Most of the next week was spent in silence. I helped Korey shop for clothes for the photoshoot, and since it was just us I talked. My voice was very, very quiet though. When we were at home or around anyone else, I was silent.

Everyone noticed. Everyone asked if I was okay. No one got an answer. I hadn't told anyone was the dream was about. Korey just always murmured something along the lines of 'give her some space' when people got too pester-y. 

But today was the day of the photoshoot. I was using my voice when I had to, but it was scratchy from not using it. They would all be walking around with a camera the whole time, filming. So a smile would be plastered on my face. It was fake, but I hope no one would notice.

After breakfast, we went down to the church to film in, clothes hanging in the back of one car (that Korey and I were in) and the rest of the family in John's truck.

"You okay honey?" Korey asked, reaching her hand out for mine. 

I grabbed it, shrugging. 

"We'll try and keep the camera out of your face, sound good?" Korey smiled at me.

I nodded, mumbling a small "thank you".

"Of course Aria. We don't want you to be uncomfortable, and I'm not sure how crazy the fans will get once they see we have three children now," Korey laughed a little and I nodded.

I wasn't sure how to react to their fans. I knew they were split as either Christians or non-Christians since it was hard to know if Skillet wasn't Christian if you weren't one too. I didn't want them going crazy, I just wanted to be integrated in slowly.

"Maybe you can show me once or twice, but not mention I'm your kid? And then over time, once people get accustomed to me being in videos you can tell them?" I mumbled.

Korey nodded, "That's a good plan. I'll let John know once we get to the church, okay?"

I nodded. It didn't take long, but getting everything set up in the church took at least an hour. Korey and I were popping tags off of outfits when John came up to us with a camera.

"What are we doing ladies?" John asked, holding the phone casually. 

"We are tagging tags off of everybody's clothes before they wear them for the shoot," Korey explained, "cuz' we bought some new stuff, didn't know if it fit everybody right and in the end the stuff that works, now we have to cut tags off cuz otherwise we get over there, and everybody's manic, and everybody wants to change, and then I'm like 'oh my gosh we don't have scissors... and there's tags all over the clothes!' so making sure everything's sorted as much as we can before we're all under pressure. You know what I'm saying?" John navigated the camera the entire time, making sure I wasn't in the shot (although seeing the top of my head was inevitable towards the end there. 

As soon as the tags were off I started rearranging the clothes into the outfits I had picked out for everyone, although they knew I was open to mixing up pieces if need be. Korey went off somewhere, leaving me in silence with my own thoughts; something I both hated and loved. As I was working on the guys' stuff Korey came over to ask if she and John could record the girls' stuff, to which I nodded, walking over to her as she explained to the 'audience' what they were looking at. I moved a few pieces out of the way for her, silent. 

As they were taking pictures I kept getting outfits ready for the band. They all had their stuff on and kept coming in and out at random points. I walked out with Korey and Jen at one point, watching as they took pictures. They looked way better than I could have expected. The camerawoman showed me a few pictures, I just couldn't get over how cool they looked. Of course, there were some outfit adjustments by the crew, which I didn't mind. It was my first photoshoot, after all, so I didn't mind the adjustments.

After we got dinner the photoshoot was done. Alex and Xavier had been in the kitchen the whole time, working on homework. After we finished John started doing some weird dance for the audience, showing just how excited he was. I couldn't help the smile that came to my face, just because John was such a big dork. After Korey finished recording she noticed my smile as John continued to dance around and she came up and wrapped her arms around my shoulder.

"Feeling better?" She asked.

I nodded. I loved today, even if I was silent for most of it. I was in my element, turning what I loved into something I could actually do as a job. 

"That's great honey. You ready to go home though?"

I nodded again, "Yeah, I'm tired of standing." I smiled, but my throat hurt. I was also freezing, wrapped in a barely-there jacket. 

"Understandable," Korey said, "We'll get you some hot tea to help your throat, okay?"

I nodded. We began loading all the clothes up back into the car, ready to go home. As I was climbing in the car I saw the bushes nearby shake. I paused, and Korey noticed.

"Aria?" Korey asked, one foot in the truck. She noticed I paused, looking at the bushes. I slowly got out, walking over. I was freezing and ready to go home, but curious. Once I reached the bush I knelt down slowly, using one hand to move the bush around to see what had caused it to move. 

A small kitten fell to the ground, meowing in pain. I gasped, reaching in and grabbing the small thing. It continued to meow, near screaming levels.

"It's a kitten," I whispered. 

"Aria? You okay honey?" Korey asked from right behind me. She saw what I held in my hand and gasped, kneeling as well. 

"Can I keep it?" I said, looking up at her.

"Let's see if we can find its mom first," Korey suggested, beginning to look around.

Needless to say, we did find it... It was behind the bush and looked like it had been in a fight that it didn't win. I frowned, stepping over the bush to look at it. Korey whimpered softly. 

I looked down at the cat in my hands. I noticed it was covered in red, and it hadn't opened its eyes yet. It had just been born, hadn't it? I didn't see any siblings anywhere but noticed a trail of red coming from another bush. The other kittens were there... all dead as well.

"You can keep it, but we gotta go to the vet and get it checked on first," Korey said, "Deal?"

I nodded quickly, holding it close to my chest to warm it up.