Fate & Chance

Chapter One

Fate & Chance

Chapter One

    "*Les fils de pute! He's not coming. He. Is. Not. Coming. Seren! The fucker just told me via an email, an email! That he can't make it to my graduation! What the actual hell?!" I threw my hands into the air then slammed them down onto the desk in front of me causing my iMac to shudder from the force. I nearly apologized to Maggie (my iMac) but Seren doesn't like it when I talk to inanimate objects. Growling in frustration I go to pull my fingers, chipped black painted fingernails-calluses and all, through my insane mane of cotton candy pink hair only to forget that they will inevitably get stuck in my 'white girl fro' and whimper at the pull before carefully unthreading myself. Stupid kinky pencil curls. If only my mother wouldn't kill me I swear I'd shave the waist length mess off. Amber Rose rocked the bald look so hell I bet I could too. I heard Serenity coming to my rescue before I saw her. She'd been dressing when I yelled and of course I'd startled her (even though by now she should be used to my loudness and penchant for freaking out) and made her fall while pulling on her leggings which is what I'm assuming the suspicious thud I'd heard was. I knew she was getting close to my room when I heard her cursing like a sailor and in the reflection from the now sleeping computer screen I could see her rubbing her hip with a frown on her face.

    "By he I'm assuming you mean your dad?" Serenity sat down on my reading chair by the window and began brushing her soft red hair with my comb. Well at least someone was using it because god knows it wasn't going through my hair. It would get stuck worse than my phalanges had.

    "No I was referring to the president of these great united states. You'd think me getting my PhD at twenty one would be important enough for him to be in attendance." I deadpanned at her and she reached forward to pluck me in the forehead. "Ouch!" She's always so violent with me. I think we need to talk about that.

    "Smartass. Did you email him back?"

    I spun my desk chair in circles with my head leaned back staring at the stars painted on my ceiling as I answered. "No. With the amount of emails he gets daily, hell hourly here lately, mine would just get lost in the masses. Maybe I should just be happy with my mothers attendance?" Serenity stopped the spinning of my chair and, with her hands planted firmly on the armrests, stared at my too pointy chin until I tipped my head back forward and met her clear water blue eyes with my own powder blue ones.

    "Chance you need to call him and tell him that he'd better get his ass to New York. You are his only child and you are graduating with honors, hell top of your class with not one, hell not even two but three, count them three PhD's! This isn't a big deal, it's a huge deal!" I wanted to roll my eyes at her but she might pluck me again and I could already feel a bruise forming. I bruise easily, just another curse of being very fair skinned.

    "Alright. You're right, I'll call him." She stared at me until I picked up the phone. She smiled widely at me, it was kind of creepy if I'm being honest, and continued to stare as I held the phone. "Um, Seren, are you gonna go so I can call?" I gestured towards the door and she patted my hair before walking out. She could be such a creeper. I sighed at the thought of this conversation and stood only to immediately collapse again on my bed.

    Tossing my phone in the air and catching it I couldn't help but play back the past eight years in New York and even earlier. My parents had been broken up even longer than I'd graced this beautiful planet we call home. My parents were both from the French Quarter of La Nouvelle Orleans, even though they had never met each other before colliding in the very city that I now resided in. My dad was twenty two and waffling between being a drummer and a broke college student and my mother was a striking petite ballerina quickly rising to the top of one of the most prestigious ballet companies in the city at only nineteen. She was extremely uptight at the best of times and her roommates thought that a night out (or getting laid if we're being honest here and lets be real, I'm always honest) would maybe loosen her up a bit and make her easier to live with without the constant desire to murder her in her sleep by strangulation with the ribbons of her toe shoes (okay so maybe that one was me...). Maybe it was the low lights and the fog machines, or the aura of awesomeness my dad exuded as he beat his drums and commanded the stage even outshining the lead in his band, but it was probably the immense amount of expensive imported beer my mother's friends had been pouring into her. Regardless she was enamored with him and he her for the night, and for nearly every night the next few months as well, until he 'ruined her career and her life' (her exact words no lie) by placing imperfect little me in her way. Together they made the long drive in in an old van packed with all their belongings including -but not limited to- my dads drum kit, my mothers tutu's that she was sure would never fit again, and all their crushed and broken dreams back to New Orleans.