“Twelve tickets please,” I say as my sisters’ crowd around me looking at the ticket guy. He looks speechless. “Um, twelve tickets please?” I say as he gulps.
“That will be seventy-eight dollars,” he replies as he types up the number on the cash register.
Handing him my debit card I reply, “I have enough.” He takes my debit card and hands it back to me in shocked silence. Jade tugs at my pant leg again. “What is it Jade?”
Jade points at the concession stand in the lobby area as she asks, “Can we get some snacks too?” All of my little sisters, including Emerald look at me with hopeful eyes. Dad has a rule when it comes to debit cards. We can handle money when we’re seventeen, and since I’m the only seventeen year old then I’m also the only sister with a debit card.
“Sure.” The ticket guy hands me twelve tickets in a stack.
“Twelve tickets for a G-rated?” he asks me. He looks at me and I can tell what he wants to ask. Why are all of you going to see a G-rated movie?
I smile before I say, “My sisters and I thank you very much.” I almost laugh at his expression, but instead suppress my laughter with a smirk. “Concessions here we come.” My sisters and I approach the line, when at the last minute I’m right in front of all of them. “Okay, before we get in line, we each need to know what we want. Got it?” Every one of my sisters nods. And I pull out my cell phone and open up a notepad.
“All right, I’m ready. Tell me what you guys want.”
Emerald says, “Twizzlers.”
Amber says, “Snickers.”
Jasper says, “A large popcorn,” and she looks at Ruby who shakes her head. And Jasper answers, “Ruby’s still deciding.”
Turquoise blurts out, “I’ll have milk duds.”
“Junior mints,” Agate and Garnet says at the same time.
“Ooh, I’ll think I’ll have that too,” says Ruby with a smile.
Sapphire chirps, “Hershey bar!”
Oynx and Jade points at the big sign that says, ‘Taste the Rainbow’. “Skittles it is,” I reply.
Peridot whispers, “I’ll have what you’re having Diamond.” When I look at her light green eyes she adds, “I want to try something new. Don’t you?”
Looking at the menu, I shrug as I reply, “How do you feel about starbursts?”
“Why not,” says Peridot with a smile in her eyes.
After relaying the list of snacks to the shocked concession stand girl, all of us have our snacks in hand. We walk into the dark theater and take half of a row of seats in the front row. The previews are already starting to play and I make sure that every one of my sisters has a seat. Ruby makes sure that everyone is content with their seat choice.
I let Ruby take over as the mother figure as I stretch my legs and lose myself in the movie. Even if the movie is G-rated, I still manage to have a good time. I laugh along with my sisters’ at the funny parts and frown when the bad guy comes in on a scene…
“Diamond? Diamond, wake up!” says Peridot as she gently nudges me with her elbow. I look at my little sister and notice that the theater lights are on.
“What happened?” I ask with my vision blurry.
Amber snorts as she replies, “You took a nap. You’re snoring was kind of obvious to everyone in the theater.” I frown at Amber as she passes me, with her phone in hand, her thumbs working furiously on a text.
Emerald has a book in her hands as she whispers, “You did snore. Maybe you have a cold Diamond.”
Groaning, I get up from the theater seat and walk towards the exit. Ruby helps the younger ones gather what’s left of their snacks by placing the snacks in Ruby’s large purse. Ruby says to the little ones, “Don’t worry. I’ll hide them in our closet at home. You can have what remains of your candy in our room.”
Oynx nods and pulls Jade towards me. “How much time do we have Jasper?” asks Oynx. Jasper looks down at her digital watch and frowns.
“We only have thirty minutes to make it back to the entrance of Miri’s ballet studio.” Jasper starts to jog away and the little ones stop to look up at me.
I start speed walking as I say, “We better get a move on.” All of us speed walk five blocks and arrive at the entrance with ten minutes to spare. All of us are currently out of breath. Well, except Jasper of course.
Jasper just stretches her hamstrings as if she just finished a mini cardio session. Emerald opens her book and starts to read. Amber still is texting furiously, and the younger ones fidget as we all wait for the limo.
However, I stand tall for those ten minutes. I don’t sit down on the steps like my other sisters’. Instead, I look out and take a reassuring breath as the limo stops in front of the steps.
Amber flips her hair as she says, “Time to go home.” She’s the first one to go down the steps. When she turns around to look at us she rolls her eyes, but for a moment her mouth twitches sideways. She’s just as afraid as everyone else. Garnet goes down the steps next with her back straight, shoulders and chin up. Her confident stride never falters even when facing fear. As for me, I try to follow suit, but fail miserably. Hey, just because I’m the strong one that doesn’t make me the confident one.
Ruby walks down and holds Peridot and Turquoise’s hand. “Everyone, let’s go. I’ll tell all of you a bedtime story.” My little sisters’ eyes glow with delight. I bite my lip, to stop my tears. A part of me hopes that my little sisters’ aren’t miserably tainted by fear of our Dad. Still, I must not cry. I have to be strong for them as well as for me.
When we enter the limo, there’s a different limo driver this time. He looks at us all before he grunts out, “Other guy had an emergency. I’m taking his last shifts for this evening.”
“Okay,” says Emerald before she looks down at her book again. I’m about to say thank you when I realize that I probably should not. After all, unbeknownst to him, the limo driver is essentially driving us towards our doom, our misery, and our home.
YOU ARE READING
The Dancers ©
FantasyDiamond and her eleven half sisters have been living a life mixed of luxury and misery. Living in a mansion is wonderful, but their abusive father makes them want to find a way out of their lavish existence. On their journey they are overcome with...
