Lorelei "Lori" Prescott lives a happy life as a child until her mother is killed in a tornado when she was 10. Seven years later, everything changes: her widowed father is remarried, and she finds herself with a new stepmother, stepbrother, and step...
The next day, Lori entered the building with her stepsiblings, and many folks were happy to see her. She was happy that everyone in the school seemed to like her, but she was starting to feel a little overwhelmed—and Muffy was disgusted at Lori's newly gained popularity.
At lunch, Esteban and Francisco were with their friends while Lori was making new friends.
"Hey, girl, enjoying yourself at Old Rosebud?" Karen asked.
"I sure am," Lori smiled.
"It seems like you and Esteban Delgado like each other," Gina smiled. "Any chance you'll be going on a date soon?"
Suddenly, Muffy screeched, "Ugh! If she's going on a date, I'm gonna die!"
Everyone looked at Muffy awkwardly, and Lori's new friends were disgusted by the drama Muffy was making. Muffy was so embarrassed, and she felt like Lori was to blame.
After school, Lori's peers were having fun talking to her much to Muffy's jealousy.
"Lori, I like your necklace," Esteban smiled. "The pink color is very eye-catching."
"Thanks, Esteban," Lori blushed.
Muffy didn't like this one bit—she just had to try and humiliate Lori. "Well, I have a much better necklace than that," she smirked. She showed everyone her fancy flower necklace. "It's much bigger."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"For your information, this was my mother's necklace—the ruby is even her birthstone," Lori frowned. "By the way, I think we'd better get to rehearsal."
"I agree, Lor," Esteban agreed.
"We'd all better be going," Francisco declared.
Everyone left much to Muffy's dismay.
"But you barely even saw the pearls and diamonds," Muffy cried. She was disgusted at everyone for liking Lori so much.
After leaving Old Rosebud, Nancy took her friends to Prescott's Music.
"This is your stepdad's music shop?" one friend asked.
"Yes, it is," Nancy confirmed. When she and her friends entered, they saw Lori, Esteban, and the other two boys—Richard, the pianist, and Milo, the guitarist—and they were just about ready to rehearse.
"Ready?" Richard asked.
"Ready," Lori, Esteban, and Milo chorused.
Milo played the opening tune to the song "I See the Light", and as Lori played her violin, she sang the lyrics.
All those days watching from the windows
All those years outside looking in
All that time never even knowing just how blind I've been
Now I'm here, blinking in the starlight
Now I'm here
Suddenly, I see
Standing here, it's all so clear
I'm where I'm meant to be
And at last I see the light
And it's like the fog has lifted
And at last I see the light
And it's like the sky is new
And it's warm and real and bright
And the world has somehow shifted
All at once, everything looks different
Now that I see you
Many people heard the beautiful music and couldn't resist watching. Lori and Esteban looked at each other, and it looked like they were falling in love much to Muffy's jealousy. She wasn't sure if she liked Esteban or Francisco, but she was jealous that her stepsister seemed to be getting a boy to like her. Then Esteban played his viola and sang along.
ESTEBAN: All those days chasing down a daydream
All those years living in a blur
All that time never truly seeing things the way they were
Now she's here, shining in the starlight
Now she's here
Suddenly, I know
If she's here, it's crystal clear
I'm where I'm meant to go
BOTH: And at last I see the light
ESTEBAN: And it's like the fog has lifted
BOTH: And at last I see the light
LORI: And it's like the sky is new
BOTH: And it's warm and real and bright
And the world has somehow shifted
All at once, everything is different
Now that I see you
Now that I see you
Everyone clapped for the wonderful duet.
"Wow, you guys make Rapunzel and Eugene sound horrible," Richard remarked.
"Thanks," Esteban blushed.
"Oh, please," Muffy muttered. "She's only at Old Rosebud Academy for two days, and already she's ridiculously popular. It took me two weeks to make that happen to me. I'm sick of hearing about how great she is."
"Ready to play Swan Lake?" Esteban asked.
"Ready," Lori said.
As Richard played a tune, Lori started off the classic, but then she started giggling—and she laughed herself silly, making the people around her laugh, too.
"What's so funny?" Esteban chuckled.
Dorothy came up on Lori's shoulder, and her tail twitched.
"Get down, Dorothy—that tickles!" Lori laughed. "Sorry about that—for the past seven years, this cat has been stuck to me like glue because I look like my mother. She's been in the family since before I was even born."
"It's okay," Esteban chuckled. "It's kinda funny how she's so small after all those years."
"She's a very rare species of cat," Lori declared.
Dorothy jumped down and sat in her nearby cat bed, watching the musicians play. As the quartet played, Muffy got a nasty plan to embarrass Lori.
