AllFreeNovel
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She shoos me away and strains her neck as far to the right as possible. The guys have brought in most of the stuff and are now standing in front of their new house, trying to make order of the huge mess before them.
“I guess the show is over?” I say.
“No way.” She stretches her neck so far back I swear it’s longer than a giraffe’s. “I can still see a little from here. There’s a woman. Must be their mom. Where’s their dad? Maybe he didn’t come yet.”
I walk back to my bed and plop down with the lyrics to “Home.” I know this song by heart, but I haven’t stopped memorizing it over and over again since Miss Diaz, the director of the musical, emailed the students to inform us we’ll be performingBeauty and the Beastthis semester. It’s been my dream to play a Disney princess since I was a little kid. I’m nervous I’ll botch up my audition tomorrow.
“Aw, c’mon!” Phoenix complains as she presses her face to the far right of my window. “I can’t see them anymore. Ooh, there’s a motorcycle! You think it’s one of the guys’?”
“Don’t you have to start your live stream?” I ask.
My words seem to fly right past her ears.
“Phoenix?”
“Ooh, I caught a glimpse! C’mon, twin hotties, go get something else from the truck so I can see your beautiful faces.”
I roll my eyes and laugh. “I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to ogle them when you come over again. Which is like every day.” She practically lives here.
Again, she doesn’t seem to hear me.
“Uh, Phoenix?”
Nothing.
“Earth to Phoenix?” I reach for my pillow and chuck it at her, smacking her in the back of her head.
“Hey!” she yelps, spinning around. “What the heck was that for?”
“Aren’t you supposed to start your stream?”
She blinks at me. “Stream?”
“Um, your channel? Have I completely lost you to Boy Land?”
“Oh.” She sweeps my pillow off the floor and glances out the window. “I forgot all about it.” She shrugs as she turns around and heads to where she set up on my desk. “The guys have gone into their house, anyway.”
She sits down and adjusts the microphone, then puts on her headphones. After reminding her fans on social media about the live stream, she checks a few more things and is ready to go.
“Good afternoon, FireBirds! How’s everyone doing on this fine Sunday afternoon? It’s the last day of summer here. I can’t believe school starts tomorrow. How am I doing? I’m great. Don’t you love it when a hot neighbor moves in right next door to you? It’s like the gods of love are offering you a present.” She laughs as she reads some of the comments. “I know, right? It’s like I’ve finally done something good this month and am getting a major reward. And I’m telling you, the guys that moved in? Total hotties. I can just melt into a puddle right here. But enough about that. You’re here to watch me kick some gaming butt. So sit back and enjoy, and let’s blow up some zombies!”
She loads her favorite first-person shooter and starts to take down the bad guys, talking smack and yelling at her screen like she always does. I’ve learned to tune her out when I’m in the middle of doing work, but usually I enjoy watching her. She’s so entertaining and hilarious, which might be one of the reasons why she’s accumulated so many subscribers. And the fact that she slays at video games.
But right now, I need to get this audition down. I’ll be really bummed if I don’t get Belle.
“Gotchya!” Phoenix throws her hands up and does a little dance in her seat. “Who’s amazing? Who’s amazing? We are! We are!” She sits forward to read her comments. “Yeah, you can send me a request to join my team, but please don’t bombard me all at once. Last time, you crashed my game.” She laughs. Her eyes rove over the comments. “Nah, it’s okay if you’re not the greatest player. My FireBirds are awesome no matter what.” A grin captures her lips. “Yeah, of course my bestie is here. You guys know I stream at her place because my house is a total nightmare. Katie, they want you to join the stream.”
I wave my hand, muttering the lyrics under my breath.
“Katie, the chat is exploding with your name.”
I shake my head and continue to mutter.
“Sorry, guys. My girl’s preparing for her audition tomorrow. Our school’s putting on a production ofBeauty and the Beastthe musical. Poor Katie’s been sitting there for hours memorizing the song when she knows the thing like the back of her hand. She wants it so badly.” She leans forward to read the comments. “Totally! Katie, they’re wishing you lots of luck and say you’ll knock it out of the park. Katie was born to play Belle. I mean, just look at her hair. If that doesn’t say Belle, I don’t know what does.”
“I’d be wearing a wig,” I remind her. “But tell everyone thanks.”
“Katie’s super grateful to all of you!” Phoenix says. “So much that she’ll come over right now and thank you personally.”
