It wasn't my mom's phone.
It was Melissa's.
Maddie heard the ringtone, and ran into the kitchen where Melissa's phone was sitting. Of course, that meant Franke was calling.
"Mom! It's Franke!" She screamed. Melissa came out from the bedroom with my mom, they had been planning things for our long-term stay in NYC.
Melissa grabbed her phone and answered it. She was talking to Franke, but Maddie was practically riding her tail to figure out what he was saying. She finally ended up in the bathroom on the phone, locking Maddie out. Once she got off the phone, she came out of the bathroom. "Excuse me, but I think we're gonna go talk in our room for a second." Melissa said. She took both girls into the other room, leaving me, and the sound of the movie, alone in the room. After a few seconds of silence, I hear my mom. "Kendall?"
I walk into the bedroom. "Yeah?" I ask her. She looks up at me from all the papers she has sitting on the bed. "I want you to know that if you don't get this commerical part, that it doesn't really matter. I mean it's just a commerical, and they'll be filming a new one in three months anyways." I giggled. "Mom, I'm on broadway. I couldn't care less about that commercial audition."
Then, Mom's phone rang. It was Franke. She answered it, putting it on speaker. "Hey Franke, it's Jill, I put you on speaker and Kendall's in the room too."
I heard Franke clear his throat, then speak. "Oh, okay. Kendall sweety, I was just calling to let you know that they didn't cast you in this commercial, but they did tell me they put your name down for future refrence if they need more people for a different commercial. Sorry." His words were professional, but his tone was sincere. I almost forgot that the news before he apologized was good. Why was he apologizing?
"Sorry?" I responded, confused. "Why are you sorry? I got listed for future refrence, that's amazing! Plus, you got me on Broadway, Franke, I couldn't be happier!" My mom put Franke off speaker, and started talking to him about how we were making plans to stay in New York, and asking him what he thought was better. I walked back to the movie, and saw Kenzie had sat on the couch. I chuckled.
"Hey Kenz...where's your...sister?" I slowly noticed Maddie wasn't in the room.
"Uhh, she...uhh," Kenzie looked at her feet and started playing with them. I knew she didn't want to finish her sentence. "Okay, let's try a different question." I said. "What was your call about?"
"OH!" Kenzie lept up from her seat. "I got cast in the commerical! Franke said that they said they saw a spark in me and loved how I wasn't taking things too seriously, that they loved how I naturally looked like I was having fun!" She giggled. "And Maddie... she got listed for future calls or something like that."
I smiled. "I got listed for future calls too! That's great that you got the commerical Kenz! I'm so proud of you!" I picked her up and spun her in circles, but I heard the door creak open. I slowly stopped, and while hugging Kenzie still, I looked over to the doorway. In the doorway sttod Maddie, with bloodshot eyes and red cheeks. She let out a sniffle. I silently put Kenzie down, unsure what to do.
Kenzie ran up to her and shouted. "Great News! Kendall got listed for future calls too! Now we can all watch the movie because we got our calls."
Maddie smiled, teary eyed. She came and sat down, watching the movie and trying to look happy. My heart ached for the girl I used to know, the one who was happy all of the time. But then I realized. When I saw her as the happy one, the one receiving praise, she was all I wanted to be.
When I saw her as the sad one, trying to hold on for the sake of being a good person, I almost lost it. I wished I could take her pace. We were best friends, we always helped each other out. I wanted nothing more than to cheer her up. Unlike when I came in fifth, Maddie would always whisper to me when we sat down after getting awards, "I think you should have won. That other girl totally bobbled her turns, and probably doesn't even know what a plie is." She would make me smile, and I would be happy with fifth place. Of all the girls at that competition, I was the fifth one they liked. Sure it wasn't the best, but they obviously saw something in me.
Now, all I could do was sit back, and watch Maddie try to cheer herself up. I hadn't quite figured out how to make her happy. Telling her that she deserved it just made her more sad. Telling her it didn't matter just made her angry. I couldn't crack the code, couldn't figure out how. I thought of a solution, one I had never tried before. Maybe she just needed to get her mind off of this.
A distraction.
