Forever In Your Shadows

Chapter 1

Pippa's POV

Everything was running so smoothly in our lives. Lin's musical about another history guy was starting to die down, but his new one that he was selling to a tv show was a huge uproar. Something about a kid eating a firework. I didn't know the whole thing because I knew it had caused an argument between us. Yelling about how a parent could let that happen.

"Mom." I looked over and saw Scarlett holding two shirts up. "Which one?" She asked.

"Um.... The right one." I pointed to a light blue top with a white lace trim on the bottom. She nodded and ran back up the stairs. Alejandro and Amelie ran passed me and I did a double take. "Get back here!" I yelled. Alejandro came back and I approved his outfit. Amelie slowly came to me and I crossed my arms. "I don't think so. What in God's name made you think you could wear that?!" I scolded.

"Mom! It's just a little skin showing!" She pouted. "Daddy approved it." She glared.

"I did no such thing!" Lin said while walking passed me. "I told you that your mother was going to throw a fit about your outfit!" He called while walking through the hall to the living room.

"Go change. We're going to a family party, not selling you on the sex trade." I pointed. Amelie groaned and went right back into her room. I finished putting my earrings in and walked out to the living room. "Someone needs to put Burger in his room." I said while walking passed the white parrot.

"Burger!" The parrot repeated. I sighed and couldn't believe we owned a parrot. Alejandro came out of his room and took Burger into his room. I was going to have to make sure that cage was cleaned too before he went out with his friends.

"Burger is secured and locked in his cage." Alejandro smiled.

"Thank you." I said while fixing my hair. He hugged me and I was a bit confused... "What do you want?" I asked.

"Can I please go with my friends tomorrow?" He asked.

"No. You're grounded for teaching Burger how to say those awful words." I said sternly.

"You have to admit, those were funny." Lin laughed. I shot him a look and he stopped laughing. I swear I had to be the bad guy in our family... "Alright, we need to be at Chris's house at five and we have five minutes to get there.... And only one kid is ready.." He sighed. "Amelie, Scarlett! Let's go!" Lin yelled. Scarlett came bounding down the stairs and I smiled at her outfit. She was dressed so nicely and I was happy for her.

"Are you ready?" I asked her. She nodded and I looked at Amelie. "Much better. Now you look like you belong with us!" I said while hugging her. She groaned and pushed me slightly. I didn't care if she was going through the 'I hate my parents' phase. I still loved her.

~~~

"Alright, alright everyone!! The Mirandas are finally here." Anthony laughed.

"Sorry! Defiant preteens." Lin laughed. Our kids ran over to everyone else's kids and we went to hang out with adults. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Scarlett was hanging out with AJ, Alejandro was with Rosie, and Amelie was walking with Diana. I smiled at their choice in friends and continued to talk with Chris's wife.

"Your daughters are absolutely gorgeous. Spitting images of their mother." She smiled.

"Oh thank you. As are yours." I smiled.

"Scarlett is junior next year right?" She asked. I nodded and sighed. "You're not ready for it are you." She laughed.

"I'm not... She's so grown up... And my younger ones... I'm terrified for them... Alejandro seems to have a good head on his shoulders, but Amelie scares me... I feel like she's learning bad things from the rest of the kids in her class..." I frowned. She nodded and we continued talking.

Scarlett's POV

AJ and I were close as could be. He was going to be a stage manager, while I was going to try and become and actress. Both of us knew it was going to be hard since our parents kinda paved the road already.

"My mom is gonna flip when she sees my marks in math..." AJ sighed.

"It'll be okay. My dad is going to freak out when she sees my marks for Spanish." I laughed. It was pretty funny since my dad did try and teach me Spanish, but it just never flowed right coming out of me. Alejandro and Amelie were already fluent in it. But mom taught me French so it was alright.

"Maybe they'll let us slide." He shrugged.

"Not me. My mom is anal about school. She'll take away my laptop if she finds it." I frowned. He nodded and  pulled out his phone to check his grades. We were the only kids who were doing extra courses over the summer and of course getting made fun of for it all. 

"You two don't look like you're having fun." Uncle Daveed frowned. 

"Well we're worried about our grades. Our parents are going to be so mad.." AJ frowned. He nodded and sat with us. I didn't get to see my uncle that much anymore, but when he would come to visit, he would do anything he could to help us out. 

"How bad are they?" He asked while looking at our phones. 

"I have a 65 in Math..." AJ frowned. "I'm just not good with the whole numbers stuff." He added. 

"I have a 75 in Spanish... Dad doesn't like that I speak French with mom so that's why..." I sighed. 

"Well that's not bad! Your dad can't be too mad." He smiled. 

"Alejandro and Amelie are fluent in Spanish already." I sighed. 

"Yeah and Diana is wicked smart with math." AJ groaned. "And everything else." He rolled his eyes and Daveed laughed. "What is so funny?" He asked. 

"Well your sister took after your mom so that's okay. You took after your dad. So don't take it too hard. Your dad is really smart everywhere else. Just like you." Uncle Daveed smiled. "I'll talk to them for you both. Don't worry." He said while getting up. Both of us felt relieved to have an uncle like him.