Life continued on as normal for the last few weeks of summer, well normal in our household. Lizzy and Josh both attended multiple auditions, both getting callbacks but no jobs were given to them at this fleeting moment. Ben had been going to his weekly unwanted therapist appointments and meeting with a few of his closest toursies friends, but other than that he had made no move to find a new job. I'm sure he'll get back out there, I can already see his confidence building up immaculately. He even stayed at home for a while all alone whilst Lizzy and Josh were at auditions and I was at Will's house. 

Speaking of Will, we had been spending lots of time together before school started again. He even met Jack Barky and attempted to kidnap him on Sky's behalf. We hadn't spoken much about what was between us, we were still trying to rebuild our relationship from the six months we had spent apart. Sure, we did skype whilst I was Arrowwood but it's not the same as it is in person. We haven't kissed yet but we cuddle whilst watching films so that's always something. 

I had also met up with some of the toursies, such as Chaz and Jeff H where we just went to get some ice cream and had a conversation in the park but other than that my life had been quite dull - just waiting as the days slowly dragged on, waiting for the first day of school to roll by. 

September 5th

I awoke to my alarm blaring at me, reading 6:30 AM in bright red lights. I groaned and rolled out of bed with a thud as I fell to the ground. Still half asleep I trudged to my wardrobe and pulled out my school uniform. After pulling on my scarlet, plaid skirt and my white polo shirt, I wandered into the kitchen to find Ben wide awake reading a book. 

I walked past him and made myself a bowl of granola before plopping down on the sofa next to him. We sat in silence for a moment, before I finally spoke up, "Why are you up so early?"

He put his book down then looked at me, his piercing blue eyes etching into my soul before he looked down again, "I had a nightmare."

"Okay," I said knowing that he wouldn't want me to pry into the details of the nightmare. It was odd like that, he wasn't affraid to tell me that he had had a nightmare but he hated anyone prying further.  

I continued to eat until I no longer felt hungry so I walked into the kitchen to wash up my bowl. I came back into the living room to see Ben and Lizzy kissing. 

"Ewww!" I cried. 

They broke apart chuckling slightly. Lizzy got off Ben and walked over to me, tieing up her dressing gown and yawning. She attempted to flatten down her bed hair to no avail before hugging me. 

"You excited for your first day?" she asked.

"Yeah, speaking of, I need to go. Josh!" 

Josh suddenly appeared in the doorway of his bedroom fully dressed and wide awake. Lizzy looked him in disbelief as she never expected him to be up at his hour. He simply shrugged it off and went to put his shoes on. I joined him in the action and soon enough we were in the car on the way to school. 

"You excited?" he asked. 

"Yes, I am a bit nervous for - you know you were supposed to take a left right?"

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "I thought your school was downtown?"

"No," I laughed, "It's near central park," 

"Oh," he said under his breath not wanting me to hear.

He started breathing heavily, gulping lots as if he was being sick, why was he panicking? He went red in the face and began muttering to himself. I knew he didn't want me to see that he was panicking but it was getting more and more obvious by the second. I was unsure why he was panicking, it wasn't as if I was going to be late but the sudden rush of confusion was causing him to be panicked.  I knew I had to intervene. 

"Josh pull over!" I said not wanting to crash because he was having a panic attack. 

He pulled into a parking space and began taking deep breaths to calm himself down. It took a few minutes but eventually, his face turned to its normal colour once more. We sat in silence again, listening to our breaths. After he had been quiet for a few minutes, he turned the ignition on again and we set off again. 

I bit my lip wanting to ask about his confusion, but I don't like to pry and I knew that the last thing he needed was someone prying into why he felt that way. I know if it were me then I wouldn't want to be asked so I just scrolled through Instagram as we journeyed to my school. 

Eventually, we pulled up and I got out, with Josh wishing me good luck. I slipped my phone into my backpack and walked through the gates onto the now buzzing gates. I looked around, searching for people that I knew. I was now in what was know as 3rd year at my middle school, so there must be some 1st years that remember me, even if I did miss the entirety of 2nd year. 

There were so many people here now, it definitely didn't feel this big last time I was here as a student by I guess now that I am older and taller I can see more people. I walked past a few people who just laughed and pointed at me then began whispering to their friends. I was unsure as to why they were doing this, it wasn't my hair, was it? Deciding to ignore them I continued to look for someone who I knew and who wasn't laughing behind my back. 

I spotted a familiar head of hair, so I called out to it, "Aaron!"

He turned around with a look of shock on his face as he laid eyes on me. We engulfed each other in a hug, rocking back and forth on our tiptoes despite being the same height. We pulled away with wide smiles. 

"I didn't know you were coming back!" he said still in shock. 

"Well I would have told you but someone changed their number then moved apartment!" I scolded pinning the blame on him before hitting his arm. 

He scratched the back of his neck, "Mum won the lottery, so..."

"I get it," I laughed. 

We caught up with each other quickly before I was introduced me to his friends Sebastian, or Bash and Georgia.   

(@doodledoodlee)

We walked in together but had to part ways after we realized we didn't have many classes together. I scoured the halls until I found my locker and opened it up to find an empty tin can. Note to self: decorate locker soon. I placed some unneeded textbooks into it before shutting the door. 

"Grace!" a figure said from behind the locker door that I just closed, causing me to jump five feet into the air with fright, "Thank goodness I found you, I am so lost."

I hit him with the textbook in my hand, "You scared me Will!"

"Sorry," he laughed raising his hands in surrender, "but we need to get to form and I have no idea where Ansell two is."

"Follow me," I told him. 

We went through our day rather quickly, with lessons in German, History, and Voice - which we both enjoyed lots. Lunchtime rolled around, and we sat with Georgia, Bash, and Aaron. We told them all about the tour (after they had questioned us about it), leaving out the whole care home palava as well as our kiss. We all exited the dining hall to make our way towards the auditorium and stage where we were all going to attend the school play meeting ran by Mr. Morris. 

Just before it started, I went up to speak to Mr. Morris. As soon as he noticed me making my way towards him he opened his arms revealing his pot belly that had grown slightly in my time away and cheered, "Grace Knight! How lovely it is to see you again, I see you got my message!"

"Yes sir, but it's actually Grace Burrage - Cook now because... well I was adopted," I explained. 

"I know, Mrs. Kelly told me, but not to worry the police did a good job at keeping Thomas a secret, and I will too," he said tapping the tip of his nose.

 You see the thing about Mr. Morris is that he has no filter. He blames it on his directing days when he had to tell people what he thought about their audition truthfully, but it never really changed when he turned to teach children here.  

"Oh, right well I am excited to audition," I smiled.

"I'm happy to have you back, but I must get on," he said before shooing me back to my friends where they had taken a seat in the auditorium. 

During the meeting, Mr. Morris had simply explained the basic plotline of Newsies, the key dates of rehearsal and the shows as well as what he is looking for in the characters and dance ability. My school was comprised of a lot of musical theatre kids and dancers so he expected tricks from the majority of characters.

 He also told us all he was having a screening of the filmed Broadway version so that we could all come to grips with it. Of course, he had to embarrass Will and me by pointing to us at this point, and declaring with a belly chuckle, "Of course Miss Grace and Mister Will won't have any problem with the plot seeing as they toured with Newsies."

All eyes fixated on us, and we waved slightly, our cheeks now a vibrant red. After everyone turned there attention back onto Mr. Morris as he got sidetracked talking about his encounter Jeremy Jordan,  Will and I had both sunk into our seats with embarrassment.

 Mr. Morris reminded me of Professor Slughorn, from Harry Potter. He enjoyed the fact that he knew lots of famous people enjoyed giving kids with potential for greatness contacts to these said famous people. It seems like a kind gesture at first until you realize he was doing it for his own gain. But he was still a brilliant teacher who brought lots of inside knowledge from his trade to his classroom, as he inspires a myriad of students. 

After the meeting was over, Will and I scurried out of the hall as quick as our feet could take us. I led him to our next class which was unfortunately maths. Time ticked by so slowly I didn't think it was moving at all. Every time I looked at the clock, only one or two minutes had passed. I counted down the minutes to when the bell would ring and once it had finally signaled the end of the day I was most definitely the first one out of there. 

I said goodbye to Will and headed outside to where all the parents were congregated. Surprisingly I found Ben standing by the car. I cocked my head in confusion; he never goes out by himself - this was a first.

He waved me over before climbing back into the driver's seat. 

"How was your day?" he inquired as I got in the car after I dumped my backpack in the boot of the car. 

"It was good, apart from Maths and Mr. Morris shamelessly embarrassing Will and me at the Newsies meeting." 

"Well that's good," he laughed as he pulled out of the school carpark. 

"Why didn't Josh come to pick me up?" I asked, "I mean don't get me wrong I'm glad to see you, but -" 

"I wanted to conquer my fear," he said not taking his eyes off the road. That was another thing about Ben, he never took his eyes off the road when he drove as to not repeat the who taxi incident from on tour. 

"And also," he continued, "Josh told me what happened this morning, he was quite upset so I thought it was best if I came. Plus Lizzy went to her final callback today."

"Do you think she'll get the job," I asked looking at him even though I knew he wouldn't look back at me. 

But surprisingly he did, only for a split second, however. Just long enough to flash me a smile, "I believe in her."

I smiled back at him even if he had turned his attention back to the road. I knocked my head back on the headrest and closed my eyes recounting my day. I was a good day today, no, I was a great day.