How My World Changed Forever...Again

Falling Out of Love?

Annie's POV
"Annie!" my mom yells through the house, "Hurry up!"
I roll my eyes to myself and shout back, "I'm coming!"
I grab my school backpack off my bed and slide my feet into my black Vans. We were finally back in Maryland for a few weeks, but then we got invited to film some YouTube promo thing with a bunch of other creators. So we packed up in a days noticed and are flying to LA today. It's 4:30 PM now, our flight leaves at 6.
I run down the stairs, two at a time, pausing only for a second to glance at a picture of Caleb. I wish he were here to do all this amazing stuff with us.
Downstairs, Hayley is sliding her MacBook into her backpack, Mommy is vlogging Hayley, and Daddy is loading up the Tesla. When she sees me, my mom says, "Okay, H-money. Lets go."
When we arrive at the airport, I print the stickers for our checked bags and apply them; I'm pretty a pro at this point. I sit on my phone at our gate waiting to board. When we finally walk down the terminal, I take the vlog camera from my mom and start filming; "Hey guys! So we're about to board the plane to LA to film the YouTube promo."
I show my hand touch the side of the plane then I shut the camera off. I sit on the isle seat, across from Daddy, with Hayley next to me and Mommy by the window. I love flying from east to west coast because instead of a six hour flight, it is basically 3 hours, since we gain three hours. I do some school, but I eventually give up and just fall asleep.
     "Annie, Annie," I hear my mom whispering in my ear, "We landed."
      I sit up and rub my eyes.  I can't believe I slept through descent. 
     I quickly gather my laptop and snacks to pack up in my backpack.  We all stand up and get off the plane.  My dad says, "Come on, we need to hurry.  We're supposed to be at party at the hotel in like half and hour. I groan. All I wanna do is go to sleep.  It's 9 now, which is midnight east coast time.  Hayley asks, annoyed, "Are we gonna know anybody there?"
     Daddy says, "Probably.  I'm not exactly sure who's all going; I know Brat won't be there and neither will Matt and Rebecca."
     "Why?" She whines.
     "Why?  Because Rock Your Hair isn't really associated with "YouTube" and Matt and Rebecca, they weren't invited. I think JoJo will be there though," he says, "Come on, walk faster girls."
     Hayley and I are falling behind our parents because we're so tired.
     When our über drops us off at the hotel, Hayley and I have both, yet again, been asleep.  We check in and go up to our room.  Mom pulls out the vlog camera to do hotel tour. I walk in and collapse on a bed next to Hayley.  Mom gives the tour and Daddy says to us, slightly annoyed at this point, "I'm sorry girls, but you do not get to go to bed right now.  It'll just be like an hour, that's it.  They're doing this part for promo pictures, not just to have fun.
     When we've cleaned ourselves up, we go down to the convention center in the hotel.  There are quite a few YouTubers there but not an overwhelming amount.  I recognize most of them; JoJo, Liza, Brooklyn and Bailey, Colleen Ballinger (Miranda Sings), people like that. I think I see the Ballinger Family too; Hayley filmed a challenge with them a couple years ago and they came to my 13th birthday party.  "There's Bailey," Mom points out to Hayley. She perks up at the sound of that as we follow her toward Bailey. They hug, since they actually haven't seen each other for a long time. We never have "hung out" with the Ballingers and I don't really know why.

Katie's POV
I watch my youngest and Bailey Ballinger hold each other in their arms. It's one of my favorite things to see my eight year old hanging out with kids her age. Billy and I exchange hellos with Chris and Jess, and then I say, "Here, girls, can we get a picture for Instagram?"
Hayley and Bailey are both thrilled. They stand, posed in a hug, with their heads turned toward me. It's super cute. I really admire Chris and Jess because they somehow kept their kids young while still doing YouTube and projects. I just don't get it. My ten year old looks like a freaking model and my 13 year old has a boyfriend.  Their 11 year still wears dresses from children's place everyday.  I wish I would've known before we got the girls into all this to hold on to them and never let them go.
     As I'm lost in a trance looking at the picture of the girls, Chris says, making me look up, "Oh, hey Colleen, Rach. Guys, these are my sisters; Colleen and Rachel."
     I look over at Annie and her exhausted face turns to a smile.

Colleen's POV
     Chris introduces Rachel and I to the LeBlancs. I know the kids have hung out with them a couple times.  The girls are really cute, oh my god they are adorable!  I plaster my "Colleen" smile on and say, "Hey guys!  You're Annie, and Hayley, right?" gesturing toward each girl.
     They nod, and seem kind of excited.  I can tell they really want a picture or something but are too scared to ask so I say, "Can Rachel and I get a picture for Instagram?"
     Annie says, "Yeah!  Can we take one on my phone too?"
     "Of course!"
     I hand my phone to Chris and Annie's mom takes her phone.  Rachel and I get down to their level and we all smile. 
     We small talk for a while and Hayley shows me her Miranda impression, which gets Parker paying attention. It's really cute, and she sounds pretty good.  I say, "I know you guys are probably really busy and everything, but if you ever wanna meet up for a collab, I'd be so down for that, maybe you could even meet Miranda. I should warn you, she's a bit of a handful."
     Annie and Hayley giggle and Katie says, "We're in LA for about another month, so that'd be great!"
     "Cool!  Wait, you guys don't live here?" I ask.
     Hayley speaks up, "No!  We're all the way from Maryland!"
     "Did you guys fly in today!?" Rachel asks.
     "Yeah, we just got off the plane like an hour ago," Annie says.
     I exchange numbers with Katie, and then we hear over the microphone, "We need all creators to the center of the room please. Further instruction will be given from there."
     We all migrate to the middle of the room and the guy gets back on the microphone and says, "Thank you all for coming out tonight!  We're going to try to make this as quick as possible.  For the next half hour, we need you all to walk around this room to the various stations with props and backdrops and take pictures.  They can go to Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, or Facebook.  Please tag @YouTube and caption it something about the event. Have fun!  Okay, ready? Go!"

Annie's POV
     Oh my gosh!  We're with Colleen Ballinger!  I totally had to hold myself back from fangirling when they came over.  We walk around the convention center together and take a bunch of pictures. I look tired and gross in all of them but we have to take them as part of the event.  While we're standing around a station with real live puppies, I notice my Dad walk away from us out into the hallway on the phone covering his other ear. For some reason, I get really worried.  I look up at my mom and say, "What wrong!?"
     She strokes my hair and says, "Nothing, Annie. Don't worry about it."
     We continue and Daddy still isn't back.  It's half an hour after they told us what to do and they gather us back to the middle. My dad still is in the hallway.  The guy on the PA says, "Great job tonight guys!  That's all we need you for.  The party will continue and we will have refreshments for sale at various tables.  Remember, tomorrow we will start filming in the afternoon. I will send a mass email of the schedule so you know when you or you and your family are needed. Minors are not to be left without an adult for safety and liability reasons.  Have fun tonight, and if you're heading upstairs now, I'll see you in the morning!  Thanks!"
     Finally.  I get to go to bed. It's almost midnight LA which means 3 AM in Maryland.  My mom looks to the Ballingers and says, "Okay guys!  I gotta get these girls to bed!  I'm sure they would say it was since to hang out with you, but they're pretty exhausted.  I'm sure they're hoping our schedules line up tomorrow.  Bye, everyone!"
     They all say goodbye as Chris starts to gather his kids.  With that, we are out of that room.  Hayley takes the words right out of my mouth and says, "Where's Daddy?" As soon as we get into the hallway where it's quiet. 
     My mom says, annoyed, "Don't worry about it girls. He just had to take an important phone call."
     When we get back to our room, my dad is on the bed with his computer on his lap.  He looks up and says, "Katie?"
     She says, "Yeah." but not in a "What" kind of way, in a "I know what you're gonna say" way.  He gets up and she says, "We'll be right in the hallway girls.  Get ready for bed. It'll only be a minute."
     They diaper into the hall and Hayley and I go in the bathroom. She says, "What do you think they're talking about?"
     I snap, "I don't know Hayley!  Just do what mom said and get ready for bed!"
     Her face falls and she says, "I'm sorry." I can see the tears welling up in her eyes.
     "No, I'm sorry," I say, "I'm just worried. What if something's wrong?"
     I pull Hayley into a hug against my side.
     When Mom and Dad come back in, Hayley and I are laying in a bed together. She's already asleep.  Mom's cheeks are wet with tears. Dad looks stressed. I'm scared they were fighting. What if they're getting a divorce?  I don't have anyone to talk to about this because Hayley's too young, she wouldn't understand.  I don't want to live between two parents. I want my family whole, even though it will never be completely whole again without Caleb. I don't want my parents to fall in love with different people.