A/N: Hey you folks! Second chapter is up! This chappy is dedicated to Usagi of Feudal Moon Era, and Anime Girl23 who were, in fact, my first reviewers.
In this chappy there is going to be a flashback introducing Ean's character and behaviour a bit further, aaaand finally 'the brat' will arrive! Have fun and review, please!
(Oh, and btw, the main character is a girl named Ean - seems like I didn't point that out clearly enough in the first chappy...)
Disclaimer: I don't own Holes or the characters from this wonderful book. (But I do own Ean... yay for Ean! XD)
Chapter Two - The brat
"What? What did you say where you are going?" I asked my mother. She was sitting in our BMW limousine, next to my father. "Didn't you say you'd pick him up on June 7? I mean, I don't know if the happiness about having a son soon somehow toasted your brains...but it's only June 6 today..."
My mother smiled at me, obviously being relieved that I talked to her again (as punishment, I had been ignoring my parents the past few days).
"We know it's June 6 today, but the distance between the orphanage and our home isn't exactly short, and the boy needs some new clothes, of course."
I grimaced, " So you're going to take him to one of your exhausting shopping tours, huh?"
She didn't get a chance to reply, because my father started the motor.
"Exactly. Means, we'll return either late at night or tomorrow morning, in case we sleep in a hotel." he said, looking at his watch. "Time to go. See you later, Ean!"
I rolled my eyes heavenwards. 'See you later' was one of the phrases I'd never miss.
After the car had disappeared behind some trees I went back into the house, where the cleansing powers of a house-cleaning-company had already started their work.
Although we were absurdly rich we didn't have maids nor a butler to keep the house clean. Mother said, she couldn't stand the thought of a complete stranger spending the entire day in her home. But of course our house needed to be cleaned, so my parents had hired this company to do a complete house-cleaning once a week.
I went to the kitchen to have breakfast and to read the newspaper. After I had done my washing-up, I returned to my room, got dressed and then started packing my bags for the stay at our summer home.
I owned a car, so why shouldn't I leave immediately after welcoming the brat? I was already looking forward to spending some days alone, without my family, just swimming and reading.
With a deadly grimace I thought that, if the brat came pestering me, I'd come and pester him so much that his remains would fit into an envelope...
As every week, I refused to let the company clean my room (I hated to leave my rubbish behind for other people to clean it up) and went into the garage to put the full bag into my car.
Despite a phone call from my mother ("We're fine, darling! But we don't know whether we can be back today...") the rest of the day went on pretty uneventful, and so I went to bed earlier than usual (means, around 1 a.m. instead of 2 p.m.).
In the middle of the night I jumped up from sleep, convinced of having heard some noise. But as I looked out of the window and then walked around the house a bit, everything was quiet.
"Maybe my crazy father is right and I'm alone too often. I'm starting to hallucinate..." I mumbled to myself as I got back to bed. But I simply couldn't fall asleep again because my fathers words from a few days ago kept me thinking: '...at school you had no friends...'
Due to my exceptional skills, I had already passed the final exams with the best results possible and two months earlier than my classmates. My success at school, as well as my off-putting behaviour kept them on avoiding to get in touch with me, which I approved very much. It felt good not to be annoyed neither by dull guys trying something, nor by brainless teenage girls to whom wearing the latest fashion was more important than their education.
Not that I would give a damn on our ineffective educational system. Ever since I was twelve I had been trying to convince my parents to pay a private teacher, so I could work at full speed, without having to wait for all the dummies in my class.
But now I was finished with school and going to spend one year in total freedom, not studying at college, but doing whatever Iliked (which especially included travelling to Europe). One year without stupid people around me who were asking stupid questions...
'Nah, don't think of your silly ex-classmates, that'll only keep you awake...' I thought, but couldn't keep my mind from drifting back to my first day at the new school, two years ago.
- Flashback -
A sixteen-year-old Ean with dark blue hair, dressed in a black jeans skirt and a black shirt silently enters a classroom that is crowded by teenage guys wearing expensive poloshirts, and teenage girls in skirts that are too short to be anything but sluttish. She walks to the back of the classroom, towards the only empty desk. The other students are chatting noisily, and not even the arrival of the class teacher Ms Faulkner can calm them down. Then the bell rings and, finally, all students sit down and the last conversations stop.
Ms Faulkner steps in front of the class with a wide and welcoming smile spread across her face.
"Good morning my dear students! I hope you have all had nice summer holidays, but of course I'm also happy to have all of you back, so we can spend the coming two years together!"
Ms Faulkner really seems to be excited and happy, but most of the students don't even listen to her. Ean stares at Ms Faulkner blankly, trying to figure out whether or not her new teacher has smoked some weed.
"And I have a very nice announcement to make: A new student has joined our class and will stay with us for the rest of your time at school!", Ms Faulkner says, gesturing merrily into Ean's direction.
The entire class turns around surprisedly to have a look at 'the new student' (Remember? They didn't notice her entering the room.). Some of the girls start chatting quietly at the sight if her blue hair.
"Please, darling, come in front!" Ms Faulkner says, giving Ean an inviting smile.
Ean grimaces at the word 'darling', but gets up quickly and walks towards the blackboard with wide steps. Once arrived, she stands still, giving her teacher the blank stare again.
It takes Ms Faulkner ten second of expectating silence to notice that Ean won't start talking all by herself.
"Why don't you introduce yourself to your new classmates?" she asks.
Ean seems to be seriously annoyed now.
"First: Because you only asked me to come in front, and Second: Because you're the one who's paid for talking, not me. But if you so desperately want me to talk-...", she turns to the class, "..My name is Ean, I'm sixteen years old and obviously your new classmate."
With a last furious glare at her teacher she rushes back to her seat and sits down.
"Hey, isn't 'Ian' a boys' name?" one of the poloshirt-guys asks her across the the classroom.
"It's 'Ean' with 'E', genius." Ean snaps back.
"Hey, come on, that's not a name. Tell us your real name" Mr. Poloshirt says with a wide grin.
"Ean doesn't say anything, but instead rolls her eyes heavenwards.
"Come on, Eeeeaaan...!" Mr. Poloshirt's grin grows wider.
Ean takes out a sheet of paper, scribbles something down on it and then throws it at Mr. Poloshirt.
"There you are, genius. If you're able to correctly pronounce my full name - wich I highly doubt - you may read it aloud to thje entire class." she says with a deadly expression, "Otherwise, means, if you're not able to read it aloud, you will never, ever, again annoy me with your stupid questions."
At this claim the entire class, including Ms Faulkner falls silents with shock. Into the silence Mr Poloshirt mumbles, trying to figure out how the name is pronounced.
"Ea-... Ia-...john...okay, the second one is easy: Alexis, but...hey! Your last name is Ravenstone? Like Ravenstone Inc. ?"
Ean has been waiting for that question: "Yes, very well spotted, genius. And before you ask; Yes, Alicia and James Ravenstone are my parents, but I don't want to talk about that. And by the way, my name is Eadaion Alexis Ninor Ravenstone."
Mr Poloshirt pretends being disappointed. "Ooooh, that was mean. Now I may nevermore ask you a question..." he says, grinning sheepishly at his friends.
"That's just what I was aiming on..." she mutters under her breath. "Fine, now that you know my name you can leave me alone." she says aloud, obviously disgruntled about having to talk to Mr. Hey! Poloshirt for more than two seconds.
Meanwhile, Ms Faulkner has regained language: "Ead-... Alexis..."
"The name's Ean."
"Okay, Ean darling, it's okay if you don't like Eugene, but at least we all want to behave politely, don't we?"
Mr. Eugene Hey! Poloshirt smirks smugly.
"Please, darling, try to say it again politely!" (A/N: Welcome to kindergarden!)
Ean glares at Ms Faulkner, who gives her a supporting smile, and then looks at Eugene. Her words are coming out loud and clearly:
"Leave me the fuck alone, you son of a bitch. PLEASE!"
- end of flashback -
I couldn't suppress a small satisfied grin as I lay in the darkness. From that day on nobody had ever again annoyed me (despite my parents who seemed to have a talent for it). The fact my father didn't see, was that I didn't want any of the dumbheads as friend.
With this thought I fell asleep.
Later that morning I got up at 8 a.m. and went directly to the kitchen. The house was still extremely quiet, but anyways I didn't expect my parents and the little brat to arrive before 10 a.m..
As I dragged my feet past one of the mirrors in the corridor I gave my reflection a grumpy and sleepy glance, which it returned from under a curtain of dishevellled, purple hair. The black summer pj only completed the stuffy-she-goth-look.
In front of the kitchen door I froze at the rattling of dishes and the noise of the coffee machine coming from the room.
'What the hell...?' was my only thought as I bent down and peeped through the keyhole. But I couldn't see what was going on inside.
Then, suddenly I noticed that I was behaving like a scared old lady. Obviously my parents had returned earlier than I had been expecting it, and now they didn't want to wake me up.
So I walked into the kitchen as on every normal day, only to find myself confronted with someone I'd never met before. For the second time in the last two minutes I froze.
The guy was wearing a pair of short pj trousers and a somehow worn-out-looking, gray t-shirt. His face and forearms were incredibly tanned, which didn't quite match his blond hair and blue eyes. He stared at me in surprise, his mouth standing open a little bit.
'Oh my...' I thought. This guy had been causing the noise last night! He broke into our house! He was a squatter!
Quicker than lightning I grabbed the biggist kitchen knife I could find and pointed it at him threateningly.
"Who are you, and what are you doing in my kitchen? Huh?" I growled, not seriously expecting an answer but waiting for him to turn around and flee.
To my surprise he didn't run off. Instead, an amused grin spread across his face.
"Hi, I'm Ricky, and - as you can see - I'm preparing the breakfast for Mom and Dad. You want some, too?"
It took me five seconds of staring at him until I realized something that nearly made me drop the knife.
"Are you...the brat?" I gasped in disbelief.
That moment, my father entered the kitchen. "Ricky, are you alr- ..." he caught sight of me and my knife and started laughing so hardly his face turned red.
"Ean now you're overreacting! We all know you're not a morning person, but that doesn't mean you may kill your brother!" he said, still chuckling, and carefully took the knife away from me.
The brat was a bloody teenager!
A/N: Nanananana...(singing cheerily) so it's Ziggy! (big beam here). Sorry to all the Squid and Magnet fans out there but he's just my fav... But back to Ean - she's kind of an aggressive bitch, isn't she? (chuckles) I love that! And btw, my apologies to Hecate's Diamon (author of 'Rebel'), for my chosing May 31rst as Ean's birthday. I did that before reading your fic, means, I didn't want to copy you or something...
Reviews please... I wanna know whether or not people like the story. Constructive criticism will be accepted, of course! .