Lissa wasn't sure how you went about setting up a forced liaison, but she figured social networking would be a nice start. A quick scan of Facebook turned up plenty Leo Savages, but not one of them were the Leo from Epcot High, unless he was a closet gamer and created his profile picture in the likeness of a game character.
Myspace was the next logical place to search. Lissa hammered away at her keyboard propped up on the pillows on her bed. She wasn't having any luck. She never used Myspace herself, so she didn't expect him to use that. She had gotten to be really good friends with Ingrid, an exchange student from Spain, and created an account on Tuenti that she never used.
She tried Tuenti, even though it was invitation only and basically a Spanish version of facebook. No luck finding Leo there either. Lissa let her head sink back into the pillows. "Think girl. He's got to be on here somewhere. Where would I be if I were Leo Savage?"
Lissa sat up and directed her browser to ask.com. She typed in his name, Leo Savage. She got too many superfluous results. If only she could come up with the right question it will lead her to the answers she needed. "Origin," Lissa said.
She typed her search again, Savage origin. She rubbed her hands together, "Now we're cooking with grease." She clicked on the top entry, a database of surname histories.
As she read the material about Savage, she shivered a little. Lissa knew that her sur name, Morris, was derived from the name Maurice and was French in origins. Nothing spectacular. She also knew that some sur names showed heritage like O'Brien, descendant of Brien. Or occupational names like Miller, some one who works in the mill.
What she didn't know was that some sur names came out of a overused nickname that often related to a physical characteristic or a habit or behavior, Short for example.
Savage was under that last category, meaning Leo's ancestors had earned the sur name by being wild and unruly. Apparently the apple never fell from from the tree. Leo looked and acted every bit the savage.
It also said that the sur name was French, a weird coincidence to say the least. But that made Lissa think about Tuenti's popularity in Spain and she wondered if there was a prefered social network in France. She quickly googled it.
What she found was Skyrock. It was the most popular social network in France until a recent surge by facebook overtook them. Lissa figured she had absolutely nothing to lose when you could use your facebook account to set up your account.
She went that route to save her some time. The site was a little hectic, but in English. She was thankful for that. With Tuenti, you have to change the display to English.
She searched Skyrock and found what could have passed for Leo in some of the pictures on the profile. Skyrock was a weird mix of Myspace and Facebook when it came to layout and design. Eventually she found the spot where she could message him.
Leo, hey my dad said you wanted to hang out. Whatcha got in mind? -Lissa
That ought to do it. Now she just had to remember to check this account to find the response. She went down stairs to curl up on the couch and watch some TV before dinner.
As she flipped through the channels she couldn't help but wonder what she had wondered countless times before, 'How could you have this many channels and nothing to watch?'. It seemed like networks filled hours and hours with nothing and reruns called marathons like that's somehow better. Playing six reruns together makes it a marathon and somehow that's better. Never made any sense.
What made less sense, was how much it all cost. She flipped past the Jersey Shore marathon and past the Teen Mom marathon. Four of the same channels that had initials with one of them standing for music but now music. She finally settled on a History Channel special about World War II.
Her dad always landed on the Discovery Channel, and she always landed on the History Channel. That fact never stopped either of them from flipping through over two hundred channels before finally stopping at their regular destinations. HGtv sometimes won or on rare occasion both Lissa and her father would stop on a cooking show and try to follow along.
In the end, she decided, the television was a pretty big waste of money and time. But sometimes a distraction is what you need. Just about the Japan was preparing for a infamous kamikaze attack on Pearl Harbor, Lissa heard a familiar "pop". It was her phone letting her know she'd recieved a new email.
She drug her finger across the screen and unlocked it. Then she pulled down the notifications and clicked on her hotmail account. "Hmmm," she said to herself, "I have a new message at Skyrock. That didn't take long."
She laid the remote on the coffee table and ran upstairs to get her laptop. She flipped up the top, "Dead. Great, now where is the plug?"
As she dug around in her back pack trying to find the plug, she realized why girls get so into boys. This was fun. The attention. Even the waiting and anticipation was kind of exciting. She could only imagine how much better it would be if she actually liked the guy who was messaging her.
Lissa tried not to think about the fact that she didn't really like or trust Leo. She tried to focus on the fun of learning a new skill. She found her charger plug in a back pocket and threw herself over the side of her bed to plug it in.
"Come on, fire up," Lissa said rubbing the screen like she was coaxing a horse to finish a race.
She was getting so impatient waiting for her computer to turn back on, "Thank god this isn't a pc. I'd go mad if I had to wait that long."
She slid her fingers along the track pad and opened her favorite web browser, Mozilla. Then she clicked favorites. She knew if she didn't bookmark it, she'd never find her way back to her profile.
She hurriedly entered in her login information and had to reenter her password more than once because of her rush. When she finally slowed down and did it right, her notification was the first thing she saw.
New Message from Leo Savage.
Dear Lissa, (She wondered who ever started a message or even a letter these days with "dear?")
I truly appreciate your rapid and timely response. I did not believe that you would be at all favorable to this arrangement. I know that it is not ideal. Furthermore, upon further consideration, I don't feel right you being forced to spend your leisure time with me.
Should you, of your own free will, choose to spend time with me, I would be very grateful and appreciative of your kindness. I am not blind to the social stigma that hangs on me like my coat. I also know that your willingness to spend time with me could jeopardize your high social standing. However, I enjoyed your company while we conversed about the English assignment. You are a very impressive young lady.
If you are interested in seeing me, you will find me at the address below. No need to call or message if you do not wish to see me. I am quite capable of reading the subtlest of suggestions.
~Sincerely,
Leo
"Wow, this guy is a piece of work. Who talks like this?" Lissa asked her room.
"Talks like what?"
Lissa jumped, practically dumping her macbook on the floor. "Whoa, Dad. How about a warning shot next time?"
"My apologies. So who talks funny?" Mr. Morris asked.
"Leo, look," Lissa said spinning her computer around for her father to look at.
Mr. Morris wrinkled his face and began to talk several times while reading but didn't. He stopped and looked at Lissa, "No one."
"Huh?" Lissa asked.
"You asked who talks like this. the answer is no one. This is the kind of stuff that makes Leo hard to trust. He's just odd," Mr. Morris said.
"But Daddy, you've always taught me that different doesn't equal bad. Just because he's not like other high school boys doesn't make him an axe murderer with his parents' dismembered bodies in the deep freezer," Lissa said.
"Lissa, don't talk like that. Besides you don't even have to see him at all. He's given you an out. I'll give him some credit for that move," Mr. Morris said.
"Oh I'm going, probably here in a few minutes. This kid is creepy and weird the max. But I have to get to know him before I can decide if he's really legit," Lissa said.
"Since when do you say Legit?" Mr. Morris asked.
"Oh, something I picked up from one of the girls. I'm trying it out. Jake says it too," Lissa said.
"I worry about the future because of your generation," Mr. Morris said.
Lissa threw a teddy bear at him.
"I'm serious, with your weird trends and questionable morals. Don't look at me like that. I'm just saying don't say no one told you when you're in that hand basket and trying to figure out where you're going," Mr. Morris said throwing the teddy bear back.
"So do you care if I go over there? I got his address, but I suppose you already had that," Lissa said with a smirk.
"Keep the gloves up champ. That was a low blow. The address should still be in the recent stops in the navi. Text me when you get there and when you leave. Call 911 in an emergency. You can call me later. Have fun, be good, and don't do anything you will regret later in life."
"My god, Daddy, I'm going over to work on homework with a boy I'm not interested in. You don't have to worry until my date with Jake this weekend," Lissa said backing her back pack.
"Oye vey, sometimes I wish I had a boy," Mr. Morris said.
"That is so sexist and so last generation," Lissa said.
"It can be whatever you want to call it, but it's the truth. If some boy promises you things and then knocks you up, it's your future that will be in jeopardy not his. He will go on one way or another. You will be forever altered. I know," Mr. Morris said putting his hands up, "I know, I'm going overboard and exaggerating and all that. But listen all it takes is for one sperm to make it!"
"Daddy, for the love of all things holy. Never speak to me again about any sexual fluid. I'm no where near ready for sex, so you have nothing to worry about," Lissa said.
Mr. Morris kissed her on the forehead as she walked past him in the doorway to her room, "Be good, kiddo. I love you."
"I will and I love you too," Mr. Morris said shaking his head. He leaned his head against the door frame and closed his eyes. His hands rubbed against the hash marks in the door jam from where he had marked Lissa's growth. He felt like a new hash mark should be made. This was a milestone he thought he would escape until after high school and possibly college graduation.
He knew she wasn't on a real date, but this was like a bike with training wheels. If she leaned to far one way or the other, it didn't matter because the training wheels would catch her. If she screwed up with Leo, it was just one thing she wouldn't do with Jake.
He hated the idea of his smart beautiful daughter dating such a air head. If Jake were a girl, he's be a bimbo, no doubt. Mr. Morris tried to remember who he was when he met Lissa's mother and what had attracted her to him. He was trying to make sure that Jake wasn't like he was.
He knew that girls tend to look for guys who are like their fathers just like guys tend to go for girls who are like their mother. There was something natural and comfortable about it. No Jake was not like him in any way, so this had to do with something else entirely. A phase, he told himself. A phase she'll grow out of.
He pushed off the wall and walked to the far end of the upstairs hallway to look out at the car leaving. He had heard the garage doors open and knew she would be pulling out at any moment.
He would feel a lot better if he knew Leo's parents where going to be at the house, but at least, he assumed, the servants will be there. They seemed like good people.
He watched the car pull out of the driveway and head off down the road. Lissa had had no issues finding Leo's address in the navigation system. Once she had it set she was on her way. She wondered how she would feel Saturday considering that she was sweet on Jake.
Sure he was a bit clueless, okay a lot clueless. But that didn't mean that he couldn't or wouldn't amount to something. Surly Jake's charm would get him pretty far in life. He was so cute and funny that Lissa found herself making excuses for his lack of substance. That wasn't a great sign really.
Every time in her life that she let one or two qualities override her intuitive understanding of a person, it ended badly. It was the equivalent of eating an apple because it had a shiny and pretty peal. The apple looks great, but inside it's rotten and soggy with no flavor.
Leo on the other hand seemed like a different breed altogether. Lissa liked the challenge of a guy like Leo. Not that she would ever be interested in pursuing a relationship with him, but she could enjoy getting to know him because she loved to know all the intimate details of other people's lives.
As she drove into the Lago de Vita community, she was taken aback. She didn't really expect Leo to live in a trailer park or anything, but Lago de Vita? Okay if she was being real with herself, she totally expected him to live in an abandoned type trailer.
Given that she knew he had servants, but she didn't know that when she first pictured him living in the trailer. She could see it all perfectly. It was a nineteen seventy fleet wood, single wide. It was in the middle of a pine grove and the trailer was mint green and white.
She had once pictured every little minuet detail of Leo's life. Not for any real reason, just because she liked to work that way. She liked to imagine the back stories on people she saw. She wished that she didn't know her own back story and could see herself as an outside person, objectivity is the word.
She did wonder often if others judged as much as she did. She didn't think about what she did as judging since she wasn't holding any of her wild stories against them.
When her father first mentioned the servants, she tried to picture them in the trailer, but soon even her irrational brain couldn't continue down that road. She quickly replaced the trailer with a mansion. Like nearly any of the houses she was driving past.
When she came to the gate for Leo's house, she didn't think she was in the right place. She put the window down and pressed the intercom button.
"Hello, how may I assist you?" asked a cheery voice.
"Umm, I'm here to study with Leo. Is he here?" Lissa asked suddenly flushing.
"Oh is she the one," came a softer voice.
"Shh, she can hear you," said the first voice, "and me. Please come on up."
A noise sounded and the gates opened. Lissa took in the grandeur of the lace while reworking her imaginary house that Leo lived in inside her brain.
"Wow, bet it doesn't suck to live here," Lissa said as she pulled in.
She grabbed her pack and walked a slow awestruck pace to the house. She raised her hand to knock but her knuckles never hit the door because it was jerked open while she was trying to knock.
"Ma chere Mademoiselle, we humbly welcome you tonight, please come in and take a rest. Be our guest, be our guest. Put our service to the test," sang a girl that Lissa thought couldn't be much more than five years older than her, maybe ten but that was pushing it.
The girl whisked Lissa into the house and down the hallway to the dining room table. She set lissa a place and danced the whole time humming a tune.
"Momma, is she the one?" Chip appeared out of thin air beside Lissa. Tumbling through the door with her arms full of dinner delights.
"Chip, don't be rude. Sweetheart, my name is Mrs. Potts this pretentious little thing is my son Chip. The over animated young lady who welcomed you is Samantha. And soon to join us is Jessica and the master of the house of course, Leo," Mrs. Potts said taking Lissa's hand.
"Is it always like this here?" Lissa asked.
"Yes, and no. Did you know that your name means beauty?" Samantha asked.
"I did. So how is it like this but not?" Lissa asked.
"Well you see, we have dinner every night at the same time--"
"Like clockwork," said another girl, "I'm Jessica. We're very excited that you're here. You see while we have dinner every night, and we quite enjoy it, Master Leo has not been in attendance for far too long. Your presence tonight is about to change that."
Lissa took a long hard look at Jessica and figured she was about the same age as Samantha. Their accents were different. Samantha spoke with a distinctly French accent, while Jessica sounded like she was from Sussex. Mrs. Potts and Chip seemed American, New England to be exact. Lissa had always had quite an ear for accents.
"Jessie, Momma thinks she's the one," Chip said pulling on Jessica's sleeve.
Samantha came dancing back in, "Ladies and young sir, I present Prince Regent Leo Savage, sovereign heir to the thrown of Geurnsey."
Everyone clapped and stood as Leo came into the room. Lissa followed suite in a total state of shock. Leo was a prince? He was heir to a thrown? Oh how the plot was thickening.
Leo walked into the room with his head down like a he was ashamed of the attention. He was blushing and smiling. The whole room was stunned. He lifted his head and waved them all off, "Enough, let's eat."
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