Josie's POV

I had gotten the role of Lucy in You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, and needless to say, I was ecstatic. Stephanie and the rest of my family said they were going to surprise me at one of my rehearsals pretty soon, and I was a little nervous for that.

I walked into the auditorium and Whizzer waved at me, along with a girl with space buns in her hair who I didn't know. She was actually kinda cute.

"Hi!" I said to the girl, and I swear Whizzer elbowed me when I tried to talk to her. Space Bun Girl seemed to have stars in her eyes. Yeah, this girl was 100% some sort of gay.

"I'm Harper." the girl said. "I'm the assistant stage manager."

"I'm Josie. Assistant director/Lucy." I said.

Harper thumped her binder on the stage and silently squealed. "You're that girl with the wicked amazing singing voice!"

Did I have that good of a singing voice?

"Uh, thanks?" I said. "Anyway, I have to take attendance."

Harper nodded as I marked my own name on the attendance sheet and took the binder from her. "Alright! Uh, hi everyone. I'm Josephine Harford-...Block, and I'm your assistant director, and will also be portraying the role of Lucy. Okay, uh, James?"

Whizzer raised his hand and gave me a dirty look.

"Okay, uh, James is gonna be our Schroeder and the stage manager. Okay, Ivy?"

Ivy raised her hand.

"Ivy is our Charlie Brown. Lydia?"

Lydia raised her hand.

"Lydia, Linus. Lars?"

A boy with a Love is Love T-shirt on raised his hand.

"Lars will be our Snoopy. And finally, Amethyst?"

Amethyst stood up and cheered.

"Okay, uh..." I started to say, then the actual director burst in the door. Thank God I didn't have to lead the entire cast anymore.

"Welcome! Sorry for being late. Josephine, Harper, thank you for stepping in. Alright! Let's get started!" the director said. The kid named Lars (the only one who I didn't recognize) pulled me aside.

"Hey." he said. "I'm new here. I moved here from Hawaii last month and my mom thought it would be a great idea if I auditioned for this thing. You're Josephine, right? How old are you?"

"Nine. Fourth grader."

"And you're directing this thing?"

"Yeah, pretty much." I said. Lars smiled and said, "Well, I'll catch up with ya after rehearsal."

___________

The opening number went pretty well for our first time blocking it, and then it came time for my solo. My love song to Whizzer. Let's see how awkward this is.

"Do you know something, Schroeder?" I started to sing as Whizzer attempted to play the piano. "I think the way you play the piano is nice."

I swear I could see Harper staring at me. She had a crush on me and was not doing a good job of hiding it.

By the time I started to sing, "Just imagine, what would you think if someday you and I should get married?" I was supposed to climb on Whizzer's piano and try to kiss him. Awkward.

And when I did sing that, I noticed the door open. And Stephanie walk in. I gasped a bit then continued the song.

"My Aunt Marion was right. Never try to discuss marriage with a musician." I finished. I rolled my eyes and then ran up to my family. "What are you guys doing here and how much did you witness?"

"Enough to see you almost kiss your little friend." Anthony said, laughing in his hands. I slapped him and said, "He's 15 and gay!"

"So?"

"So! And it's a musical, for crying out loud!"

Speaking of Whizzer, as soon as he saw my family, he made a lawnmower sound and turned away. I rolled my eyes and whispered, "Can it." to Whizzer.

"Beethoven Day!" Ivy whooped, and I grabbed Betsy's arm. "Come on!" I screamed.

"Where are we going?" Betsy asked. I laughed and said, "You're learning the choreography with us!"

"Oh my God. No." Christian said.

"Christian yes." Anthony said. I wedged Brandon and Betsy on either side of me and laughed. This was gonna be fun.

__________

I was right about the whole learning choreography with my family plan being fun. Betsy, Brandon, Andrew, and Anthony were actually having the time of their lives doing this, Whizzer kept tripping up because he's a hopeless fanboy, (he accidentally sung "Just blow Falsettos till you know it by heart" by mistake) and Tracie, Christian, and Stephanie were not enjoying this at all.

And now it was time for Happiness.

"Happiness is two kinds of ice cream." from Ivy.

"Knowing a secret." from me, earning a smile from Stephanie.

"Climbing a tree." Lydia.

"Happiness is five different crayons." Ivy.

"Catching a firefly, setting him free!" Whizzer.

"Happiness is being alone every now and then." Ivy.

"And happiness is coming home again." from all of us. But in the middle of the phrase, my feet traveled to where my family was, and I took Stephanie's hand and led her over to the stage. As I was dragging my foster mom over to the stage, I swear I heard Brandon whisper, "Does she know the adoption was finalized?"

I gasped. As Ivy was singing, Stephanie kissed my head and whispered, "It's true."

"Happiness is everyone and everything at all that's loved by you..."

By the end of the song, I couldn't contain my glee anymore. Instead of closing the show with the normal line, I broke out of my mom's grip and screamed, "I'M ADOPTED!"

"JOSEPHINE!" from the director.

"IT'S TRUE!" from a very defensive Brandon.

"LARSON KAHALE WILL YOU DATE ME?" from Whizzer.

"YES!" from Lars!

"Wait...I'm adopted?" I screamed, running to hug everyone in my family one at a time.

"Josephine Trina Block, welcome home." said Stephanie.

AN: So Josie's officially adopted! Featuring Whizzer being a gay mess, as always. Hope you enjoyed and catch ya later! Love ya all!