King's College (Sequel to Too Young and Blind)

Full of Surprises

Peggy

"Guys-ah-Eliza I can't breath!" I felt her pulling the obijime of the kimono tighter and I really couldn't feel my stomach anymore, "It shouldn't have to be this tight!" I cried while I saw Angelica shrug.

"If we want it to be more realistic and accurate then it has to be," She said calmly and walked over with her makeup bag, "I mean if the obijime isn't tied securely then the obiage, otaiko, tesaki, and tare might fall off." She said, "Now close your eyes." So I did and let her put the foundation over my skin, I knew she'd do me right.

I tried to relax and not cry out, I even managed not to when Eliza pulled on my hair when she was putting it up in its weirdly looped fashion. Eventually, they stopped hurting my head and I figured it was done, "Remind me never to let you do my hair ever, Lizzy."

"That's not what you said when you were five," Eliza replied and I had to stop myself from falling when she threw herself onto my back with a squeal. I rolled my eyes and twirled out of her grip, "I can't believe you graduate next week."

"You're not the only one..." I thought of the house Maria was living in and grinned broadly, "I can finally live with my girlfriend and our baby!" I saw Angelica look to the side, she still thought I shouldn't be with Maria because of the responsibilities it put on me but I'm glad she respected my ability to choose what I do and do not want in life.

"Anyway," Angie said, pulling our attention back to her, "Let's go to Herc's store, Alex texted the group chat saying he needed help with fabrics, and just surprise them? I'm sure it'll be worth a laugh or two!"

I grinned, "We have no sense of shame, do we?" I asked as Eliza and I followed Angelica out to her car; whenever we drove anywhere she got to drive simply because she's the oldest. Except when she's drunk. And also I don't have a driver's license.

"Not really," Eliza said. She opened the door and I climbed in, strapping myself into the seat and smiling into the rearview mirror at Angelica, Eliza plopping into the seat beside me. I looked over at her and she stuck her tongue out.

"That ain't a bad thing," Angelica replied, adjusting the mirrors and seat to her height since Eliza was the last one to drive this particular car when she ran out to get hairspray.

"I guess," I replied and helped Eliza find her buckle since she was struggling. When we were all in properly Angelica took off, turning onto the proper road to get to Herc's store. Eliza and I kept giggling at random moments which made Angelica snicker, the wait was the worst part of trying to surprise people.

Finally, we turned into the store and Angelica turned to look at us, "Are we ready?" She teased in a whisper even though we were the only ones in the car.

"Obviously," I replied. I jumped out and my sisters followed. We did one last costume check before we ran inside quickly. I jumped onto Alex the moment I saw him since I felt most confident with him even though I knew the others longer, "Surprise!"

He barely caught me and then laughed, "Hey Peggy." he said. I noticed John and Herc's expression of silent shock and I put one finger to my lips in the universal sign for them to pretend nothing was different since Alex couldn't see me.

"Hey, guys!" Eliza shouted. Alex turned around to say hello back but broke off when he noticed both she and Angelica were dressed up like the two dudes from Mulan. I made three. Eliza noticed what I'd done and started laughing, "Surprise!"

I jumped down and showed Alex how I looked before I did a very ceremonious bow, winking at him, "Why do you guys do these things?" He asked after a moment of trying to connect all the cogs in our thought process.

Angelica chuckled to herself for a moment before answering quite sarcastically, "Have you not picked up on the fact that we're all borderline crazy?" When she'd finished we all started laughing.

"Well..." Alex shrugged, "It's sort of obvious now, isn't it?" He replied and we started laughing again.

"Que se passe-t-il ici?" A rather familiar French man asked as he entered, muffins in his hand as he looked over the gathered group, "Are my favorite sisters being, 'ow you say, weird again?" He asked and set the tray with the treats down.

"You bet," Eliza said and grabbed a muffin, ignoring his complaint that she didn't ask which in this group wasn't even a thought.

The doorbell chimed and we turned to see the twins entering, "You really didn't invite me to the Mulan costume shit?" Tori pouted, "Mulan is like my third favorite Disney movie." She added and crossed her arms.

"You have them rated?" John asked with a slight giggle, I just noticed he had Frances Eleanor on his lap. How did I miss an entire child?

"Yep! Moana is number one then The Little Mermaid and finally Mulan! I used to like Pocahontas a lot but then I learned the real history and the purposeful misrepresentation of a historical figure really made me turn away from it. Especially since they made John Smith her love interest when in real life he was like a father figure to her and she was like twelve and-"

"-Okay Tori we get it," Nathan interrupted with a chuckle, "You feel very deeply about Pocahontas and Disney."

Tori shoved him and he shoved back, she turned to begin roughhousing but Hercules interrupted, "Not in the shop!" He shouted and they stopped instantly, Hercules had a powerful voice. It reminded me of my dad.

Alex's phone dinged and he glanced at it before his face lit up, "Oh my gosh guys! Guys!" He began jumping and yeah you could say he got our attention, "I got the casting back! I got it all confirmed and-okay well. Guys. I know who's going to play who in In the Heights."

I heard John yelling something before I fully understood what he had said and joined the chaos, "Who? I-I mean-Alex who are the actors?"

Alex quieted everybody before he read off his phone, "Usnavi is...John." He grinned at him and John covered his mouth with a huge grin taking over his features, "I actually got Mandy fucking Gonzalez as Nina!"

"Oh God, how am I supposed to work beside somebody like that?" John asked quietly, "She's a fucking giant, goddamn legend, amazing woman. How am I supposed to...that's daunting as hell."

Angelica reassured him as Alex continued, "Karen Olivo is Vanessa, Olga Merediz is Abuela Claudia, Natalie Toro is Camila Rosario, Andrea Burns is Daniela, Janet Dacal is Carla, Rick Negron is Kevin Rosario, Robin de Jesús is Sonny, Seth Stewart is Graffiti Pete, Eliseo Roman is the Piragua Guy, and lastly J Quinton Johnson is Benny." He grinned and set the phone down, "Rehearsal starts tomorrow."