Chapter 2: Meeting Lissette

Dear Diary,

It is October the 31, 1875, Halloween. Hm...lovely. Why I decided to start my job on this supposed 'cursed' day, I will never know. I guess that it's one of life's mysteries. To top it all off, I have no clue who I'm working for. He is probably some drunkie, but than again that can not be. I was told that he was some popular well-known man in all of Paris. But than again I'm not from here, I'm from America. Now here I am babbling in my own diary. Well I must be off; I think that we are near.

Evy

Evelyn closed her diary and tucked it into her overstuffed knapsack, which bulged out clothes and other various items. After doing so, the carriage came to a halt. "Well, it's now or never," she thought as she stepped out of the carriage and into the crisp October morning. After securing the knapsack onto her shoulder, she made her way up the steps and into the doors of the famous Opera Populaire.(A/N: Evelyn goes unto the Opera Populaire to meet the managers, to find out where Raoul de Changy lives, and just to actually see the famous Opera Populaire.)

"Lissette, Lissette!" called Viscomte Raoul de Changy for his favorite maid/part time cook. Just than a whisp of blond and black flashed by the doorway.

"What do you need now Monsieur Viscomte?" snapped the girl called Lissette. Raoul smiled at this; the teenager was not one to mess with. "I was just wondering if you could get the cakes and tea ready for when Mademoiselle De' La Motte arrives." questioned the Viscomte.

Lissette forced a smile "Fine! As you wish sir." huffed the young girl and stomped away. Raoul sat there in his chair remembering the day Lissette arrived at his home.

Flashback

It was a rainy, cold, dark afternoon, the days where people liked to stay in and sleep in late. Unfortunately, Raoul could not do so because he had a mass amount of papers to sign. "I really need to stop working so hard," he groaned as he dropped his pen and rubbed his tired grey eyes. The door burst open with a smack and fell in a teenage girl. Raoul rushed over to see if the young girl covered in water and mud was okay.

"Oh my Lord! Are you alright child?" Raoul's voice was full of concern as he tried to help the young girl up off the rugged floor. "I'm fine! I can get up myself thank you very much!" She snapped at him while slapping his hand off her arm. " "Oh, ok, well if you insist..." the Viscomte muttered. "What is your name, child?"

"I am NOT a child, and if you must know, my name is Lissette D'Arcy." she said pulling off the hood of her traveling cloak, revealing her long flowing black hair. The interesting thing about her hair though was that the first two strands were angled down to her chin and were an abnormal blond looking color. Raoul could tell that these two strands were her normal hair color, not something fake that he saw the ballet rats had.

3 hours later

" I have a proposition for you, if you work at my house, I will provide room, house, food, clothes, and any other needs that you might need...for free." He told Lissette. "You can pick any occupation that you desire."

"Are you serious, Monsieur Viscomte?" Lissette asked, unsure. "As serious that you and I are sitting here." Raoul chuckled. Lissette was hesitant at first but than did something that shocked them both; she shook Raoul's outstretched hand.

As Lissette's occupation she chose to be his personal maid and part time cook when Betty (the head cook) was off or out. Lissette over time had started to trust Raoul and sometimes even confide in him.

The young man sighed at that memory, still in his little daydream. Lissette walked in carrying a tray filled with two China cups, a ceramic tea pot, napkins, two China plates, and a tray of different cookies. "Ah, you can set that down on the table." The Visctome said while pointing to a small Mahogany table in the far corner. Lissette obliged and set the tray onto the small antique table.

"What's her name?" Lissette asked randomly. "Um...hm...Let me check" Raoul muttered as he went over to his desk and started rummaging through the stacks beyond stacks of papers that were signed and ready to be sent off. Raoul finally pulled out a signal piece of paper from under a stack and said, "Evelyn De' LaMotte." "She must be American, French but American." Lissette said quite frankly. "Why makes you say that Liss?"

"First off I told you never to call me Liss, second because of her first name, Evelyn, is not a French name, therefore making her not full French like us, Irish I think" Lissette answered while twirling a piece of blond hair in-between her fingers. Lissette, bored with standing in the middle of the room, moved over to the darkening window.

"Raoul?" Raoul stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned to the young girl staring out the window, who was deep in thought. Wow, something must be wrong, she never calls me Raoul unless she's upset, he thought with concern and wonder etched into his face. "Is everything alright Liss?" Raoul than forgot that she asked him not to call her 'Liss'. Surprisingly Lissette didn't yell at him for calling her that. Instead she just cocked one head to the side with emotions running over her young face.

"Why would you be so kind and adopt a troubled orphan like myself? I'm sure that you heard of all those rumors that spread through town. You never even met me until the day that I stumbled into you life, literally, you didn't even know me." Lissette seemed really troubled by this because for once she didn't turn away embarrassed like the other times she asked a question. "Why are you getting yourself all worked up like this, just calm down alright?" Raoul said this as a command, not a question, which seemed to get Lissette even more pissed.

"I will NOT calm down Monsieur de Changy" Lissette spat the last two words out like she had a foul taste in her mouth. "All my life I have been misjudged by the way I look. My father left me when he found out that my mother was pregnant with me, and my mother killed herself when I was two. Ever since than my life has been a living hell, no one has ever been the least bit nice to me. Than here you come into my life, only knowing me for 3 hours and you offer me a job and every need for free. I just DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYONE ANYMORE!" By now Lissette burst into hysterics and collapsed onto the floor.

The young man sunk to his knees and wrapped his arms around the hysterical teenager. Wow, poor girl, this is the first time that she has really told me anything about her past. No wonder she always keeps to herself and only lets herself get close to only a few people. She's afraid that she'll loose them. The two just sat there on the floor for several minutes, the only sound heard was the occasional sniffling and the tick of the clock. After several more minutes passed, Lissette got out of Raoul comforting grasp and hauled herself to her feet, Raoul mimicking her.

"Raoul, I'm really sorry about what I said, I didn't mean any of it. I just got on a roll and couldn't control what was flying out of my mouth...I..." Lissette stammered.

"It's quite alright Lissette, I'm not mad at all." After hearing this Lissette sighed heavily. Lissette walked to the door, and when almost out of Roaul's study, she turned around. "Thanks for listening" Was all that she was able to say. The Visctome smiled and replied with "Thanks for sharing everything with me."