To Be Like Father

Chatting with Sis

**•**Nick's POV**•**
It was almost exactly a week after my conversation with my grandparents. Well really only four days after, and I was video calling my sister, Leia. I was alone in my room sitting in my gaming chair. Finally the video started and I saw my sister on the screen. It looked like she was probably in the college library, that's where she usually talked to me because her roommate was nosy and would listen in on our conversations when we talked in her dorm.
"Hi!" She said when she saw me. Her long raven black hair was down and fell around her face in a shimmering cascade.
"Hey." I said back. "What's going on at dance school?"
She shrugged. "A bunch of tests and rehearsals, unnecessary drama, so the usual. How about you?"
"Getting used to a small town high school." I told her. "The kids here are different. They're all so focused on sports and agriculture. It's like almost every other person is either on a sports team or a farm kid, sometimes both. Very few of us do art."
My sister's image became temporarily pixilated and then refocused. "Sounds a lot different from NYC, but you'll adjust. How is glee club going? Is Father a good teacher?"
"Yeah. We've had two practices so far. There's only five of us and only two of us openly perform. It's been slow going, but Father's handled it well."
There was an awkward silence before she brought us to the original reason we were talking. "So....umm... how are you doing with the whole grandma thing?"
I pulled a curl and let it snap back into place. "I don't know. I try not to talk about it. Dad and Father keep wanting to talk about it and apologize for not saying anything sooner, but I've had enough of their sorries. I just want to move on, act like I never found out."
The digital form of my sister cocked an eyebrow and swept her hair over one shoulder. "I understand that, but we're going to have to face this head on. It was hard for me to grasp what's happening with Grandma Deb, but we can't do anything about her health. We're going to have to continue loving her as we always have and make sure she's happy and comfortable. Okay?"
I nodded. "Yeah, okay."
Leia touched her screen and I did the same to mine so that our fingertips digitally touched. It was our way of holding hands during video chat. We were close siblings and missed each other every day. She's a great sister and I love her relentlessly. "It's going to be alright." she assured me. "Now, tell me more about the kids in glee club."
Relieved to have a change of subject I began, "Okay, well there's five of us. Two boys, three girls. Jessa, Crystal, Ben, Renee, and I. Jessa's athletic and doesn't seem to care much about glee club. I get the picture that it's just some extracurricular she joined just to have something to do after practice or to... I don't know... honestly I don't know why she joined. She's one heck of a singer though so I'm not going to object to her joining." Leia nodded and I continued. "Then Crystal is on the cross country team, and I think she does track too. She might be a dancer too, but I don't remember. She's been in glee club before. So has Renee." I stopped as I thought about her. Renee. She is in three of my classes and we sit next to each other in choir and American History. We started talking and then exchanged numbers and social media usernames. We talk almost every night. I didn't tell Leia this, but said, "Then there's Renee. She's beautiful and very confident in herself. She performs the most at glee club and I can tell she's Father's favorite. He always calls on her and is going to start giving her guitar lessons soon, for free. She's in my class."
Leia smiled. "Renee, huh? Tell me more. You blushed."
I self consciously put my hands to my cheeks, they were hot. "I am not blushing." I fibbed, but Leia knows me best because she shook her head and laughed.
"I know what makes you blush, brother." she claimed. "Now tell me more about this Renee."
So I told her about how we share classes and how I have her cell phone number, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other media usernames. She even writes fan fiction (I'm reading one of her stories right now).
Leia glowed with glee. "This is exciting! Nicholas Fiyero has a crush!"
I felt my cheeks grow hot and decided it was my turn to change the topic. "Yeah, so then there's Ben. The only other boy. He's shy and wears dark clothing. Doesn't talk much, but he finally sang for us yesterday and, wow." I shook my head as I recollected yesterday. "He sang Story of My Life by OneDirection and he is amazing. Everyone sounds really great."
I saw a tall, dark haired man approach Leia and wrap his arms affectionately around her neck. She looked up and giggled. "Hey, baby." she whispered. Then to me she said, "Hey, bro? Thomas and I are going out so I'll catch ya later, okay?"
"Okay." I mumbled. I wasn't ready to end the call, but then I also wasn't going to intervene with her boyfriend.
"Hi, Nick." Thomas greeted me in his deep bass of a voice. "Good to see you. Sorry I interrupted."
I laughed. "Naw, it's alright. You two have fun and I'll see ya later."
Leia got up. "Okay. Luv ya bro!"
"Love you too, sis." and she ended the call.