Olive's POV
Once I was dressed, Janelle made my hair look like Princess Anna in Frozen 2.
"I keep forgetting you're only eleven." She said as she set it with hairspray. "You're a very strong little girl, but it's okay to like princesses." Janelle hugged me. "You may not like me very much yet, but you and your sister both mean a lot to me. Have you seen your room yet?"
I shook my head. "No."
"Well, Angie will call us down when the guests are here. And word of advice, I love them, but they are a little crazy. Come on, let's go see your room." She took my hand and led me into the first bedroom on the left.
It was huge. It was a pretty soft lemon yellow with white lemon outlines. White trim, and there was a white metal bed frame holding my lemon print bedspread on my bed with yellow and white pillows. One was shaped like a lemon. And there was a white desk with a white chair and the white chair had a yellow cushion. There were also books lined on the shelf above the desk, and the shelf was white. The floor was hardwood, but there was a fluffy white rug. And a plant in the corner. It was a green that match the leaves of the lemons on my bedspread. Oh, and there was a clear and yellow egg chair on the balcony I had.
Janelle looked at me. "Angie went a bit nuts. She's always wanted someone to spoil. This used to be her room. Oh, and there's a mirror in the closet and some clothes. Like I said, she went nuts." She squeezed my shoulders.
"Janelle Peterson you'd better get down here otherwise you aren't eating!" Angie called. "The guests are here!"
"Sorry honey! I'll be right down!" She turned to me. "Let's go Olive. The stampede has arrived."
She wasn't kidding. Angie took my around introducing everyone to me.
"Olive, this is Ryder Hansen and her girlfriend Brooklyn. And their friend Oliver who they dragged here. Ryder, Brooklyn, and Oliver, this is my little sister Olive. I just met her last week."
And then there was what Angie called "the Falsettos kids."
"Hi Angie!" A very young girl clutching the hand of an older girl waved at her.
"Hey Josie! Olive this is Lily and her little sister Josie. They were both adopted by actors from a show called Falsettos. No relation."
"Hi." I waved shyly.
"Comet!" Angie left me to greet a young woman and a young man wearing a rainbow scarf. "And Casper! Comet I haven't seen you in so long! And you brought cookies! All is forgiven for disappearing."
Janelle took the cookies to the kitchen while Angie introduced me. "This is Comet and her best friend Casper." And then there was Emily Sawyer-Brightman, who frankly was a little different.
"It's showtime!" She laughed, handing something to Angie.
"You didn't!"
"I did!" Emily was laughing.
"What is it?" I asked.
"The handbook for the recently deceased." Angie laughed.
Okay then.
"Reed!" Angie gave Emily back the book and sprinted over to the door where a girl was helping another girl, who was on crutches get through the door. "Your wheelchair!"
"Oh yeah, I only need it sometimes. And other times I can walk without the crutches." The girl on crutches said. (Because I lost track of what's happening to Reed chaoticgeekery)
"Olive this is my friend Val and her chaotic girlfriend Reed."
"There are still a lot of people here. Who is everyone else?"
"Oh." Reed said. "Famous Broadway actors. No biggie."
My jaw dropped.
"Dinner everyone!" Janelle called.
The table happened to be huge. There was still room at the table even with everyone seated. In the middle was a huge conveyer belt type thing, but like a lazy Susan.
Angie beamed. "I had to have the wall knocked out to have this big a table. And this lazy Susan had to be imported. Stop moving seats Barrett!"
"I'm torn between Heathers and Mean Girls. Where do I sit!?"
"Sit where I placed the Barrett name card. Between Heathers and Mean Girls. I made this seating chart please don't mess it up. Oh by the way I'm still a big fan Barrett."
Everyone laughed. It was like a huge family.
"Okay, Josie's teacher asked her class a question today, and Josie said the funniest answer!" Lily exclaimed. Josie was coloring in the other room, and playing with Ryder and Brooklyn. Brooklyn convinced Ryder and Josie immediately took the chance to color with her. "Okay so Josie's teacher said: What is something your family does everyday. And then went around the room. Josie was last, and she said: My uncle is my mom and other uncle's psychiatrist, then my mom falls in love and marries said uncle on May 27th at 8! Everyday!"
Everyone laughed.
"Oh! My uncle brainwashes my dad to get everyone in my family on a supercomputer pill!" Val exclaimed.
"My parents write fake emails and my dad pretends to be friends with a dead kid who's unstable." Ryder said, poking her head in the room.
Emily added, "My dad dies everyday, after tricking a teenager into marrying him for mortality and torturing/killing people, and almost killing someone who's already dead, and then is stabbed in the back by his teenage bride!"
Cat chuckled. "That's nothing. My aunt, sister, and mom are worshipped by pretty much everyone. Then my aunt dies and my sister takes over. And this happens everyday. And my mom forges a love letter from my brother to my aunt everyday because my other aunt made her. My dad tries to blow up a high school, four of my family members die everyday, and my aunt gets murdered by my dad everyday."
Everyone laughs. What?!
Angie looks at Val. "That uncle who gave your dad that pill, wasn't he the one who burnt down a house full of 'innocent' teenagers everyday?"
Val nodded. "Yup. He burns down my brother's house everyday."
Angie nods knowingly. "My mama gets sexually abused four times and then gets her head chopped off everyday. Oh wait that's my mom. My mama gets beheaded for doing nothing except having a daughter even though she was only his second wife out of six. And my auntie dies before getting to see her son grow up. As well as my other aunt gets divorced for nothing. And my other other aunt getting divorced for being "ugly" but she's actually not. And my other other other aunt was forced to become the same guys sixth wife. All of this happens everyday."
I stare at her in shock.
Cat scoffs. "Oh please four of my family members die everyday."
"Three of mine die, and then three others do it occasionally when they're mimicking those three, mostly everyday. My family also bullies each other to see who's life sucks the most everyday." Angie says in return.
"What's going on! This conversation is freaking me out, you should all get some help!" I blurt, looking up from my full plate.
Izzy laughs and looks at me. "Honey, they're talking about musicals their families were in. Josie and Lily were adopted by actors from Falsettos. Val was adopted by actors from Be More Chill. Ryder was adopted by Dear Evan Hansen. Cat was adopted by Heathers. Comet was adopted by Mean Girls. And Angie was adopted by Six."
"Oh."
"You should eat. You have barely eaten anything all day." Caitlin's says, glancing at my plate.
No thanks. "Okay." I don't eat, but they don't notice.
"Hey Cat, if you don't mind me asking, what's with all the bandages?" Janelle asks.
Angie, Val, Lily, and Comet all start making "No!" Gestures, but Janelle doesn't notice. Ryder even enters the room and starts doing it as well.
Cat starts crying. She peels back a bandage, points at a scar, and says, "Transfusion." And starts crying harder. "Now everyone knows!" She said, sobbing into Red's shoulder.
Red comfortingly puts her hand over Cat's, and Cat visibly calms down.
And so, people started to leave slowly. Falsettos left first, followed by Mean Girls-Barrett. I learnt everyone's name! Then Ryder and the Dear Evan Hansen cast left with Oliver and Brooklyn. And then Val and company left. And then Emily and Alex and Jenny left. Cat had cheered up when she went to say goodbye.
"Thank you so much Angie! And you have a beautiful home." And then she and Red left hand in hand, followed by the Heathers cast+Barrett.
It was just Angie, Janelle, Izzy, Caitlin, and I in the downstairs family room on the huge light blue couch.
"Izzy, Caitlin, Olive, why don't you all stay the night? We have a couple guest rooms, and Olive has her own room." Angie said, to tired to move.
"Sounds great. You okay with that Livvy?" Izzy looked at me tiredly.
"Yeah okay."
So we all went upstairs. Izzy and Caitlin went into different guest rooms, and I noticed all of the clothes we'd bought this afternoon.
I found some pajamas and went to sleep.
And I had a weird dream. Well, it's a memory of what had happened a little while after eating. Angie had gathered Lily, Ryder, Comet, Val, Brooklyn, Reed, Cat, Red, Janelle, and Emily, they all went into another room, and then came back. "We present to you, The Prom's Tony Award performance!"
It was hilarious, but amazing considering they literally put it together in like ten minutes. Red and Cat were Emma and Alyssa, which Izzy filled me in on that part. I still haven't watched the show.
No one wondered why they danced in unison. I made a mental note to draw the eleven or ten of them dancing around like the best friends they were. Some of them weren't even good dancers but it didn't matter. Because they found their people.
And I'd never find mine.