Forever In Your Shadows

Chapter 7

Scarlett's POV

School sucked. Everything just sucked. I walked in the door and didn't bother to wait for Amelie or Alejandro to get in the door before I shut it. They were lagging behind in the hall and I didn't want to deal with it. 

"Hey!" Dad smiled at me. "What's with the long face?" He asked. 

"I'm busy." I said while walking passed him. I walked into my room and saw a black puppy sitting on my bed. I raised an eyebrow and looked back at dad. "What is this?" I asked while picking it up. 

"Well it's a puppy! It's the family dog now!" He smiled. 

"Really? A dog." I sighed. "We already have a bird." I groaned. 

"Gosh. Well why don't you name it? Since I mainly got it as an apology gift for screwing with your school life..." He laughed nervously. 

"So he's technically mine?" I asked. 

"Well, yeah..." He shrugged. "But everyone gets to take care of him too." He said quietly. 

"Hm... He needs a good name..." I said while looking at his face. "His name is Simba." I smiled. "And he's going to be the best dog ever!" I said while holding him up just like in the movie. 

"Oh just wait until your mother sees that." Dad laughed. 

"See what?" I looked up and saw mom walking in the doorway. "What is that?" She asked while pointing at me. 

"Simba! The newest addition to our family!" I said while holding him back up. 

"A dog? We got a dog?" She asked. 

"Well it was an apology gift for Scarlett... I felt like she needed some happy in her life. So a puppy! He's up to date on everything except being fixed because he's still little now." He explained. 

"Wonderful." She smiled. I held Simba like a baby and mom walked over to me. "Simba. Welcome to the family." She said while scratching his head. I smiled and walked into my room with him. His bed was all set up with some toys and a blanket. A puppy. A cute little puppy!! 

~~~

Pippa's POV 

I was cooking dinner and my phone kept blowing up with texts from Mario. He knew I had a job to do during the school year. I told him no more modeling until holidays. But obviously he didn't get the point. 

"What?" I answered. 

"Phillipa! Darling! One of our models is out for the shoot and we want you in!" He said over the phone. 

"I can't. I already have a job. I can't just drop this one and go to you whenever you wish. I have a family to think about." I scoffed. 

"But you are one of the bests!" He groaned. "We need you!" He cried. 

"No. Not until the holidays. That's when I'll be getting my breaks." I said while hanging up. I was going to need to slap Lin later for letting this happen. I stirred the pot of noodles and felt something hitting my feet. I looked down and saw Simba playing with my feet. "Oh you're just a little fuzz bucket aren't you." I smiled.

"Mom, why does Scarlett get a pet and not me." Amelie frowned. 

"Because Scarlett has shown so much more responsibility than you. That and when she was your age she took care of fish. Now that she doesn't have fish anymore, your father decided to get her a puppy." I explained. 

"Not fair." She complained. I shrugged and continued cooking. It was literally impossible to keep these kids happy now. Want, want, want. Especially Amelie. I don't even know where she got any of this anymore. I never acted like that when I was younger. Lin I don't think dared acted like that when he was younger either. 

Lin walked out holding his folders and put them on the counters. I raised an eyebrow and saw him run his hands through his hair. 

"What is it?" I asked. 

"They're asking me to write another one." He sighed. "I want to, but it takes seven years..." He groaned. "I love this, but I can't keep making these musicals every time someone snaps their fingers... I'm already trying to find people who want to do this... So many others are writing and trying their hands with their screenplays. But I just don't know..." He sighed. I walked over to him and hugged him. 

"Take a break." I whispered. 

"I wish I could... But if we don't get paid anything huge like this soon, we will have to downsize..." He whispered. "I don't want to lose this apartment. It's perfect." He frowned. 

"I know... I'll look for extra work. I'll see what I can do too. We'll cut back and let Alejandro find our gaps." I laughed. He smiled and looked at the folders. "What are they filled with?" I asked. 

"Started ideas, but never finished them because they didn't seem good or even near enough to be on Broadway." He shrugged. 

"I'll look through them with you. We'll do it together." I smiled. "And then you're going to have to figure out how to budget. Because getting a dog on a whim was not your best choice." I laughed. 

"Neither was having kids but you know." He laughed. I hit his chest and went back to cooking dinner. Things were going to have to look up for us soon. At least I hope they were going to. We couldn't lose anything....