A/N: [October 25th 2024]

October 25th 2023

Chapter 298
We Imagine the Spotlight

There was no telling Marianne Friar when a new musical would be entering production in Austin or even in neighboring cities. She was still very much a child, if less so by the year, but she knew when there was a new opportunity out there for her, a role she might audition for. She'd done three of them already, and they had been great moments in her life, something she looked forward to. Maya and Lucas had wondered if she would continue to want to do it into adolescence and beyond, always with the understanding that they would support her choice, whichever way it went.

When they heard about auditions at the Silvan coming up in a week's time and mentioned it to their daughter at dinner, they figured she'd already be all over it, that she would have been about to ask them to sign her up, she revealed that while she had heard about the show, she had not made up her mind yet. She wasn't sure if she'd want to do it this time around. There was no particular reason for this, she just didn't feel immediately drawn to it, so she was debating it.

She was still turning it over in her head now, Maya could see, as she sat in the seats of the very theater where she could be performing this role she hadn't decided yet to perform or not, drawing in her diary. Her sisters all had play dates or activities for the afternoon, but she'd been free, so Maya had invited her to sit in on band practice with TXNY and the Hexes, as they would be preparing for Lea and Theo's wedding and a most special performance in its honor. It was very fitting, with who their couple was. They had put together a selection of songs out of musicals, love songs most of all but others, too, keeping the bride and groom in mind.

Bit by bit, the band members came along, all of them excited at the prospect of this set list, which was why they had come out here to prepare instead of staying out in the Hex like they usually would. Marianne set her sketchbook and pencil aside once that happened, the better for her to go and say hello to everyone. Her aunts of TXNY fame were already doing the familiar dance of trying to suss out potential Christmas present ideas from the junior turtle. Rosa was the sneakiest of the bunch, and it made Maya hide a massive laugh in her hand.

Now as to the Hexes, formerly We Are Sisters, despite a notable age difference, they looked to Marianne Friar almost like one of their own, like there were only a handful of years standing between her and a spot in their lineup. Olivia Zhu, Jenny Marshall, Kelsey Farrell, Ash Bell, Kinsey Miranda, and their songwriter Ava Nash… Maya could see her daughter with them, too.

It still felt like Cara should have been there with them, but her little sister had put this part of her life in the past, turned instead toward her family, her job, and they were all lucky to have her. In the meantime, it felt to Maya as though the rest of the band, those who'd been part of it along with Cara and those who'd come afterward, carried her legacy with them. They wanted to make sure that this thing she had started out for them would continue to exist, to thrive, to get better and better. They were doing pretty well for themselves on that front, too.

They were following a similar track as TXNY had done in the beginning. Things weren't the same by now, no, but there were new things, new options, and they were using them. Their music was making its way out into the world, and that was what they wanted. If anyone ever came knocking with an opportunity for much more, the same as had happened with TXNY, would they make a different choice? Would they say yes? Time would tell. The important part now, as it had been with Maya's band, was that they were all having a great time together, and it came through in their music, in the songs that Ava wrote for them or the ones they covered from time to time. They would perform whenever they got the chance, they had put together one album in the time since they had become the Hexes together, and they were already working toward making a second album as soon as they'd have the material for it. So long as they had any member still in high school, it was difficult for them to take any steps that would take them out of Austin, but after that…

"Can I see your new song? The one you told me about?" Ava asked as she and Maya sat side by side, looking on while the Hexes practiced. Maya sat back, curious.

"Now who said I was writing anything right now?" she asked. A few seats ahead of them, Marianne was watching them. She ducked out of view. "Well…" Maya sighed. "I haven't finished it… been stuck… can't find anything that feels right, you know how that goes. Now it's been so long though, I'm not sure I'll actually finish it. Won't be the first time, won't be the last."

"Can I see it anyway?" Ava asked. With a sigh, Maya pulled out her phone and found the note where she'd scribbled out everything. Ava all but snatched the phone out of her hand, hunkered down in her seat and started to read. As she looked through it all, her foot moved along to the tune she could hear in her head, heals planted on the edge of her set. She was twenty-three now, so different from the fifteen-year-old she'd first met but at heart the very same, and she was so proud of her for both those reasons.

"Well?" she asked when Ava finally looked up again.

"Can I try it out? To finish it?"

"Nothing would make me happier," Maya smiled. "That and… Hey, Sneaky Annie, get over here," she called up as the Hexes had stopped playing. Marianne's head popped up into view, hesitant. "Come here," Maya waved her over, chuckling. Marianne walked on over, and she was soon pulled to land in her mother's lap, locked in her arms. It made her laugh, and Maya pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "You know, if we're going to talk about things with anyone… Have you made up your mind about the musical? About whether you'll audition for this one?"

"I don't know," Marianne shrugged.

"You don't want to do it this year?" Riley asked, approaching with the rest of TXNY, the Hexes approaching with them until they were all there, dotted in the row before them and in the aisle.

"I might do it. I don't know yet," Marianne told them.

She had always been fascinated by them, had grown up with them, looked up to them. They were just the kind of people she'd open up to with something like this. It wasn't as though she wouldn't have spoken to her parents, her big sister, any of their family. But this was a good place for her, for this talk. It wasn't a big deal, and the way she spoke of it, that was all it was, wasn't it? She loved musicals, loved being part of them. That didn't mean she had to love all of them and be inspired by every single one.

"Anyway… I want to give others a chance to do it, I guess. Does that sound like… I don't know… Like they'd pick me for sure? I always get the part, the ones I did… They always said yes."

Maya believed that statement, truly. That was the reason. It wasn't even the possibility that, after three times where she got the part, she wouldn't get the next one. It could happen, and she'd deal with it. She was just… a big sister… and she wanted everyone to get their chance.

"You do whatever you want to do," Kelsey nodded, a great and happy smile on her face that made Marianne smile back. She would decide, sooner or later, and it would be her choice.

"Hey, pumpkin," Maya whispered when she got up to join TXNY on stage for their practice. Marianne looked up at her. "You want to come with us?" she tipped her head toward the steps. Marianne grinned, nodded at once. When they climbed up together, Riley, Nadine, Rosa, and Morgan waiting for them, Maya took up her guitar and nodded from her daughter to the microphone. Marianne looked to the others, and they pointed to it, too. Go for it. "You know the lyrics?" Maya asked her, as though she didn't know the answer. She knew them, definitely. "Okay, then…" And they were off. Maybe Marianne would join the ranks of the Hexes one day, but to look at her now… Maybe she had her sights set on TXNY, just like her mother.

If they kept going as they'd done, she just might have a chance. The band as it was now, they weren't slowing down, not yet. They all still loved it, loved to sing and play together, loved to perform together. And they still had an audience. So long as they had all that, there was nothing holding them back. It all felt like a dream sometimes, to think that they had started this thing, four girls together, twenty-two years ago, four high school girls not even living in the same city, and they were still here now, new members and old ones with them… and this silly dream of theirs was just as alive now as ever.

"She's going to steal your spot," Rosa teased after they'd finished their first song. Marianne turned back and looked at her, then at her mother.

"Yeah, no kidding," Morgan stepped up and held out her hand for a fist bump with their lead singer at the microphone, and Marianne bumped her at once.

"She's welcome to it whenever she likes," Maya told her, all the better to see more smiles out of her daughter.

"You know what you should do?" Marianne asked the two bands, an idea in her eyes.

"Oh, I've seen this look before," Nadine pointed at her, looked at Riley and then Maya, who felt an echo, too, of Marianne's father and bright, bright ideas at inopportune times… Before she could say it, Marianne went and said it.

"You could do a Christmas album!"

"There it is," Nadine and Riley spoke together.

"The two bands, together," Marianne continued, uninterrupted. "It'd be great. And… I could do it with you, the others, too."

"It's not December at least," Riley pointed out. "We could do it?"

"It could be for charity, you know?" Marianne added, and from there it felt impossible not to keep moving forward.

"I'm in," Kelsey raised her hand.

"Me, too," Ash raised theirs.

"Me, too," Kinsey joined them, and it went on, as though they didn't already know by now.

"Alright, then, we better get started," Maya hummed. Marianne smiled. "First things first. Practice, wedding, let's finish this, huh?"

Marianne had gone back to her seat while they practiced. She'd picked up her diary again, with the Hexes around her, and she was writing away, with all of them pointing and talking, Maya guessed, about what songs they might include on this album. Knowing all of those girls, her daughter, her students past and present, the whole set list might be compiled and assigned by the time they left the theater and went home.

"Mom, I'm not going to do the musical this year, but I would like to be involved, behind the scenes, you know? Do you think they'd let me do that?" Marianne asked when they left.

"Oh, definitely," Maya smiled. "Are you sure though? About not being in it?"

"I'm going to be too busy," Marianne reasoned, swinging her arm up, the one holding her sketchbook. Maya laughed.

"Good point."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners