A/N: THANK YOU for reading and reviewing. I 3 it when I get feedback. It feeds the ego and the inspiration. I'm going to try and make a mini profile of the cast on my fanfic profile so you can look at pictures to see the characters how I see them in my head. Hopefully it will be up within the next day or so. I hope you like this chapter and hopefully I will be able to keep updating so quickly.
"So Margaux," Celeste drawled out. "How did that happen," she asked Mark.
They were sitting on the steps of Celeste's house waiting for the delivery guy to show up,while Faye yelled at Mark's dad over the phone.
"Well, Grey and Phoebe starting hooking up, and Phoebe and Maggie are best friends. Plus she's kind of hot so I figured what the hell," he said clapping one hand over the other's fist. "We hang out, make out a little; sometimes go to dances as a double date. Keeps me from having to actually start a real relationship. It worked for a while."
"Until she wanted the real thing," Celeste inferred.
"Sounds about right." Mark sighed loudly and leaned back on the steps, bracing himself on his forearms. "She's kind of a bitch."
"I was gonna say," Celeste joked. "What's her damage?"
Mark looked at her from the corner of his eye before turning to look her in the face. "Do you really wanna know?" When Celeste nodded he continued. "Did your mom ever say anything about Adam Conant?"
"Margaux's dad? No, why?"
"So, the six families that were responsible for finding Chance Harbor and make up the circle go way back obviously. It's supposedly written in the stars that members of the Conant and the Blake families are destined for one another. And when people decide to mess with fate—"
"Bad things happen," Celeste half-whispered. "My mom used to say that to me all the time."
"Yeah, well, with the whole love triangle of Diana-Adam-Cassie and then Adam-Cassie-Jake and Cassie-Jake-Faye things got really incestuous in the circle."
"Whose Jake," Celeste answered. "Adam mentioned him earlier."
"You met Nick earlier, right?" When she nodded, he laughed. "Jake is Nick's father. They're kind of the outsiders of the group."
"Is Jake half as creepy as his son? Nick seemed like such an ass earlier."
"Nah, that's just Nick. He doesn't really warm up to people because people don't usually give him a chance. "
Celeste stared at him for a minute. "You know, you're not the bad guy everyone makes you out to be. I kind of thought I'd be spending my time with a dick cousin and regretting my choice to come live here," she admitted.
Mark let out a roar. "You know, I thought I'd be saddled with some goody two shoes who wouldn't know real magic if it zapped her in the ass. Glad to know that first impressions aren't always right."
The delivery guy walked up the path with a big box of Chinese food. Celeste handed him the money; "Keep the change," she said, grabbing the box and followed Mark into the house.
"You know," Faye said, "It's a good thing I like you kid," to Mark. "Otherwise I would be going to the past and killing your father before he had a chance to glance at me for the first time."
"Uh oh," Mark pretended to whisper to Celeste. "Mom and Dad are fighting again. Why don't they ever think about the kids," he pretended to cry.
"Shut up," Faye said, "and eat your food. I did just go through the hassle of putting food on the table."
"You ordered out," Celeste said, "and technically I was the one who put the call through. You just circled your order on the menu."
"Oh, joy," Faye said with mock excitement. "You really are just like my sister. We're going to have to change that. What are you wearing to the dance," she asked.
"Um, something," the teen answered. "I hadn't gotten around to unpacking yet."
"Well," Faye said with a false look of sweetness on her face, "if I know your mother than your wardrobe is full of clothes a nun wouldn't be caught wearing. You're with me now, kid. I'll take you shopping after school tomorrow and get you something that won't make people remember that you're showing up with your cousin."
Mark choked on his soda. "Um, Mom? Remember when you asked me to remind you that you're a parent? I think this is one of those times you need reminding," he told his Mom.
"Oh, hush. What good is having my niece around if I can't corrupt her a little bit," Faye asked.
Mark and Celeste shared glances over the table. This was certainly going to be interesting.
Celeste was in fourth period Thursday when she was called to the main office. "Aunt Faye, what's going on?"
"You and I are playing hooky," a smile plastered across Faye's face. "I have a sub covering my classes and I just signed you out for the day. How about we go to the mall and find you a dress for the ball?"
Celeste thought about the quiz she had next period and then decided not to worry about it. "Okay," she said, "but you have to tell me something."
They walked out the double doors and Faye dug up her car keys. "What do you wanna know?"
"Well, Mark was telling me about why Margaux's such a bitch and he mentioned something about my mom and Adam but he didn't get to finish telling me about it."
Faye let out a giant cackle. "Well, if you really must know…"
Melissa and Diana were eating lunch in the teachers' lounge sixth period. At thirty-nine years old, the two were as close as they were as teenagers.
After they graduated high school, the circle had decided to stay on the East Coast for college. Cassie had been accepted to Columbia, while Diana had chosen Sarah Lawrence. Melissa had stayed close to home and attended Washington University, and Faye had gone as far away as possible while keeping the promise of staying on the east coast; choosing to attend the University of Florida.
The boys were different. Adam stayed in town, taking business and culinary courses at the community college so he could take over the boathouse. Jake was four years older, and since leaving home to join the witch hunters, had never pursued school. Still, when Cassie left for Columbia he had decided to make some changes.
Everything had gone to hell, Diana thought, but back then we all thought we were going to get happily ever after.
"Where's Faye," she asked Melissa.
It was weird that all four of the girls had gone into education, though Diana was glad that it kept them all together. College had been rough, even though she and Cassie had been close and had seen each other on the weekends.
"Um," Melissa shoved her fork in her mouth and started chewing. "I don't know," she looked around to try and look for her friend.
"Melissa," Diana said leaning over the table, "you're a rotten liar. Now, tell me where she is."
Melissa sighed and her shoulders drooped. "She signed Celeste out to take her dress shopping," she said, dropping her fork onto her plate.
"Oh," the other woman said. "I'm glad to see that she's making an effort with her."
Unsure of whether or not this was a trap Melissa narrowed her eyes in question. "And?"
"And what," Diana asked. "I mean, it's not ideal taking her out of school and it could have waited," she said, "but I guess it's okay. She's trying to build a relationship with her, and Faye is the cool Aunt who can play hooky. One day won't do anything to her academic record."
Melissa looked at Diana in shock. "Are you kidding me? You know, if I tried this with Phoebe you would be lecturing me about being a responsible adult and no doubt would be calling my husband to tell him about my bad behavior. How does Faye get off easy?"
Diana laughed. "Well, being good isn't exactly Faye's natural human behavior so I guess I'm more lenient with her when she tries to be good. Hey," she said as a thought occurred to her. "Has Phoebe gotten her dress yet?"
"No, why?"
"I don't have any appointments today. How many more classes do you have?"
"One. Why," she asked, realizing that Diana was plotting.
"Do you think you could get a sub?"
"Ms. Connelly would probably do it. Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"
"Only if Phoebe doesn't have any tests or labs to do," Diana said with a huge grin on her face.
Staring at each other, the two women burst forth from their seats and made their way back to the main office.
"Come out, Celeste. Have you never done this before? You need to give me a chance to mock all dresses before you assign them to the trash pile," Faye said. Feeling a tap on her shoulder, she turned and was surprised to see Diana.
"Uh, Dee," she laughed. "You see, I…uh," Faye tried to come up with an excuse for not being at work and failed miserably.
"It's okay," Melissa said walking up with Phoebe. "Diana didn't come to bust you. We thought we could do a girls day."
The curtain opened and Celeste beamed. "Phoebe! What are you doing here?"
Everyone stopped to stare at her. Celeste was beautiful in a navy silk charmeuse gown that hugged all of her curves, and had a deep v neckline and a low cowl back that showed just a hint of lace across it. It had slightly draped cap sleeves and was shorter in the front than the back, showing an appropriate amount of leg.
"Oh, my God," Faye said. "Look at you! There must be a little more of me in you than I thought because you look hot."
"Aunt Faye," Celeste blushed.
"No, you're gorgeous," Phoebe said. "It's perfect. There is no way you are leaving that ball single. Every guy is going to be dying to get their hands on you!"
The two girls shared a moment of excitement while the three adults shared a knowing look; a look of apprehension.