Chapter Fourteen

Nobody could have prepared me for this. I'm so exhausted from this morning filled with interviews. I never imagined sitting around, and answering questions about myself would tire me out. But somehow I manage to charge through them, and complete the interviews along with unpacking my belongings.

I'm excited to see Lucy and Hannah later today, I've got their presents waiting.

There's a soft knock at my door, which pulls my attention away from my scattered thoughts.

"Come in," I call out.

Mum and Dad walk inside, two bright grins on their faces. Dad takes a seat on my desk chair, while my mother takes a seat on the end of the bed.

"How was your trip away, did you have lots of fun?" she asks.

"Good fun! It was nice being somewhere new," I confess.

"You're mother and I have decided," Dad starts off with. My stomach starts flipping around with nerves. "We think its best that you stay with your grandmother in Florida."

Frowning at the two, I ask, "Why?"

"There's another recording studio in Florida, and your grandmother lives there. You can spend two weeks there recording music before going back to NY to properly record the vocals. Your father and I thought Florida would also be less... distracting," Mum explains.

"Do I have to stay with Grandma in Florida?" I ask. The good lord knows I love that sweet old lady to death, but I hate her cooking. Unfortunately, her cooking only comes in two options: burn and charcoaled. It's a surprised my father didn't die of starvation when he was growing up.

Dad chuckles, and shakes his head. "No, Grandma is off on vacation," he says.

"When do I leave for Florida?" I ask.

"We leave tomorrow afternoon," Dad answers.

"Plenty of time to see Lucy before you leave," Mum ads in. "Maybe you could have a sleepover!"

"What happened to the slow easing into it period?" I grumble.

"Things will get better," she says. Funny enough, I don't believe her.

I can just imagine how I'll spend my holidays; living out of hotel rooms, and only going out to the recording studio. I'm going to have to spend every second writing songs instead of being curled up on the couch with a television series. Worst off, I could never write any of this for my English paper, I doubt Mrs Thorne would appreciate my creative imagination.

"I'll start packing then. I'll probably invite Lucy over, that's okay isn't it?"

Mum smiles, "It's always alright, you know that."

The two get up, and walk out of the room together. I flop back down on my bed, and growl into the covers. If I'd know about jetting off tomorrow, I'd probably kept some stuff in my suitcase and not spent ages trying to get it on the top shelf in my wardrobe.

Before I grab my suitcase, I open my laptop and load Skype. I send a video call to Lucy, and leave the computer to wander in my wardrobe. When I immerge, Lucy has already accepted the call and our video cameras are on.

"There you are," she happily yells.

Shaking my head, I giggle at her. "I have to leave for Florida tomorrow. Did you want to come over tonight?"

"Wait, why are you leaving, again?" she asks.

"Music stuff." I shrug my shoulders.

"Aww." She puts.

"I have a present for you," I say, hoping to make her feel better.

"Really?" Her eyes immediately light up.

Grabbing the plastic bag off my bed, I wave it across the screen. "This has everything I brought in New York, I'll show you when you get here." I smile cheekily.

"So evil." She frowns.

"Seriously?" I scream, "You live like, right across the road from me." Lucy pokes her tongue out, and then disconnects the call.

"You're so lucky!" Hannah says as she walks inside my room.

"Eh?" I frown.

"You got to go to New York, stay in the best hotels. Soon enough you'll be dating a hot celebrity, and touring the country," she says.

"All with a catch sister," I point out.

"I'd take it any day," she says with dreamy eyes. "So, what's in the bag?" Hannah plops on the side of my bed.

"Stuff." I shrug my shoulders, trying to play it cool.

Hannah rolls her eyes, and crosses her arms across her chest. "You're so excited, you're about to jump out of your skin," she says.

"I'm so excited." I bounce.

"How were you born first? You're nothing like an older sibling should be," Hannah notes.

"Well..." I wink at her. "When a mommy, and daddy..."

"Ew," she shrieks.

"... Anyways." I smile. "It's the stuff I brought in New York." I take a seat on the bed next to her, and open the bag. The first shirt I pick out is a cool pastel blue, with white fluffy clouds on it, along with a picture of the Effie Tower in animation.

"That's adorable!" Hannah compliments.

"Good, because that is for you." I hand it to her.

"Really? Thank you!" She hugs me tightly.

"Welcome." I chock out.

I half expect her take the t-shirt and run out of the room, but she clings onto my body. "I missed you," she whispers.

"I missed you to, oddly." I pat her back. "After Florida, you guys could visit me in New York, come see my performance – my shout of course." I giggle.

"Are you going to add a shopping trip?" She sniffles.

"I'll have to talk to my people about that... But I'm sure I can arrange something awesome like that." Hannah pulls away, and brushes a stray tear with her finger.

"You're kind of the best sister in the world..." she says.

"Kind of? Is that supposed to be a compliment?" I ask.

"Oh be quiet, you!" She smiles.

Poking my tongue out, I make her laugh. "I have to pack so that I can actually get to Florida, let along New York," I say. Hannah gets up, and starts walking to my door. Her shoulders are slumped, and she's dragging her feet along the ground. My heart pangs with guilt. "But I supposed you could help? I could do with some help."

"That would be great." Hannah chucks her shirt on my desk, and dives straight into my wardrobe to compose outfits. "What kind of look are you going for? Something pop?" she calls out.

"Think originality, I don't want to look like some clone in the magazine you read," I reply. I hear some laughter, and that scares me.

"We need to go shopping, your wardrobe is lame."

"Are you seriously calling Gucci lame?" Lucy shouts as she walks into the room.

"What?" Hannah pokes her head out of the wardrobe.

Lucy doesn't stop to explain herself, she grabs one of the shopping bags off the ground, and throws it at Hannah – the outside of the bag has the Gucci symbol on it. Hannah is quick to pull the content of the bag out.

"You have a Gucci shirt? I'm so jealous right now." Hannah holds it up against her body, and looks at herself in the mirror.

"If you're good, maybe I'll let you borrow them." I giggle, patting her on the head. Hannah crinkles her forehead, and then shakes her head.

"Hey," she grumbles.

Lucy and Hannah start rummaging through my clothing while I sit on my bed and watch. Every so often, one of them comes out holding two pieces of clothing up for my approval. They're relatively silent, but that's only until Hannah stumble upon my gift from Marina.

"What's in here?" Hannah shakes the garment bag. Lucy stops looking through clothes to stand near Hannah. As she unzips the garment bag, the green dress pops through.

"It's beautiful," they both whisper.

"Have you warn it yet?" Hannah asks.

"Of course she's worn it," Lucy cuts in. "Who wouldn't?" Lucy's fingers brush over the beading work on the bodice of the dress.

"To dinner last night," I answer. "Dad had business to attend on the last day, so I went shopping with the hotel owner's wife, Marina. She brought the dress for me, something about it being a crime in fashion if I didn't wear it." I chuckle at the thought.

"She sounds like an awesome person," says Lucy.

"She is," I agree. "But I probably won't be able to wear it again, fashion and all..." I tease.

"I could though," Hannah adds in excitedly.

"You can wear my Gucci shoes, this is all mine." Climbing off the bed, I pry the dress from their hands and place it back in my wardrobe. "This is special to me, and I've got better plans in mind for it."

"Really? I so love you right now." Hannah happily screams. She pulls me into a tight hug, squishing my body again.

"You're pretty cool yourself," I whisper. "Come on, I'm yet to see an outfit for tomorrow – you need to earn the privilege to wear Gucci!" I laugh.

"Well, I do have a couple of ideas, but you're going to have to try them on first."

"If I have to," I groan.