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The Tessarae Inn |
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Dreams In Amber Refrains
CHAPTER 27 Starr waited for Rachel Exton to read her the line. She remembered most of it but she wanted to be sure. There were only a few days left. Everything had to be perfect. She didn’t want to let the Thorpes down. She had to be the perfect Cinderella. She was getting a little nervous, but talking to her mommy last night made her calm down. Everyone was still talking about how great her mommy was on TV. She, Aunt Sheri, Uncle Wes, Nana Em, Jack and even CC had all watched it together. It was so much fun. Everyone hooted and hollered when her mommy floated out on the stage in that blue dress that looked like the roiling waves of the ocean. She had never seen her mother look prettier. When it was over, everyone seemed to feel like crying but Aunt Sheri said that was okay because it meant her mommy was really good. Her mommy told her she was going to be really good as Cinderella too—like mother, like daughter. Rachel was still rifling through the pages in her hands. She was the understudy, wasn’t she supposed to know the play as well as she did? Rachel just sucked. That’s all there was to it. A wave of shame hit her as she remembered why Rachel replaced Claire as the understudy. She looked over at Lance who smiled at her. Mrs. Hastings took the pages from Rachel and showed her where the line was then stepped back. Rachel read the line as if it was a question. Had she even read the play before? Finally, with the line she and Lance were able to move onto the next scene. She was happy when Mrs. Hastings announced that rehearsals were over for the day. What started out as a lot of fun now felt like work. Mrs. Hastings kept telling her she was born to be a star and Mrs. Thorpe kept telling her she was a lovely Cinderella. She missed just talking to Claire and taking walks and hunting spiders and… Well, at least she was going fishing with Mr. Briscoe and Claire in a few minutes. Only problem was that Tay was coming along. He was turning into such a leech. He was always around Claire and having dinner with the Briscoes and helping Claire with her lines. Starr didn’t like it. Not one bit. “Are we ready?” Mr. Briscoe asked. “Those fish are calling my name.” Claire laughed and Starr relaxed. Claire had been in a much better mood lately. Things were almost back to normal. Tay walked toward them really fast as if he wanted to run but knew he shouldn’t run inside. He had a smile on his face, which worried Starr to no end. What did Tay James have to be so happy about? “Taking the children for an outing I see, Michael,” said Mrs. Thorpe who along with Lance had appeared suddenly behind them. “Hello, Jessica. Hope things are going well with you.” “Splendid. Couldn’t be better.” Starr looked at Lance. He looked kind of angry. It wasn’t a lot of fun not being invited along. She looked up at Mr. Briscoe. “Can Lance come with us?” For a moment it looked as if Mrs. Thorpe and Mr. Briscoe were playing stoplight. They froze immediately. Finally, Mrs. Thorpe swallowed hard and said, “No that won’t be possible, Starr, but you all have a lovely time. Lance and I have plans for the afternoon.” Mr. Briscoe nodded then said, “Well, come on guys. Let’s get moving.” He put his arm around Tay’s shoulders and walked toward the parking lot. Starr followed behind him gladly and jostled Claire then squealed with delight when Claire described the big worms her father usually found out at the lake. She happened to glance over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of Lance. He looked really sad. Starr tightened the safety vest like Mr. Briscoe instructed for the tenth time and listened attentively to the rules. He was a really nice man but he was a stickler for rules. When he seemed convinced that they understood everything, they went out to find worms. Claire was paired with her father and she got stuck with Tay. “You better be careful, Starr. There’s a snake just over there.” Her head shot up and she whirled around. “A snake? Where!” “You’re not afraid?” “No-o-o-o-o. What kind is it?” “Just a black snake. He’s not poisonous or anything like a rattlesnake or a copperhead.” Starr looked around but the snake had disappeared. “I’m going to get me a pet snake in a few months. Right now I only have the iguanas.” “You have pet lizards?” “They’re really cool.” “Claire told me you liked spiders. We caught the one you wanted. He’s still at her house though because her mother didn’t think it was a good idea to have it around the babies.” “You caught the spider I wanted?” “Yeah. Claire said it would make you happy and it seemed to make her happy too.” “She doesn’t like spiders a lot.” “She really wanted me to catch it for you.” “How come Lance’s daddy doesn’t like Claire?” Tay just looked at her but he didn’t act like he didn’t know what she was talking about. “You know don’t you?” “I heard my parents talking once. They said that Lance’s mother was supposed to marry Claire’s father but then she ran off and came back to town with Lance’s father.” “Why would that make Mr. Thorpe not like Claire?” Tay shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know really but I heard that some people think Mrs. Thorpe would rather she married Mr. Briscoe.” Before she had a chance to think about what that meant, Mr. Briscoe called them and they ran to him. Fishing turned out to be neat. She and Claire caught two each, Tay caught six and Mr. Briscoe caught eight. It felt like they were rich. They took them back to the house and Mr. Briscoe showed them how to clean them but he wouldn’t let any of them handle the knife. Mrs. Briscoe let all of them help with dinner. She and Claire got to whip up cupcakes for dessert. Tay peeled potatoes. Mrs. Briscoe cooked and whipped the potatoes and mixed coleslaw. Mr. Briscoe cooked the fish. Starr had so much fun she felt like squealing. When she grew up, she was going to be like her mommy and her Aunt Dorian and not cook but this cooperative cooking could be fun once in a while. After dinner, Tay showed her the spider he caught. It was better than neat. Tay knew a lot about spiders. And when he smiled like he did around the Briscoes he wasn’t bad looking. Not really. When his hair was washed and clean it had a nice soft wave and when he wasn’t frowning you noticed that his eyes were an odd mixture of green, blue and brown. And he was strong too. And brave. And he was smart. That’s the thing she never guessed before. He told her about black dwarfs, red giant stars, galaxies and nebulas. Mr. Briscoe told him he should be an astronaut because he knew so much about space and stars and stuff. All in all, Tay wasn’t as bad as she thought he was in the beginning. “I wish we didn’t have to rehearse tomorrow,” said Claire. “It was fun at first but I’m kind of tired of it now. I mean the wicked step-sister only has five lines and I knew them by heart two weeks ago.” Tay studied her. Starr could see clouds forming on his face. “You should have been Cinderella….the understudy I mean.” “Yeah. But I know all those words too.” “I bet you don’t.” Claire bristled. “Tay James, don’t tell me what I don’t know.” “Prove it.” Tay then did the most astonishing thing. He started reciting dialogue of the prince from the ballroom scene. Claire lit up like a candle and the two of them ran through the scene flawlessly. With each word Starr felt her anger grow. She and Lance were the perfect couple, not Tay and Claire. They were acting as if she and Lance didn’t have special chemistry…that she and Lance weren’t the most lovely Cinderella and Prince Charming ever. When they finished they looked at her and smiled, as if they expected her to say something. She took a deep breath and said, “That was okay but I can see why Mrs. Hastings chose Rachel to be my understudy. Rachel has that certain special something.” Tay frowned at her. “She didn’t choose Rachel. Mr. and Mrs. Thorpe forced Mrs. Hastings to do it.” Claire, who had been staring at Starr, suddenly smiled. “So it was all because of Lance. I really don’t like him anymore. He’s mean I think but at least Mrs. Hastings was made to do it.” “Lance isn’t so bad.” “Yes, he is, Tay. And he’s not your friend either.” Tay’s face darkened to a ruby red. “He’s the best friend I’ve got,” he yelled. “Don’t talk about Lance like that.” “You’re better than he is at everything, Tay," Claire said. "You’re better.” “Well, you’re better than Starr as Cinderella and she’s your friend. And she told Mrs. Hastings to replace you. She could have stopped it but she didn’t.” The air around Starr that had been whirling from all of the weird shifts suddenly froze and everything seemed cold and brittle. She looked at Claire and in an instant the bond between them seemed so fragile and light. Tay stood up and backed away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to tell you that. I was just mad because…” He shifted his gaze between the two of them then threw up his hands, ran out of the garage and disappeared from sight. “Why did you do that to me, Starr? Why?” Starr poked out her lower lip and frowned. She clasped her hands behind her back and looked at the ground. Claire didn’t have a right to ask her that. She did what was best and Claire knew that too. “What happened to Tay?” Mr. Briscoe asked stepping into the garage. “He was running like his tail was on fire.” Claire seemed not to hear her father. “You like Rachel better than me, Starr?” “She was just best for the part. I didn’t decide…” “I don’t care about the part. I cared that you were my friend.” Claire burst into tears. “I cared that you were my best friend in the whole world.” Mr. Briscoe walked next to Claire and pulled her close to him. “What happened, Starr?” “She’s just mad because she’s not the understudy anymore.” Mr. Briscoe’s focused his gaze on her for a long few seconds then said, “Starr, why don’t you go into the house for a minute and let me talk to Claire. Mrs. Briscoe was just about to call us for dessert. You can help her set things up.” “It’s not fair that Claire is mad.” “I’m sure everything will be all right.” Starr walked out of the garage and headed toward the house but stopped. She didn’t want to explain to Mrs. Briscoe why she was so sad or see disappointment in her eyes. She walked back close to the garage and flopped down on the ground. When the fear in her head quieted down, she realized she could hear Mr. Briscoe talking. “You know most people don’t really understand Cinderella, Claire. Mr. and Mrs. Thorpe sure don’t and I don’t think Mrs. Hastings does either. They think it means that some people are born to be a princess and other people are not. They think the glass slipper fitting is just a sign of what was meant to be but that’s not really it. Cinderella wasn’t already a princess just waiting to be found.” “I don’t understand, Daddy. What was she?” “Just a regular girl like you and Starr and even Connie.” “Huh? Connie?” “Before I started dating your mom I was dating a girl that everyone thought of as a princess.” “Really.” “Well, she was as close to a princess as this town thought it would ever see. Beautiful and popular. And everyone told me we were meant to be together.” “But you weren’t?” “No. Everyone believed because she was so beautiful that the glass slipper would fit without question. But it didn’t and it wasn’t until I met your mom that I found my princess.” “Mom seems sad sometimes when you talk about that.” “That’s because even after all this time she still doesn’t believe she is my one true princess. That’s what can happen if you believe only what the so-called popular people tell you. I don’t want that to happen to you. See there is a secret to Cinderella.” “What, Daddy?” “Do you know what the glass slipper really is, Claire? It’s love.” “Love?” “Yep. Love makes you into a princess. So you will always be special because your mom and I love you so much. And Starr is just as special because her mommy and daddy love her so much. And one day your Prince Charming will come along and be lucky to find you. And he will be your prince and you will be his princess because you love each other, not because other people declare or decree you are pretty enough or popular enough to be a princess.” “So Cinderella became a princess because the prince loved her?” “And the prince wasn’t really a prince until she loved him.” “That’s coolness.” “Yeah. But most people don’t understand that. Starr doesn’t right now because she listened to the wrong people but that’s okay. You know the truth and one day, she will understand too. Until then try not to judge her too harshly. Friends are precious and we all make mistakes, especially grownups.” Chapter 28 Dreams In Amber Refrains FAN FICTION
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