~~~June 2002~~~
Circe McKenzie burst into the house. "Hi, Auntie Mari. I'm here to see Calypso." She ran up the stairs to her best friend's room before Marianne Jordan could say anything to her goddaughter, the daughter of her best friend.
Circe walked into Calypso Jordan's room without knocking, just like she'd walked into the house without knocking. Circe McKenzie and Calypso Jordan were best friends, and had been since their birth. Their mothers and fathers were best friends. They were each other's closest neighbors, and never bothered with formalities such as knocking. Circe knew the Jordan house as well as she knew her own, and Calypso knew the McKenzie house just as well.
"Calypso, I've got great news. Leave the weekend free." Circe collapsed on Calypso's bed, and looking at Calypso, who was sitting at her desk.
"What's the news?" Calypso turned to look at Circe.
"I have our weekend planned."
"That's the good news?"
"We have nothing to do this weekend, so yeah it is."
"Circ, good news would be having our entire summer planned. Great news would be having the next year planned, since we're not going to college right away. Probably never gonna go to college, if our parents have their way, or we follow the steps expected of us, and get married, and spend the rest of our lives as an ornament.”
"Calypso, don't worry about it. It'll all fall into place. Just think about the party. We need to go shopping, get clothes. It's a three day event. We need new bathing suits, clothes, shoes...."
"In other words, new everything?"
"Yeah."
"Cira, Cali, get down here," Marianne called.
Circe and Calypso had been born two weeks apart, Circe being the oldest. Both Marianne and Mikayla McKenzie were mythology fans, and had chosen two names from myth, Circe and Calypso, characters in Homer's The Odyssey, as names for their daughters. But by the time the girls were four, they'd hated being called by their real names, and shortened them to "Cira" and "Cali". And the nicknames stuck. Only Circe and Calypso used their real names when talking to each other.
"Coming," Calypso called, as she and Circe walked downstairs. "Yeah, Mom?"
"Cali, your dad and I are leaving now. Mikayla just told me about the party, and yes, you can go." She pulled a few hundred dollar bills out of her purse. "Here's some money for shopping. Have fun. And don't get in too much trouble."
"We won't, Auntie," Circe said.
Marianne shot a glare at Circe. "Sure you won't, Cira. And I was born yesterday."
Circe laughed. It was well-known that she was the trouble-maker and Calypso the one who got them out of trouble. "C'mon, Auntie, we're not that bad."
"I suppose not." Marianne sighed, then hugged the girls. "Have fun, you two. Love you."
"Bye," they called, watching Marianne walk to the waiting limo.
"Tell Dad I love him," Calypso called. Marianne and Connor Jordan were flying to Europe for the summer, and wouldn't be back until late August.
"We're gonna have so much fun," Circe commented. "This summer is gonna rock."
"I think it's gonna be kinda dull, unless we find something to do."
"Calypso, stop being so negative. It's gonna rock. Trust me."
"Unfortunately, I do."
"I'm going to ignore that comment, and we're gonna go shopping. Daddy gave me like three hundred, and then I still have lots of money left over from graduation and everything, so we're both set."
Circe and Calypso walked out of the house and headed for the garage. The Jordan's lived a mile from the McKenzie's, but due to a shortcut between the two houses, it was only a five minute walk. The path cut over the two properties, and their was a gate in the fences that divided the land and provided much needed security.
"When does the party start?" Calypso asked five minutes later, as they were speeding down the highway towards Los Angeles, where they did all of their major shopping.
"Friday night. We should arrive around five."
"Where is it? Where are we going to be staying? And how did you get us invite's, if it's such a big, important event?"
"It's at a private mansion. We'll be at the mansion. And a good friend of ours invited us. After all, it is being thrown by her."
Calypso glanced at Circe. "You mean...?"
Circe nodded her head. "Yep. Lorelie's in town."
Calypso grinned. "This summer's gonna rock."
"You finally agree."
"Because now we have something to do. We can catch up with Lori, and see if she needs any company in that drafty castle she lives in."
"Lori isn't going to be there this summer. She's gonna stay in America."
"Ok, so our summer's gonna rock because we'll be able to see a good friend and won't be home, bored, all summer long."
"I told you-"
"Circe, do not finish that sentence."
"-so," Circe finished, ignoring Calypso's comment.
Calypso pulled up in front of a mall five minutes later. "Here we are."
"Shopping. What a pleasure." Circe sighed happily. She loved to shop.
They were heading out of one store when Calypso spotted Lorelie Khanauri. Lorelie was from a small European country. They'd met at boarding school four years ago, and had become good friends, even though Lorelie had been a year older than Circe and Calypso, and left a year before them.
"How have you been?" Calypso asked, as they hugged. "It's been a long time since we've seen you."
Lorelie sighed. "I know. I've been so busy with state events. God, I hate being who I am. But other than that, I've been good." She hugged Circe. "What about you two? Still getting in trouble, Circ?"
Circe laughed. "Of course. And Calypso is forever getting us out of it."
Lorelie laughed. Circe and Calypso had made boarding school bearable for her. They'd become the best of friends, although she wasn't as close to them as they were to each other. "What are you two doing?"
"Shopping for your party," Calypso told her.
"Me too. Hey, why don't you guys come out tonight? We can have the rest of the week to catch up without interruption."
Lorelie surveyed the crowd on the lawn from her balcony. Everyone who was anyone was there. Musicians, actors and actresses, athletes. It was a gathering of the rich and famous.
Lorelie hated it.
“We’re all so shallow,” Circe commented, leaning against the railing of the balcony next to her. “It makes you sick, doesn’t it?”
“Haven’t you ever wanted to see what life is like without being rich?” Lorelie asked.
“Of course, Lorelie,” Calypso said from her other side. “I’m sure we’ve all wondered at one point in our lives, just as everyone else wonders what it’s like to be rich.”
“Maybe we should try it,” Lorelie suggested.
“You mean, try to live like the other half?” Circe asked. “Become poor?”
“Yeah. You know, get jobs, live in small apartment, drive a used car. Things like that.”
“Lori, we couldn’t do that.” Calypso waved her hand around. “We’d have too much to worry about. Like being recognized, getting rid of out bodyguards. Finding jobs.” She laughed. “Who the hell would hire us? We have no experience at nothing.”
“We’ve been to school. We have training in things.”
“Yeah, in what to feed a foreign prince, or how to seat people at a table. What to look for in flower arrangements. We don’t have an useful experience or education.” Calypso shook her head. “We’re useless.”
“C’mon, you two,” Circe said. “You’re depressing me. Let’s go party.”
Lorelie laughed, trying to shake off her mood. “Circe, is that all you think about?”
“No, I think about other things, like guys, and, um, guys, and my hair, and my clothes, and more guys, and of course, partying again.”
Calypso and Lorelie laughed. “Circe, you amaze me,” Lorelie told her.
“I know. I’m an amazing person.” Circe dragged them towards the vanity. “Let’s go find some hotties.” They stood in front of the mirror, surveying themselves. “We’re young, pretty chicks. Now let’s party.” Circe gave one last glance at the mirror, and turned to walk out of the room.
They looked enough alike to be sisters. Their only differences laid in their coloring All tall, slender, well-built. Generations of slender women and modern day exercise and diets had combined to give them figures most women would kill for. Nevermind that they couldn’t eat anything they wanted, and were hungry nearly all of the time. All that mattered was how they looked.
Lorelie was blonde, with beautiful blue-violet eyes. Circe had dark brown hair, with natural red streaks, and green eyes. Calypso had black hair, and gold eyes. All three girls had pale skin.
Lorelie’s idea bugged Circe. As she was on the dance floor, freaking with a hot guy she’d found. As she flirted with nearly every guy in the room. It bugged her so much, she finally gave in to what her head was telling and approached Lorelie.
“We’ll do it.”
“Do what?” Lorelie asked, confused. She had no clue as to what Circe was talking about.
“Your idea, to see how the other half lives. We’ll do it.”
“Did Calypso agree to this?”
“No. But don’t worry. I’ll convince her. I always talk her into things.”
“I know that, but do you think she’ll actually agree this time? The only reason why she agreed do to anything was because she really wanted to do it, but her conscience always says no.”
“She wants this as much as we do, Lorelie. She just doesn’t want to go against everything she’s been taught. Her conscience once again is telling her ‘no’. We need her, and once she realizes we’re determined to do it, she’ll agree, even if just to make sure we don’t do anything stupid.”
"No,” Calypso said from behind them. Lorelie and Circe jumped and turned to face her. “I’ll go because I want to, too. We need this. We need our freedom.”
They began making plans once the party was over, and they had the house to themselves.
“How are we going to get away from everything?” Calypso asked. “We can’t fake our deaths. Our parents would be too upset.”
“I have an idea,” Circe began. “It’s not very good, but it’s the best we can do without faking deaths.”
“Anything’s better than nothing,” Lorelie told her. “Let’s hear it.”
“The hardest thing will be getting away from our bodyguards.” Circe and Calypso’s parents were billionaires, and therefore, they always had to have bodyguards. Lorelie was a princess, and likewise, needed a bodyguard. “We can drug them, just put them to sleep, and fly out of California. To somewhere we haven’t been before, like Florida.”
“We’ll need to get the plane tickets under different names, get fake ID’s, change our looks,” Calypso said.
“We can change our looks by getting contacts, and cutting and dyeing our hair,” Circe told her. “It’ll be easy to get fake ID’s. We’ll just have to create new names for ourselves.”
“You must be crazy if you think I’m gonna cut or dye my hair,” Calypso said. Her hair was her pride and joy. It was hip length, thick, straight, blacker than night.
“So don’t do that. We’ll just add some streaks, or you can always wear it up.” Circe continued. “We’ll draw out some money, enough to fall back on just in case, get an apartment in Tampa, find jobs, and spend a few months living a normal life.”
“Won’t they start searching for us, though?” Lorelie asked.
“They won’t be able to find us, for a few months at least,” Circe guaranteed.
“You’re sure about this?” Lorelie asked.
“Trust me, you two. Everything will go just as planned. After a few months, we’ll come back, and tell everyone we’d been at a resort relaxing or something. Everything will be fine. Nothing will happen.”