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Post by vanessa on Sept 28, 2010 16:15:25 GMT -5
It had been a long day at school for Vanessa. The first few days had been going pretty well. She still hadn't made any friends but that was like her nowadays. Vanessa was too timid and introverted to really make an effort. It wouldn't surprise her if Alyzia was her only friend in Cape May. She certainly hoped things would turn around soon. She didn't want this to be just another Carmel. It would have been pointless to move, if so.
She had made plans to have dinner with Alyzia at a small diner in Cape May. Immediately after school she'd gone to the library to do a little studying, since her teachers expected her to be up to speed on where everyone else was having missed the first couple weeks of school. Around 5:30 she left the library and headed to the diner. Alyzia wasn't there yet, so she took a seat in a booth by the large window on the south side. Vanessa hoped Alyzia wouldn't be long, but she would never admit that. She would act like she hadn't hoped her entrance wad 5 seconds after her own. As she looked around the diner she was bouncing her leg nervously. This place was so new to her. It was really scary to a timidly shy person like her.
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Post by alyzia marie chace on Sept 28, 2010 22:00:58 GMT -5
Sea lions. Fish, and sea lions. It was a good thing Alyzia was good at her job. It was also a very good thing she liked it. Today, she had to take a swim with them, to see if whatever was making them sick was in their tank. She took samples of the water and explored the areas not visible to the eyes of visitors. She didn't find anything, but she had to have the water tested before she could figure it out. She wasn't going to drain the tank until they could figure out what the problem was, and they couldn't move the sea lions just yet. That was what made her late.
She returned back to the apartment after work to take a quick shower before she was supposed to have dinner with her cousin at a diner in downtown. Alyzia herself was still getting used to Cape May, but having her family near her was making it easier, even if she wasn't quite used to living with Vanessa. After her shower and getting ready, she headed back out to the diner. She was late, but only by a few minutes. She hoped Vanessa wasn't too mad at her. Once inside, she slid into the booth across from her cousin. "Hi, Sweetie," she said. "Sorry I'm late. I smelled like fish. Had to shower."
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Post by vanessa on Sept 28, 2010 22:08:54 GMT -5
While she waited, Vanessa observed the people around her. No one seemed to notice her which was a good thing. She hated attention from strangers. People staring at you....people you didn't even know was a horrific thing in her mind. Vanessa was one to get paranoid very easily now. It had started her freshman year. It was just after her father died. Scott Chace was a good man who had her best interests at heart. His life had been taken way too soon and she missed him every day. The cause of his death was a car accident and Vanessa had witnessed it since he'd been pulling out the the school parking lot after dropping her off one day. It wasn't his fault. But the man in the other car had died too along with his wife and daughter who had been a sophomore at Carmel High. That was how the rumors started.
Vanessa was quickly taken out of her thoughts when suddenly Alyzia slid into the booth across from her. Putting on an awkward grin, she said, "It's okay. I don't mind waiting. You have an important job to do." Alyzia was such a good person and kind enough to let her stay with her in Cape May. Her mother, Marissa, had worries about sending her to live in Jersey, not wanting it to be a bother for Alyzia. But everything seemed fine now. She was trying to work on being a more social person but someone she didn't think she would escape things. Fortunately people here didn't know who she was yet and they didn't know what had happened three years ago. "So how was your day?" she asked.
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Post by alyzia marie chace on Sept 29, 2010 10:39:24 GMT -5
Lyz picked up the menu, glancing over it quickly to see what she might actually want. Being in Cape May for such a short time hadn't given her the much time to check out the local restaurants. She was more interested in spending time with Caleb anyway, so they would usually stay home and cook. Besides, after a long day at either of their jobs, it was nice to just stay home. Of course, a lot of times their schedules conflicted, making him have to stay until taps. Prior to living in Cape May, Alyzia knew nothing about military jargon, but she was starting to pick up on it. The first time Caleb said taps to her, she was so confused. But after he explained what it meant she nodded, not really understanding why it was called that, but accepting it nonetheless.
Alyzia closed the menu when Vanessa asked how her day was. "Could have been worse," she said. That was true. She'd had much worse days on the job, especially in Pensacola. She definitely preferred the controlled environment of a local zoo to the insanity of an oil spill, but she'd been needed down there at the time. Now they had enough trained people that she was allowed to leave to wherever else she was needed. "I still can't figure out what's wrong with my kids. I'm going to have to move them but there's no place for them to go right now." She always referred to the animals she worked closest with as her kids. They were the only kids Alyzia had. "How was yours? School getting any better?"
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Post by vanessa on Sept 29, 2010 11:16:55 GMT -5
Nessa nodded. "You must be really worried about them," she said when Lyzi said that there was something wrong with her "kids" which she knew that it wasn't real kids she was talking about. It was her animals. Lyzi had a fascinating job and it wasn't really something that Nessa was interested it doing for herself. But it was certainly something and she admired her cousin for working with animals like that. She herself had never been one to love animals enough to work with them for a living. Truth be told, Nessa didn't know what she even wanted to do with her life.
Lyzi asked if school was getting any better. The truth? No. But she couldn't lie to her. Nessa just shrugged and said, "It's the same as yesterday. It might take me a while to really adjust." She looked at the menu and decided she was just going to get a cheeseburger and french fries. It was simple enough. Nessa wasn't one to try something new usually when it came to food. She loved cheeseburgers and fries anyways so she wasn't picking the first thing her eye came across. A waitress came up to them and asked what she could get for them. Nessa told her that she would take a Coca-Cola and the cheeseburger of course. Normally she didn't drink carbonated beverages but Coke always went good with a burger.
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Post by alyzia marie chace on Sept 30, 2010 21:38:02 GMT -5
The waitress had come to the table before Alyzia had a chance to respond to her cousin. When it was her turn, she ordered a grilled cheese and french fries, along with a water. She hadn't been very hungry as of late and had actually been feeling kind of sick lately. The lighter the food, the better, she figured. Maybe whatever was making those sea animals sick was getting to her. Maybe swimming in their tank wasn't such a good idea. Lyz made a mental note to herself to notify the zoo staff that the lions would be moved to holding and she had intentions of draining the tank tomorrow. She would scrub every inch of that tank with a toothbrush if she had to. Now it was getting personal.
When the waitress left their table to go put their orders through, Lyz pulled at her napkin, not enough to tear it. It was just a nervous habit. She needed to do something with her fingers. "You're in your senior year. I know it's gotta be tough to relocate all the way across the country. If there's anything I can do to help, you can tell me. You know you can talk to me about everything, right?"
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Post by vanessa on Oct 1, 2010 12:59:39 GMT -5
After the waitress left, Nessa heard Lyzi talked about how hard it must be to relocate for her senior year. That struck a cord with her. Yes, it was hard but then again she was glad to be out of Carmel. No one there wanted her to be a student at their school all because of her father's mistake which cost a fellow student her life along with the lives of her family. Lyzi asked if she knew she could talk to her about anything. Yeah, she did. That was the problem. She couldn't even talk to her own mother about these things.
So Nessa felt the tears coming out of her eyes. "Yeah," she said trembling. Then she felt herself getting weaker and really felt the tears flow. She closed her eyes and put her face looking to her lap so Lyzi didn't have to see her cry. Nessa grabbed a napkin and wiped her eyes. "I just don't want everyone to know what happened back home. I'm afraid they'll all see me the same way as those people did." She spoke through thick tears and sobs. Bringing the napkin to her eyes again and wiped and sniffled.
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Post by alyzia marie chace on Oct 18, 2010 0:34:55 GMT -5
Alyzia's heart broke for her cousin. Vanessa was the closest thing that Lyz had to a sister, and seeing her cry made Lyz want to cry. She passed her napkin over to the younger girl, in case she needed another. "Ness, I'm not sure what happened to you at your old school," she started, her voice soft, "and I'm not sure I'll ever know, but you've been given a second chance. You can be whoever you want now. Both of us can."
She reached across the table and patted Vanessa's arm softly. She wasn't good with teens, but she was good with girls, no matter what the age. "Those other bitches can take it in the ass. You don't need their shit. You're better than them. Keep your face up. It'll get better." She flagged down a waitress and whispered something. Thirty seconds later, a piece of chocolate cake was set in front of Vanessa. "Start with this. Dessert before dinner. Chocolate takes the edge of the sting off."
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