Following Dreams

Chapter 2 - In The Greatest City In The World

Once off the train in Lower Manhattan they went to a Statue of Liberty tour stop.

"We have reservation for 10 for the Liberty dinner tour at 8 under Gonzalez. We are just waiting on the other 4 to arrive." Mandy told the man at the desk.

"Yes, how many kid's menus for you today?"

"3 please."

"Perfect, if you would like to take a seat over here." He said gesturing to a seating area.

They all went and sat down, Hannah was confused to who the other 4 were in the table of 10. It wasn't long before she knew, a male voice called from across the room.

"There's my girl. Becky, I've missed you." At this Becky jumped up "Surprise Hannah," she called back as she ran and jumped into Chris's open arms. "I've missed you too Chris, it's so good to see you again." After they exchanged a hug Becky said, "Hey Veronica, how are you? CJ, Jady you are both so grown up. How's it all going? Thanks for coming down. It's so nice to meet you all."

"I'm good. It's nice to finally meet you Becky, Chris has been going on about you all week." She gave her a hug. "Chris!" Becky said in long 'why' type of tone. They all chuckled. Jady took a step towards Becky and held out her hand "Hi, you must be Becky, I'm guessing because my Dad's been going on about you for ages. I'm Jady."

"It's lovely to meet you Jady." She said taking her hand, and then pulling her into a hug. She looked up and glared at Chris. "Have you talked about anything other than me for the last week?"

"Not really." Chris admitted.

"Oh God, and Veronica you've only just met me and you're probably sick of me already from Chris talking. Anyways, let me introduce you to all to each other. This is Hannah and my mum, Rachael. Hannah is the first person who played In The Heights to me and was one of the ones who said I had to listen to Hamilton." Then turning towards Hannah and her mum. "This is Chris, mum, he's Benny in In The Heights and the original George Washington in Hamilton. Veronica, Chris's wife, fun fact, they met during the first read through of Heights and then their kids CJ and Jady. CJ also has Autism."

Everyone said hello to each other, exchanged hugs and handshakes. They then all sat down and talked waiting for their boat to arrive. When it arrived they all got on board, Becky's mum sat at one end next to Veronica then Becky and Mandy then Maribelle. On the opposite side Jady was by Maribelle with CJ next to her. Chris was next with Hannah and Douglas finishing it off. They discussed the plans for the week, but Mandy kept a significant number of things hidden from the girls in order to surprise them.

The boat left, and they talked all things musical theatre, they discussed what subjects each of the girls were taking for A-level, talked a lot about Becky's party she had had for her 17th. None of them expected how often they would have this same conversation throughout the week. They all ordered their food and as they neared the liberty island they stopped their conversation to take photos. "This is my first time seeing the statue of Liberty, Becky." Jady said to her.

"Wow, we both get this new experience together then." She said giving her a high five.

The boat moored up on the docks. They all climbed off. "You have 15 to 20 minutes until your meal." The manager told them. They went and looked at the statue of liberty. They took lots of pictures, a few individuals, a few group photos and some family ones for Chris and Mandy. It was helpful that Becky's mum didn't want to be in any pictures (except one of her and Becky), so she was able to take them for all the others.

After admiring and taking pictures they all headed back to the boat and were served their food. It was absolutely delicious. After they finished they talked about whatever came into their minds. To Becky, it felt like she was just talking to her friends, not her idols. Although she had become very close to Lin, Karen, Chris and Mandy over twitter. They often messaged each other and obviously she and Mandy skyped regularly.

"Mandy, what is happening tomorrow night?" she said completely disregarding everything relating to that evening on twitter. She was having a full on dumb and forgetful moment also not acknowledging that the date was the same date as all the tweets about the event.

Mandy, realising Becky had forgotten said, "As much as I would love to tell you, I can't yet as the final plans aren't confirmed yet. And I don't want to say something that doesn't happen. I don't want to let you down."

"You could never let me down Mandy, but I understand, I can't wait to see what it is."

Mandy pulled her phone out, and messaged the Heights chat telling them not to mention the event again until Lin shared the news with her.

When they arrived back at the dock they all climbed off and jumped in taxi's and made their way back to Mandy's. When they arrived, they all gathered in the living room on the couches and sitting on the floor.

"So, Becky, shall we say 3 vocal lessons, Tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday?"

"Sounds good. I'm honestly so excited to train with you in person."

"Shall we say 10am, here. Hannah, am I right in thinking you wanted to go see some of the Art and Design museums?"

"Yeah, I do. I need to visit some anyway in the next month for my DT A-level project so doing it here in New York would be amazing." Hannah replied.

"Perfect. How about all three of you come over at 9:50 then Becky and I can sing from 10 til 11, while you two can catch the train to the city with Douglas and Maribelle. School isn't on tomorrow as all the teachers are on a course or something, but she will be at school the rest of the week. You can go around a museum and we can meet you at 11:30 is outside one of the galleries so you can see some of the paintings Douglas has done. I think it would be nice to see them with him as I'm sure it's even more interesting to have a brief description and hear the ideas he has as he paints them."

"I'd be happy to do that honey." Douglas replied taking Mandy's hand in his. Mandy smiled at him.

"Sounds like a plan." Hannah said excitedly. They continued to talk for a bit longer until Jady and Maribelle fell asleep on one of the couches leaning on one another.

"Looks like we'd better head home. There are two tired tigers here." Chris said walking over towards Jady.

"Goodbye Chris, please say I'll see you again before I leave next week!" Becky jumped up from where she was sat on the floor.

"Definitely, I'm not that busy this week so I will defiantly sort something out with Mandy of when we can hang out together before you fly home." He opened his arms and brought Becky into a hug.

"Thank you, Chris." When they pulled away Chris gave Hannah a hug and her mum a hand shake. "Bye Veronica, it was lovely meeting you."

"Bye Becky, it was lovely finally meeting you too. I'll see you at some point in the week, I'm sure."

Several more hugs were exchanged between everyone then Chris picked up Jady and Veronica took CJs hand. They then walked out and went home.

"You three should probably head back, its late and especially given the time change you really need sleep. I'll see you tomorrow at 10 to 10."

"Okay, bye Mandy." They all exchanged hugs then Becky, Hannah and her mum walked out and down the road to the hotel.

When they arrived Becky and Hannah went to their room and Rachael was in her own room. They quickly got changed and went straight to sleep, exhausted from their journey and staying up late.