Queen Of The Castle: Adopted By Six The Musical

Chapter 24: Clergy Meeting

"Great work Liz! I'll see you next week!" Amelia said, dropping me off at the theater. It was Monday. Wednesday I was having my first clergy meeting at my temple. I walked in, scrolling through Twitter.

@LizKatParis -@NatalieMayParis where are you?

I waited for a response. I plopped on the couch then my phone buzzed.

@MayJQB -@LizKatParis come outside

I headed outside. Nat, Aimie and Maiya were all in jeans and white shirts! "Surprise!" Aimie giggled.

@LizKatParis -The most iconic trio I have ever seen! @AimieAtkinson @NatalieMayParis @MayJQB

@AimieAtkinson -STOP SPAMMING TWITTER @LizKatParis

@LizKatParis -It's my duty @AimieAtkinson!!

"Over the summer, all four of us should do it. Yes Aimie, on our birthday." I said.

"Speaking of, Rabbi Cohen has to move the meeting to tomorrow. Cantor Michaels will be there too. They're so excited to meet you. And me." Nat explained.

"I just hope that they're not fans of Six." I said.

"Maybe. I don't know them."

"Me neither. I've never been to Sunday school in my life!" (I literally started going this year lmao)

Then the replies to my tweets came rolling in.

@Catherine_Of_Aragon -@LizKatParis has Twitter aaah I'm dying

@dontloseyourhead -YAY!

"Nat, do you know when the meeting is tomorrow?" I asked nervously.

"Four to five pm. Call is at 6, so I'm okay. No one needs to go on for me. Okay?"

I nodded. The costume designer, Gabriella was designing my bat mitzvah dress for the party, and I would just get a plain floral dress for the ceremony. Nat guessed that I would outgrow my Olivier dress by then (they're not for a few weeks anyway).

The show went well, and we headed back to the apartment. "Nat, I went to this synagogue when I was still an Abrams. They may use Abrams, but I can say Paris instead. My Hebrew name won't change."

"Thanks for the heads-up, sweetheart." Nat responded. "By the way, what is your Hebrew name anyway?"

"Yehudit, after my great grandmother, whose English name was Judith, which translates to Yehudit. It means 'woman from Judea'. (When I was trying to come up with Liz's Hebrew name, I didn't know that I would see a shooting star in Judea a month later. I just chose it because I liked it). And my Hebrew middle name is Chana, which means 'He has favored me'. If they ask for yours, just say your English name. They can easily do that." I said.

"Okay kiddo. Good night!" Nat said, kissing my forehead.

"G'night!"

The following morning, I was at school. "When's the clergy meeting? Is it tomorrow?" Millie asked.

"It's this afternoon. My rabbi had to move it."

"Ah, okay."

"I'm still scared that they'll still use 'Abrams' on me, though I've been using 'Paris' for like three weeks now. You know what I mean?" I said.

"I know what you mean, Liz." Bailey butted in. "With me being half Jewish and half Christian is hard. I got persecuted at the Academy for wearing a Jewish star. That's why I came here. You're like the only Jew I know here."

"Bai, it's okay. Wait, when's your bat mitzvah?" I asked.

"I had it last year when I was still at the Academy. No one came. It was just some family from Ireland and Belfast. Worst day of my life."

"Ouch. That hurts." Millie said, rubbing Bailey's shoulder.

That afternoon, I was waiting for Natalie's car to pull up. "Good afternoon lovely! You ready?" She asked.

"Yeah. Just a bit nervous. They still don't know that you adopted me a while ago."

"I'll just say I'm your legal guardian. They might know about your parents though. Is that okay?"

We arrived at Or Shalom (I literally made this up) at 3:55. Five minutes until go time. We walked in. "Hi, uh...I have an appointment with Rabbi Jennifer Cohen and Cantor Zoey Michaels at four...?"

"Right upstairs." The guard said.

"Thank you."

I headed upstairs to Rabbi Cohen's office. Cantor Michaels was there as well. "Elizabeth! It's been such a long time since I've seen you!" Rabbi Cohen exclaimed, shaking my hand.

I looked at her with confusion. "I was the one who gave you your Hebrew name!"

"Uh, I would like to be called Liz now."

"Oh. And that is..."

Nat stepped forward. "I'm Natalie. I'm her legal guardian."

"I heard about that. The adoption." Cantor Michaels said, smoothing out her long ginger hair.

Nat and I sat down. "So basically, we'll be going over the service, and we just want to get to know you. Okay?" Rabbi Cohen said, pulling out the file for my Torah portion.

I nodded, hoping that they wouldn't ask about my birth parents. "What do you like to do in your spare time?" Cantor Michaels asked.

"I like to read, sing, dance and listen to music, and hang out with my friends." I said, thinking about our little backstage parties and shenanigans.

"Where do you go to school?"

"Ashbeck Prep."

"I know you like musical theater. What are your favorite musicals?"

"I like Six, Hamilton, & Juliet and West Side Story."

"Have you decided on a theme for the party yet?"

"We're not there yet." Natalie said, easing my anxiety.

"Do you know what happened to your parents?" Rabbi Cohen asked.

Oh no. This is bad. This is really bad. "They moved to Toronto shortly after Natalie took me in." I managed to say, my cheeks on fire.

"So...Natalie..." Cantor Michaels said. "What's your Hebrew name? It's okay if you don't."

"I don't have one. Just put down 'Natalie'. (נטלי is how it looks). That's fine." Nat said.

The meeting went great, and they knew I was a Paris. "Keep meeting with Amelia, solidify the Haftarah blessings, in two weeks we can start drafting your speech."

I got terrified. I absolutely HATE public speaking. "It'll be fine. You can do this."

The meeting ended and now I had more weight on my shoulders.

So basically I based Liz's first clergy meeting off of mine, and yeah. Don't have much of an A/N.

Thanks for reading!