It's Quiet Uptown

chapter 7

I drove to the theatre. My dad and the choreographer were waiting. I practised for a while and then went backstage to change into the costume. I put my hair up and walked to the curtain. I made sure to text Taylor to make sure she was okay, she went to go and stay with some of her friends for Christmas, and then walked over to my dad. We went and did Ham 4 Ham and then walked backstage. He gave me a high five and we both went to our starting positions. The show flew by quickly. Dad seemed uncomfortable in the second act because I kept having to curse. After the show, dad and I got ice cream. I went9 back to the theatre and got my car. I drove to my dorm. I ordered two pizzas for the dorm. 'At my dorm, I put on Looking For Alaska on Hulu. I sat down on my bed with two Hawaiian pizzas and a two-litre sprite. Surprisingly, the dorm seemed a little quiet without Taylor. I looked over at the aquarium next to the tv. Ankle was eating all the lettuce, leaving barely any for Ane Peggy. He was a fat turtle and usually stole food. I pulled a few pieces of pineapple off of a slice of pizza I was eating and put them in the tank. I smiled and thought back to when I first moved them to the dorm.
“Taylor, come meet my children!”, I shouted as Taylor walked in the door. “I thought you said those were your brothers?”, Taylor said walking over. “Sebastian and Francisco are my siblings, but Ankle and Ane Peggy are my children..”. “ I said. “Who the heck are they?”, Taylor asked. “My pet turtles. I got them last year from Uncle Anthony and Aunt Jasmine.”, I said, in my mind thinking it was odd I called them my aunt and uncle, considering they were only ten and twelve years older than me. “Why did you name them Ankle and Ane Peggy?”, Taylor asked. “Well, Ankle is Ankle, because when I first got them on Christmas, it bit my dad’s ankle. And Aunt Jasmine named Ane Peggy, because it kinda sounds like And Peggy. You’ve seen the show, you get it.”, I said, thinking about how technically my family had two ankle related pets, Ankle and Tobillo, who had also bit my dad’s ankle as a puppy. “Oh yeah, that part. Who is Jasmine and Anthony?”, Taylor asked. “They’re part of the Hamilton cast. I call them my aunt and uncle because I grew up with them.”., I said. “Cool. Who do they play?”, Taylor asked. “Jasmine plays Peggy and Maria. Anthony plays John and Philip.”, I said. “Oh, so she named it after her own character, nice.”, Taylor said. I let out a short laugh. “Where were you earlier?”, I asked. “Just out,”Taylor said, very quickly. “Oh.”, I said. “Yeah. Well I’m going to eat lunch. Bye.”, Taylor said, leaving the dorm. 
I rolled my eyes and sat back down and went back to my pizza. Just as I went to take a sip of Sprite, my phone started ringing. I flipped it over and saw my dad was calling me. “Hey, what’s up.”, I said. “Hey, we need to have a family discussion, can you come over.”, My dad said. I was a little nervous in the past, family discussions were usually strange. Some were fun, like saying we’d get to go to Puerto Rico or the Dominican or that Dad would get to help make a Disney movie. Or when Dad had told us he got a part in Mary Poppins Returns. But recently, they haven't been fun. Like Dad saying we were moving to California or that I was going to be going to Juilliard, which soon turned into LACM.”Yeah, I’ll be there in ten.”, I said. “Okay.”, my dad said. I grabbed my keys off the counter and drove over to our house. I opened the door and saw my family sitting at the table. Fancisco had a bag of chips and Sebastian was watching a video on his tablet. “Hey.”, I said. Mom looked really stressed and I was worried. “Hey sissy.”, Francisco said, with a mouth full of chips. “Okay, now that Nicole is here, we need to have a talk.”, Mom said. I pulled out a chair and sat at the table. “What’s going on?”, I asked. “We’re going back to New York.”, Dad said. “We get to go home?”, Sebastian asked. “No.”, Mom said. “I’m confused, what’s going on?”, I said. “Well, Nicole, you and I are going to New York for a while. After a few weeks, your mom and brothers will join us.”, my dad said. “You’re skipping over key details here. Why don’t we just wait to go all together? And when do we leave, do I have to finish the semester or what?”, I asked. “Nicole.”, Mom said. “Yes?”, I responded. “Be quiet and maybe you’ll get your answers.”, Mom responded. I looked down and gave Tobillo a little pet. “You and I are leaving on New Years. The others will come on January 20th.”, Dad said. “They’ll miss your birthday.” I said. “Yes, I’m aware of that. I don’t think California has been working out for our family. You’ve seemed really distant, Nicole. Your mom has a big case coming up and it’s hard for her to work half-way across the country. They’re coming later, so we can all get a little bit of a break.”, Dad said. “You two aren’t going to separate, are you?”I asked worried. “What? No. We just need a break.”, Mom said. “The only reason you’re not staying with the others, is cause we need to re enroll you in school.”, Dad said. “Dad.”, I said, but he didn't seem to hear me and kept talking about Juilliard. “Dad.”, I said a little louder. “Yes?”, he asked. “I don’t want to go back.”, I said. “I mean, you can stay in this house I guess. We understand you’re growing up, it’s just we thought you’d want to be closer.”, my dad started rambling off. “No, I don’t want to go back to Juilliard.”, I said. Both my parents stared at me in silence. “Nicole…”, My dad started and got interrupted by Francisco throwing his chips across the room. Tobillo ran to eat them off the floor and Sebastian walked over to eat some too. Francisco started to cry, because it was obviously past his bedtime. “We’ll continue this in a minute. Come on Frankie.”, Dad said, picking up Francisco and bringing him to his room. I got up and got the broom and started to clean up the chips. Mom picked up Sebastian and brought him to his room as well. It was just Tobillo and I downstairs in silence for a while, until my parents came back downstairs. “So, why don’t you want to go back to school?”, my mom said, as her and my dad came back downstairs. “Well, in theory, it sounded great for me, but I already knew everything they were teaching. That school is to help people get on Broadway, and I grew up there. It would be kinda like, if your school forced you to learn a language you were already fluent in.”, I said, trying to find a way to explain to them. “Nicole, why didn’t you tell us how you felt?”, my dad asked. “I didn’t want to let you down.”, I said. “You could never let us down, mija.”, he responded. “Maybe, you could try online courses. They’d be more flexible working around shows.”, my mom said. "I'd like that.", I said with a smile. "Okay, you need to rest. You have your school performance tomorrow. ", my dad said. "Oh crap, I almost forgot.  Night guys, I love you", I said grabbing my keys and driving home in a hurry. As soon as I got home, I listened to the soundtrack and tried to make sure I knew all my lines. I knew I didn't have anything to worry about,  but I was nervous. I tried to fall asleep and not worry about anything.