Twice Over

Chapter Sixty Two - Serendipitous

serendipitous
adjective
1. occurring or discovered by chance in a happy or beneficial way

I made my way slowly into the office area and stepped up to the front desk. I had to wait a moment for the receptionist to finish what she was working on before she moved over to the desk where I was waiting. Other students are coming and going all around me, but I still wait. I silently pull out my cell phone and set it to video recording while I hold it between my hand and backpack strap, facing the front. I have a feeling I'm going to need it.

Finally the lady behind the desk acknowledges me.

"Good morning, I am Samantha Brussels. How can I help you today, Miss Twice?" She asked with a smile. Its a kind of smarmy smile, like she's not really offering anything other than a false salutation. She obviously know who my step father was.

"Good morning, I reported that my laptop was stolen last Friday and would like to report now, that it was returned to me." We'll, it wasn't actually returned to me, it was returned to the police.

"Oh, dear. That's not good. I'm glad it was found." 'Found' like it wasn't stolen, but went missing. "Did it come back to you in good condition?" the lady asked.

"Yes, it did, thank you." I waited as she found the appropriate folder with the report that was compiled last week about it. I record with my phone all the pages that she picks up and turns over.

"It says here that you suspected you knew who took your computer?" Now she was just fishing for gossip. This annoyed me and I let that emotion trace across my face.

"Yes," I replied and left it at that. The lady looked up at me and smiled, waiting for me to elaborate. When she saw that I wasn't going to, she looked down again and riffled through the pages of assignments that were attached to the report. Some were old assignments, some class notes, some were up and coming assignments that I had begun to make notes on. One was my report for my business class. They were all signed and stamped, dated last Friday when I handed them in with the report. Everything in my school files on my cloud account were printed off, so that if I was accused of plagiarising, then I had it all right here in the office.

"Could I please take an image of you holding these copies of my class work with the date stamp showing, for my records?" I wave my phone to her then took a quick picture of the office lady holding up the pages of work. It didn't matter what was showing, as long as the date and front page of the report was there.

"All good, thank you. I really appreciate you help."

"You're welcome. I'm glad that things turned out OK for you." I nodded in agreement then left the office with a kindly wave good bye. Muttering behind me the lady said, "Some of these girls..." It made me smile. And I was still smiling when I walked into Mr Liam Ferguson when I exited the office reception area.

"Woah. Hey Lily. Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Liam was wearing a smart shirt and tan chinos in black biker boots today. He looked as handsome as ever, in a really youthful kind of way.

"Mr Fergurson." I relied dryly, turned and hobbled away down the hallway.

"Miss Lily. The least you could do is let me check that I didn't hurt you when I bumped into you back there." He caught up to me and I stopped at stared at him. He was the picture of a contrite gentleman, certainly appearing as an upright member of society. His smiled brought out the cute dimples around his mouth and I almost gave in to his puppy dog pleading. Pleading for what? I'm not sure.

I sigh. Then remember from 'before' exactly what he did and how he used his ability to 'tame' the 'ungly step-sister' to get into Eyva Overmeyer's good graces, eventually becoming her temp boyfriend until they graduated high school. How serendipitous to help direct him on the right path now.

"I think, if you want to become Eyva's groupie, you will need to either try staring in your own TV series as a child actor, or have your wealthy uncle donate to the local children's hospital in your name. Gaining her acceptance by destroying her hated step-sister's life, that's me in case you need clarification... Its is a poorly thought out strategy that will at best get you a date for the senior prom next year, at worst a kiss on the cheek for being a worthy sacrifice." I lean on my good leg and hold my crutches with one hand. Tapping my check I pretend to think about the options.

"I think the child acting route would bring greater benefits, especially at this stage of your young career. Once you've gained a few million fans, then go with the children's hospital donation. Both have positive impacts on society as a whole and would outlast your infatuation with Ms Overmeyer. Messing with her step-sister (me) a month out of her graduating high-school before you never see her again, such a waste of time and talent." I pretend to share in his frustrations and smack him gently on his shoulder.

"I'll leave it all up to you though, my condolences on your tough decision, but my congratulations on making it big while in high school. Lets hope you don't peak here and now. I might be a difficult road from here on out."

"Whaaa?" He stuttered as I moved away from him. He's probably trying to figure out how I knew he was even making plans for auditions and talking to his uncle about his charity donations. I waved back over my shoulder, bidding him farewell.

"Oh, and no charge for my consultation today. Next time, I'll charge by the minute, minimum of 30 minutes charge time." I called out and walked... hobbled away.

Gosh, this would have been much more impacting if I didn't have to use these stupid crutches. Then I smirked, remembering his stupid looking face staring at me, dumb-founded. I couldn't help giggling.