Prologue
There were only two words that could describe Brooklyn summers; hot and horrible. Joe was in the kitchen cutting watermelon slices for everyone, while for some weird reason Fina was boiling eggs on the stove. The air conditioning had broken down and they were doing anything they could to stay cool.
"Why are you doing that again?" Joe asked with a small smile.
"Anna asked for them." Fina shrugged. "Something about practicing her magic."
She took the eggs off the stove and put them in a bowl in the fridge. Joe took the plate of watermelon and followed her into living room to join the others. Fred was shuffling Uno Cards and staring at Sam and San-Li like they grew a second head. Joe also couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Despite it being 101° degrees San-Li's legs were draped onto Sam's lap and he was caressing her knee affectionately. He was watching as she played some hand held game.
"You're supposed to go left, not right." Sam mumbled.
"But I need to find that water sword to fight the hydra demon." San-Li said.
"I told you it's behind the third painting in the hallway beside its lair," Sam said. "The right hallway has a trap that'll kill you if you don't have the protection pendant, which you forgot to buy."
"I don't need no damn protection pendant," She grumbled.
"Are you seeing this?" Fred whispered to Joe. "Or am I going crazy from the heat?"
"Yeah, something must have happened during spring break because they're been like that ever since," Joe whispered back. "It's so weird."
Fred smirked and elbowed him. "Yeah it's almost as weird as you finally getting Joleena to go out with you."
"Shut up!"
"Well I think it's cute," Fina said, grabbing a slice of watermelon.
Fred smiled at her and ruffled her bangs. "You think everything is cute."
"GOSH DARNIT!" San-Li yelled suddenly.
"Told ya so." Sam smirked.
San-Li punched him not so gently in the shoulder and reached for a slice of watermelon.
"Are you two love birds ready to play Uno yet?" Fred smirked. "Or are you just going to keep playing your nerd games?"
"RPGs aren't nerd games, Fred," Sam said indignantly. "They're intricate narrative games that require skill and patience in order to beat the game."
"Right." Fred nodded. "Nerd games."
"Whatever." Sam rolled his eyes. "Has anyone started looking at colleges yet?"
"Geez, Sam, no," Joe said trying to fan himself with his cards. "We literally just finished Junior year last week. Let's just relax for a while."
Sam mumbled something under his breath which made San-Li laugh, and she whispered something back that made him start blushing. He hid his face in his cards, and his shoulders shook a little with repressed laughter. Joe sighed and checked his phone. Joleena was supposed to come over soon but she still hadn't texted him back.
"Hey, Fina," Anna said, coming down stairs. "Are my eggs ready yet?"
"Cooling in the fridge," Fina answered. "Would you like me to get them for you?"
"No thanks. I got it." Anna said going into the kitchen
"You're not her servant, you know." Joe rolled his eyes.
"I don't mind." Fina shrugged.
Anna came back out with the bowl of eggs and sat down on the floor with them. She then closed her eyes and held her hand over the bowl. They all watched in amazement as her hands started to glow and the eggs slowly levitated out of the bowl.
"Cool!" Fred exclaimed.
Anna squeaked at the sudden noise and the eggs exploded, covering everyone in bits of yolk and egg pieces.
"Oh, gross!"
"Nice job, squirt." San-Li laughed picking out pieces of egg out of Sam's hair.
The doorbell rang and Joe got up to answer it. Even before he opened it a sense of deja vu came over him and he opened the door with a huge grin. Joleena stood on his doorstep wearing a short bubble skirt, cropped top, heeled sandals, and large designer sunglasses.
"You're back!" Joe cried happily and threw his arms around her.
"Joseph, mon amour," Joleena laughed and hugged him back. "I take it you missed me, non?"
"Of course." Joe kissed her shoulder. "Even a day is too much time away from you."
Joleena pulled back suddenly noticing the egg all over him. "I see Anna has been practicing, oui? Ah well, practice makes perfect I guess. That's how I learned."
Joe chuckled and led her inside before pulling her into a deep kiss. Joleena wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back just as eagerly. But suddenly she broke away from him and started fanning herself.
"Oh la la! How do you stand dis airless heat, Joseph?" She said walking into the living room.
"It's New York." Joe shrugged, following her with a hand on her hip.
They went into a living room to join the others and San-Li rolled her eyes.
"Oh, great. The french poodle's back," She mumbled.
Sam nudged her arm. "Be nice."
"Ah San-Li," Joleena smiled at her in a not-so-nice way. "Je vois que vous êtes tout aussi désagréable que jamais."
"The hell did you just say to me?" San-Li narrowed her eyes and started to get up but Sam pulled her into his lap.
"It's too hot for you two to start fighting." He sighed in exasperation kissing her on the cheek.
"Hey Joleena," Anna smiled still cleaning off the egg. "I think I need a little more practice with levitating multiple objects at once."
"Perhaps, ma chère, but it is so hot here I don't see how you can focus." Joleena produced a fan which started fanning her on its own. "I myself can barely think!"
"We could go to the pool," Anna suggested with a shrug. "It may be a little crowded, but it's better than here."
"And mix with other sweaty people?" Joleena's nose wrinkled in disgust. "Non. I have a better idea. My family has a timeshare in Barbados. We shall vacation there for a while."
"Vacation in Barbados?" Fred leaned forward eagerly. "Sweet. Count me in."
Joleena raised an eyebrow but Joe pulled her close to him and kissed her on the cheek. "Why don't all of us go? It might be fun."
"Very well." Joleena smiled and leaned against him. "Let us all go to the beach house."
"Can we stop yet?" Skyler panted.
"No." Sydney walked over to the stereo panel to replay the music.
"Syd, we've been practicing and choreographing all day. The review isn't even for another two weeks."
"Exactly. We only have two weeks to make this Tony-worthy. The review will be here before you know it." Sydney put her hands on her hips. "I'm still not liking the triple pirouette into the calypso leap. Something is missing. We're not stopping until I figure out what it is."
"Nothing's missing. It looks great."
"It needs to be better than great. Great doesn't win awards."
"I'm tired. We need to take a break before we kill ourselves." Skyler slumped down to the floor to rest.
"He's right you know."
Sydney frowned. "Remind me why I gave you a key to my penthouse again?" She turned over her shoulder to look at Joe, who was standing in the doorway of their office and studio.
"Because you love me." Joe walked up to her and kissed her forehead. "You're overworking yourself again. You know that's not healthy."
"I'm fine." Sydney defiantly crossed her arms.
Joe placed his hands on her face. "You're stressing yourself out."
"I am not."
Joe grabbed her wrists and pointed out the scratch marks on them. "Sure about that?"
Sydney pulled her wrists away from him. "We need to win. I only have three years left!"
"Three years left before what?"
Skyler sighed. "She's determined to have us be the youngest people to win a Tony for choreography. The youngest person currently was twenty-three, and Syd is currently twenty. She thinks her clock is ticking a lot faster than it actually is. What we have now for the American Idiot revival is amazing, but the perfectionist here disagrees. Besides, we don't have time to teach anything new or different to the rest of the cast."
Sydney frowned at him. "It would be a cool honor to have. And after that we can work our way up to having the most Tony Awards for choreography or the most Tonys period."
"Are you trying to kill me, woman?" Skyler ran a hand through his hair. "I have limits you know."
"You'll be fine."
"Come on. You're done for the day. It's time for you to unwind and relax." Joe grabbed Sydney's hand.
Her demeanor instantly changed. She leaned into Joe and put on a seductive grin. Her voice lowered and she brushed her lips against his ear when she spoke. "What did you have in mind?"
"Well," Joe tilted her chin upwards and gazed into her eyes, "we could head into your room and-"
Skyler loudly cleared his throat. "You're not alone here."
Sydney rolled her eyes. "We were about to be."
"We have plans anyway, remember?" Joe reluctantly leaned away from Sydney, but held onto her hand. "We're meeting everyone else at Ray's for lunch. We're going to be late."
Joe tried pulling her out, but Sydney held him back. "We should probably change out of our practice clothes first. Don't you think?" She gestured to her outfit of just a performance sports bra and leggings. Skyler wasn't much better. He was shirtless and only wearing some baggy shorts.
"I think you look gorgeous." Joe leaned down to give Sydney a kiss.
"Oh, thank you, Joe," Skyler spoke up before Sydney could. "That really means a lot. I felt like I was having a bloated day, you know?"
Before Joe could respond, Sydney pushed him out the door. "Come on. We'll get ready and then head over."
"I'm just saying. We have one month left before we graduate, let's go do something fun together for spring break!" Fred shoved a slice of pizza in his mouth. "Like go to an amusement park or vacation on a beach or something. It could be like an extended group date for all of us."
Fred kissed Kairi's temple, smearing pizza sauce on her face, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
Kairi giggled in response and wiped the pizza sauce from his kiss off of her temple. "I'd love to go to a beach! We should go somewhere tropical! Like the Bahamas or Tahiti! I just bought a new swimsuit too. It's the cutest thing. Let's do it guys!"
"I think it's a great idea." Joe glanced over at Sydney. "You need a vacation. Maybe it'll help you relax a little and stop worrying about this whole Tony thing."
"I'd love to have a break from all this work. Come on, Syd. Please?" Skyler begged.
"I don't know. We really need to finish up the choreography." Sydney tapped her chin.
"It's already finished! Listen to Joe for once! You are way over stressing yourself about this Tony. You need a vacation. I need a vacation from you!"
Sydney rolled her eyes. "Fine, but if we're doing this, we're doing it big. I'll call my real estate agent and see what he has available for beach houses. I've always wanted a vacation home in the tropics."
Sydney grabbed her phone and she and Joe walked out to make the call.
"This is so exciting! We're going to have so much fun guys!" Kairi excitedly clapped her hands.
"I've never been somewhere tropical before," Cade said thoughtfully. "I can't wait to study the wildlife. Places around the tropics always have the most diverse species."
Sam shyly held her hand under the table and softly squeezed it. "Me neither. We almost went once, but Fred ended up taking us to Antarctica instead." Sam shot him a glare.
"It was an honest mistake." Fred held up his hands defensively. "But seriously, we're going on an awesome vacation, and all you two want to do is study? You are the biggest nerds I know."
Cade stuck her tongue out at him in response.
"Do you think there will be other teens there? It'd be fun to make new friends." Anna leaned into Skyler as she spoke.
"Who said you were going?" Skyler smirked at her.
Anna stuck her tongue out at him. "I did. I think it could be an exciting date for us."
Skyler looked away and pretended to be thinking hard. "I don't know. I have this girlfriend, she's kind of lame, but whatever. I don't think she'd be comfortable with me going out with someone like you."
Anna playfully hit him on the arm. "I'm the lame one? I think you're mistaken."
Sydney and Joe rejoined the group with beaming grins on their faces. "We're in luck. Just so happens that he was trying to sell a timeshare."
"So where are we going?" The group leaned forward in anticipation.
"Pack your bags ladies and gents. We're headed to Barbados."