Sway

Problem number one

I was officially down to a single month left in New York. Which ultimately meant that I had four weeks to fix every mess I was in. I decided to start with my students - they weren't necessarily a mess, but we had a lot of work to do before the public mix off.

Thankfully I had yesterday off and I had spent the entire day coming up with a plan. Now I knew what I wanted the five of them to do, we would need to practice rigorously though. Each of them would have moments in the performance to showcase the skills they'd learned. I still couldn't believe that I was a teacher, and that I had survived multiple weeks working as one. The best part was that my students actually seemed to enjoy the class, which only made me want to continue teaching them.

I turned the shower off and decided to stop thinking about the live performance that would take place in about three weeks. Instead, I began brushing my hair and applying different moisturizers. My phone that was on the bathroom counter kept buzzing. Ever since the single 'Take Me' was released, I had been receiving nonstop notifications. My follower count hadn't stopped growing and even though I wasn't much of a social media person, it felt extremely surreal. As I put the lotions back in the cabinet, I couldn't help but think about Charlotte and how I had been hoping she'd text me. We hadn't spoken since our abrupt phone call outside of Parallax. I was still so confused about that, it just seemed like the two of us had a very backwards relationship. Sometimes it was great and we both just fit, and other times it was as if she thought I was an enemy.

I had to force my thoughts away for the second time this morning. Especially considering today was the day I'd explain my plan for the mix off to my students. I wanted their opinions and I really wanted them to like my idea. To be honest, I didn't have energy to think about how I was going to fix me and Charlotte. Or even me and Riley... not that we had a relationship that was messy.

Finally I walked out of the bathroom and into Phineous's bedroom. He was nowhere to be found, probably off dealing with some art stuff. It didn't bother me, I enjoyed being alone for a moment. According to the weather channel, today was partly cloudy with a slight chance of rain. So I put on some jeans and an army green long sleeved shirt. After slipping on my shoes, I made it into the kitchen for a quick cup of coffee. As the steaming liquids flowed into the glass, I found myself once again thinking about how I was going to approach Charlotte and what I wanted to say. Obviously there were things that she wasn't telling me, maybe those things were pertaining to Evan's father or maybe they were worse. It honestly didn't matter, I just hoped she wasn't hiding something huge.

Eventually I finished my coffee and placed the cup into the sink. Then I departed for the train after putting on my jacket and grabbing my bag.

🎧

When I walked into the record label, I immediately caught sight of some colorful posters. They were posted on just about every wall, promoting the upcoming student mix off. I stopped in the hallway where the elevators were and as I waited for the doors to part, I read the event description to myself. Apparently the record label had a lot more invested in these summer classes than I knew about. I assumed that they were going to make a huge profit off of ticket purchases, and according to the poster, they were also going to have some surprise guest artist perform as well.

Finally the doors to the elevator parted and to my surprise, Allison was inside texting on her iPhone. When I stepped inside, she smiled and shoved the phone into her pocket. Her attire was familiar - black heels slightly covered by tight suit pants and a plain blue collared shirt. I suddenly felt really small and a little intimidated being beside her.

"Hey, Talia," her shiny hair was almost sparkly under the elevator lighting, "I've been meaning to talk to you."

I internally cringed, but maintained a smile despite, "Oh, really? Any particular reason?"