a young girl, to be afflicted with this sadness, that's for us adults weary of life, not the likes of you dear, who need to see the world and be the hero of your own story " then she looked at my cell and scrunched her brow "what is that playing there in your hand?"
"Ohh I'm watching a TV show, it's called once upon a time, nothing serious" I shrugged my shoulders
My bus partner let out a much un-eldery snort "I know the show, my granddaughter watches it all the time, good lord, Dannie, my girl, can't seem to get her attention when she's watching it" she muttered offhandedly (or so I thought) then she was back to discussing me "you look so young for an old soul you know, you speak as if you were weary"
"It's nothing really, just tired I guess; doing the same thing every single day can do that to you but I guess that's not going to change anytime soon so why bother crying over spilled milk" I perked up "one has to see the sunny side"
"you are right, the glass needs to be half full, one should look at it in that way, and just between us, "she whispered drawing me close " I have feeling that soon, you my dear, will be having that great adventure you want after all, your life needs magic doesn't it?"
I nodded trying to keep the resignation out of my voice "doesn't everybody wish for a bit of magic in their lives?" I laughed
"Well this is my stop, mind helping me with my groceries child?" Old nana asked motioning to a set of heavy bags in her feet, funny that too, had escaped my notice.
"sure here you go" I smiled helping her out, noticing that her face brightened
The bus had stopped in a very dark street, I couldn't see houses or buildings anywhere left and right, only the empty road stretching into the darkness "sure this is your stop nana?" I wondered after feeling my muscles burn from the weight of her bags.
But when I turned around, the old lady was gone; the bus too, had disappeared; only my pink suitcase remained. Perfectly placed in the middle of the road.
A note taped to its front
Thank you for helping me when you thought I was just a frail old woman, you are a very kind girl Celeste And you were right, everybody needs a little magic, so this is my thank you gift for you. Good luck in your adventure.
Angelica Haven
Ps: I would suggest since you might currently be stranded on a foreign street, to start walking.
"oh hell" "oh hell" "ohh hell" I muttered panicked, realizing what had just happened "ohh hell" and after about another hundred "ohh hells" more, I started to cry, begging whoever had left me the note to come out of hiding, the road was dark, and for the first time I regretted taking the night bus to dad's house that day.
When crying didn't work and I'd exhausted all my panic, I tried the sensible approach "now come on Celeste, this, this is wrong" I muttered to myself taking my suitcase and flipping open the roller blades from underneath "but you, are a sensible, stable, girl, of nineteen, who does not panic, you look for solutions, you are not crazy, that lady just left you stranded in a strange road with no food, cell phone signal or visible sign of life near you, now calm down" I talked to myself "calm down and think, if you start walking and find people, maybe they can lend you a phone, and dad will pick you up, no need to lose the head" I repeated "everything is going to be okay"
So I followed the note's advice and started walking.
And walking
And walking
Looking at my watch each time the trees around the empty road started to change, turns out, it was actually morning, yes, somehow, the time had flipped too, like my sanity, and I'd been walking in my ballerina flats since one am, again I tried not to be bitter, "everything is going to be okay" I kept muttering.
Until finally when the sky started getting lighter, and my feet started feeling like charred coal, I saw it, a sign of life, hallelujah.
From afar I could almost see a sign that was going to tell me where I was, it looked a town sign, or so I prayed, because with the state of my feet and my stomach I didn't think I could hold up another couple of miles.
And then I neared it,
And read what it said,
And realized I might possibly be crazy, or delusional from hunger and thirst
Or both.
Because that pretty sign had two big words written on it "welcome to Storybrooke"
That's when another stream of "oh hell's" broke through my mouth
So okay, let's pretend for a second that I REALLY was delusional, that the lack of food and drink coupled with non-stop walking for six hours had made me imagine things, that was practical right?, it was at least, what I tried to convince myself of, gosh I was so tired, and hungry, and needed to pee, it was actually pretty unsurprising the fact I was starting to hallucinate.
But lord, couldn't I have been hallucinating with dr house?, or the people from grey's anatomy?, was my brain really that messed up it conjured the actual Storybrooke sign to tell me I'd lost it?.
Passing the sign, I realized I might get a signal if I was in fact near a town (that was definitely NOT Storybrooke Maine) so I walked a few steps further, and lo and behold, my blackberry beeped to life.
But not one of my contacts answered, not even mama, who always had her cell on, gosh not even my house, so I being sensible, and smart, dialed the sheriff station (because every sheriff station had a secret universal number one could call, when 911 failed to do the job)
"hello Sheriff here" answered a female voice, that sounded suspiciously like Jennifer Morrison, but that was just in my head, just in my head "hello?, is this a prank call?"
"no, no so sorry, I zoned out so sorry" I apologized realizing I'd kept her waiting "listen I think I'm stranded and don't really know where I am, I know it's a bother but 911 won't answer and I've been walking up the road all night, is there any chance you can get a taxi to pick me up?" "Or an ambulance" I muttered, but Mrs. Sheriff clearly heard me.
"You mean you, whoever you are, don't know where you are?" I heard some shuffling and muttering "sorry there, now I'm going to need your contact information, because we don't have taxi services here, if you tell me where you are I'll pick you up, are you in the woods by any chance?" she sounded so far away now, I had to strain my ears to hear her
"Well, no, actually, I'm near the town border, there's this big sign that's supposed to say the name of your town but, I'm so tired I probably got the wrong name"
"Contact information" the woman said with a hint of impatience "or else I'll think it's a prank call"
I groaned in frustration "listen lady this isn't a prank, I'm tired, hungry, need to pee and my feet are so bruised and red I think there might be need of amputation so why in the merciful heavens would I prank you?" I snapped
"hey, hey calm down okay, I get it" the woman backpedaled "so you said the town's sign huh I'll go pick you up, still need that name tough"
" Celeste, Celeste Morgan, I'm nineteen, average height brown hair olive skin type of blood A-positive in case you find me dead gosh, I'll show you my wallet if you want but please, hurry up, I don't want to pee in the bushes" I pleaded
"Roger to that I'm on my way just hang on okay?" then the line went dead, and I slumped to the floor in defeat, the exhaustion taking its toll on me taking off my worn out shoes and surveying my ugly red feet I tried not to move too much lord knows what sheriff –not-Jennifer-Morrison would think when she got there.
Five minutes later I began fidgeting with my phone, ready to call her again when I heard a car.
Delighted I jumped from my place, wincing when my bare feet made contact with the gravel but still I making an effort to wave my hands and drag my suitcase at the same time, happy my rescuer had finally come.
But then again maybe I was more exhausted than I thought because my rescuer was wearing an all too familiar red leather jacket; I'd seen in one too many OUAT posters.
And an all too familiar face, shivering, I approached the cruiser cautiously, "are you the sheriff that was picking me up?"
The woman who looked like Jennifer Morrison, but was definitely not her because that would mean I was crazy just rolled her eyes "what gave it away?, the badge or the car?" she asked sarcastically, my eyes widened in horror, this clone even had Emma's perchance for sarcasm, this was so wrong.
"Hey are you okay? Seriously that was a joke, you look bad, come on" she motioned to the Sheriff car still, I didn't move.
This was crazy. This was impossible. This was insane. This meant I was probably going to be institutionalized
"we talked on the phone remember?" Then the not-Jennifer-Morrison looked at me and stuck her hand out "I'm Emma"
And only one thought kept replaying itself in my head oh lord, this is bad.
AN: this was written in my blackberry so if it's litered with mistakes blame them on my lack of personal laptop, here we go, this is the adventure my OC wanted, now make questions favorite and comment I'll be happy to hear from you