Hey guys! RZR here! Just to let you know that this chapter starts after Alex sends some emails to his friends and researches what Hollywood Arts is all about. The story is still in Alex's POV.
Chapter 1: The Trip
"You said the suitcases were in the garage, right, Dad?" I asked my father. I thought he was inside the house and was about to head outside when he came inside with the suitcases.
"Not anymore," he said, huffing and puffing, "did you get your clothes ready for packing?"
"Why? Are some of them being shipped down there?" I asked, hoping that this school thing will last until summer begins.
"Of course. You're going to be there for the next two and a half years," he said. My jaw dropped at those words. "Who knows, you might get a record deal due to your musical talent," he added to try and cheer me up.
"Yeah," I said, thinking, Two and a half years seems a bit long doesn't it?
"I know it's a long time, but you can come home for Christmas and summer vacation," Dad said. I realized that I just thought out loud. "And you'll also have Amy there with you."
"Joy," I said sarcastically. I was dreading this trip more and more.
"I'm glad you're liking this trip," Mom said, coming into my room and misinterpreting my sarcasm for actual joy, " Now get packing. We are leaving for the hotel at noon and we need to get your stuff ready. Do you have your passport and other pieces of ID, Alex?"
I pulled my passport out of my left back pocket and my wallet from my right back pocket. I then opened my wallet and pulled out my health card and social insurance card, both Canadian based. I showed them to Mom and then put everything back where it belonged.
"Good," she said, "Now, I take it you're laking your guitar and keyboard with you?"
"Yeah, seeing as I'm the instrumental member of the family. Can't be instrumental without my instruments, now can I?" i said, with a little bit of anger.
"Look," Mom said, trying to comfort me, "i know you're not happy with this, but it'll be fun. I'm sure of it." She puts her arm around me. "Besides, you're going to be able to show off that musical prowess of yours."
"I know," I said with a sigh, "but I have some questions."
"OK. Shoot." My parents got ready for a barrage of questions.
"Alright. Question 1: Where will we be staying for the duration of this experience? Question 2: When we get to the airport, who will pick us up? Question 3: Is there a map of the school so that we know where everything is? Question 4: What about my job? And in conjuction with question 4, question 5: What about money? And finally, question 6: Will you be able to come to at least one of these shows? Because whether it's me or Amy or even the both of us, you guys are always there to cheer us on."
Hey guys. RZR here and sorry for cutting in. Now Mom and Dad are going to answer these questions like this: Mom will answer the first two , Dad will answer the next three. And once they are done with the questions, Alex will post another fake Twitter post. So stay tuned. RZR, OUT!
'Well," Mom began, "on the topic of getting there and where you will be staying, here's a letter explaining everything." She opened the letter and read it to herself. She then said, "Well , it says that someone will be there to pick you up. It also says that the two of you will be separated while you're there because there was nowhere that would take both of you together." By this point, Amy was standing in my room while Mom and Dad were talking. Mom then turned to Amy.
"Amy, you will be going to be staying with a girl named Trina and her family," Mom told her, "Trina has a younger sister about Alex's age." I perked up at the words 'sister', 'Alex' and 'age'. I then put the pieces together. (Trina's sister is the same age as I am so I can probably be her boyfriend, as I have no girlfriend.) She then turned to me. "Alex, you will be staying with a guy named Robbie. He has a sister who is unimportant and Robbie's Jewish, so don't be mean about his religion. He also spends most of his time with a puppet named Rex. But that's normal, the letter says, as Rex is part of Robbie's project at school."
Dad then started with answering the other questions. "Now that your mother has finished explaining the placement of you two, let's get down to the other things, like Alex's job, and how money is going to work out. First, a map of the school." He turned to Mom. "Is there a map of the school in that envelope?"
She looked and said, "Yes, here it is. Oh, there's two maps here! How convenient!"
Dad looked back to Amy and I and said, "Well, that's that out of the way. Now to Alex's job. I just got off the phone with Alex's boss and he's okay with it. And as an added bonus, because Alex is doing this for his sister, Alex is still gonna get paid. So that takes care of Alex's money problem. Amy's problem is just as easy to fix. We can send money through the Western Union office to her. So that's everything."
"OK," I said, "Now how about you guys coming to see us perform. What do we do about that?"
Mom and Dad looked at each other and then Mom said, "You finish packing while your father and I talk about it."
"All right," I said and then they left and I finished packing.
Twitter Mobile
Alex Stratton - Done packing and all details are MOSTLY figured out. Still bummed about leaving.
Mood: Bummed
(The next day - afternoon)
"So you're staying with us until we leave?" Amy said to Mom and Dad after we checked in to the hotel.
"Of course," Mom reassured her, "We'll be there until we can go no further."
"Amy, calm down," I said, "You can be hyper when the plane lands in LAX, but until then, calm down."
"All right, Alex," Amy said, "It's just this is the first time that we are going somewhere on our own. I hope we'll be okay there. I hope ..."
"Amy, CALM DOWN!" I said, almost screaming at her. I then quieted myself and said, "Don't worry. Even though we be staying in different places, we'll be together because Mom left the letter in my room when they left, so I read it. It said that Trina hurt her tounge before her performance two days ago for the school and her sister Tori had to take Trina's place. She got accepted in the school after people heard her singing and thought it was phenomenal. After that Robbie became a friend of Tori's. So here's what we're gonna do. Since we have to go to school an hour and a half after the plane touches down, we'll go to our respective homes and introduce ourselves. Then we'll go with them to school. Then we'll be together. OK?"
"Ok," she said, happy that we had a plan.
