Never Be Enough- The Greatest Showman

Chapter Ten

Evalynn saw her standing on the sidewalk waiting for Philip so she ran up to her.

"Hey Julia! Guess what?"

Julia looked around. "You can't be near me. She grabbed Evelyn's hand and took her to an alleyway.

"I'm sorry. I just don't want my parents to see me with you."

Evalynn frowned at the other girls words. "I'm sorry. I should have been more careful."

"It's alright." The red head said and then smiled. "What were you so excited to tell me?"

"Oh! We convinced Philip to join the circus! I thought maybe since he'll be with us your parents wont be as strict about you being with us too."

"You might be right. I hope you are."

They heard Philip call Julias name and Julia left. Evalynn stayed in the alley in case Julias parents were there. Once she was sure they were gone she found Phineas and they went home.

The next month of shows were even better with Philip helping run the show. But it also attracted lots of protesters. They were at almost every show at that point.

One day they were all sitting around before practice and Phineas was reading everyone the newspaper.

"Shame of the city. The protests cement P.T. Barnums reputation as a purveyor of the offensive and indecent."

"Offensive and Indecent. Mr. Bennet I'm blushing." Lettie said sarcastically as she brushed out her beard.

"No. I'm blushing!" Helen yelled.

"What do you care what Bennet thinks?"

"He's a prig and a snob." Lettie and Tom said at the same time.

P.T. Sighed. "Yeah, but all the snobs in New York read him. He does their thinking for them."

Anne looked at Barnum. "What happened to thriving off of controversy?"

"Yeah, well." He paused when he saw Philip come in. Do you have any thoughts on this?"

"Philip!" Helen yelled as she ran up and hugged him.

"As a matter of fact I do." He handed a paper to Barnum and Phineas read it to everyone.

"The master of the house has it in command of the queen to invite Mr. Phineas T. Barnum and his theatrical troupe to a reception at Buckingham palace."

Charity looked at him in shock. "The Queen Victoria? Is this real?"

Philip nodded. "I had to pull a few strings. If you want society to accept you, you may as well start from the very very top." He said as he put his hat on Helens head.

Anne stood up and looked at Philip with a serious look. "Are we all invited?"

There was a tense silence as everyone looked at each other.

"I guess I'll just have to tell the queen that either all of us go or none of us will."

They all cheered and celebrated for a little bit.

"The queen of England. Can't get much better than that!" Tom said.

They spent a few hours rehearsing and then preformed. After the show they all hung out in the bleachers.

"Alright. We leave tomorrow night on the boat to get to England. We have rooms for everyone reserved." Philip explained.

Julia and Evalynn looked at each other smiling. They got to share a room on the boat. The next morning they brought all their bags to the doc. Once the boat showed up they all got on and found their rooms.

Philip and Phineas showed everyone their rooms and them went their separate ways.  Julia and Evalynn closed the door and smiled at each other.

"I can't believe were going to see the queen!" Julia said.

Evalynn was too busy admiring the girl so respond.

"Eva. Are you okay?"

Evalynn blinked the admiration out of her eyes and smiled. "Yeah. I'm just really excited to spend this trip with you.

It would take them a month to get to England. Evalynn managed to keep her feelings a secret for the first week, but after that she couldn't hide it anymore.

Evalynn wouldn't have dared telling Julia how she felt if she wasn't certain. But after that third day on the boat when Evalynn had gotten sea sick and Julia held her hair back for her, and after they sat on the bathroom floor telling stories all night she knew Julia liked her back.

Exactly one week after their voyage began she found Julia in their room.

"Hey can I talk to you about something?"

Julia looked up from the book that she was reading to smile and nod at Evalynn. "Let me finish this chapter first. I only have half a page left."

"Of course."

After less than a minute of Julia reading she marked her page and set the book aside.

"Whats going on?" She asked.

Evalynn looked her in the eyes. She wanted to just blurt it out. Say I love you and see what would happen. But she didn't. She was too scared.

"I wouldn't be telling you this if I wasn't completely sure you feel the same way that I do alright?"

Julia smiled. She knew where it was going, but didn't want to get too excited in case they weren't actually on the same page.

"And it's okay if you hate me and don't want to be friends anymore-"

"Hey, its okay. I promise whatever it is wont turn me away."

Evalynn smiled. "Okay. Well, I might as well just say it."

"Okay. Go on." Julia said with an encouraging smile.

"Alright," She took a deep breath. "Here it goes. Julia Carlyle. I think I'm in love with you."

There was a moment of silence. Not because Julia didn't like the girl back, but because if she were to admit her feelings they would date. And keep it a secret.

"Please say something."

Despite Julia's mind trying to warn her she ignored it and smiled.

"I love you too."

Evalynn blushed. They kissed for the first time that night. They made sure their door was locked while they sat in bed together holding each other in case someone needed them. They would remember that night as the best night of the trip.