*Hannah’s POV (Late Night, Friday May 1st)

I get to my dorm and hear beautiful music from outside it. I walk in to see Emily practicing her piano. She looks up at the sound of the door opening. “No, don’t stop. It sounds great!” I say tossing my bag onto my bed before sitting in my desk chair.

“How was rehearsal?” Emily asks me still playing away. “It was good as usual. I’m excited for opening night next week.” I pause for a minute trying to decide whether or not to tell one of my best friends the exciting news I received from my director last night. I decide against it and she interrupts my thoughts.

“I’m practicing my pieces I wrote for industry night. Gotta get ‘em as perfect as possible for all the talent scouts and agents that’ll be there.” she says before resuming her playing. “Well can you take a little break? We’re video chatting with the girls tonight, remember?” I say nudging her, causing her to mess up. “Hey! Don’t do that. I’ll be done in a minute.”

I chuckle before I get a Skype call from Mackenzie and Susan. Em stops in the middle of her song and runs over to my laptop. That gets her to stop practicing every time. I answer the call and two of our beautiful sisters appear. We all exchange greetings and joke around a bit before I bring us back to the purpose of this meeting. “I wanted to talk to all of you at once, because last night I got some news from my director and I wanted all of you to know at the same time.”

“Hold on! Sammie isn’t here. You can’t tell us yet.” Susan pipes up. “She said that she can’t get online tonight, but she can call you.” Mac says. Moments later, I get a call from Sam and put her on speaker so all the girls can hear her. “So what’s this news you have for us, Hannah?” she asks.

“Okay well like I said, I got some news from my director last night and I wanted all of you to be the first to know. This summer, there is an opportunity for me to study abroad…in London!!!” I shout in excitement. There is silence on all ends; laptop, phone, and even right next to me. They all give me blank stares, mouths agape. “In London!!!” I shout again as if they didn’t hear me.

“C’mon girls, this is an amazing opportunity for me! Aren’t you happy for me?” I question looking around at them all. “But the summer is supposed to be for the five of us to be together again! And you’re gonna leave to go across the world?!” Sam exclaims through the phone. “With you missing, summer won’t be the same!” Em says. Mac and Susan nod in agreement.

“I can’t believe you guys. This is a great opportunity for me to become more rounded in my field and all you can think about is yourselves? This isn’t what I was expecting from you. I thought you would be proud of me and tell me to have fun, and be supportive!” The girls I can see are looking down and Sam is silent on the other end of the line. Finally, Emily speaks up saying, “You’re right. We aren’t being very good friends…or sisters. We should be supporting you and congratulating you. I’m sorry, Hannah.”

“Yeah I’m sorry too.” the other three say. “That’s more like it. Now give me the reaction I deserved in the first place!” I say jokingly. But the girls do it, screaming and telling me congratulations and that they’re so happy for me. Em crushes me in a hug. “You girls are the best, you know that?” I say smiling. “We know!” they chorus. “All right well it’s late, we should go to sleep. Good night girls!” I say waving to my laptop.

“Good night, Hannah! Good night, Emily!” they all say. “Good night!” Em says before logging off the computer and hanging up the phone. I’m barely shutting off my laptop when I hear the piano again. “Emily, relax. You need to get some rest. Practice more tomorrow.” I say turning off her keyboard. “No, it needs to be perfect! I have to practice every free moment so I can really impress on industry night.” she says turning it back on and resuming playing.

I go to her and turn her to face me. “Emily, listen to me. You are the best musician I know. You got a full scholarship to AMDA for a reason. Your talent is exceptional and the talent scouts will love you. You’ll be discovered very soon, I’m sure of it. Now please get ready for bed and get some sleep with me?” She slowly smiles and says “Thank you...I know you’re right. I just get so worried that I won’t be successful in music and I get carried away trying to be perfect.”

I pull Em into a hug and say “To me and your other sisters you’re already perfect. C’mon let’s get ready for bed.” We change into pajamas and brush our teeth before turning out the lights and getting in our beds. “Good night. Sweet dreams.” I say tiredly. “Good night, Hannah. Love ya.” she answers. “Love ya too.” We both slowly drift off to sleep; me dreaming of London and Em probably dreaming of her sheet music and playing at industry night.

Notes