Chapter 6: Remembering
"We met at school when we were in second or third," Phillip began. "I met him after he had tried to steal some food from my lunch. I caught him in the act then I gave him it back to him. We were friends ever since. We grew up together and he grew more "slight of hand" but he never had to use it though. He was a gentleman in every other way.
I helped him get a job when he was older and I helped him set-up for a bakery later on. You see, his family had always had a bakery and he had worked in ever since he was a child. But since he was the middle child, he wouldn't get his family's. So I helped him set-up his own. He was just about to open it when…everything fell apart.
My parents found out that I was friends with Harold and they demanded that I "stay away from that no good scandal". I didn't so they ruin Harold's bakery before it even opened. "To teach me a lesson on associating with low-lives." Harold was furious, he was yelling at me and blaming me for it, saying he never wanted to see me again, and that was the last time I ever saw him. After that, I went running back to my parents and followed their way and almost never left their sides. My father kept a closer eye on me after that so that we wouldn't have another "incident" and my mother would look at me as if I was planning a war. Basically, I was lonely and miserable that was…until Barnum offered me a deal to join the circus.
Ever since I've been happy and done things I don't regret for once. I felt free and alive these last several months and I don't want to lose that OR you." Phillip paused before resuming. "You, Barnum, and the circus are the BEST things that ever happened to me. I wouldn't trade these last several months with you for ANYTHING. But I don't want you or the others to lose what you love because of me." Anne cupped Phillip's cheek.
"Phillip, I treasure and love you WAY more than trapeze," Anne told him. "I always have. And, call me crazy, but I'd much rather be in the poor house with you than be doing trapeze underneath the circus's tent." She then started to sing quietly. "All I want is to fly with you." Phillip smiled.
"All I want is to fall with you," Phillip sang quietly.
"So just give me all of you," they both sang. "It's not impossible. Say that it's possible." They sang the rest louder as if to declare it to the world. "How do we rewrite the stars?! Say you were made to be mine. Nothing can keep us apart cause you are the one I was meant to find. It's up to you. And it's up to me. No one can say what we get to be! Why don't we rewrite the stars?! Changing the world to be ours!"
"You know I want you," Anne sang quieter. "It's not a secret I try to hide. I know you want me. So don't keep saying our hands are tied." She stopped singing and said, "Remember?"
"I never forgot," Phillip answered. "I just didn't know if that's what you still wanted."
"I want to be with you," Anne told him. "No matter what." Neither said a thing for a few minutes.
"Think we can stop my parents?" Phillip said.
"Definitely," Anne responded with a smile. "We'll find a way to turn the tables on them. Can you think of anything that they did that they would rather not have be known?" Phillip scratched his head while thinking. Then it hit him.
"Actually there is," Phillip said. His surprise look turned into a smile. "I've got the perfect thing to use."
Later That Day
"Anne!" W.D exclaimed. "I thought you'd be gone all day. Woah! What's gotten you in such a good mood?"
"The fact that Phillip's going to be staying with us," Anne started. "AND that he's going to settle the problem with his parents and give them what they deserve."
"A slap on the face?" W.D teasingly guessed. Anne chuckled.
"I wish," Anne responded. "But no. At least not physically. But this'll DEFINITELY be a slap on face to their pride."