Meadow Valley High School

Living in the moment

     After the show was over some of the talent scouts in the audience came backstage to talk with several of the dancers. A lady from Julliard was there and had come over to speak with both Ana and Cristov. She told them both that she was thoroughly impressed with their passion and talent for dance and would like to formally invite both of them for an audition for Julliard next January.

     Ana and Cristov turned and looked at each other in utter excitement and Cristov picked up Ana and swung her around to celebrate the good news for them both. When he set her back down the two of them awkwardly looked at each other before Ana decided to turn her back on him. Ana went looking for her family in the crowds of people that were starting to come. Cristov watched Ana as she walked away and wished that she wouldn't be so mad at him.

     Cristov couldn't help but think about kissing Ana again. When Cristov kissed Ana on stage he felt something for her that he has never felt before with any woman. It made him long for her even more. Cristov never thought about settling down with one woman before but he thought that Ana was definitely the kind of girl that could make him change his ways. Sergio heard the news and embraced his brother and told him that he was so proud of him. He was excited that his little brother was going to get the opportunity that he could only dream of.

      Ana found her family in the crowd and ran up to hug and greet them. She told them the exciting news about her invitation to audition for Julliard in January. Her grandparents handed her a bouquet of flowers and kissed their granddaughter. They told Ana that her father would've been so proud of her today and they believed that he was dancing with her on the stage today. Ana hugged and kissed them with tears of joy in her eyes and then she turned to her brother David to talk with him.

     David told her that he recorded everything so she could show their family back in Kentucky. He also told her how incredibly proud he was of her and that she was astonishing and breathtaking to watch. David told Ana that everyone in the audience was moved to tears by the emotion she showed in her final performance. He said it was the best performance of the entire show.

     Ana had wondered what her brother thought about the final kiss but was too scared to bring it up to him. She thought maybe he didn't notice anything and she was just overreacting because of her emotions. Ana told her brother that she was thinking about their father while she was dancing on the stage and that is why she cried so much at the end. The thought of losing him and never being able to hug and tell him that she loved him again was heartbreaking. She was overtaken by emotion during the piece. Ana was moved to tears just speaking about it with her brother. David knew better than to bring up what he thought about his sister kissing Cristov at the end. He could tell that she was very emotional and upset right now and just hugged her.

      Ana's grandparents took all of them out to a Cuban restaurant to celebrate their amazing performance and invitation to audition at Julliard. Cristov sat next to Ana at the table and kept trying to be nice and talk with her. Ana didn't want her family to notice that she was upset with Cristov for kissing her so she tried to pretend to not be upset with him during dinner. Ana even laughed at all of Cristov's jokes and he took it the wrong way.

     Cristov thought that Ana was not mad at him anymore and even tried to hold her hand under the table but she quickly snatched it away and kicked his foot. Cristov was confused because he thought that she was giving him mixed messages. He continued to try to charm Ana during dinner and win her heart. Ana was thinking about Zach the entire time and couldn't wait to get back to her grandparents' house so she could call him. She wanted to talk with him so badly and tell him everything about her performance and her upcoming audition.

     Ana was having mixed feelings about leaving the next day to return back to Kentucky. Just being back in Miami and seeing her grandparents and friends brought up so many great memories they had together. She was going to miss seeing them all over again.

      Later that evening, Ana had a talk with her brother about everything she was feeling. How she was overcome by emotion about losing their father during her performance. It was very difficult for her to be back home and not be overwhelmed with memories of her father. She was still questioning her faith in God even though the past few months of summer have been healing for her.

     Zach was helping her to overcome some of her doubts and questions she had about her faith. It helped that he had experienced the loss of a parent when he was younger. Ana felt like they had a deep connection because of the mutual loss they shared.

     It was moments like the earlier performance that Ana wished her father could be there to hug her again. Ana thought that this journey of faith she was on was almost too tough to handle. She was just starting to work through some of the depression of losing her father when the thoughts came flooding back to her. Ana thought that maybe being back in Miami was burdensome for her to cope, as if it were too soon to go back and face everything. She tried explaining her racing thoughts about everything to her brother. David shared with her that he was struggling with similar questions and issues as her. Ana was glad that she had this conversation with her brother, it made her feel better about everything.