AN: Yes! I know, I'm cowering in fear right now! I'm sorry it's taken so long but...hopefully it was worth the wait :P
AN 2: Just so everyone knows in advance, there's MAJOR time skipping in this chapter. And to clear it up, this chapter and the last are flashbacks.
AN 3: Thank Something Corporate and Lost Prophets for this update. :P
Also, remember that *..* means thoughts since italics won't work for me.
The Origin of Liz
The bright sun shone happily on the frowning, dark-haired child as she scuffed her shoes on the sidewalk. A jogging woman brought her Rottweiler too close and managed to get a chilling glare from a child at least three times younger than herself. The girl almost giggled but cut it off before she attracted attention. She sighed and skimmed her shiny, patent-leather Mary Janes against the sidewalk and moved swiftly toward her elementary school.
She squinted, staring into the distance at the sizable group of first-graders surrounding the front door of the school. "Great," she mumbled and moved slower, not wanting to deal with the young semi-socialites this early in the morning. *Something's different.* Curiosity began to get the best of her when she noticed the piranhas had gathered around something.
"Ireland's a nice place," an accented voice reached her by the time she stopped at the edge of the crowd.
She couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed that these people were in her way just to hear about Ireland. She pushed her way through a group of the "popular" kids and headed toward the door.
"Can you imagine living so far away," a blonde with pigtails asked her brunette friend.
"It'd be fun to be away from here," she answered.
The girl stopped to scowl at them, "Maybe you should try it . . . It'd be fun for all of us."
The brunette gasped and glared, "Well that was rude."
****
The bell ending recess rang just as Adolph, the class bunny, escaped through the open window.
"Liz, go find Adolph," her teacher, a witless, spinster crone wiped her chalk-covered hands on her dress.
Liz rolled her eyes and left the classroom, stopped to get a drink of water, then walked out of the school.
"Adolph," she called while dropping to her knees to look under a bush.
"Ms. Emerson said you might be needin' help," he stared down at her. She felt her face heat up and inwardly shook her fist at herself. It wouldn't do to show some form of emotion other than anger in front of the new kid. He would just turn out to be another popular clone.
"Yeah, I guess so," she returned her attention to the ground.
"I'm Angelus," he knelt down a few feet from her and began looking.
She hesitated and turned slightly to face him, "My name's Liz," her voice came out in a whisper.
Angelus gave her a grin, "Nice to meet you."
A small smile crossed her lips before Adolph hopped past them, back into the school. "Crazy rabbit."
****
Angelus had been Liz's best friend until his father had been relocated to Hackney, England. Soon after Liz had used the inheritance her grandmother had left her, the money she'd saved, and Angelus' connections to run away from New York to Hackney. He'd "persuaded" his friend Frankie to rent her an apartment he owned for a *very* low price. By that time, Angelus had officially joined HMD. He'd made it clear to Liz that she shouldn't acknowledge that she knew him. He hadn't given her the reason though.
Kate had sat in her high-backed chair and tried to look powerful, "Why should I let you in," she'd sneered at Liz.
"Well . . . I don't know," Liz stared at Kate with a slightly blank expression. *Wow, she's not very pretty.*
"Maybe you should leave now," Kate stated.
"Whatever," Liz turned and walked out the door, pausing to wink at Angelus.
***
Yes I know this was short....but the next two chapters'll be out very soon!
Special "thank you"s go to TK (for the mention) and Jess...for getting my ass to work :P (Liz also wants to thank Jess for said reason :P)