Vacation time is over and it's back to the real world. How did you spend your summer holiday? :)

I do not own either "Sailor Moon" or "To catch a thief"

Enjoy and review ;)

Chapter 6 – Worth more than a pound of friendship

The walk home was blessedly short, though Serena paid no mind to the imperious façades of the St James residences shadowing her progress. Her distraction did not hinder her pace in the least. She knew her London like she knew the patterns of her embroidered carpet or more fancifully, like she knew her Shakespeare. There was the one line that Serena had whimsically attributed to the city: Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.

As she was unlocking the front door, Serena was greeted by her mother's smiling face, a highly unusual event that made her pause and hesitate while entering, unconsciously straightening her already graceful posture.

'My dear, you are quite late this evening. Was it because of your test? Do tell me the result, after speaking to Melvina earlier I am anxious to hear all about it.' The last was said in a familiarly tense tone. Irene was quite aware that Melvina had, in her opinion, an irritating habit of scoring more than her daughter.

Serena was uncomfortably aware of the letter in her pocket and, even more so, of its content. She wished, not for the first time, that someone had taught Melvina the meaning of discretion. The choice was taken from her when her mother extended a waiting hand and speared her with a commanding look. Serena reluctantly took the offending piece of paper and offered it to her.

As she read miss Haruna's letter, Irene's face became marred with familiarly distressed lines, lines that Serena knew she was responsible for. Her mother's mouth was drawn in a taut, disapproving scowl and Serena could almost see how the words were carving new creases at the corner of her eyes, one for "repeatedly disappointing performances", another for "disrupting influence in class", yet a deeper one for "consider retiring from our prestigious institution". By the time she was finished reading, Irene was shaking with genuine anger.

'I have never understood your interest in attending that school, but I have always assumed that you knew your own mind enough to actually benefit from the experience. It seems I was laboring under a gross misapprehension. If you plan on continuing in the same manner, don't bother to come home after class.'

The two women stared at each other for a moment before Irene turned sharply and headed for the stairs, while Serena stumbled towards the front door. She was deeply hurt by her mother's words and the unfairness of the entire situation. Serena could still remember her first day at the North London Collegiate School and how her entire body had tingled with sparks of excitement. In time, those sparks had burned out one by one, until she had become frozen in a state of uncertainty. She was like a doll whose strings had been cut loose, unmoving and powerless, wondering when she would get a body of her own, wishing she was a good enough little girl.

'You look as if you've done something incredibly stupid. Let me guess, you got yourself expelled from that ridiculous school of yours. I wish I had a sister who was smarter, sheesh!' Serena had not heard her younger brother's approach and his voice gave her a start before the words permeated her foggy thoughts. Samuel had been her staunchest supporter and on any other day she would have accepted his speech as the good-natured teasing it was. Today, though, she was too raw to reply in likewise manner, so she responded in the only other way which was permissible in a siblings relationship.

'Samuel, you are my younger brother, but even so...' She had planned on landing him a smart slap at the back of his head, but was a second too late and hit the door frame instead. Her definitely unladylike howls of pain were almost just as loud as his guffaws of laughter.

By the time her palm stopped throbbing, Serena had regained a modicum of calm. Her mischievous little pest of a brother was long gone as she made her way to her room. Who knew that reaching a standstill in one's life would be so exhausting? The bed looked comfortably alluring and without giving a second thought to her home tasks, disappointments and heartbreak, Serena plunged face down onto her soft pillows, without even bothering to take off her day clothes.

She dreamt of Venus and dark places, of Andrew's gentle smile and another man's mocking smirk. She saw dark cats, with scolding stares and quarter moons on their foreheads. Serena woke with a start when a warm weight settled on her chest and stuck its sharp little claws on her neck.

'What are you doing?' Her yelp was more an expression of her surprise than of physical hurt. In her groggy state, Serena could not understand how the feline had gotten there in her room, though the gentle breeze announced that her window was open. The mysterious cat was watching her with solemn eyes and Serena felt enraptured once again. The events of the day had definitely made her high-strung.

The animal suddenly jumped off the bed and Serena managed to regain her composure. It seemed she had become a cat owner. A wry chuckle escaped her chest. Weren't felines a sign of impeding spinsterhood? An irritated meowing announced that her visitor was in need of attention. The cat was trying to untangle a necklace of sorts from its body. Serena bended and managed to retrieve it while incurring only a minimum number of scratches, but her hiss had nothing to do with the stinging hands. Why was she looking at Molly's necklace?

Author's note:

*Victorian embroidered carpet compositions included highly illusionistic, 3-dimensional flowers.

*"Antony and Cleopatra" by William Shakespeare was probably performed first in about 1607 at Blackfriars Theatre or the Globe Theatre by the King's Men.

*"The Adventures of Pinocchio" by Italian author Carlo Collodi was published in 1883.