Broadway Bound

Chapter 1

Music floated on the air around us. We sat in the forest right outside the school. No matter how much we tried, we could not forget the drama from last year. Katie took a wheezy breath. I instinctively reached down for her inhaler. She grabbed my hand and shook the blue-grey inhaler. I got up from the stones we had sat on.

"What's taking so long?" I demanded.

"It's only five minutes past opening. An engineering student probably blew something up again."

"But school hasn't even started."

"And the science students are overachievers," She shot back.

They sat in the tension for a moment before a grin broke over my face and we dissolved in a puddle of laughter.

"Come on Tasha," She encouraged patting the rock beside her.

I huffed but sat heavily next to her.

"Have you seen Melissa yet?" She questioned.

"Not yet," I responded, my voice becoming cold.

"Please don't let her bait you." She implored.

"I won't let her bully my sister."

She took my hand and made my look her in the eye.

"Natasha. I am not worth losing your spot over. Besides, you may know the ins and outs of my medical history and lived across the street for most of our lives and we may do everything together, but you are my sister... from another mister." She stated.

Again, we dissolved into a tense pool of laughter. A bell began tolling over the sparling campus. My nervousness gave way to excitement.

"Come on, let me look over you," I said dragging her to her feet.

She smoothed her white and blue floral sundress with a pair of baby blue flip flops. Her typical high ponytail was replaced by loose beach wave curls.

"I wish you had worn the red dress." She pouted.

"But this one is so much cuter."

I twirled around in my favorite burgundy romper maxi dress.

"You better hope we do anything crazy in dance."

"I can dance in it just fine," I argued clicking my heels together.

She rolled her eyes.

"Come on." Katie scooped up her bag.

I grabbed my duffle. We linked arms.

"No matter what we will be fine," Katie said, almost reassuring herself.

"We're moving up into a new class. It's a new start." I tried to bolster her courage.

We walked arm in arm to the main gate. Every year the beauty of the campus astounded me. The Blue Ridge Professional School was the hidden jewel in the back mountains of Virginia. It was built to give the residents a way to learn advanced job technical job skills. The school has grown considerably since its founding and looked more like a college with its sprawling campus. One of the newer skills added about ten years ago was the theater arts and technical art skills. We walked through the wrought iron gate and peeled off to the left. The path to the theatrical building was lined with maple and sycamore trees. The high canopy cast a beautiful dapple over the pea gravel path. The crunching of the gravel under our feet blended in with the natural sounds from the forest. As we got closer, the familiar chatter of students began to float over. I squeezed Katie's hand twice trying to send her some reassurance. She flashed me a quick smile before freezing in her tracks.