Forever In Your Shadows

Chapter 23

*Two Years Later*

Lin's POV

"Is it bad that we never get tired of this?" I smirked.

"Oh hush..." Pippa said while burying her face into the pillow. "You're just happy that one of the kids is gone and we don't have to be that quiet when we do that." She mumbled. I rubbed her bare back and smiled. She was right.

Scarlett was off in college studying the performing arts just like her mother. It made me proud that she was going after music. Amelie and Alejandro were going to start high school next year and they would hardly be home. I was finally going to have Pippa all to myself!

"You know... In a couple more years, we'll be able to have even more fun!" I smiled.

"Lin... By then you'll be pushing sixty... I wouldn't focus on that because you know, you'll have to worry about other things." She said while sitting up. I frowned, but she had a point. I was in good health, but I wasn't going to push anything either.

"Alright, alright." I laughed.

~~~

I got out of bed finally and walked out to the bedroom to see Pippa trying to fix Alejandro's hair.

"Just let me!" She said while moving it out of his face.

"Mom! I'm fine!" He groaned.

"You need a haircut." I said while walking passed him. I wrapped my arm around Pippa's waist and kissed her cheek. "Why are you so perfect?" I whispered.

"Lin, stop." She laughed. "You're too much." She smiled. I shrugged and looked at the food cooking on the stove. I smiled and thought how lucky I was to have her in my life. She wasn't performing anymore and back at the school working. I kept my job working with multiple theatres helping them find their missing links. Everyone couldn't be happier...

~~~~

Scarlett's POV

College was hard. Mom didn't say anything about how much work and classes that I needed to take for this. I groaned at the amount of work load I had and looked at my dorm mate. 

"How are you able to keep your focus this long?" I asked her. 

"I'm not. I've been staring at the same question for two hours..." She mumbled while rubbing her eyes. 

"You have to be kidding...." I sighed. There was a knock at our door and she went to answer it. 

"Guys, please tell me you guys are done with the questionnaire Professor Simmons give us..." Our newfound friend, Heather, frowned while walking into the dorm. 

"I'm still on question two." I answered. 

"I'm on question three." Gina, my dorm mate, shrugged. 

"We're going to die..." Heather said while flopping on my bed. 

"I could always call my mom... See what she put... Or if she had this..." I mumbled. 

"Did your mom go to Julliard?" Heather asked. 

"Yeah. But like a million years ago." I laughed while pulling out my phone. 

"Your mom is so nice. When Scarlett moved in, she brought cookies for us." Gina smiled. "And her dad is like super nice too." Gina laughed. 

"Lucky! My parents literally told me to go screw myself when I got accepted here on scholarship.." Heather frowned. 

"Scholarship?! Who are you?!" I screeched while clicking on mom's number. 

"Hey Scarlett. How's school?" Mom answered. 

"Mom.... Did you ever have to fill out questionnaires when you were here?" I asked her. 

"Um... A lot of times why?" She asked. We talked about the questionnaires and she told me that it was a way for us to get used to filling out multiple different kinds of interview questions, and applications. We were supposed to be getting used to it in our field but they were so hard.... "Is that all you called for?!" She laughed. 

"Kind of!" I laughed. 

"Goodness. I'm over here worrying if you're partying so much that you're not going to class! But no! You call your mother for help on classwork!" She scoffed. 

"Mom!" I whined. "I'm only an hour train ride away, you literally can come visit me anytime you want." I laughed. I heard yelling in the background and mom started laughing. 

"Your dad says that we can't come visit you because we spent most of your life trying to get you out of the house for a break." She laughed. 

"Well tell him that I won't be home for Thanksgiving then." I scoffed. I heard her say that to him and waited. 

"You're coming home for the holidays or you're going to be locked out of the house! We'll change the locks and everything! And we'll pretend like you don't exist." Dad had the phone now and was acting all silly. 

"Dad, I'm coming home. I miss you guys." I laughed. 

"Good. Love you Scar!" He laughed. 

"Love you too dad. Tell mom I love her!" I smiled. The phone clicked and I explained what mom had explained to me. They were designed to be hard because of how tedious and particular directors can be. After a while of thinking, we put our answers together and finally finished the worksheets. It was hard, but we did it.  

~~~~

"Do you think we'll break out into the acting world when we graduate?" Heather asked while we walked back from the cafeteria. 

"I hope so.." Gina frowned. "That's my worst fear... That we do all this work and nothing." She groaned. 

"You guys just need to keep a positive attitude. I have my eyes set on certain roles when I get out... Of course... I hope that some will be revived, but still!" I laughed. 

"Scarlett you're just acting positive. I know that you're terrified too." Gina laughed while grabbing my arm. 

"I am just as terrified as you two are. My parents were lucky... Like really lucky and were able to find roles and big shot acting career stuff as soon as they graduated." I frowned. "Maybe it'll be the same for me." I shrugged. 

"Who are your parents?" Heather asked. 

"Um... Not important." I shrugged. 

"Oh come on! You're already my friend! I already love you for you! Not because of your parents." She explained while holding my arm. 

"Um... Remember when Hamilton was like super big?" I asked. 

"How could anyone forget?" Heather laughed. "It did a Tony award sweep." She continued laughing. "Why?" 

"My dad wrote it... And my mom played Eliza..." I shrugged. 

"Wait..." She stopped walking and Gina started laughing. "You... IT ALL MAKES SENSE AS TO WHY YOUR LAST NAME IS MIRANDA." She screamed while running passed me. 

"Oh god..." I groaned. 

"Why didn't you tell me?! Gina did you know?!" She yelled. 

"Yes. I met her parents. They're really nice and normal." She laughed.

"How..." Heather asked, starstruck. 

"I just don't like being compared to them. I feel like if I do this, this will make them proud. Like I'm continuing a legacy." I shrugged. "Just please, don't tell anyone... The Professors already know who my mother is here and they expect me to get extremely good marks like she did..." I frowned. 

"I won't. I'm not going to ruin my best friend like that." Heather smiled. I nodded and she hugged me. I was lucky to have such supportive friends that were willing to protect me with anything.