Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan. And so, accordingly, I do not own any works credited to that name. (Or to related names. i.e. Uncle Rick.)
I sighed. We had six hours left to drive. And I, being the smallest of us three, was stuck in the middle seat of the front of Mom's truck. I signed again, and leaned my head on Jay's shoulder. I eventually fell asleep again.
"Wake up. We're here." Someone said, shaking me awake. I raised my head and looked around. We had arrived. I stepped out of the truck and looked at our house. It was identical to the one beside ours, and they were so close together that only a tall oak tree between the two attic windows was between the houses.
I started to help carry boxes inside. We didn't need to bring much in, pretty much everything had already been brought up unmoving trucks. This was just last minute stuff that we didn't want to pack until absolutely necessary.
I was in the process of carrying a box toward the house when a grill exited the neighbor's house and walked over to me. "Hi. I'm Lydia Ashton. We're your neighbors." She said.
"What's your name?"
"I'm Lyric Tucker." I told her.
"I like that. It's pretty. Anyways, I wanted to ask if you would like to sleepover? I don't really have many friends, female or otherwise, because so many people at school are so fake or trying too hard or just plain fools or sometimes a combination." She said. "But that's Spruce Creek High for you. Such an original name, I know, but it's the only high school in town."
My mom was passing by, and had heard the conversation. I looked to her. She nodded. "I'd love to sleep over. Just let me go out this box away and grab some overnight things." She clapped her hands in excitement.
I brought the box inside, and grabbed my dance bag. It was a Capezio drawstring bag, pink, made mostly of a mesh-like material. It worked, so that's why I continued to use it. It currently held my stuff for tonight, as I had been planning on changing into pajamas and such as soon as I got home and out of that car anyhow. I said a quick bye to Mom and Jay on my way out.
I went over to Lydia's, and she showed to her room. She pointed out, as we passed it, the bathroom at the end of the hall on the second floor. It was the closest door to the stairs.
Once in her room, Lydia laid on a bean bag, she had two, and asked what kind of movies I liked. I told her I liked really any kind of movie, asked to just not watch a horror movie when I'm still so new to the place, and then settled into the other beanbag.
After two movies and popcorn that Lydia had made, she was out cold, snoring and everything. I quietly got up, grabbed my bag, and went towards the bathroom. I was opened the door only to run into someone. I stumbled back a step and looked at who I had run into. The boy was a little on the taller side, and had some muscle on his arms. His features matched mine; his hair was blonde and his eyes were green, though his eyes were a much lighter shade than my own dark green eyes.
"Speechless, are you?" He asked. "Many of the female population are after seeing this." He gestured to his body. I just rolled my eyes, and ducked past him as he exited the bathroom.
"Who are you?" He asked, looking at me curiously. I tried to close the door, but he had his foot in the way. "What's your name?"
"Not gonna tell you." I said, kicking his foot away and slamming the bathroom door. I dug my phone out of my bag. Three... Two... One... It rang. I answered, knowing who would be on the other end.
"The forecast calls for no nighttime rain, Lee." Jay said to me in Greek. I'd learned it as a child, and he'd learned it, with me helping to teach him, so we could have something of our own that nobody else knew.
"Sorry. I guess this kid is Lydia's brother or something? Yeah, he's a real cocky, arrogant, self-important bastard." I said, holding the phone to my ear with my shoulder while I changed. When I finished changing, I put my dirty clothes in my bag and slung it over my shoulder. I grabbed my phone so I no longer had to hold it up with my shoulder.
"Just calm down the rain, okay, Lee?" Jay asked. I unlocked the bathroom door, opened it, and leaned on the doorframe.
"Whatever, dude. Just go to sleep." I told him.
"You should go to sleep, too." Jay said.
"I don't know if that's happening anytime soon. I literally just slept for thirteen hours. You did not." I told Jay.
"How about we both just sleep. Deal?" Jay asked.
"Deal." I told him. I hung up and put the phone in my bag. I was about to step forward when I noticed the boy standing in front of me. He nearly gave me a heart attack.
"So, who were you just talking to?" He asked. "Boyfriend?" I choked on my own spit and started coughing. Moments later, when I managed to stop, I spoke.
"That was my brother, Jay." I said.
"So, you have a brother named Jay. What's your name?" He asked.
"What's your name?" I shot back.
"Ah, but see, I asked first." He said, stepping towards me. I stepped back into the bathroom, and he leaned on the doorframe.
I tried to duck past him, but he blocked the way. "Let me past." I said.
"Tell me your name." He countered. I tried to duck past him again, and managed to get out of the bathroom. I went to Lydia's room and closed the door behind me.
After trying to fall asleep for awhile, and it just not happening, I went downstairs to see if they had any tea. When I found some, I got out a mug and filled it with water. No one else was awake, so I cradled the mug in my hands and willed the water to heat to the perfect temperature. It was done within moments. I put the tea bag in and let it steep.
After drinking the tea, washing the mug, and putting it away, I went into the living room and laid on the couch. I eventually fell asleep.
When I woke again, the boy I had run into before was standing over me. I opened my mouth to scream, but his hand shot out and covered my mouth. "Are you trying to wake the entire neighborhood?" He asked. He removed his hand from my mouth and I sat up.
"Standing over a sleeping person is not the best idea, idiot!" I told him.
"You were thrashing around and muttering. I was about to wake you up, but you did that on your own." He told me. A tear rolled down my cheek when I remembered what I was having a nightmare about. "Are you okay?" I didn't answer.
A moment later, my brother was beside me on the couch. He wrapped an arm around me, and I instantly felt comforted. "It was just a nightmare, Lee." He told me.
I shook my head as another tear rolled down my cheek. "It wasn't. It was a memory. I can't even escape the damn bastard in my sleep." I whispered.
"Who are you and how did you get in my house?" The boy asked Jay.
"He's my brother." I said.
"I picked the lock." He said with a shrug. I smiled at that. Jay could get into anything if he wanted.
"Okay. I'm just going to go back upstairs." The boy said. He turned and left.
"Jay, you head home. I'll be back in the morning." I told him.
"Alright. Your room is the attic, just so you know. And Mom's got a surprise for you. You weren't around long enough to find it." Jay told me. I gave him a weird look. He just smiled.
I managed to fall asleep after Jay left, and luckily didn't have another nightmare.
When I woke up in the morning, I went to Lydia's room to grab my bag. I had to wear my pajamas back to my house because I hadn't thought to bring a change of clothes with me.
I did have my hairbrush though, and toothbrush, so I went to the bathroom. When I went to exit the bathroom, I ran into the boy again.
"Did you manage to sleep okay?" He asked.
"Yeah. Having someone I trust so much after I have one always helps." I said. I went to step past him, but he caught my wrist in his hand.
"Why don't you want to tell me your name?" He asked. I just pulled my wrist from his grip and shrugged, heading down the hall to Lydia's room.
"I'm gonna head back to my house now." I told her.
"Alright, I'll come over tomorrow, be up by six fifteen so I can get you ready for your first day of school." She told me. I opened my mouth to protest, but she spoke again. "No arguments. I'm getting you ready." I closed my mouth.
A laugh came from the doorway. We turned to see the boy standing there. "Looks like she doesn't want to be around you, either." He said. I rolled my eyes.
"Seriously, Kier? One friend. One friend. That's all I ask. Do you have to be such an ass to everyone I know?" Lydia asked.
"I'm offended that you think I'm only an ass to people you know. I like to think that I am really just an ass in general. See the ball, be the ball kinda thing." He said.
"You're an idiot, Kiernan." Lydia said. So his name was Kiernan.
"I'll be up by six." I told Lydia. She smiled after me as I left the room and exited the house.
When I entered my own house, I said hi to my mom and Jay before I went up to the attic, where Jay said my room was. I couldn't help but notice that our house had the same layout as theirs. Master bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, a small laundry room, and a little foyer at the front door on the ground floor. Four rooms and a bathroom on the second, and a finished attic.
Because the attic was finished, there was a staircase to get to it. The staircase was at the end of the hall, sort of. After you passed the bathroom and four rooms, the hall turned left, and went as far as the room beside it did. The staircase started there, going up in the direction you would've just come from. The staircase also had a wall beside it, so you walked down the second floor hallway, followed it left until you reached the end, and then there was the staircase going in the direction you just came from.
At the top of the stairs was a small landing, probably just there so that the door opened up into the room, rather than a small space cut out of the wall. The landing was a little square, about three feet across. There was also a light switch beside my door, for the light at the top of the landing. I had seen one at the bottom, too. I entered my room.
The room was very large. The attic probably covered most of the house. Not all, but most. The floor, like the rest of the house, were a light colored hardwood. The walls were a slightly off white color. The ceiling was sloped on both sides, as this was the attic and the ceiling was just underneath the roof. The ceiling started to slope just above three horizontal decorative wooden beams, which were just above the height of an average room's ceiling. Across the room from the door, in the center of the wall, was an octagonal window, made up of nine lanes of glass in a light wooden frame. There was a latch on one side, as well as a lock so that the window would not accidentally open if the latch were forgetfully left open. The window was actually set into the wall, on the outer edge of the house, because instead of a sill, it held a cushioned window seat cut out of the wall.
My furniture was just arranged around the room, most likely set about randomly when it was brought up. I hung my dance bag on the doorknob and started to reorganize the room.
My bed went in the corner closest to the door. There was still a lot of space left between the two. My bedframe had two large drawers under where the mattress rested. And it also had three raised 'walls' above the surface of the mattress; at the head, the foot, and the side that rested against the wall. The headboard of the bed went a few inches above the 'walls' and had an oval shape. It also had flowering vines painted along the top, with my name painted underneath, just above where my pillows rested. The mattress was full sized, and I had five pillows, two beside each other, with two on top of those, and one in the very center above those. The sheets on the bed were grass green, and instead of a comforter, my bed had a heavy faux mink blanket from Okinawa. The edges hung down a little, and on the sides that the 'walls' were, the blanket was tucked in between the frame and the mattress so it was centered. The blanket itself had blue along the edges, with most of it covered in cheetah print, though a design of gold leaves and white rimmed between the cheetah print and the blue. And an intricate design was on the center of the blanket.
At the foot of my bed, resting against the wall on one side, I placed my end table. Along the edge of the top, was the same flowering vines pattern as the headboard of my bed. It didn't quite reach the length of the bed frame, and it had an open space beneath it. The table's legs were made of swirling metal designs. I set my little lamp on the center of the table. It was battery operated, so I didn't need to plug it in, but there was an outlet on the wall under my table. I plugged my phone charger in in that outlet.
The next things I moved were my armoire and dressing screen. I placed the dressing screen in the corner of the room diagonal from my bed, so the corner across from the door. I left about a foot and a half space between the edges and the walls, giving me a big enough space to change behind the screen. Beside it, about three feet away, along the wall the door was next to, I placed my armoire.
The dressing screen had four panels, framed by dark colored wood, while the panels themselves were made of a heavy white canvas, thick enough you could only see a silhouette through. I had painted the flowering vines around the edges of each panel, on the canvas, on the front of the screen. The back had a couple hooks, so I didn't have to set clothes on the floor.
My armoire has two doors, and the left door had a full size mirror on the inside. On the left of the inside of the armoire, taking up half of the space, were drawers in which I kept most of my clothes. On the right, the remaining half, was like a closet. I only hung up my dresses and skirts, not that I had many. I always folded sweaters and jackets and placed those in the drawers to the left. Except my jacket. I always hung up my leather jacket. The armoire was just a little taller than me, maybe half a foot, and I was about five seven. The inside of the right door had my flowering vines painted on, as well as the outside of both doors.
On the opposite side of the dressing screen was my vanity, built into the side of the armoire. I had bolted a shelf on, at about the height of a school desk, and a mirror had been placed above it on the side of the armoire. Around the edges of the mirror, on the armoire, was painted an arch of flowering vines. The shelf wasn't very large, but it didn't need to be. A cushioned stool sat under the shelf, and my makeup kit sat under the stool for when I wasn't using it. I had makeup, I just didn't use it that that often. I kept it in a square case, silver colored and made of metal. My hairbrush, though, I left on the shelf that was the vanity.
The next thing I moved was my bookshelf. It was tall, probably the same height as my armoire, and had six shelves, including the bottom piece. It was made of light colored wood, and the bottom rested on four little feet, about three or so inches off the floor. The sides were painted with flowering vines. I placed the bookshelf in the center of the wall, between the door and the armoire. There was about six or so feet between the bookshelf and each object.
The last furniture I moved was my light green beanbag, and I set that in the last remaining corner of my room. It could be moved anywhere easily, but it's out of the way home would be that corner.
Now I just had five boxes and my guitar left to put somewhere. I placed my guitar, and its stand, next to the end table that was at the foot of my bed. It fit in the space left along the bed frame perfectly. I owned an acoustic guitar, with the classic black teardrop design, except I had also painted more flowering vines onto it. You could probably say I loved flowering vines.
The first of the boxes I opened held my clear Christmas lights, or, fairy lights, as I liked to call them. Clear didn't pertain to any specific holiday. I took them out and grabbed my stool from my vanity, standing on it to put them up across the decorative beams. I wrapped them across, so that they hung down slightly. I plugged one end in in the outlet on top of the center beam, and used a piece of duct tape to tape down the other end. I found a little handheld remote in a holder by the door, at the height a switch would be. I found that the button on the remote worked the outlet on the beam. I turned the lights on, and then off again. I set the remote back in the holder. Neat. It being the morning, I had had enough light in my room to see by. The oak outside the room surprisingly let in a lot of light through its leaves and branches.
The last four boxes held all my paints. Some were gallons of paint, and some were in smaller containers, as well as the many brushed and things I owned. Two of the boxes were just the containers of paints, the gallons taking up more space than you might think. A third box held my brushes, a thing of paper plates which I used for palettes, a large blue tarp for when I painted at my easel, my easel, and assorted cups for water and holding the brushes. The last box held different sized canvases.
I stacked the canvases under my end table, and a few of the larger ones at the bottom of the stack stuck out a little, but that was fine. I placed the folded tarp, folded easel, and all of my brushes and cups in one of the two drawers under my bed. Then I placed all the paints in the other drawer. The gallons could only be placed in rows, but I was able to stack some of the smaller containers. Some containers were running low, while I had barely used others.
Now that everything was done being organized, I went downstairs to find a trash can. I found a circular white one, about as tall as a nightstand, and placed it beside my bookshelf.
So, thoughts?
This is the first chapter to Part II of the More Than What You May Think series. If you haven't yet read Part I, you should probably go do that, it's called More Than A Demigod. I mean, you don't have to read it, but things that happen later on may make a little more sense, obviously.
Thank you to anyone who has reviewed, followed, or favorited! You are not inclined to do any of those things if you do not wish, but it would be much appreciated! I send my love to all of you!