Note: PLEASE READ! Even if you didn't get to nominate your favorite stories for the First Annual Year's End Daughters of the Moon Fanfiction Awards, you can still VOTE from the list now posted on the thread on the Daughters of the Moon Writers forum. Circus's very own Lillian has been nominated for Best Original Character - Daughter! Also, be on the DotM Writers forum on February 1st for a nice surprise, when BatsuSimisu-Chan and I unveil a new challenge just in time for Valentine's Day!
Circus
Chapter 5
Lillian woke up that Monday morning quite disappointed with herself. Dinner had not gone at all how she planned. Oh, Vanessa was great, but it was obvious five minutes into dinner that she would never want Collin. Instead, she offered to introduce Lillian to a teenage girl she "worked with"; apparently, Vanessa was a counselor with a specialty in displaced teenage girls with a penchant for running away. Lillian was not entirely convinced she would get along all that well with some psychotic run away.
She trudged down the stairs and into an empty kitchen. It was her first day on her own; her father would be at work until 5 that evening. Fresh bagels sat on the counter next to a note from him.
"Lillian – I asked a friend from the beach to stop by so you wouldn't be stuck at home alone all day. He said he'd be happy to show you the beach, if you'd like. See you tonight! – Dad."
She idly wondered when the friend was going to stop by as she toasted her bagel. She should probably shower and change out of her worn-out sweat pants and fading "Goddess" tank top, but rather than going back upstairs, she took her bagel into the den pulled a very beat-up, read many times over book randomly from the shelf. If he was a friend of her Dad's, he probably had his own teenage daughter and would be used to it.
She took a bite out of her cream cheese-laden bagel and opened the book on mythology. She had never seen so many notes in the margins of a book in her life. There didn't seem to be a free space anywhere. Trying to ignore her father's minute scrawls on the page (though it was hard, as sometimes he would cross things out and write his own versions), Lillian immersed herself in The History of the Classical World: An Analysis of Mythology as Historical and Scientific Documents.
An hour into her reading the textbook, the back door of the house opened and closed. Startled, Lillian looked up from the book, but quickly realized it must be her father's friend. She lay the book down, still open to the title page of "Pandora's Box," which was so scribbled upon that it would take an hour to decipher a paragraph, she was sure, and went towards the back of the house to greet him.
She pushed open the kitchen door and froze in shock. Two teenagers, a boy and a girl, probably about her age, had just entered through the back door. The girl, who looked vaguely familiar, just stood there, staring back at Lillian with a blank expression. The boy, whose dark face broke into a wide grin – which incidentally showed off two cute dimples and amazingly white teeth – walked forward with an outstretched hand.
"You must be Lillian; I'm Gregory." Lillian limply shook his hand. Why had she chosen not to shower and put on something cute and maybe dab a little make up on…? "I hope we didn't startle you, just coming in like that. Collin never minds, and he said you were expecting us… or me, at least."
"You're… you're my dad's friend?"
Gregory chuckled a little. "Yeah, I know, it's weird, but Collin was the one to teach me how to surf, and he's not really like a normal adult… You know?"
Of course she knew! Who did this unearthly adorable guy think he was? Asking her if she knew something about her own father? Psh. But her mind registered the fact that she should not say this and instead opted for nodding.
"Gregory," the girl spoke up finally, with no inflection or real emotion in her voice at all, "maybe you should let go of Lillian's hand and let her go get ready for the beach." She looked at Lillian now. "I'm Elizabeth."
Lillian was surprised by the name, expecting something more Indian sounding for the girl with a face that could have been straight from the cover of a Bhaliwood movie, but she waved awkwardly with her left hand, hoping the surprise didn't show. She didn't particularly mind Gregory holding onto her hand, but he dropped it anyway, and after muttering a quick "I'll be right down", she dashed up the stairs to attempt to make a better second impression.
After rushing to get ready, Lillian followed Gregory and Elizabeth to the beach where her father spent most of his early mornings. She had hoped to spend time with Gregory, walking along the shoreline, getting to know each other as the sea-wind whipped through their hair. She would have even been able to stand the silent, somber Elizabeth joining them, as long as she could keep Gregory to herself. But almost immediately after reaching the beach, Gregory decided "waves were calling" and rushed off to surf, leaving Lillian with Elizabeth.
The two teenage girls with nothing in common but age stood silently and awkwardly in the sand.
"So… Gregory's your…"
"Friend." Elizabeth regarded her with a hard eye. "There's a line of girls waiting for their chance. He's not interested in anything but the waves." She paused, then with a tone of command, "Don't try."
Lillian was taken aback by the girl's cadence, but something about her, something strange and unidentifiable, told Lillian her new acquaintance would make good on her unspoken threat.
"He's cute, but not my type. I mean, he's friends with my father. Creep-o," she said as lightly and convincingly as possible.
Elizabeth looked at her a moment, then nodded and relaxed.
Elizabeth stripped down to her bikini, showing off her bronzed complexion. Lillian stared slightly envious until the necklace around Elizabeth's neck caught her attention. Lillian gasped a little too loudly, and Elizabeth turned to look, obviously uncomfortable under her attention.
"Can I help you?"
"Your necklace… it's… beautiful."
The other girl clasped her hand over the moon and face etched into the pendant. "Thanks."
"It's just… I have one that looks exactly the same, but I've never seen anyone else with it."
"It's not the same one." She sat on her towel.
"Well, you don't know that."
"Yes, I do. My mother says it was given to her by an old lady in the hospital the night I was born. It's a gift from Shiva."
Lillian brushed off the fact that she had no idea what Shiva was, other than the name of some mythological, evil destroyer, and sat on her own towel, eagerly leaning towards Elizabeth.
"A woman gave my mother the necklace the day I was born as well. It must have been the same woman! Listen," she dropped her voice low, "Do you ever get nightmares when you wear yours to bed?"
Elizabeth glared at her. "You're not wearing yours. That's how I know it can't be the same. I can't take mine off. Ever. And no, I don't get nightmares when I wear my necklace." With that, Elizabeth whipped out her headphones and lay down to tan without another look at Lillian.
Disappointed, Lillian stripped down to her own bikini as well and lay down, not even bothering to smear her never-tanned skin with sun screen.