It was two days before the last day of school and one day before the End of School Summer Show, which the RDA did every year. Candy was getting out of her required reading list when she spotted a flier with Susie D'Orazio on it.
Be the Tiny Dancer You Are.
A lecture on dancing with Susie D'Orazio, 3pm.
Knowing that this could be a good way to get out while her adoptive mothers were cleaning the house up, Candy could go there.
XxoxX
At 3pm, Candy, Kiki, and Daniel were arriving at the auditorium. "Well, well, well," Alice snarled. "The Three Dancing Stooges seem to learn how to make bigger clowns of themselves by going to this dumb lecture."
"Your here too, Alice?" asked Candy.
"I don't want to be," admitted Alice, "but my father suggested I come here for a new dance teacher for the SR division next year."
Candy and her friends were annoyed, but decided to pay attention to the lecture instead. Onstage, an Italian-American woman came up. It was the one and only Susie D'Orazio.
"Welcome, RDA students," she announced, "to my lecture, Be the Tiny Dancer You Are. For this I would like you to know that-."
"There will be a demolition tomorrow at noon," Oscar interrupted rudely.
Everyone gasped because of the unexpected announcement of the school's demolition. "Oscar," growled Susie, "you're ruining my lecture."
"Sorry, baby," Oscar replied as he placed his arm around her/ "But I just want to make room for my own use, and a chance to get you back together."
Susie backed up and growled, "No way. Not after your greed broke my heart."
"Greed?!" shouted Oscar. "I'll show you greed!"
Before he had a chance to punch Susie, Candy barged up and dance kicked him out of the way. "The Cherry Cola Kick?" asked Susie. "Candice?"
Candy was shocked because Susie somehow knew her name. Not handling the press, Candy decided to go home.
Kiki and Daniel started to worry about her, so they decided to check on her tomorrow.
XxoxX
At home, Candy told her adoptive mothers about the demolition. "Noon?" asked Davina. "That's when the RDA students get out of school. They have to have lunch first so we won't see anyone go hungry."
"Well," replied Aunt Regina, "no landlord is going to ruin your last day of school."
Suddenly, the doorbell ring. By the door was Susie and an elderly couple. "Your *the* Susie D'Orazio," recalled Candy, "RDA legend."
"I figure you had to be here," explained Susie.
"That's cool," replied Candy. "But who's the couple behind you? They seem familiar."
"And these are my parents, Bruno and Paulina," Susie explained, "exchange student supervisors for the Naples Academy of Dance."
"Wait," stated Candy. "Bruno and Paulina D'Orazio? They were choreographers for the RDA for 30 years."
"We were," answered Bruno in an Italian accent, "until Susanna got her divorce from that good-for-nothing landlord. We told you Oscar was horrible."
"What?" Candy asked in shock. "Are you telling me that Susie D'Orazio is my MOM?!"
"Now you done it, Papa," groaned Susie, "She wasn't supposed to know till after high school."
Because he wasn't good at keeping secrets, Bruno blushed with embarrassment. Candy turned to her adoptive mothers in anger. "How could you?" she asked. "You always told me that my parents were killed in a car accident. You lied. But why?"
"It would've broke our little sugar's heart if she knew that her father was our vicious landlord," Davina explained.
"And we don't want you nor your siblings turning into greedy pigs like Oscar," Regina explained.
Candy got so upset, she barged into the backyard.
XxoxX
Candy didn't want to imagine how to solve her problems. Instead, she let down her hair and gazed into the sky. *I can't believe this* she thought to herself as she shed a tear. *All this time I thought I was Candice Cherry. But as it turns out, I'm Candice D'Orazio-Lott.* Looking back, she could think about all the clues about her real parents. Like Bennie and Ronnie understanding Australian slang, their Italian dishes they always eat, and Oscar once telling her that her family was not who she thought it was. Susie came to the backyard and placed a small toy dog in a pink dress by Candy's side.
"Cuddly," recalled Candy. "I remember you from when I was a little girl."
"Regina got this out just in case you started to catch on whom you really were," Explained Susie. "My youngest daughter." She added to Candy that Regina and Susie were best friends growing up. They met when they were little girls at the playground. Charles Cherry warned his daughter about stranger danger, but Susie's parents were completely delighted by Regina's gift in dancing. Amazed, Charles allowed her to attend the RDA when they were older. For now, Charles decided to give Regina private dance lessons through Bruno and Paulina because Regina constantly lost her temper at her other dance classes.
After graduation, Susie started dating Oscar, whom they met at a business lecture at the library. During their dating, Oscar made Susie pay for their meals and he show up late on purpose. Regina tried to tell her that Oscar only cared about money, but she didn't listen.
After getting married and having Bennie and Ronnie, he just kept working. Bennie and Ronnie were more hurt than angry at their real father for not spending time with them. During the time that Candy was a baby, Susie found out through some files of other buildings he owned, and he cared more about the money than he did about her feelings. Devastated, Susie filed for a divorce with him and gave her children up for adoption. Susie didn't want to abandon her children, but she didn't want greed and gluttony to consume them.
"After I let you and your brother and sister live with Aunt Regina and Aunt Davina," finished Susie, "I moved back in with my parents as a contemporary dance instructor for the love of it. I didn't let you three go with me because people of Italy tend to eat a lot, and child obesity is no joke. Of course, I was never chubby like Nonna Lillianna D'Orazio."
"Hey!" shouted Bruno. "My mama made the best meatball soups in all of Italy."
"You can never know what it's like, Papa," Susie told her father. "My blood, like winter, freezes just like ice."
"Perhaps a little lemonade could cheer you up," suggested Mr. D'Orazio.
"I'd like that," answered Candy.
XxoxX
Inside, Bennie and Ronnie came home after they heard about Candy's Cherry Cola kick performance. "I had to cancel band practice because of this," Bennie explained.
"It's a good thing I already finished my art finals," replied Ronnie. "I can't believe that Dad is going to demolish the school for his own personal gain."
Candy was surprised by the fact that they already knew that Bennie and Ronnie knew that Oscar is their real father. "We wanted to tell you for a long time, sis," explained Bennie, "but we were both afraid you wouldn't happy."
"Of course, I'm not happy that I'm the daughter of a horrible Australian landlord," admitted Candy as her anger turned into happiness. "But I am happy that Susie is my mother and she found my old Cuddly."
Susie could remember buying that little toy from a flea market just for Candy because she knew that Oscar preferred to buy expensive things over small heart-felt gifts. "The threats he made were meant to cut me down and if our love was just a circus," she finished. "I'd be a clown by now."
"And Grandpa Bruno and Grandma Paulina visiting us after nearly a decade?" Ronnie asked in excitement. "Didn't expect that."
"Needed to get new students for the school," explained Grandma Paulina.
Regina felt a little embarassed that her dance mentioned Naples Academy of Dance. "Come on, Reg," replied Davina. "You only got banned from the school after terrorizing the admission team and students attending there with your temper."
"Right," Regina replied. "But I still don't know how are we going to stop the 'best friend stealer'."
"I think I know a way," Candy smiled as she adjusted her hair into pigtails.
XxoxX
Two days later, Oscar was there with a construction fleet. Just then, Bennie and the Jets came up and started performing "I'm Still Standing." "Okay, you construction cool cats!" shouted Bennie. "Please welcome to the stage, Susie D'Orazio!"
Onstage, Susie, Candy, Kiki, and Daniel came onstage and joined in on the song. Oscar was so annoyed by Candy's imagination, he called off the demolition and let them keep the mortgage. "That's for trying to ruin education and memories, Dad!" exclaimed Candy.
Oscar was shocked, because Candy finally learned the truth about her family. "Listen, Oscar," Kiki growled.
"She's looking like a true survivor and feeling like a little kid," Bennie smiled as he shredded his guitar.
"And you weren't a good parent either," Ronnie admitted, "always ignoring Bennie and I and caring more about money and business."
"Don't make us catch you around here again," Bennie replied, "not even when your incognito."
"You wouldn't ban your own father, would you?" Oscar chuckled nervously.
"We would!" Bennie, Ronnie, and Candy answered as they pulled off a Cherry Cola kick.
Oscar was so petrified by his youngest daughter's imagination, he ran off like a little kid. "After all this time, I'm picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind," Susie smiled.
"Go, Susie!" shouted Kiki.
Principal Cherry was shocked by the way Candy's imagination scared Oscar away. Now she didn't want her adoptive daughter to get grounded for an entire summer, so she and Vice Principal Cherry decided to let it slide.
XxoxX
A few days later in Australia, Oscar was arriving at his brother's repair shop, Quarter Mile Estate.
"What would Dad say if he saw you like this?" Kamdyn growled at his brother. But Oscar didn't answer, and instead he growled and continued working.
After Oscar left, Kamdyn got a message on his phone. It was from Regina. Even though it was 3pm in West Virginia, it was 7am in Australia. "Regina," Kamdyn called, "how is the first day of summer vacation?"
"Doing great," answered Principal Cherry. "I'm finally getting to catch up with Susie. Her parents are lifting my ban from the Naples Academy of Dance."
"Once I never coulda hoped to win," Susie explained. "I just start down the road, leaving me again. And you know one thing, I'm still standing better than I ever did!"
The end.