Deception - Chapter Four (PG-13) by Christina Anton daylin@sailorsenshi.i-p.com Disclaimer: You're intelligent people, so I doubt that we have to go over this again. AN: Sorry it took me such a long time to get this in, but in between trying to get out of as many final exams as I could and end of the school year stuff, I didn't have much time for this. The summer is coming though, so I'll have plenty of time to work on this then, unless I get too caught up in MUDding :) Oh, and thanks for your email SSK, that was one of the main reasons I wrote this story. On with the story. The next morning was basically the same as the previous, except for the fact that they all slept much later. Maria was the second to last to awaken, with Haruka stumbling down the stairs at ten-thirty. Teasing jibes were tossed casually about in the kitchen on the topics of sleeping habits and morning breath, and Maria found herself feeling as if she were in heaven. The shrill ringing of the phone knocked Maria out of her euphoric state and she turned her head towards the phone, feeling a sense of foreboding as her sight landed on the black, cordless, essential part of any household. A nonexistant weight seemed to bear down on her shoulders, making her slouch in her chair as Michiru pushed the talk button on the phone and greeted the person on the other side. Maria could faintly hear a puzzled voice come through the phone, and then Michiru smiled and said, "Hello?" in english. A relieved voice on the other end now, and Michiru answered, "Oh, good morning Mrs. Levantine... yes, she's right here... sure, I'll put her on." Michiru put her hand over the end of the phone and said, "It's for you Maria-chan, it is your mother." and then held out the phone to her. By then, the weight on her shoulders was almost too much to bear, and the hairs on the back of her neck were standing completely up. She drew a deep, but slow breath to get her bearings back but not seem to obvious that she was uncomfortable. She straightened her back and took the phone. "Hi mom, how are you?" she asked. "Oh Maria! How was your flight? Anthony and I were so worried." Just like mom to be concerned, but definitely not Anthony, she thought. Even if he did voice some comment on her that sounded concerned, it would have just been a sham to stay on the good side of her mother. "The flight was fine, there was no reason for you to have been concerned." Maria and her mother talked for a little while longer, the weight on Maria's shoulders lessening, but the uneasy feeling still there. Then Jane Levantine said something that Maria would have given anything not to hear in the morning. "Hold on a second, your stepfather wants to talk to you." Maria visibly paled, and the other occupants of the kitchen table didn't fail to notice. All was quiet for a few moments, and the silence was on its way to driving Maria insane. Damn Anthony, she thought, he's probably making me wait just to put me on edge. Then, "Hello Maria, did you have a nice sleep, a good morning?" his deceptively cheery voice said. Just the sound of his voice brought up intense feelings of fear and anger and everything else in between. Her face adopted the blank look that always came when she dealt with Anthony. Oh how she wanted to say something flippant, but she would have to play along; her new "family" was still sitting at the table eating their breakfast. "Yes, I had a good morning." That wasn't a lie, she'd had a good morning before he decided to ruin it. "Ahh that's good. Are you being a good girl? You know what happens to girls when they do bad things, don't you?" he said in that same cheery voice. Yes, she knew what happened when girls did bad things. Their mothers payed for it. "I'm doing fine here." God, she just wanted him to go away and stay away forever! No more pain, no more responsibility, no more aggrivatingly cheery voice! Just hearing the smile in his voice was a mockery of all things happy. There was a chuckle from the other side. "Such a quiet girl you are. But that's what I like about you, did you know that?" When she didn't answer back, he went on. "Well, I know that you aren't very talkative at all in the morning, so I'll let you go. Keep being a good girl now, you hear?" and then he hung up. Maria said a half-hearted goodbye for the sake of making the phone conversation look normal. She turned the phone off and set it down, feeling uncomfortable in the silence. Not being able to stand it anymore, and her appetite replaced with vicious stomach churning, Maria excused herself from the table and went upstairs to her room. * * * "What do you think that was about?" Haruka asked after Maria left. "Well, she obviously has some problems with her parents." Michiru said, starting to clear the table. Setsuna finished the rest of her coffee and helped Michiru. "I don't think there's anything we can do for her at the moment. She'll tell us when she's ready." Hotaru still sat in her chair, looking down into her glass of orange juice in thought. From what she could tell, Maria didn't have the greatest home life. There was also her reaction to Ami's question about siblings last night... "Penny for your thoughts Hotaru?" Haruka interrupted her train of thought. She jumped a little and set her glass down. "I was just thinking." she replied. "About anything in particular?" Michiru asked as she wiped off the table. "Just about Maria-chan. She's too withdrawn for a normal teenager." she said softly. "Hai, withdrawn would be the word." Regretting that she had asked Hotaru the previous question, Haruka decided to put a halt on the conversation. "Why don't we get to know her a little better before we start analyzing her life, ne? If she's anything like me, she wouldn't appreciate it." Michiru stopped and smiled. "You're right, it's just so hard to try not to figure out a way to help her." "We'll try to help her when we can be sure of what's going on. Guessing and assuming things can just make whatever situation she is in worse." "Quite right." Setsuna said from the sink. "What's with the old english dialect?" Haruka asked. Setsuna laughed softly. "I had to go there to take care of some things, and I guess the speech hasn't left me yet." * * * Oblivious to the conversation below her, Maria was sitting crosslegged on her bed, looking out the window at the clear blue sky with it's bright sun that seemed to warm everything except her. Oh God, oh God, oh God, ran through her mind along with other litanys that would have made Andrew Dice Clay blush. If anyone happened to be able to look through the two story window at her, she looked as if she were simply looking out the window, thinking peacefully. Inside, she was fighting not to scream. He just HAD to ruin it, just like he's ruined everything else in my life, she thought. He's ruined me, my mother, EVERYTHING. I've got to find a way to save myself and my mother from this hell. She uncrossed her legs and stretched out on her side on the bed, trying to organize her thoughts around the seething anger whirling through her mind. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds and then letting it out slowly. When she opened her eyes again, the calmness of her features matched the calm in her mind. "Okay, you're calm now Maria," she told herself. "Now what do you want to do?" Her mother wouldn't be able to help her. She often thought of her mother as not really being her mother anymore. Jane Nornan was much different than Jane Levantine. While Jane Nornan had been bright, funloving, caring, and strongwilled, Jane Levantine was a shell of her former self. It showed that she genuinely cared for her daughter, but that brightness was replaced with a dull shine, and the strong will was no more. Anthony Levantine had seemed to pick it all up and sweep it away, molding her into something different. He had tried to do that with Maria, but in a much crueller way, trying to break her through physical means. He hadn't had much success, but he seemed to enjoy what he was doing from the sadistic grin on his face. She had finally gotten away from that, but at the cost of leaving her mother alone with him. Maria didn't think Anthony would do anything to her mother now that he had Jane how he wanted her. But if he did take his anger out on her now that Maria wasn't even in the country anymore... it was just a risk she had had to take. If she had stayed there, she probably would have broken down and done anything he wanted. She had felt herself slipping over the past few months, and it had scared her. She had had to leave to save herself and have a chance at saving her mother. But the problem was, how was she going to do it? She looked over at her clock and saw it was nearly twelve o'clock. She was supposed to go visit Usagi and the others today with Hotaru. They were going shopping weren't they? She got up, went to her dresser, and brushed the tangles out of her hair. She sighed and leaned against her dresser afterward, looking herself straight in the face. Her own dark green eyes haunted her. She could remember a time when they had been bright and happy when she had looked at herself in the mirror. That was a long time ago though. She wiped a loose eyelash away from her cheek, and then pushed herself off of the dresser to go get ready in her bathroom. * * * Maria was just getting ready to go downstairs when there was a knock on her door. Putting her wallet in her back pocket like she always did (purses always got in her way), she opened her door to find Hotaru waiting for her. "Hey! You ready to go?" Hotaru said with a smile, and at Maria's nod she led the way out of the house, calling goodbyes to her family. Makoto was waiting in her car outside. It was a bright neon green that would have announced itself from ten miles away on a foggy morning. Noticing Maria's expression, Makoto laughed and said, "I wanted green, and this was the only green car they had. It should be illegal to have a car this color, I know. Hop in, we're gonna drive down to Rei-chan's and pick up the others." The ride to the Hikawa shrine was a nice one, a fast paced japanese song coming from the speakers in Makoto's car that Maria sort of liked. Maria had an odd taste for both techno and classical music, so the fast pace appealed to her techno side. Even though Maria was a quiet person, Makoto sucked her into a conversation on the faults of men in general, and she found herself enjoying being able to talk freely. "My old sempai dumped me when I was fourteen, the baka. I later found out that he had dumped me for some girl that had an ass the size of the broad side of a barn." Makoto laughed, stopping the car for a red light. "But you're happy with Shinozaki-san now right? So why even think about that baka?" Hotaru asked, grabbing the handle above her as the ponytailed young woman started the car forward when the light turned green. "Because it's nice to think about the first love of my life. Well, now that I think about it, it was probably just an infatuation. I was only fourteen right?" Makoto stopped the car again and waved a couple of teenagers across the street. "But it was my FIRST infatuation." she said as she started the car rolling again. "What about you Maria-chan? Have any bad boyfriend stories?" Makoto glanced at her from the rearview mirror. "Umm... actually, I've never had a boyfriend." Maria said softly. Makoto made a show of being shocked. "Never had a boyfriend?!? A beautiful girl like you? I find that hard to believe." she smiled back at Maria. Maria knew she was pretty, she just didn't have time for a relationship, and frankly, from her experiences with men (no, a man), she didn't want one. "I just have never wanted one. I've got too many other things on my mind." Makoto nodded and looked sympathetically back at her. "Well, you're still young. Perhaps it's a good thing you don't want to rush into anything." Hotaru and Makoto talked about other things the rest of the drive, and Maria was content just to listen. Even though Makoto was three years older than them, she was amazingly easy to talk to. The way she held herself was intimidating along with her size, but her easy manner made her forget she was in the presence of a woman that could probably snap her in two if she had a reason to. When they got there, the other girls were waiting at the bottom of the steps as they pulled up. The four girls waved at them, and moved towards the car. "Geez Mako-chan, every time I see this car I feel like I need to wear sunglasses." Minako quipped. Makoto sent a mock glare at the other girl before asking, "So are you guys taking Rei-chan's car? We've got room for one more in here if anyone wants to come with me." In the end, Minako decided to ride in Makoto's car, saying, "Your car is bigger Mako-chan, and I don't think Ami-chan would appreciate having to deal with me, Usagi-chan, and Rei-chan by herself." Maria had noticed that both Ami and Makoto seemed to be the stability within the fivesome. Yesterday, while she was with them all at the shrine, Rei and Usagi would start to bicker about something, with Minako gleefully watching the action, and Ami and Makoto trying to calm the two arguing young women down. It had been quite amusing to Maria. By the time the shopping spree was over with, Maria was actually feeling "normal". She was taking part in the girl's conversations and feeling comfortable around the raucous group of young women. In the back of her mind though, she was mulling over how to deal with her problems. Her mind just needed a little vacation for a while. End Chapter Four AN: Hrm... I wasn't very thrilled with the way I ended this chapter, but I wanted to get to the next one! Hope you guys don't mind :) I'm hoping to get chapter five out sometime next week, so keep an eye out. Oh, one more thing. I got a 99% on my History exam! *cheer* Until next time readers.