Secrets the Stars Keep

Chapter One

"Eirene Stephenson!! Get down here this instant!" Begrudgingly, Eirene began to make her way down to her fuming father, who was no doubt beyond red in the face at this point. After she'd done all she could to avoid this, including walking back into the house for something she "forgot" a total of eleven times, Eirene had finally accepted her fate. This move was happening.

Arthur Stephenson was waiting by the car with his very impatient bride and her screaming children. He had a pair of aviator sunglasses clutched tightly in his right hand and was arguing on the phone with the other. As his daughter appeared in view, he quickly wrapped up the phone call and hauled the last of her luggage into the back of his pick-up truck. "Listen I know you're not happy about this, but you're about to start your Senior year, it'll do you some good to spend time with your mother before you're officially old enough to go off on your own and do whatever it is you do these days," He barely spared her a glance as he pulled himself into the driver's seat of the vehicle.

Eirene shoved herself into the backseat next to her demonic stepsiblings, praying they didn't disturb her during the next few hours. "Besides," Her father continued. "with your new brothers and sisters, we've run out of room in the house. And I'm sorry, but there's simply no other option." Of course. The real reason Eirene was going to live with her mom. Her father's new bride and her three children from her previous marriage. In a four-bedroom house, it was impractical to have three little kids and one almost grown teenager.

It was no doubt her stepmother's idea, who had her father wrapped around her ̶ "Eirene!!"

Looking up at her father, she forced a smile and pretended to be listening to the rest of his lecture about how it was absolutely necessary that she moved so far from home. Arthur was never a particularly warm man, but she'd always known that he loved her through the awkward way he'd try and be gentle while he kissed her boo-boos and wiped her tears. When he met her stepmother, everything changed. The fatherly disposition that he used to show Eirene had been traded out for a mild-acquaintances type of relationship.

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When her father pulled up in front of a moderately sized house, Eirene was surprised to see her mother waiting on the sidewalk. Maybe her mother really had changed... maybe she was different now. Her father stepped out of the truck, retrieving her luggage from the back, and handing it to what looked like her mother's bodyguard. He then stood in front of the small, yet antagonistic woman.

Something had always been unclear to Eirene as to why her parents had split up. When the two of them were in proximity to each other, there was no yelling, no resentment, no hatred. In fact, to any outsider looking in, including Eirene, the look in their eyes was a dead giveaway that they were still very much in love. "Caroline." Her father was the first to speak. "Arthur," The warmth in her mother's eyes disappeared as quickly as it came.

"I trust she has all her things?"

Her father simply nodded.

He turned to Eirene and pulled her into an awkward yet sweet hold. He gave her a tight-lipped smile and began to walk briskly back to the truck. It was about what Eirene expected. "Oh! Uhm, Eirene? Watch the stars very closely." Caroline stepped one foot forward from her place a few steps away from Eirene and glared coldly at her ex-husband. "I think it's time for you to leave, Arthur." Her father's gaze lingered on hers for a few moments more before he loaded into the truck and sped down the street.

Eirene watched as the vehicle disappeared before it rounded the corner, and her father was gone.

"Eirene, this is Bruce. He's my," She grimaced before continuing. "...housekeeper, for lack of a better word. Do not disturb me unless absolutely necessary. Any and all things you may need should be reported directly to Bruce. Bruce grab her things please." The brick wall of a man let out a grunt. He then turned and followed Caroline diligently into the house. That was more like her mother.