March 1st as Cassandra brings people back from LA
"well well welcome home miss Valentine" says Miley as Cassandra shakes her head
"since when do you wear formal clothing Miss Stewart" retorts Cassandra
"the prime minister died yesterday, his cancer didn't respond to Chemo" says Miley
"oh God, Isabelle is going to crumble when she hears that, he sent her to Hollywood Arts because the performing arts high school here wouldn't accept her and Hollywood Arts is known as one of the best when it comes to accommodations, at least as far as he was concerned" says Cassandra
"yes… anyway as he was a single father the court has ordered upon her return that she be put in my care, with her tics and her spinal issue they don't feel she should be on her own, where is she anyway" says Miley
"she got a call just before we took off from LAX, she's been sleeping ever since, only awake long enough to get from the plane to the car" says June
"oh Junie always missing the obvious, it was a call from the hospital here telling her he passed away, given her issues she's probably in a depressive slope, being sad makes some people with delecate brain chemistries tired, bring her in, the cold won't do her any good" says Miley as Cassandra goes out to get Isabelle
"never thought I'd see your face again Miley 'Pirate' Stewart, how's your 'twin' Hannah doing, she twisted her ankle pretty bad if I remember correctly, ended her career" says June
"discrete as always Junie, I assume you didn't tell anyone about your true lineage" asks Miley
"hey just because I'm related to you doesn't mean by not telling anyone that I'm lying to them" says June as she angrily walks off
"I never meant it that way, why is she so touchy" asks Miley
"she just learned that trio wives are illegal here, Vanessa and I scooped her up after Lucas accidentally sent a soccer ball her way, she almost cracked a rub, she didn't have enough energy or oxygen capacity to stay there, she's my security but also Vanessa and and I's lover, she was happy till she looked it up" says Cassandra as Andre walks in
"hey Andre do you mind if we work on some music, those fans are eager for more music" asks Tori hopeful
"Beck died Tori, I need time" says Andre
"b-b-but m-m-my fans t-t-they're walking away, maybe I should just quit, maybe Velvet deserves to die" pouts Tori
"Tori if counting your fans is the only thing you care about then maybe Velvet should die" says Andre as Tori starts bawling
"Andre you don't understand, fans equal trust and for her trust means support, she just finished her streaming setup, she was about to show her fans her face, she was ready to take the next step as an artist, with fans walking away she's losing hope, you will never understand what she's going through, sure maybe Beck being gone is tough on you but you were one of the ONLY people who knew about her being Velvet Starlight, she needs a support structure and you telling her that she seems to only care about fans hurts her" says Jade
"you are the ones who will never understand, losing Beck didn't just hurt me it broke my morale, right now I don't have the energy nor focus to write music" says Andre
"did you have a crush on him" asks Jade
"even if I did I'll never know his side because he's dead Jade, you can't possibly know what it's like to feel lost" says Andre
"how's this for understanding, my mom was so controlling, if I so much as looked at a girl I'd be grounded, I didn't date Beck to love him, I dated him to be seen as acceptable by my mother Andre, your parents are at least accepting of the rainbow, the only reason I have my dad's money as was willed to me is because my mom was caught buying drugs with it, try being forced to live a lie for over ten years Andre, I've had a crush on Cat since I was eleven, imagine your mother telling you that if you so much as looked at Beck she'd kill or ground you, trust me you had it easy Andre" says Jade
"I'm sorry I didn't know, I just need time please just give me a few days to adjust" pleads Andre
"nobody did Andre that was kind of the point, I wanted nobody to know my mom was physically and emotionally abusive to me because I identify as bisexual, ooh Isabelle does not look so good" says Jade as Andre sits on the couch farthest from everyone else
"her hair got caught in the seat she was laying on in the jet, apparently the last person Jacob Derrick flew out of LA spilled juice on the seat and he had to double back to get us he couldn't clean it up" says Cassandra as Isabelle wakes up
"my dad's dead isn't he….." asks Isabelle
"he died yesterday, his cancer didn't respond to Chemo, if anything it got worse, I'm so sorry Isabelle" says Miley
"that would explain why he sent me away so suddenly last year, I was attending a perfectly normal school, living a perfectly normal life, my only problem is death, if I'm certain someone is going to die or am told that, I stay by their side, I did the same when my sister was severely injured in an accident a few years back, I stayed with her till she took her last breath, dad must have known my education would suffer, he was like that sometimes, always putting me first, my sister and I were a year apart, where am I going to live, surely they will throw all my stuff away to make room for the next in line" says Isabelle
"you're staying with me, I know you don't know me all that well but I'm rich and my house is a single floor with a basement and an elevator, they wanted to make sure your financial needs were met, you have a lot of meds, they were concerned that if you stayed with family that you'd be on the street in mere months, you're talented, they didn't want that light to go out" says Miley
"they have a point there, most of my family is ableist, they think that just because I can walk without my wheelchair for a short period of time that I'm merely acting…. What about my stuff, did they throw it out" asks Isabelle tearing her eyes away from Andre
"no it's all at my house every little thing they thought you'd want to keep, your dads ceremony is next week, you don't have to attend if you don't want to, anyway I just got approved for construction to ad another floor to my house, it starts in March and the new floor will be all yours, it will have eight rooms, on top of that it will have a full bathroom and a kitchen" says Miley as Lilly nuzzles her
"can Andre live there with me….." asks Isabelle as she hides her face as Andre stares at her in disbelief
"why Andre of all people" asks Lilly
"you know what forget I asked, I'm embarrassing enough, explaining things will only make me feel worse" says Isabelle as she runs to hide
"that was shocking" says Andre as Cat walks over from the kitchen
"you mean you didn't know, it was obvious as day to me" Says Cat
"no I didn't know, everyone at school knew her father was a world leader, you Cat were the only one brave enough to talk to her, everyone was too scared, scared they'd say the wrong thing…. She really likes me" says Andre confused
"look I'm not stable enough to be there for her, she has nowhere to go and no friends to speak of, she needs someone she can talk this through with, if you don't love her back that's ok, she will understand but right now, she needs someone to hug her, to make her feel safe, Miley is super rich and famous, she's giving her a home sure but it will never be the same for her, she's my cousin six generations removed, she's closer to Aunt Marissa than she is to me" says Cat
"it's just she's like very very pale, I'm the complete opposite of that, people would assume things, I don't want to risk her being laughed at" says Andre
"there is something you should know about her Andre, her mom was Aunt Marissa's twin sister, she's as pale as she is because that side of the family is from communities in the artic circle of Norway, enough generations up there and the family lineage tends to go pale, for the same reasons that people with lineage from Africa or family's that spent generations there tend to be darker in skin color, she has a crush on you Andre, if you give her a chance she could show you the world from her point of view, most of her father's policies were because of her, because of her disabled people in England have the right to fair treatment in stores, meaning none can be turned away unless the store has undeniable proof they committed a crime" says Cassandra
"how can there be such contrast, Cat has more stereotypical Italian toned skin, yours tends on the darker side and Isabelle is on the extreme light end of the scale" asks Andre
"about a hundred and fifty years ago the Valentine Family were all located in Central Italy and consisted of one family, then the mother had seven children, all boys, she died giving birth to them, they never got along, the moment they had enough money to leave Italy they did so, Cat, Isabelle and I are of the last three remaining bloodlines of that septuplet Andre, three brothers went west, two went south, and two went north, most died, till her dad died there were four Valentine's left, now there's only three" says Cassandra
"technically six if you take girls into the equation, which most people don't because we don't often get to pass on our last names" says Cat
"is that why she's a Smith and not a Valentine" asks Andre
"precisely, her parents unfortunately didn't realize Valentine is a dying last name and agreed to give Isabelle her moms maiden name" says Cat
"what's it being replaced by" asks Jade
"Valentin, Valentino, similar in many ways but completely different in others, Valentine is a Roman name while Valentin and Valentino are more commonly northern Italy, Spanish, French or Baltic, meaning that's more likely where you'd find them, Valentine is an extremely old name, easily over a thousand years, from what my dad told me think early Italy as in way before final unification meaning right around five hundred to six hundred AD" says Cat
"your dad always was the historian Cat, my dad was the one who'd always be there when we needed them" says Cassandra
"then what was my dad" asks Isabelle wincing as she sits beside Andre
"the leader, he taught you so well, your anxiety doesn't make you any less of a leader Izzy, your disabilities led to major change of law here in England and based on word I'd heard during my modelling shoots, all across Europe, and Canada even, things are looking up for disabled people, that's because of you" says Cassandra
"I never asked him to propose that law Cass, he just did, it's who he is" says Isabelle
"because he embodied the true meaning of being a leader, see a leader who doesn't care about others isn't a leader, your dad understood that, he saw the things you went through, he heard the stories of you being rejected by companies solely because of your mobility issues, that's why he proposed that law Izzy, you are anything but lazy, people often see disabled people as lazy and unwilling to work, the issue most if not all of us have is expectations, some of us want a certain job but under the old law weren't qualified, under the new law the companies are required to ask about accommodations when interviewing a disabled person for a job, they're only allowed to deny them a job if they can not afford to pay for the accommodation required by the interviewed person, job growth among the relatively abled disabled has gone up sixty-five percent Isabelle, you may not feel responsible but believe me people are grateful" says Cassandra
"my dad wanted to make big changes before he died, he wanted to right the wrongs past governments made, I had nothing to do with it, I was in LA when he proposed that law" says Isabelle slipping into Andre's arms
"ok Isabelle here's the deal, I go live with you AT Miley's, I'll only leave to come here to work on music with Tori then come right back, I'll admit right now I do have feelings for you, I've been made fun of for years for being African American, only my close knit friends didn't make fun of me, if you want to date me know you may become a target of racist people" says Andre as Isabelle kisses him
"I'm stronger than I look, it's just my dad and I were really close, like really really close, my ex who is in jail now was very rude and hurt me, my dad promised me he'd be there to see me down the isle at my wedding, he somehow knew the next person I'd fall in love with would be black and musically inclined, this was three years ago, you should know I can feel people's feelings, like if cat was feeling sad but didn't show it I'd know she was feeling sad, when I started saying I'd like you to come with me I could feel your fear, it both made me sad and made me feel alone" says Isabelle
"you ever think about going back home Isabelle" asks Miley
"like people there would be happy to see me Miley, that far in the Arctic they have no use for a part time walker Miley, when my issues caused me to stay in a wheelchair for hours at a time dad and I moved here with Anna, shortly after my sister, not used to so much traffic she got hit by a car, unlike me my sister was loved back home, trust me they don't want to see me" says Isabelle
"a girl named Astrid asked about you" says Miley
"Astrid called about me, I highly doubt that, she was my sister's best friend, Astrid had asked Anna out right as we packed the last of our things into the truck, begged her not to leave, when Astrid got word of her death she blamed me, told me I should have saved her, she doesn't give a rats ass about how I feel Miley, if she called to ask about me it was probably about my dad's death and to blame me for that too, like I said I wasn't liked back home, Anna was the golden child there, had more friends than I could count, nobody likes a cripple" says Isabelle