That Butler, New Face

That Butler, Prologue

{Summer, 2011
The LeBeau family vacation
Somewhere in the English Countryside}

Pale-green eyes watched as a light breeze rippled across a field of tall grass and wildflowers. A lock of chocolate brown hair blew in front of their owner's face for a moment before she casually tucked it behind her ear again. It was such a beautiful spring day, and a rather sunny one for the UK... there was just one problem...

"Ugh! Why did the rental car have to break down all the way out here!" whined a petulant little strawberry-blond. "Why couldn't we break down somewhere cool, like in London? If I wanted to get stuck out in the sticks, I would've stayed in Louisiana. Right, Chêne?"

The brunette, Chêne, rolled her eyes at her little sister's temper-tantrum. Chêne was already 16, she didn't see why she still  had to go on the family vacation. At least they finally went on a trip that didn't involve driving a thousand miles—crammed in a tiny car with her overbearing mother, uptight Marine father, and hyperactive, moody, ADHD sister—just to go to some cheesy tourist trap back in the states... it also beat that time her dad sent her to "kiddy boot camp" sponsored by the Navy. 'Tch. Yeah, right. The only difference between that boot camp and the real one was that it was a weak shorter,' Chêne thought bitterly. It had been hellish, especially since she just couldn't keep her mouth shut. Talking back to "Petty Officer Satan" had not been her best idea.

"Hurry up and fix it, Daddy! You promised I could go shopping with Chêne once we got to town!" her sister whined. Their dad sighed.

"Chêne, please control your sister," he asked with a tone that could only be described as 'completely fed up'. "You know she only listens to you."

The brunette snorted.'What am I, her keeper?' she thought. Well, it was true her sister adored her...

Chêne saw something black move out the corner of her eye. She turned to look and saw... a black bunny? Chêne knew it probably wasn't a good idea to try to pet a wild animal, but she had a severe weakness for the cute and fuzzy.

"Hey there, little guy," Chêne said, reaching out to pet it. The little black bunny looked at her, twitched its nose, and hopped off. "Hey wait up!" she called after the bunny, chasing it. "Whoa!" Chêne yelped as she almost fell into a huge hole in the ground. "That was close... where did the bunny go?" Chêne wondered, looking around. Suddenly, she felt the ground shift under her feet. "Crap!" She was too close to the hole, and her extra weight caused the ground to collapse beneath her.

Chêne was falling.