Soul Quest

Chapter 7

Liv

Time - Fourteen years later; September 3, 2014

Place - Forest Hills High School

Queens, New York

"Speak to the earth,

and it shall teach thee."

- Biblical proverb

I woke up to the smell of sausage and something sweet. Did I smell French toast? I could hear my mother plundering around in the kitchen. No doubt she is more stressed about my first day of high school than I am.

"Liv honey, are you up yet?" she called.

Lara Glyn, that's my Mom. A tall, slender woman in her mid forties with the same thick mahogany hair, olive toned skin and deep, chocolate brown eyes I see in the mirror every day. For as long as I can remember people have told me I look just like her but that is where the similarities end. Lara Glyn is entirely domestic, an excellent homemaker. I want more than that for myself.

"You don't want to be late forYOUR first day of school. Rise and shine sleeping beauty. Do you want juice or coffee this morning? Or both?" she ranted simultaneously mashing the coffee grinder and retrieving juice from the fridge.

Why does she even ask? I had to chuckle. Don't get me wrong. I love my Mom. She's the best. I can definitely see where I may have inherited my scientific mind and theatrical tendencies from her side of the family. She is always experimenting with her recipes and she can be down right dramatic in her lectures.

"Hurry up Liv! Everything is getting cold." she finally demanded as I loped down the stairs and through the hallway to the kitchen.

She had quite a spread laid out on the culinary island in the middle of the kitchen. I located the French toast and sausage whose aroma I awoke to alongside a bowl filled with strawberry halves, kiwi slices and honey dew balls. They were pierced on to skewers in an ABC pattern.

"Geesh Mom. It's just me. Do you really think I can eat all of this by myself? Hasn't DadALREADY left for work?" I said flustered at the mountain of food in front of me.

I was kind of nervous about the first day of school thing. That is the first day of high school thing, and an enormous amount of food is not likely to help calm the butterflies in my stomach.

"Yes. Your father had to leave early for court this morning." she answered simply.

"Oh yeah, the Spencer case is this week isn't it?" I asked curiously.

This case ordinarily would not have been that involved, just your standard custody case. Except in this case the parents challenging for custody were high society types. It has been played up by the media for weeks now. My Dad is a Child Psychologist who has been brought in by the District Attorney to testify on behalf of the child.

"Yes, the Spencer case. Anyway Jedd should be here any minute. No doubt he is still starving after whatever breakfast he attempted to scrounge up this morning failed to satisfy him. His mother has been working third shift at the hospital so I offered to get Jedd to school in the mornings." she said as Jedd strode up the steps to the back porch as if on cue to knock on the kitchen door before he entered.