Chapter 18

Things were starting to come together, Jerrica thought. Shana had told her last night that the Dreamgirls costumes were done. "Once I see the actors in them and make the last minute adjustments, I should be able to get a flight out of Sacramento into LA. I'll tell you when," she said.

"That sounds great," Jerrica said with feeling. "Raya's still in school, but with Aja and Kimber both here, we can rehearse using our original arrangements."

"Original," Shana said with a happy sigh. "That sounds so much better than old."

"We're not old," Jerrica said teasingly. "We're just experienced."

"Which is another nice way of saying old."

"Older," Jerrica said. "Older."

Shana mulled that over. "Actually, I think I prefer 'established'. Makes us sound like we still got it."

"We never lost it," Jerrica assured her. "Once we found our sound, we were here to stay."

"Music is magic?" Shana asked teasingly.

"You know it. Call me once you've booked your flight."

"Can do."

Jerrica's next call was far less enjoyable. "In prison," Jerrica repeated, dismayed, but not really surprised.

"I'm afraid so," Riot replied. "After the Stingers broke up, Rapture's con games and swindles became more and more… grandiose. Unfortunately, as I understand it, she took up with a partner who was, charming, debonair, cultured…" Jerrica could just imagine the smile curling his lips as he continued, "I imagine he reminded her of me."

"No doubt," she murmured, her voice absolutely deadpan while her eyes rolled.

"Well, from what I've been able to uncover, the pair of them swindled a good number of people out of their life savings, but when the police began to close in, her partner fled with most of the money, leaving her, um, holding the bag. She's currently serving a ten-year sentence, and I understand that once she's been released, there are several countries in Europe that may request extradition if the statute of limitations hasn't expired by then."

"Terrific," Jerrica groaned. "So, the Stingers…?"

"Minx won't take my calls," Riot admitted. "After the Stingers broke up, she took it hard. Then when she and I broke up, she took it harder. The truth is, I don't have her number. The last time we spoke, she was heading back to Germany. That was two years ago, and I don't know if she did go back or if she's still there. Of course, if Jem would like to do a duet, I'm happy to, and I'll be performing a few of the singles I've released since starting my solo career."

"I think that could be arranged," Jerrica said, smiling just a bit. "I'll put out some feelers, too. Maybe we can still find her. That is, if you want her in the show. I mean, if it'd make things uncomfortable…"

"It's for a good cause," Riot said. "Seeing her again may not be easy, but I think we've all grown up these last few years. At least, I hope we have enough to leave our dirty laundry in the hamper and act like professionals instead of petulant brats."

"Is that how you saw Jem and the Holograms?" Jerrica asked, thinking she was teasing, but not certain if she should be asking.

Riot chuckled. "Your sister at times," he said, "but never the rest of you. Though I did wonder what Jem ever saw in that soundman of yours, particularly since you seemed to be so devoted to him." He paused for a moment, before continuing anxiously, "I'm sorry. You did know about that, right?"

Jerrica swallowed. "Yes, I knew," she said. "In the end, I guess Jem's a big part of the reason Rio and I aren't… together anymore, but we had some good times." It was the truth, she knew, even if Riot probably thought she meant it a different way. Jem had been the main reason they'd broken up.

"Well, if you ever want to get together and talk about it over coffee," Riot said, "I'm no Rio, but you have to admit, our names are fairly close…"

Jerrica laughed, startled. He was right. How had she not noticed it before? The 'I' sounds different, she thought. Ree-oh. Rye-ot. Somehow, I never noticed the spelling. "Maybe sometime," she murmured. "Anyway, I have a few things I need to take care of, but we'll be in touch, Rory. Bye."

It wasn't until she'd hung up the phone that she realized she'd called him by his legal first name instead of his stage name this time.

"Hey, Emma!"

Emma looked up. "Oh, hi, Julie." She broke eye contact quickly. Julie was nearly sixteen, and in Emma's experience, most older kids in group homes either ignored or bullied the younger ones. Up until now, Julie had ignored her.

"How's it going?"

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Uh… good?" she replied, wondering what the other girl's angle was.

"Can't wait to hear your song," Julie said. "I heard it's gonna be really good!"

Emma felt her heart begin to pound. "Who told you that?" she asked faintly.

Julie grinned. "Well, everyone! Word has it that Kimber thinks it's totally outrageous and Joellen thinks you're some kind of genius and…"

They did? Seriously? Emma wished she could sink through the cushions on the sofa and end up in some… place that wasn't on any map so nobody could follow her!

"Emma?" Julie was waiting patiently for a reply and Emma blinked. Julie repeated, "I was just wondering when you think it'll be ready?"

Emma swallowed. "I don't know. I've had a lot of school work to catch up with."

"That's okay," Julie said. "There are just another three weeks or so until we're off for the summer! You'll have plenty of time to get it done before the benefit!" She was practically quivering with excitement. "This is gonna be so good!"

Emma forced herself to smile until the older girl left. Then she gave in to the sickening dread filling her stomach. She was going to let so many people down…

"You have to, Wendy," John repeated. "Michael—"

"I know!" Wendy hissed. "I know! But I can't. I can't… make myself befriend this girl. Friendship just happens."

"You managed with Tamara," John pointed out. "Even with Owen."

Wendy shook her head. "That's different. They're grown-ups. And me, well, obviously, I'm not, but after all the years I've lived, I feel quite grown up. I barely had friends my own age in London; all of the other girls thought themselves far too grown-up to make up stories and far too ladylike to play at pirates. I suppose this… Emma Swan… will talk of nothing but fashion and flowers, unless it's to gossip about our classmates or their mothers or… Oh! I couldn't bear it if she's like that, John. I shan't be able to play at being her friend; if I must, I shall simply scream!"

"Well, you don't know what she's like, yet," John reminded her. "So don't go imagining things before you meet her. Perhaps she'll be more of a kindred spirit and you'll get along like a house on fire."

Wendy winced. "I'm not sure that'll make the job easier." John opened his mouth to say something, and Wendy continued snappishly, "I know, I know! I'll do as I must. You don't have to remind me. But John, do you think that if I do this thing for him, Pan might finally let us all go?"

John forced himself to smile. "I suppose it's possible he might," he agreed, even though deep down, he didn't believe his own words for a moment.

Emma slammed the heel of her hand down on the stapler and heaved a sigh of relief. Her report on The Witch of Blackbird Pond was finished. At this point, she didn't really care if it was good or garbage, it was done.

Actually, that was a bit of a lie. She did care. She couldn't remember the last time she'd worked this hard on an assignment. At the back of her mind, there had always been the expectation that she'd be off to a new placement before she got her grades back. It was hard to get invested in school when you weren't hanging around long enough to know how you were doing until your next school (or, sometimes, the one after that) finally got your grades. She'd cared enough not to risk failing a grade—most of the time, she already felt like a bit enough loser without having to stay a year behind—but she'd been satisfied enough with a bare pass on most assignments.

She wasn't used to having friends help her study, or a teacher who didn't care if she sank or swam so long as she wasn't whispering in class. She wasn't used to mattering.

And she didn't know how long it could possibly last before she got bounced to a new foster home, but she'd shoved a black garbage bag into her knapsack, just in case. If she did have to move on, she was taking all her new clothes and school supplies with her!

A buzz of excited conversation greeted Emma at school the following morning.

"You're going to River Way?" she heard someone squeal. "Me too!"

"Oh," another voice wailed. "I wish you were coming to Idyllwild!"

The first girl made a disgusted noise. "I tried, but as soon as my folks saw that the full name was Idyllwild Arts, they vetoed. I'm lucky they didn't ship me off to MIT for the summer!"

Emma turned to her friends. "What are they talking about?" she asked, keeping her voice low.

Casey sighed. "Sleepaway camp. There are a bunch of them around and even though everyone's known where they're going for months, now's when they start figuring out who else is going."

"Yeah, except for the ones who're joined at the hip and already made up to be at the same one," Stephanie remarked.

"Oh," Emma said. "Uh… do we, I-I mean, do I…?" If 'everyone' had been signed up for months already, Emma suspected she'd be spending her summer at Starlight House, and even if it was kind cool (okay, really cool) to live in place where rock stars popped in and out all the time, with the other girls gone, she was going to be pretty lonely a lot of the time.

Stephanie grinned. "Starlight runs a day camp in the city. We all go there. There's a sleepaway camp, too, but that's for thirteens and up."

"But there's the camping trip at the end of summer for the elevens and twelves," Casey added. "One week in Topanga State Park," she clarified with a dreamy sigh.

"For me, too?" Emma asked. "I mean, is it too late for me to sign up for any of that?"

Casey laughed. "It's not just Starlight girls at the camp," she explained. "Other kids have to sign up, sure. But if you're a Starlight girl, you're automatically in."

"Seriously?" Emma asked, smiling back just a bit.

"You know it," Stephanie said. "And we're gonna have so much funnn…."

Casey flung an arm around Emma's shoulders. A few weeks ago, Emma probably would have tensed or frozen, but now she just wrapped her own arm about her friend's shoulders and continued up the walk into school.

It hardly seemed fair to Emma that Ms Kogawa didn't have her paper graded for her when she got back from lunch. She'd been the only one to hand hers in that morning, the rest of the class having submitted theirs what felt like ages ago. She couldn't believe she was actually excited to get the report back. Usually, she just wanted to get the thing done and not have a teacher on her back bugging her for it.

"Teachers eat lunch, too," Stephanie laughed, when Emma complained about it on the way home. "Plus, Ms. Kogawa teaches English to the other two grade sixes also. You'll get it in a day or so."

Emma sighed. "Yeah, I guess I just… I think I might have done okay on this one." She made a face. "Of course, if she's gonna flunk me, she can wait till next year to hand it back. If I'm even still here by then."

Stephanie frowned. "You're going away?"

Emma stopped. "Uh… maybe?"

"Wait," Casey said, her expression worried. "Where? When? Did you get a letter from your parents?"

"Huh?"

"Most of the time," Stephanie said, "when a girl comes to Starlight House, it's because she doesn't have any family. There was one girl, though who found her dad. He was a Vietnam vet and he had amnesia for a while and forgot about her, but then he got his memory back and she lives with him now. Otherwise, once you're here, you're probably here until you age out. Unless you're not happy," she added worriedly. "Is that it?" she asked. "I-I heard you tried running away when you first got here, but I thought things were okay, now."

Emma's eyes widened as her friend's words sank in. This wasn't a temporary placement, or at least, it wasn't supposed to be. This was home. Unless her parents did show up after all. And even if they did, maybe she didn't want to be with them.. Not when they'd chucked her on the interstate eleven years ago and—so far as she knew, anyway—never looked back once. Maybe she'd been so caught up in the idea of having a family, that she hadn't stopped to notice that she might already have one. "They're okay," she said softly, wonderingly. "They're better than okay."

"But you said you might be—" Casey started to say, her eyes still concerned.

Emma shook her head, smiling now. "Never mind."

"Raya!" Jerrica's lips curled into a smile, when she saw her former bandmate's name on the caller ID. "How's it going?"

Raya sighed cheerfully. "Well, my exams are behind me, and Aurelio is working full-time in Papi's store, now, so I'm actually free for rehearsals whenever you're ready."

Jerrica felt a heaviness slide off her shoulders. "That's great! Shana's arriving on Monday, so we can get started then."

"That sounds wonderful," Raya replied. "Oh, there's one other thing. I've just received a letter from a Mr. John Darling who's hoping to enroll his foster daughter at Camp Starlight. I guess he must have got my address from an old flyer," she added, and on the other end of the phone, Jerrica nodded. Two years ago, Raya had been the camp's enrolment coordinator—a fancy name for processing registration forms. Her busy schedule had meant that she no longer had time to take that on, but last year, she'd still received a number of applications that she had duly forwarded.

"Well, send it my way," Jerrica said. "I think we can still squeeze one more in." She reached for a pad and pen. "Do you have her name handy? I can just jot that down now."

"Sure," Raya said. "It's Wendy. Wendy Muir."