Chapter 1: In
The Beginning
Chance Malone was your typical high school junior; tall, thin, black haired,
brown eyed, and smart. But there would always be something that set her apart
from everyone else. She had lost her parents to a plane crash a year and a half
ago and was now living at their large mansion on the outskirts of Smithville,
New York.
The mansion was a quiet place on about 50 acres of land called Château Malone
after the family. Chance lived by herself on the property with only her old
Rottweiler, Brutus, to keep her company. Her grandparents lived in Canada, and
had already settled with the state of New York to let Chance live by herself,
but they always sent her checks to pay bills and have spending money.
That Tuesday morning, Chance woke up at 6 as she usually did. Brutus was already
at his feet when he heard her stirring in bed. This was his way of saying he
was hungry.
Chance rose from the feather soft covers of her warm bed and stood up to stretch
her muscles. Her thin black hair swung against her back as she popped her vertebra
into place. She walked out of the room, old Brutus following. She climbed down
the Victorian staircase and went into the old world style kitchen her mother
had designed. Chance grabbed the dog food from the bin at the bottom of the
counter and poured it into Brutus's silver dish by the sink. Afterwards, she
filled his water bowl and headed for the other cabinets.
Looking opposite the sink, Chance could see the plain white calendar that hung
from the wall by an old rusty nail. The Tuesdays were marked in red indicating
that today was cleaning day. She reminded herself to leave a spare key under
the doormat when she left the house so the cleaning lady could let herself in.
As Chance shuffled around the kitchen picking up the cereal from the pantry
and a plate from one of the overhead cabinets above the sink, she noticed the
newspaper on the back porch. She left the cereal and bowl on the countertop
and went to the glass door to pick up the morning edition of the New York Times.
"Damn paperboy," Chance said aloud. Brutus paused his munching and looked up
at her, but Chance didn?t notice. "This is the last time he's gonna do this,"
she added going over to the kitchen table with the bowl, cereal, and newspaper.
She set them down separately and began to pour the cereal into the bowl.
Chance began her breakfast by opening the newspaper to look for an interesting
article to read. She skinned the first few pages to find nothing to her linking.
The farther she went through the paper, the less interesting it became. Becoming
frustrated, Chance flipped to the Entertainment section, the only thing she's
ever be caught dead reading. One article popped out at her as she began to read.
"Savage Garden at MTV studios today!" Chance nearly screamed. She stood up from
the table and began to dance around in her baggy silk pajamas. Brutus stared
up at her and began to bark. Chance knelt down to him and took his muzzle with
her hands. "Savage Garden is gonna be in New York today, and you know what that
means. No school!"
Chance didn't care for school much anymore. After her parents' deaths, she lost
interest in almost everything except for music. It was Savage Garden's "Affirmation"
CD that had helped her come to grips with the reality of losing her parents.
She also began to write her own music as therapy hoping that it could help her
move on. Through her music, Chance was able to express her feelings like she
had never been able to and was able to get on with her life.
After breakfast, she ran upstairs to her bedroom looking for the perfect outfit
to wear that day. Chance wanted to be noticed. The limelight was her place after
all. Crowds never made her nervous. "The more people to see me, the better"
was her motto. Searching her closet, Chance finally found what she was looking
for; a short-sleeved white shirt with a cheetah fur patterned collar, a black
leather skirt, and a pair of black, knee high boots that she absolutely loved.
Chance looked at herself in the mirror as she put on her clothes. She made sure
she was satisfied with the way she looked then rushed downstairs, grabbing her
purse from the marble table in the foyer and running out the door. Her vintage
1970 fire engine red Corvette was already parked outside. As she got in, Chance
realized that she was forgetting something. She ran out of the car and quickly
placed a spare key under the faded old doormat. She was now finally off at 7:00
AM for a day of crazy fan fighting and hoping to get a chance to meet Savage
Garden.