HEY, another chapter in a couple days time? Well, I'm trying to get on a more consistent schedule in terms of uploads. I'm trying to do this once a week on Tuesdays, but I start the semester back up next week so we will see how that goes! But, I've also been in a kick with this story as of late so I think that's why I've been writing so many chapters lately. We're finally getting into the meat of the story. Let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
(Also, I've noticed as chapters have gone on, they keep getting longer and longer).
Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is recognizable from the original High School Musical franchise.
Another High School Musical
Chapter Four: Cracks
Evelyn Lawrence had only known Lucille Bolton for two weeks.
But, it felt like the two girls had known each other their entire lives. The two quickly fell into a routine that formed on Lucille's second day. Every school day for those two weeks, they had a routine. Lucille would arrive at school with her dad and would wait for the early morning Write Club meeting to be over. She'd be sitting outside the library door, most likely reading a book that she was into, whenever Evelyn would walk out. The two would head to the cafeteria, get some breakfast, eat on the stairs against the window (because there were never enough seats), and then head off to their first class of the day. They wouldn't have classes together until History, then Chemistry, and finally homeroom at the end of the day. And, then, Evelyn would take Lucille home while her dad finished up practice.
But, today was different.
In all honesty, Evelyn wasn't fully aware of how she knew. But, she did.
The blue-haired junior was eager to get out of the library, but couldn't because of her position as the vice-president of the club. So, for the hour of the event, as the president (a senior by the name of Natalia) talked about the various activities that they had in store for the upcoming month. They spent a few moments journaling, going around the circle to share their paragraph, before opening up for a free session. In a normal situation, Evelyn was always the first to go. In her eagerness to leave, she declined when she was asked, faking that she didn't have anything to write. Once the president called the meeting, Evelyn was out of her seat, pushing the door open to the library and looking around.
Lucille wasn't there.
"Evelyn?" the blue-haired girl turned to find Natalia, stepping out of the library. The black haired senior looked at her worriedly, trying to figure out what got the normally calm and attentive Evelyn on edge. "Is everything okay? You seem distracted."
Evelyn nodded. "I just feel like something's wrong," she admitted. "I know that we normally talk for a bit about the meeting, but I gotta go find my friend and check on her. Message me anything you want to talk about."
Natalia nodded her confirmation, which barely registered in Evelyn's mind before she was leaving the library behind her. Evelyn went to the nearest window that looked over the front parking lot and quickly found Mr. Bolton's car in its normal spot not far from the gym. After spotting his car, she glanced at her phone, hoping to find a message from Lucille saying that she was sick or where she was. But, Evelyn only found a private message from a long distance writing friend and a message from Daniel. She filed them both away for later and took off again.
Her first stop was the cafeteria. Even from the first floor, she could tell that Lucille wasn't in the cafeteria. She wasn't in any of their normal spots. And, the only person she might've been with was Daniel Danforth. But even he too was absent. She spotted Shelby Baylor not far away, surrounded by her cheerleaders. The girl spotted her and quickly moved over to Evelyn's position.
"Have you seen Daniel?" she questioned. "We were supposed to meet to talk about English."
Evelyn rose an eyebrow. "When are you going to admit the truth?" Evelyn questioned.
Shelby blinked at her, surprised at her comment, before crossing her arms over her chest. Evelyn raised an eyebrow at her response which the cheerleader saw and gave her a look that practically screamed be quiet. "So, have you seen him or not?"
"No," Evelyn answered, honestly. She looked around, trying to figure out where else Lucille might possibly be. "I'm looking for him. Well, technically, I'm looking for Lucille and he's known her since they were kids. Let him know that I was looking for him if you happen to see him before I find him, okay?" The black haired girl nodded her head and moved back towards the cheerleaders who were giggling like mad once she returned. Evelyn suppressed the eye roll and pulled out her phone again.
Evelyn saw that she had another message from Daniel and opened it quickly. Maybe he had an idea as to where her friend is. Once she saw the contents of the message, she instantly regretted not opening the message sooner.
7:45 a.m: I found her on the roof. Bring some food. Don't tell Shelby.
7:30 a.m.: Hey, have you seen Lucille? Mr. Bolton says she's here but I haven't found her.
Evelyn fired back a quick message, glancing up to find that Shelby was looking over her shoulder at the blue-haired girl. Evelyn turned around, going into the cafeteria. By nothing short of a minor miracle and wasted five minutes, Evelyn managed to convince the breakfast shift to give her three sets of breakfast burritos. The lady running the cashier gave her a curious expression when she checked out but said nothing of it. Once she was free of the lunch line, she began climbing the stairs towards the roof.
After two flights of stairs up the cafeteria, her thighs were already screaming at her. She almost felt like taking a break, but something was wrong with Lucille. So, she trudged on, climbing one more flight of stairs and having to use a tremendous amount of force on the door to the roof.
The Garden Club always had a field day when it came to this time of the year. They got to retreat their plants into the greenhouses on the roof. But, there were still a handful of plants around the roof in planters. There's at least one planter drilled into the roof that contained a dormant apple tree that would house fruit once it got warmer. But, the roof seemed almost dead in comparison to how it looked in the spring.
Leaning against the greenhouse, Lucille sat, looking over the edge of the roof at the suburban part of the city that had surrounded them. Today, she opted to wear a gray beanie on her head, leaving her curls to splay out from beneath the warm fabric. She wore a beige sweater with a pair of gray leggings tucked into a pair of boots. Her hands wrung together, her knuckles white as she clung to the yellow daffodil in her hand with all of her might. She didn't look up once Evelyn arrived on the roof.
Daniel, who sat at her feet, looked over once the door opened. Like his companion, he too wore a beanie, but he had on a bright red one and had his basketball number stitched on it. He wore an East High Basketball shirt and a pair of denim jeans with sneakers. His jacket was draped over Lucille's shoulders as she leaned against the greenhouse wall. Upon seeing her, he jumped onto his feet and went to meet her after placing his hand against her knees.
"Hey," he spoke, grabbing one of the breakfast burritos from her hand. "Did you run into Shelby?"
"Yeah," she spoke, crossing her arms over her chest. "I think she saw me coming up here, but I don't think she thinks that I'm going to meet you if that's what you're thinking." Daniel nodded his head, glancing towards Lucille. "What's going on? Am I missing something?"
Daniel's head whipped around, so fast that she feared that he could've gotten whiplash. "She didn't tell you?"
"Would I be asking if I knew?" she told him, hitting him in the arm. "I'm sorry. I only met Lucille like two weeks ago. It's not like I'm in a video game and got enough relationship points to unlock the tragic backstory." She glanced towards Lucille. She still wasn't paying attention to the two of them. "So, are you going to tell me what's going on or not?"
Daniel snuck a concerned glance towards Lucille over his shoulder. "I don't even know the full details," he spoke. "Her brother, my best friend… he, uh, refused to tell me all the details." He ran his palms along the fabric of his jeans. "But, all I know is that something happened, and I don't know what happened. But, after a certain point, she stopped singing."
Evelyn blinked, still missing something. "I'm sorry I still don't understand. It's okay for someone to stop singing."
Daniel shook his head. "No, not this girl, not her," he hurried. Evelyn didn't speak. "Lucille has been singing for as long as I can remember. She went to the Los Angeles Academy of Dramatic Arts. Some of the best singers in the world come out of there. So, she sang everywhere. She sang with her dad, with her mom, with her brother, with or without music. She had transferred to her father's public school and was doing drama for a bit, but that was her decision. She still sang and she was pretty damn good at it. But, last year, she dropped out of the drama club and didn't sing again."
Evelyn nodded her head, glancing towards Lucille over his shoulder. She gave him a look and stated the obvious, "So, what brought it on again?"
"She got signed up for the musical by Mrs. Leverett," he responded. "I don't know what happened or how it happened. But, I think I have an idea of who to ask and how to get the information." She nodded her head. "Do you mind staying with her? I don't want her to be alone."
Evelyn nodded her head. "Please," she spoke. "Be careful." Daniel nodded his head, patting her shoulder and moving back towards Lucille. The brunette glanced up at him as he took his jacket back off her knees. He patted her knees and she smiled up at him. His feet sounded loudly against the stairs as he thundered down the stairs. Lucille's eyes returned back to the suburban horizon.
Evelyn placed the second of the breakfast burritos on her lap before sitting down on the floor next to her. Lucille didn't smile but placed the daffodil by her feet as she unwrapped her breakfast burrito and took a tentative bite.
"Look," Evelyn spoke, reaching out to touch her knee. "I don't know the full extent of what happened to you. But, whenever you want to talk about it, I'm here, okay? I won't judge you. I promise."
Lucille looked up at her with a watery smile. "When I'm ready to talk about it, I promise I'll tell you."
Evelyn smiled back at her, a weak smile, and Lucille took another bite before leaning her head back against the greenhouse.
…
"What do you think about Lucille Bolton and Phillip Castillo auditioning together?" one of the stagehands spoke to another.
"I think it'll be fun having new members in the drama department," one of the stage directors spoke. Evan turned the page of the script, looking through the notes. He tried to imagine Lucille as the main female character and Phillip as the main male character. He couldn't see it. But, then again, he had never seen Lucille act. Maybe she was good enough to pull it off. "But, it's all up to Mrs. Leverett I suppose. It is in her favor to introduce more members to the drama department."
"How so?"
"More fees, more people to pitch in with the design," the second replied. "With the budget cuts, it's a miracle that we're having production at all! Plus, maybe if more people get into drama, they can bring in their friends and increase the numbers."
Evan let out a heavy sigh as he continued flipping through the script, absorbing all of his mother's notes for him to change. All of the things he agreed with. He just needed a fresh set of eyes to help him in the writing department. Evan had been staring at this script since he first finished the rough draft back in summer at Lava Springs. He had been analyzing it and his mother had as well. The two of them needed a fresh set of eyes with a clean script to jot down their ideas on the script itself.
Good writing can use a fresh pair of eyes.
Evan might've jumped when he felt someone's breath on his ear, but the all-too-familiar voice of Daniel Danforth drifted into his ear as the boy himself flopped down on the empty table chair beside him.
"Evan," he greeted, a playful grin on his face.
Evan was alone. People, both within the drama club or the Write club, knew that Evan didn't like to be disturbed whenever he was engrossed in writing, especially when it came for writing from the musical. As a result, his table on the second-floor section of the cafeteria was completely empty aside from him and his bookbag. Even Daisy had taken to sitting on the stairs and looking quizzingly out the window.
But, obviously, Daniel Danforth didn't get the memo.
"What do you want, Daniel?" he questioned.
"There's something I want to talk to you about," Daniel spoke. "Don't worry, it'll be quick."
"I'm in the middle of something," Evan responded, looking back at his notes.
"Okay then," Daniel spoke. "Can I meet you tomorrow morning then?" Evan glanced up at him in shock, his eyebrows scrunching as he gazed over at the basketball player. "What?" the basketball player spoke innocently. "I really need to talk to you."
"About what?" Evan asked.
Daniel gave him a look. There was a playful look in his eyes. The look made his stomach turn but not in the way it was supposed to. "I just want to know if you know how Lucille got signed up for the musical."
"That's it?" Evan questioned. Daniel shrugged his shoulders and nodded. "Well, technically, my mother signed her up," Evan spoke, turning back to his notes. "She overheard Phillip and Lucille singing in the music room. She basically told them that they were auditioning for the musical together." He gave Daniel a skeptical look as he looked towards the third floor. "Why? Is something wrong?"
Daniel shook his head and put on a fake smile. "Nope, everything's good. Just never saw Lucille as a singer, you know? She doesn't really sing."
The lie was so flawless that Evan was almost impressed. But, he could still tell. Daniel moved to stand up but Evan reached out to place a hand on his knee. The boy halted, falling back down in his seat as he sent a cautioned glance around. But, Evan knew. No one was looking. No one ever looked at Evan. He was the wallflower and always hid in the darkness of someone else's spotlight and it would continue to be this way. Even with the star at his side.
"You know, I can tell you are lying, right?"
Daniel scoffed at him. "I don't know what you're talking about, Evan." He looked around for a bit and leaned forward. "Thanks for the information." His hand wrapped around Evan's, moving it to Evan's knee and dropping it so his hand hit his thigh. But, as Daniel moved past him, Evan reached out to snag the sleeve of his jacket, pulling him backward.
For the star basketball player, he stumbled as Evan pulled him back. The basketball player looked down at Evan with that playful glint shining in his eyes. "If something is wrong with Lucille, tell me and I'll try to get her out of the audition."
Daniel nodded, removing Evan's fingers from his coat one-by-one until his hand dropped back on the table. "Thanks," he grinned, saluting him as he made his way back towards the stairs. Even though he couldn't see Daniel anymore, he heard the shouts of his girlfriend as she threw herself at him, most likely pressing kisses against his lips and being overly showy of her affections towards him just like she always did.
It was in that moment that Evan remembered why he didn't do writing in the cafeteria and collected his things to move towards his math class.
...
Daisy gripped onto her bright blue pen and tried her best to focus on Mrs. Castillo's lecture.
But, she was failing.
Miserably.
Her miserable concentration was to the point that she didn't even know what in the world Mrs. Castillo was talking about. She felt horrible because Mrs. Castillo was one of her favorite teachers (even though science was never her strong suit) and she hated that she might disappoint the teacher by her not paying attention. She hoped, desperately, that Evan would at least have some clue as to what the lecture was going on about.
She tried to focus on anything. Mrs. Castillo's maroon dress looked excellent on her, especially when coupled with her short hair curled. There were five chalkboards around the classroom, but Daisy had noticed that Mrs. Castillo only liked to use the one at the front of the classroom unless she absolutely needed to. In addition, her teacher never used a textbook, only briefly referring to the notes in front of her. Though, Daisy wasn't surprised because she was a genius. The girl couldn't believe that Mrs. Castillo gave up being a lawyer to become a high school science teacher.
Damn it, she cursed to herself, you are supposed to be listening to the teacher, not listing facts about her.
Turns out, she began focusing on her words at the wrong time.
"Mr. Castillo, what is the answer to number 3?"
And, there goes whatever minuscule concentration she had managed to wrack up. She had tried with all of her might to focus her concentration on her teacher. But, two rows back and one row to her right, that was where her concentration really was. All wrapped up in the tangled web that was Phillip Castillo.
Like the rest of the classroom, she pivoted toward him. He was blinking up at his mother in surprise and hesitantly asked which question. When his mother repeated the number of the question as well as the page number, he quickly flipped to the page and quickly read through the question. By the time he looked up, he answered the question with a shocking accuracy and his mother simply nodded her head, continuing on with her lecture. While the rest of the classroom returned to Mrs. Castillo, Daisy found her eyes trained still on Phillip.
Immediately following answering the question, Phillip crossed his arms on the desk and rested his chin against his arms. Today, the baseball player was dressed in a black tee with a pair of denim jeans. His hair was rumpled up from practice this morning. He seemed to send out an aura of uncomfortable and annoyed. He chewed on his lip as he looked around the room, seemingly having as much concentration as she did. His brown eyes flickered over towards her. He held her gaze. There was a look in his eyes that she couldn't identify.
Her breath caught in her throat.
"Ms. Evans," Mrs. Castillo spoke. Daisy pivoted towards the teacher, fearing that she would ask her a question about today's lecture. However, her teacher gave her a look of pity and decided not to ask her a question. "Please, pay attention." Daisy nodded her head, blushing profusely and bent down to write notes.
However, her concentration was shot multiple times over so she simply resorted to doodling flowers and hearts in the margins of her notebook. She'd definitely have to get the notes from Evan.
A piece of paper slid off of Evan's notebook and managed to tuck itself beneath the corner of her own notebook. It was a small square of paper that was torn from the upper corner of his own notes and his penmanship was scrawled across the page. Are you okay?
The answer was no.
She couldn't sleep last night partially because of her recurring nightmares of the accident that brought her to Albuquerque and East High in the first place. Sometimes, if she managed to tire herself out enough, the nightmares wouldn't come. Sometimes, they didn't come at all. But, now, even nine months later, it was still fresh whenever the nightmare decided to worm it's ugly head back into her self-conscious. It terrified her, forced her to wake up shaking and terrified, imagining for a brief moment that she was back in a hospital room with a woman she didn't recognize.
But, she always woke up in her bed at the Leverett's house.
However, something else kept her up last night.
Her aunt had come home later than normal. Daisy and Evan had cooked dinner with Uncle Peyton while Tiana had sat at the bar doing homework. When Aunt Shar had arrived home, her husband moved to kiss her and helped her put the bag containing revisions for the musical in the living room. Evan had jokingly asked where she had been to miss Daisy's rendition of one of the songs in the musicals. Daisy had hit her cousin in the shoulder when Aunt Shar stated the truth. She was at the hospital visiting Daisy's father.
"Also, Evan, I need you to work with Phillip and Lucille after school. They're auditioning for the musical together." She had dropped it so casually that she hadn't expected the blank reaction from Daisy or the loud reaction from Evan. Aunt Shar didn't know what she was unleashing. For the rest of the night, Daisy's homework lay forgotten as her over-active, irrational mind played through every possible combination of events leading up to Phillip Castillo singing with Lucille Bolton. And, then, when she finally did manage to go to sleep, she woke up to the fresh nightmare and couldn't go back to sleep.
"Ms. Bolton."
The class (and Daisy) pivoted towards Lucille, who sat beside her Chemistry partner. But, Daisy realized something was different. Her head was down, her brown curls falling around her face and obscuring the view around her. There was a gray beanie on her head. She had worn a beige sweater with a pair of gray leggings, but the heat of the classroom had caused her to push up the sleeves to her elbows. Her hands were clenched around her red pen to the point that her knuckles were almost white. Concerned, Phillip reached out to touch her arm only for her to jerk away from him, closer to her body.
Suddenly, her chair made a loud sound when it crashed on the floor and Lucille was pushing the back door of the classroom open. The door had barely managed to swing back into its spot before Evelyn was out of her chair as well, shouting her name down the hallway as she ran after her friend. Daisy glanced towards Mrs. Castillo, who had a troubled expression on her face. Then, she wrote over a list of problems on the board for them to do.
Before the teacher left the classroom, she grabbed both Evelyn and Lucille's bags, "I am going to have Mrs. Fields listen in on the class while I am gone. If the entire class becomes too rowdy, this assignment will become a quiz and be worth forty percent of your grade. I will be back as soon as I can. Phillip, go ahead and sit with Daniel." Her son nodded, collecting his stuff and moving two rows up to sit with the Danforth. The latter of the two looked like he was about to bolt outside of the class, too. Phillip glanced towards the door his mother departed out of.
After she left, Daisy couldn't help thinking that she wasn't the only one upset that Phillip Castillo was singing with Lucille Bolton and wondered if the brunette was going to be okay.
...
Damn, Evelyn thought as she struggled to catch up from the fleeing brunette. She's quicker than I thought she was.
The blue-haired girl continued her pursuit down the halls of East High until she spotted Lucille duck into the bathroom up ahead. Evelyn increased her run time until she collided with the door of the bathroom, pushing it open so hard it rebounded against the wall. The bathroom looked the same as any other bathroom in the school. The only major difference was the fact that Lucille was huddled in the corner, her sobs overtaking the room and rebounding off the walls.
Without thinking, Evelyn ran to Lucille's side, dropping to the floor too early and sliding along the tile to her side. Her jeans saved her from having scratches on her knees; but, at this moment, the only thing Evelyn could think about was helping her friend.
Lucille was sobbing, struggling to breathe as she curled herself in the tightest ball that she could make so she could occupy the least amount of space possible. Her sobs were overtaking her body, stunting her breathing. She buried her face into her knees and dug her nails into the exposed skin on her forearm so hard that she broke through her skin. Evelyn was by her side in an instant, pulling her nails from where she was breaking the skin and trying to get her to unravel, even a little bit, to help with her breathing.
"Breathe," Evelyn pressed as she collapsed down in front of her. Evelyn gripped her hands to stop her from continuing to make scratches on her skin. Lucille gripped back on her hands, but didn't look up from her knees "Come on, you gotta breathe." Lucille's head nodded, only barely. "Come on, breathe in, deeply, through your nose." She heard Lucille breathe deeply through her nose, but the brunette soon hiccuped and the spell was broken.
"I can't," Lucille cried.
"No, no, no," Evelyn shushed. "It's okay. Try again. Come on, breathe in deeply through your nose."
Lucille did as told, her sobs still partially continued but they were muffled now.
"There you go. Now, exhale out your mouth."
Evelyn heard the unsteady exhale from Lucille. Her breath waved, showing that she was still overcome with emotion. Evelyn closed her eyes, wishing it was final period. She would ditch Write Club to take her home because obviously school wasn't the best place for her friend at this particular moment.
"Do it again," Evelyn ordered, gripping her hands in encouragement.
Lucille nodded her head, breathing in and exhaling out her mouth. She did it a couple more times before her breath became even and steady. Lucille swallowed before pulling her face from her knees and leaning back against the cool tile of the bathroom wall. Her cheeks were puffy and tear-stained. The whites of her eyes had turned to a pink color from the number of tears that she had cried.
After waiting a couple moments to make sure that Lucille was okay, Evelyn scrambled to her feet, pulling a paper towel from the dispenser and wet it in the sink. She handed it over to the girl on the floor who gingerly took it.
"You shouldn't have followed me out," Lucille voiced as Evelyn slid down the wall to rejoin her on the floor. The brunette reached up with the paper towel to wipe at her cheeks. "Now, Mrs. Castillo is going to punish both of us for leaving in the middle of her class." Evelyn didn't say anything as Lucille examined the self-inflicted marks on her skin. She sighed heavily, placing the paper towel on the one that was bleeding. Lucille chuckled, though Evelyn wasn't for sure why. "You can say something, you know, Evelyn?"
"I know," Evelyn spoke. "But, I've been in those situations before. I want to be there to help my friends."
Lucille smiled. It was a weak smile, but it was a smile all the same. "Thank you," she spoke, honestly. She reached up towards her neck, pulling at the chain that was barely visible. She pulled out a necklace and looked down at it. It was a simple necklace, with a circular silver pendant. There was a treble clef etched into the metal. Evelyn blinked down at the necklace in confusion. Why did it seem so familiar to her? "When my mother knew that my brother and I were going to be separated for the first time, she bought us these necklaces. She said that the necklaces meant that no matter how far apart we were, we would always be connected."
Evelyn smiled. "That's really sweet."
"We're twins," Lucille spoke. "So, we always did things together. When I decided to transfer out of the drama-focused school and to my dad's public school, we were going to different schools for the first time. It was hard, but we still lived together, you know? But, now…" she trailed off, biting her lip.
"What is it?" Evelyn questioned.
"I'm not supposed to tell anyone," she replied. "But, I really want to talk about it."
"You don't have to tell me," Evelyn spoke. "Not if you aren't supposed to talk about it."
Lucille's quiet. "I can't explain it," she spoke, glancing up at her. "But, I feel like I can trust you with it."
Evelyn nodded. "If you still feel that way, tell me later, okay?"
Lucille nodded. With one last long look, she placed the necklace back beneath the fabric of her shirt before looking at the other end of the bathroom. Suddenly, the door opened to reveal Mrs. Castillo walking into the bathroom. There was an amused look on her face that had to have been from the panicked looks that Evelyn and Lucille had at the sight of her. She walked over to the two of them, handing them their backpacks that they left in the classroom.
"Go home," she ordered.
Lucille blinked. "Huh?"
Mrs. Castillo let out a light chuckle as she crouched down in front of them. "Go home, Lucille," she spoke. "I've already talked to the Office and I don't think you are going to benefit from a school day. So, go home, get some rest, and think about the musical, okay?"
Lucille opened her mouth to protest, but quickly shut her mouth and simply nodded.
Mrs. Castillo turned towards Evelyn. "Make sure she gets home okay," she ordered. Evelyn nodded her head, opening her bag and glancing in it. "And, you are allowed to take the rest of the day off as well. I don't believe that Lucille should be alone at the house."
Evelyn wasn't going to leave her alone anyways. But, at least, she wouldn't have another unexcused absence on her attendance record. "Yes, Mrs. Castillo."
"Do all even problems on page 154 and bring it into me first thing tomorrow morning tomorrow morning, understood?"
The girls nodded as Mrs. Castillo stood on her feet. Lucille scrambled up from the bathroom tile and reached out a hand to Evelyn. The blue-haired girl took her hand and was immediately pulled onto her feet. Mrs. Castillo gave them an encouraging smile as they moved to leave. Suddenly, Lucille turned around, her feet squeaking on the tile. "My dad," she started.
Mrs. Castillo shook her head. "I'll tell him. I'm sure he of all people will understand."
Lucille nodded her head. "Thank you, Mrs. Castillo." Lucille turned back towards Evelyn, who had already opened the door into the hallway and had it propped open with her hip. Lucille headed out of the bathroom and Evelyn followed after her, holding open the door for Mrs. Castillo. The teacher followed after them but went back to her classroom while the girls headed for Evelyn's car.
...
Matty was allergic to seafood.
Yet, the stage manager for next week's showings was insisting on ordering seafood for the weekend. There would be numerous amounts of hours spent at the stadium from setting up the band to rehearsals to make sure that the concert goes on perfectly without any mishaps or to prevent possible mishaps. Not even to mention his studies in between practices and rehearsals. So, Matty didn't have time to leave the stadium to get McDonald's or some other restaurant because the stage manager had decided to cater in seafood for the entirety of the week.
"I don't know how many times I have to tell you, Matty cannot have seafood. If he has seafood, he can't perform," Kelsi spoke, frustrated. She had never been a confrontational person (except for you know that one time, but even then, she was standing up for someone else). But, after an hour of the same thing, her frustration and anger were seeping into her voice. She was on the verge of calling the record label because they seemed to have more power than she did. One phone call from the record label threatening to shut down the show and she'd get her way.
Her son wasn't going to the hospital on her watch.
"I don't know about you, Ms. Nielsen, but back in my day, people listened to their parents and just ate the food. Kids, these days, ma'am. They'll do anything to get out of it."
She couldn't help the sigh that escaped her lips. "It isn't that he hates seafood. It's because of the fact that if he does eat seafood, his throat swells up to the point that he can't breathe," she spoke, as calmly as possible.
"Ms. Nielsen," he started.
"Change the food or we are going to cancel the shows at your stadium," she spoke, calmly. She had finally snapped. She was tired of this conversation and she was tired of the person on the other end of the phone assuming that she was a pushover mom who let her son have whatever he wanted simply because he was a world pop star.
There was silence on the other end. Then, "Yes, Ms. Nielsen."
"Good," she spoke. Then, she hung up the call, discarding the cellular device on the nearest bed.
"Maybe, I should've done the phone call, Mom," Matty spoke from his bed on the other end of the room. Kelsi pivoted to find her son, resting his head against the pillows and reading something on his phone. She smiled as she watched him, being reminded immensely of her husband. While Matty bared some resemblance to her, no one could deny that he looked like a clone of her husband when they stood side-by-side. Matty inherited his grandfather's dark brown hair, but his eyes were the same bright blue. Even dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, it seemed to drive home the resemblance home. "I could've thrown a temper tantrum and everything."
"And give the paparazzi more fuel that you're an egotistical pop star?" Kelsi questioned.
He grinned at her. "Come on, Mom," he spoke. "You know that the only people I care about already know that I'm the furthest thing from that." He let out a sigh as he cocked his head to the side. "Besides, that stage manager was giving you a hard time."
She rolled her eyes at her son's admission, knowing full well it was true. She turned back towards the schedule in front of her, which contained the press tours and the interview dates. Then, she glanced towards her husband's message from yesterday. She had said that she would've tried to make it work, but she wasn't for sure how she could manage to move things around. How in the world were they going to manage to go to a wedding with their (well, technically, her son's) hectic schedule?
There was a shrill, piercing ring of a phone that threw Kelsi out of her concentration. Within moments, it was picked up and she heard her son's joyous tone as he spoke, "Hey, Danny! How's preparing for the Championship Game? That's coming up soon, right?" There's silence for a few moments as Kelsi wrote down notes for possible rearrangements. "Hey, hey, hey, Danny... you need to slow down and explain. What's going on? Is everything okay?"
Kelsi turned towards her son, who was now sitting up in bed. There was a worried expression on his face. All thought of rearranging the schedule was thrown out the window at the sight of her son's face contorting into an expression that was a deep worry and rage. Matty reached up to touch at his necklace which he shared a matching one with his sister. His eyebrows furrowed together. His voice was almost angry when he finally spoke, though she was unsure who he was angry at, "What do you mean something has happened with Lucille?"
OOOOO. Next chapter, we're still going to be dealing with Lucille's aftermath of the whole musical situation and begin to dive into Phillip's afterthought to the musical auditions. I could've made it easy and have them both accept the musical audition, but I think it would've been a repeat of the original story so I like the idea of them "fighting" the possibility of being in the musical, at least for a little bit.
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I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I hope you guys stick around for the next chapter.
See you next week!
(Hopefully.)