The next day, Jeremy was helping us prepare for our first day.
"Feeling confident now, darling?" he said.
"Yeah, totally! I'm psyched" said Maya.
"Okay. Our first day is..." I said.
"Tomorrow!" Anxiety snapped. "And what happens if we don't go pro? The parents are disappointed, we have no one to hang onto..."
"Okay, none of that is happening right now, is it?" I said.
"No" said Anxiety.
"Good. So how about we take a seat in our special chair?" I said.
I led Anxiety to a comfy chair in the corner with scented candles and herbal anxie-tea.
She was finally breathing as she sat down and I pushed the massage button.
"Oh yeah, that's the stuff" Anxiety exhaled.
"Maya will be fine" I reassured her.
"Because she's got us!" Embarrassment piped up. "Ooh, yeah! Right?"
"Alright, Embarrassment! Everybody look at Embarrassment!" I said.
When he saw all of us laying eyes on him Embarrassment got back to being shy and hiding in his sweatshirt.
"And we asked Jeremy, the professional, to help us train" I said.
"I wish I'd thought of that" said Envy.
"Newsflash. You did" I said.
"Wait, you're right; I did" Envy laughed. "I'm jealous of myself! Thanks for the reminder."
Jeremy was still talking to Maya about how Central operated.
"You don't have to become a professional actress right away" he said. "That's why you take more than one year."
"I know" said Maya with a sweet smile.
Anxiety was finally calm enough to join us again.
"Oh, I love our girl" she said.
"How could you not?" I said. "She's super smart."
"And great at acting" said Sadness.
"She's really creative" said Disgust.
"She can be bored, but never boring" said Ennui.
"But she can be a little sarcastic from time to time" I said.
"She can have really bad ideas" said Fear.
"Occasionally, she can do the wrong thing" said Anger.
"And sometimes, she can be too hard on herself" I finished.
Sure, she is all those things, but every bit of Maya makes her who she is.
And we love all of our girl. Every messy, beautiful piece of her.
