Romance Fan Fiction ❯ Eyes ❯ Chapitre One: The Surprise to Come ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Eyes
By Maru

[Chapitre One: The Surprise to Come]- Begin
Room 8, History, Alexander High School; Alexander, New Jersey

Thrace Lastrane stared out the window of the classroom, everything looked so normal and peaceful she had to think for a moment that that’s the way the world really was. A tingle of apprehension went down her spine as she reflected on what her mother had said earlier.

"When you come home I have a really big surprise for you!" her mother had said. She hadn't responded in anyway to her mother's childish glee. It had befuddled her, to her memory; her mother was rarely happy and rarely laughed for that matter. Thrace sighed, her mother hadn't laughed since her younger brother Oliviero had died, and nobody had laughed since then.

A hand shook her shoulder and its owner said, "Hey, Iye, look over there at that guy!"

Thrace obliged, first looking at her best and only friend Sara Renshaw then at the person she was pointing it. A boy walked over to the seat at the back that was closest to the door. She tilted her head to one side and studied him. He had short, deep black hair that glistened with blue light beneath the frighteningly artificial white bulbs above him, his eyes were indefinable from a distance but they were definitely a pale color.

Sara sighed, "He looks so cool! I wonder who he is." She rested her head on her hands and turned her head to look at Thrace. "Don't you, Iye?"

"I know you would wonder but right now I can't!" she said softly and quickly. Sara's eyebrows rose in question so Thrace answered the inquiry they implied. "Mi Madre is planning something strange. She told me this morning that she had a big surprise for me what I got home. She even smiled, it freaked me out"

"Ah," Sara said knowingly, her warm brown eyes regarded her wisely, "You're afraid that this new surprise will change your life all over again." Thrace sighed and nodded, there was no point in denying Sara's prediction, it was true and Sara had an age old wisdom and a strange ability for looking to the heart of people that was passed down through generations of Cherokees. "Well, whatever happens Smokey, just remember that you've always got me!"

Thrace laughed at the nickname, although the reassurances implied the worst would happen the words were nice to hear. Sara had nicknamed her "Iye" when they had first met in kindergarten; it was a Native American name meaning "smoke". Sara had been given a name meaning "songbird". They had both been aptly named, Sara had a singing voice even angels would envy and Thrace had eyes as grey as storm clouds that, is she was lucky, would clear and reveal the hazel coloring that she had inherited from her late father. "Thanks, that's nice to know," she said and grinned.

Sara studied her intently for a moment, discerning the sincerity of the smile. When she found her answer she nodded and smiled, too. "As long as you remember that, we're good."

Their teacher Ms. Morris walked in and said, "Okay, everybody, settle down. I have an announcement to make." The students obediently did as they were told since Ms. Morris was the most favored and the most feared teacher on the staff. "We have a new student today, his name is Charon Keythe. He moved to Alexander from Lincoln Park, north of us." The boy in the back raised his hand, indicating he was the guy the teacher was talking about.

"So he's named after the ferryman of the river Styx," Thrace said looking at the new addition to Alexander High School's populous.

"I would give him my two gold coins if he would just talk to me for a day," Sara said dreamily.

Ms. Morris heard them and said, "Save your gold to buy something else, Ms. Renshaw, Ms. Lastrane is going to be his escort for the day since her schedule matches his the closest."

"What?" Thrace gasped, "But, but I can-"

"But nothing, you're going to spend the day with a student of the opposite gender for the first time in your life even if it kills you so deal with it," Ms. Morris interrupted her. A few unkind people giggled in the back of the class, "And you four, be quiet!" she scolded Kole Remington, Helen Pierce, Lillian Rodolph and Lucius Melano, the school bullies.

"Meh?" Thrace said and sighed, there was no use in arguing, what was done was done and there was nothing she could do about it. A few of the other girls in the class glared at her enviously. A few of them muttered "lucky" with a definite negative edge. She looked to Sara for supported but she just shrugged as if to say, "What can you do?”

History class passed without an effort on Thrace's part so when the class began to file out the door it took Sara to get her attention by shouting abruptly, "Yo, Smokey" in an imitation from the movie "Friday" with Ice Cube and Chris Rock.

"Meh?" Thrace repeated.

"It's time to walk the green mile," Sara said pointing with her thumb at Charon who stood waiting at the door with arms crossed over his chest and back against the doorframe almost lazily.

Thrace whimpered and stood. She collected her belongings before heading to her doom.

*~)|(~*

Charon watched the girl as she trudged to him as if she were walking the plank and his was using his cutlass to push he forward. He noted that she had midnight black hair that, unlike his own, shone silver in the lamplight. Her skin was extremely pale as if she came from a planet without a sun.

When she finally stood before she looked up at him with big grey eyes and asked, "What do you have next?"

"Language & Composition, room 9, Mr. Marlon," he replied curtly, staring down at her until she bowed her head. She sighed and he said, "What? Can't wait to get rid of me?"

Her head whipped up at that, "No, no, no, it isn't that!" she assured him quickly.

He raised his eyebrows, "What is it then?" She mumbled something in reply. "What?" he asked for clarification.

"I'm not good with guys!" she hissed and grey pools became tumultuous storm clouds.

He smiled, "Well that was all you had to say." She glared at him but he used to hand to gesture out the door, "Lead the way." She all but marched with a ramrod spine to a room in a diagonal line across the hall. "What is your name, anyway, Ms. Lastrane?"

"Thrace, my name is Thrace," she said with clipped syllables over her shoulder.

"Thrace," he repeated, "odd name. Mind if I call you Rae, seeing as I'm gonna be spending a lot of time with you?"

"Whatever," was her only reply as she walked through the doorway. He chuckled and followed her.

Mr. Marlon was already in the class room so he made introductions as Charon walked in. "Charon Keythe this is the class, class this is Charon Keythe. Get it, got it, good."

Charon took the only open seat available, the seat behind Thrace. She sat in the first seat by the window again and to her left was the obviously Native American girl who was also obviously her best friend. The girl looked at him and gasped and he smiled charmingly at her in reply.

"Iye, the ferryman is behind you!" she hissed conspiratorially.

"What?" Thrace gasped in surprise and spun around to see him. "You! You never relent, do you?"

"No. Should I, though?" He looked at first rakish then innocent of all evils.

"Ugh!" She threw her hands up in frustration. He chuckled again.

The other girl put her hand on Thrace's shoulder, "Don't worry, after today you won't have to put up with him."

Thrace glanced at him and grinned widely, "Right you are, Sara." They stopped looking at him then and talked between themselves.

He smiled back in response and thought to himself, So the other girl's name is Sara, that's good to know.

"But, for today, I could make your life hell, remember that Rae," he reminded her. She visibly tensed but said nothing because Mr. Marlon’s would have drowned her out with his fast but booming voice.

*~)|(~*

After "lang'n'comp" Thrace led Charon to room 11 where he had photography before heading to her own elective, Graphia in room 1. She massaged her temples as she sat down. When that didn’t erase the headache that Charon had caused she put her head down and used her arms to block out most of the light.

Another hand touched her shoulder and her teacher, Ms. Burd, asked, "What's wrong, Thrace?" She looked up into Ms. Burd's dark brown eyes.

"Nothing, just a new student who's too arrogant for my good," she muttered in reply

"Okay, then take it easy and I hope you feel better." Ms. Burd said, nodding slightly before returning to her desk.

Thrace watched her as she walked and sort of felt sorry for Ms. Burd. The joke among the staff was that the stenography she taught was nothing but chicken scratch. Unfortunately, she would do nothing about the comments because Chenoa Burd was not exactly the most defiant person. She had a soft whispery voice, quiet eyes, and a moderately tall willowy frame; there was nothing loud about her. Still, everyone of the security guards at the school liked Ms. Burd because she was so kind so there was no misbehavior in her class since the guards were on her side and any punishment would be more severe.

Thrace sighed and got out the materials she would need for class. Today they would be working on calligraphy again so she took out her case of eight calligraphy pens, one in each color and a special one in silver. She also got a black pen and her notebook specifically designated for this class. She almost laughed when she remembered that most of her belongings were in black, white, and green. Her father would've been so proud since he had been an enthusiastic Jets fan. She remembered looking at her baby pictures, most of them showed her in a Jets outfit, she'd had Jets shoes, a Jets jacket, Jets bed sheets, and anything else that her dad had found that had the name Jets on it. Even her room had been painted a mellow pale green with a black carpet and a white ceiling. She smiled at the memories that wouldn't be repeated. She would never again enjoy a football game not because she liked sports but because she was with her father who enjoyed it. She sighed and her thoughts turned to all the bad that had happened, her parents had gotten divorced when she was nine years old and then he had died three years later, shortly after her brother had. Her life hadn't been so bad, all things considered, so she really had nothing to complain about. She sighed again and this time turned her thoughts and her attention to the teacher at the front of the class.

*~)|(~*

Latin and Graphia passed without interest and now it was time for lunch. As Thrace approached the cafeteria she saw that Sara was gesturing toward the other door frantically. As she came closer she saw the reason, Charon was standing beside the door and leaning against the wall, smiling smugly at her. Thrace groaned as Sara rushed to her side and Charon stalked toward her.

"Hey, Rae," was the first thing he said to her.

She glared at him and said in a barely polite voice, "Did you know that the name 'Keythe' is a Celtic name meaning the wind?"

He nodded acknowledgingly but looked puzzled over the question, "Yes, I know. Why?"

She didn't answer and snapped instead, "So why don't you act like the wind and blow away." And with that she grabbed Sara's hand and dragged her into the cafeteria.

She nearly missed it when he said, "I would rather that you blow me away."

Thrace led Sara to their customary seats at the end of a table by the window. When they were seated Thrace said, "Ugh, I cannot wait for today to end!"

Sara nodded in agreement but quickly changed the subject, "So, how's Mary Jane?"

"Oh, MJ?" Thrace replied, grateful for the new conversation, "She was purring loudly when I gave her the catnip mouse you sent for her birthday. She even brought it to her bowl when I gave her her breakfast this morning!"

Sara laughed, "That must have been a funny picture, that mouse is bigger that her head!"

And so the day went until the end eighth period when Thrace had gym and Charon had French. She doubted she would have survived it without Sara's help. Thrace walked unwillingly to room 7 where she had algebra with Charon. When she took her seat by the window she sighed.

"So, whys your hair wet?" he asked when she sat down.

"I took a shower after gym and didn’t have enough time to fully dry my hair," she said wearily and pulled out a pencil and her algebra notebook.

"Oh, okay," he said and nodded. To Thrace's surprise he stayed quiet for the rest of the class and the next time he spoke to her was when the bell wrang for the end of the day. He stood and said, "I'll see you later, Thrace Lastrane." as he walked passed.

Thrace gathered her belonging and wondered why he hadn't annoyed her in the ninth period. Had he run out of irritations? Did he finally want to be friends with her? Perhaps his new attitude had something to do with the call to the principal's office during science. She shook her head, she was grateful for his silence. Now the only thing she had to worry about was her mother's big surprise. She walked through the door and continued until she walked out of the school and down the sidewalk to her house.

*~)|(~*

She slid the key tiredly into the of in the front door. Knowing her mother, she would already be home so Thrace had to prepare herself for the enthusiastic homecoming this morning's glee was a preview of. Her mother had started dating two years ago; Thrace was horrified to think of what this surprise might be. She turned the knob and gently pushed the door open.

"Hey, Honey! Home already?" Her mother said as she sailed across the foyer.

"Hey, Mom," Thrace said dully. She didn't add that she had purposely walked home slowly so she was late instead of early. She dropped her backpack by the door as she heard her mother rummaging through something in the living room. She followed the sound into the living room, "So, ah, Mom, what's the big surprise?" she asked nervously.

Neoma Lastrane was oblivious to her daughter's anxiety. "It's not so much one big surprise but a bunch of medium ones," she hedged.

"Well, what are they?" she asked almost impatiently.

"I can only tell you one for now," Neoma said.

"And?"

"We're having company!" she said in a rush.

Thrace sighed, "When are they coming?"

"They're coming over for dinner around six."

Thrace glanced at the clock, it was about 3 now so she had 3 hours to do homework, talk to Sara, and contemplate the other surprises. "Okay," she sighed, then informed her mother, "I'm gonna go do my homework."

"Okay, I'll see you in a while, then," her mother said brightly.

Thrace grabbed her bag and went to the stairs. She shook her head in disbelief as she climbed the wide staircase. Her mother hadn't been that strange and secretive since her father had come home with Mary Jane. Of course, the cat had been planned so she wasn't mad at him.

She headed to her room on the right of the stairs and fell into her bed. She sighed, rubbed her eyes, and ruffled her shoulder-length hair before getting up and going to her desk to do her homework.

Thrace set to work and was done by 4:30. She logged onto AOL, checked her email, and then checked animespiral.com to see if any of her favorite stories had been updated. She waited a while before contacting Sara because she was usually finished with her homework a little after she was. In the end, though, it was Sara who initiated the conversation.

I_love_In_Justice: Hey, Thrace. wat was da surprise?
ImMature: Ugh! Bloody Mother! It wasn’t 1 big 1 but lots of little 1s!
I_love_In_Justice: it could b wors; ur mother could make u begin 2 practice suteeism
ImMature: Ugh! Self-immolation? No thank u!
I_love_In_Justice: do u at least kno 1 of da surprises?
ImMature: Yeah, we're havin company 2nite
I_love_In_Justice: Dats it? dats al she told u?
ImMature: yoip! ur just as disappointed as i am
I_love_In_Justice: did u try 2 get mor info?
ImMature: nope, i was 2 annoyed @ her happy attitude
I_love_In_Justice: Do u kno y C.K. wasn't botherin u in alg?
ImMature: Megh! no! but i hav a feelin sat it has sumtin 2 do w/ him bein called 2 da principal's office in sci
I_love_In_Justice: my spidie-senses r telin me dats tru
ImMature: Lord protect us wen ur spidie-senses r rong
I_love_In_Justice: I c ur sarcasm ::glares @ u::
ImMature: :P ::blos razberi @ u:: megh, stick me w/ a popsicle stick!
I_love_In_Justice: hmn, dat sounds like a good idea
ImMature: ::karate stance:: don't even try it
I_love_In_Justice: ::karate stance:: u kno i wil
ImMature: ::turns & runs away:: try 2 get me
I_love_In_Justice: ::chase, tackle, victory dance:: HA! i won!
ImMature: ::bows worshippingly:: al hail da mitey ichiban!
I_love_In_Justice: negh, fecku
ImMature: Mary Jane says miaou btw
I_love_In_Justice: tel her i luv her 2
ImMature: brb, mamushka wants me
I_love_In_Justice: okies
ImMature: ok, i'm back
I_love_In_Justice: wat did she want?
ImMature: she wants me 2 make biscuits 4 dinner 2nite
I_love_In_Justice: yum, biscuits. da cheez & garlic 1s, rite?
ImMature: yeah so i have 2 go soon & start cookin
I_love_In_Justice: okies, tel me everthin dat happens 2nite
ImMature: okies, ciao ciao
I_love_In_Justice: au revoir, mon ami
ImMature: dasvidanya
I_love_In_Justice: adios
ImMature: arrive derci
I_love_In_Justice: gutten nacht
ImMature: bon soir
I_love_In_Justice: aloha
ImMature: sayonara
I_love_In_Justice: asta manana
ImMature: oidche mhath
I_love_In_Justice: ok, u beat me w. dat 1, nite Thrace
ImMature: Yay! i win! ::chibi victory dance:: nite Sara
I_love_In_Justice: I_love_In_Justice is away
ImMature: ImMature has logged off

Thrace logged off then and went downstairs to the kitchen and gathered all the things she would need to make cheese and garlic biscuits.

*~)|(~*

An hour later the biscuits were cooled and the table was set. Thrace had just finished placing the utensils just right when the door bell wrang.

"I’ll get it,” she called over her shoulder and rushed to the door. She opened the door and gasped, “You! What are you doing here?”

Outside her door stood Charon Keythe. A moment later she looked behind him and saw and an older blond version of him. The man stepped forward, “ Neoma asked us over for dinner," he said.

"Ooooh! Aaron, you're here!" her mother squealed and pushed Thrace aside to hug the man at the door.

Thrace backed away and asked softly, "You wanna come in and away from these two?" She eyed the embracing couple with wary disgust. Charon nodded and slipped past his father. She gestured to their parents, "Is this why you were quiet in ninth period?"

"Yeah, i got freaked out by the connection," he said, staring at them.

"I think i like you now," she said, glancing at him. She looked around the house and asked, "So, ah, would you like a tour of the house while we wait for them to distangle? I don't think they'll be able to eat like that."

He looked at her now, "Yeah, lead the way."

"Okay, let's go upstairs, it's quicker, there's only three rooms, "She said and lead him upstairs. "Do you want the short version that doesnt involve going into my mom's lair or the long one that involves heading over the Acheron?"

He glanced at her quickly then said, "I like my world Acheron-free if you please."

"I prefer a Lethe-free life but okay," she stood at the top of the stairs. She faced her mother's room across from the stairs, "To my right, my room; to my left, the guest room; and across from us, mi madre's domain. Now onto the downstairs." Thrace bounced down the stairs and Charon followed at a slower pace. She circled the stairs counter-clockwise, "The living room, the bathroom, the kitchen and finally the dining room where we'll eat."

Charon stopped at the door to the dining room where Thrace stood. "Wow, that was fast," he muttered under his breath. A miaou sounded from the area around his feet and Thrace bent down to pick up the short-haired black cat.

"And this is my kitty Mary Jane!" she introduced them. The cat looke at hi with lazulite blue eyes and miaoued again.

"Mary Jane as in spiderman?" he asked and scratched behind the cat;s ears.

Thrace shook her head, "Nope. Mary Jane as in Alanis Morisette's song." She corrected him then sang a little part from the song," You know, 'Whats the matter, Mary Jane?"

He chuckled, "Very clever."

"Come on, kids, dinner's ready," Neoma called from the kitchen.

"What are we, six?" he asked as he pulled out a chair for her.

She muttered a thank you then added, "Last time i checked, i havent been six since the midnight between september 21st and 22nd in 1997"

"For me it was the night of July 31st, same year," he informed her.

Their parents walked into the dining room carrying trays of food and whispering between eachother, her mother giggled.

Thrace pretended to blow her brains out with a finger gun, indicting with her eyes the reason for her faux suicide. Charon chuckled, in reply he puleed on an imaginary noose and pretended to choke. Thrace giggled in a similiar fashion to the way her mother had.

"I'm going to put some music on, what would you like to hear?" Neoma asked from beside the stereo in the living room across the hall.

"You want the truth?" Thrace called over her shoulder.

"Of, course," her mother said as if the answer was the most manifest thing in the world.

"Creed me, lady," she replied in a teasingly disrespectful tone.

"Ugh," Neoma snorted, "Yeah, right, I'll put on Star 99.1 if you're not careful."

"No, Mommy, don't!" Thrace gasped, spinning in her seat, "Put on some Default or Bon Jovi, anything but the Christian Music Network." Charon laughed at her distress, Thrace heard him and turned to face him. "You be quiet," she growled, "When they say it's safe for your whole family they're lying the hairy asses off. It makes people normal and happy and eww." She said the last sentence in disgust, inciting even more laughter from Charon.

"What happened to the happy and sunny Rae?" he asked innocently before adding, "By the way, my name isn't 'You', it's 'Charon', if you dont remember."

"I know what your name is," she ground out, "Would you rather i call you 'ferry man'?"

"Well, 'Aeolus' would'nt be too far from the truth," he said contemplatively.

"More of Uranus, completely filled with hot air with his head up his --," she muttered darkly, but her mother discontinued her insult.

"Thrace, play nice," her mother scolded her.

"Yes, Thrace, play nice," Charon had the nerve to near mimic her mother thus supporting Neoma.

"They're acting like brother and sister already," Aaron said with an amused smile.

Charon and Thrace stopped bickering long enough to exclaim in unison, "What?". Although Thrace screeched the word instead of merely saying it in surprise like Charon did.

"Oh yes, this is the surprise," Neoma said and Aaron massaged her hand where it rested on the table, "We're getting married."

Charon and Thrace froze and she said faintly," What?" before falling out of her seat. Charon glanced at the fallen girl quickly before turning back to the adults, staring at them with a wide-eyed, open-mouthed incredulity.

"You realy must try one of the biscuits Thrace made, dear, they're really quite delicious. She makes excellent chesse and garlic biscuits," Neoma said, pushing the tray of golden brown biscuits toward Aaron, again obviously oblivious to her daughter.

[Chapitre One: The Surprise to Come] -End

Maru's Note: This message is for people who never really read greek mythology like i have. In this chapter i have made many references to this mythology and will probably refer to many other such things in future chapters but will hopefully remember to put a Maru's Note at the bottom to help people. Also note that i do not mean to call people stupid or ignorant, its just that some people are ignorant of greek, roman, norse, etc mythology which i study in my free time.

Anyway, here is a slight glossary: (If i explained it in the chapter it wont be here)

"Aeolus": Aeolus is the king of the winds so when Charon says "Well, Aeolus would'nt be to far from the truth" he is refering to his surname "Keythe" which, as i mentioned in the chapter is a celtic name meaning "the wind" so Charon would be king of his family.
"Alexander, New Jersey"i dont think there really is such a place, i just basically renamed my hometown of Franklin Township (bka somerset).
"Bon Jovi, Creed, and Default": these are bands that i listen to and since i dont know any bands except rock ones i had to make do and make Thrace a rock fan (isnt it ironic the way the names can come out in alphabetical order perfectly?)
"Ciao, Ciao": if you havent already guessed all those words that Thrace and Sara ended their conversation with meant "good-bye" in some way or another so they were exchanging farewells seeing who ran out of phrases first. the languages were italian, french, russian, spanish, italian, german, french, hawaiin, japanese, spanish and scottish gaelic, in that order.
"Ferry man": You may have noticed several references to Charon being a ferryman but it is in all actuality true because the real Charon is the ferryman over the river Styx in Hades.
"Gold coins": Charon did not be a ferryman for free though so often ancient greeks put coins under fallen mens' tongues or two on their eyelids as payment to Charon.
"Green mile: (although i feel i do not need to write this one i shall just in case) the green mile is the path to theelectric chair in some jails, it basically is a very long walk because you're walking to your death, see you in the after life.
"ImMature and I_love_In_Justice": these two I.m. names are puns in a way. they both say two different things. Thrace's says "I'm mature" and "Immature" with Sara's says "I love injustice" and "i love in justice" meaning her love is justified.
"Lethe and Acheron": these names are the names of two of the fire rivers in hades. The rivers are Acheron-woe, Cocytus-lamentation, Phlegethon-fire, lethe-forgetfulness, and styx-oath. so basically when Charon says "I like my world Acheron-free if you please" he means he'd like a woe-free world where as Thrace says "I prefer a Lethe-free life" she means she prefers a life without forgetting.
"Star 99.1": this is a real scary radio network, i used to listen to it myself but only because it was the only channel my radio could get. all that i or rather Thrace said about it is true.
"Uranus": this one was not mentioned as in mythology but as in astronomy. Uranus is a planet completely composed of gases like how Thrace said "More of Uranus, completely filled with hot air."

I think that about covers it, if not, review and ask me. Also if you weren't able to find out, Thrace's insult ended with the word "ass".

au revoir,
la petit chat

(good bye,
the little cat)