If You Let Me Inside Your World

Chapter 3       

     “Uh uh. No, there’s no way our seventeen year old daughter is flying half way across the country by herself, just to chase a dream that will get crushed. She’s not going.” My dad argued as he passed back and forth through the kitchen.
     “But I wouldn’t be alone! One of you would have to come with, since I’m under 18.” I said in defense.
“See Dan, she wouldn’t be alone. Come on, there’s nothing wrong with a child going after something they want.” My mother said, standing up for me.
      “Exactly, a child. Diane, she’d probably be the only ‘child’ at this thing. Someone older and more experienced will come in and shine above her. She’s going to come back here with nothing but a broken heart.”
      “She’ll never know unless she tries Dan. This Scooter guy picked her out of a crowd and saw something in her. That means something if you ask me.”
      In the middle of their argument, the door bell rung.
“That’s him.” I said. “Dad, can you please just have an open mind to all of this?” I asked
     “Alright, but if he he’s better looking, and has more hair than me, no way.” He laughed.
I shook my head, letting out a chuckle as I walked to the front door. As I opened it, I saw Scooter standing on the other side, dressed up in a suit and tie, ready to present the deal of a lifetime to my parents.
     “Good luck” I whispered to him before patting him on the back and walking up stairs to my room.
It felt like I had been waiting up there for hours.
       “What do you think is taking them so long?” Mindy asked as I talked to her on the phone. “I should have come over, I could have helped Scooter out, been his wing women. I can put up a pretty convincing argument if you ask me.”
       “More like scare people into saying yes.” I said under my breath.
“What do you thinks going on down there?” Mindy asked again.
     “I don’t know, but you’re not helping my nerves right now, I’ll call you back when I get an answer from them.” I hung up the phone before she could say anything more.
I hopped off my bed and found myself pacing the floors of my room. I was counting on Scooter to convince my parents that something like this would only come around once in a lifetime. It’s something I’ve been working for my whole life.
       “Christina!” I heard my mother calling my name from the bottom of the stairs, “Can you come down here?”
I slowly walked down the hall, there were probably 30 steps left until I would get my answered.

       I slide open the cover to the window on the plane window, nearly gasping at the majestic beauty before my eyes. The plane is high above the clouds & the sun is shining. It looked like endless miles of perfect fallen snow. My forehead leaned up again the warm glass as I slowly closed my eyes.
I don’t know what Scooter had said to my parents to convince them, but I was thankful that it worked.
I pinched my arm one last time, making sure that I was actually sitting on this flight to Atlanta before allowing myself to drift off to sleep.
       It had only felt like my eyes were shut for a few short minutes when my mother nudged me with her elbow to tell that the plan would be landing shortly. My seat returned to its natural position as I pressed the button on my arm rest and my toes curled as I stretched my legs.
        “Thanks Mom, for letting me do this! And thanks for coming with” I said smiling at her.
“Of course sweetie. I know this is your dream. And I wouldn’t let you miss out on it”
She put her arm around my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Auditions didn’t start until tomorrow but I could already feel the nerves building up. And by the looks of it, my mother might have been just as nervous for me. 
      After nearly 3 hours on that plane, the actual touch of sunlight felt wonderful on my skin as I stepped out of the terminal and out into the street. When I opened my eyes back up, I found my mother trying her best to catch us a cab. We weren’t the city type, and we definitely never had to take a taxi cab before. I laughed to myself before figuring I should walk on over and help her out.
      As we drove to the hotel, I made sure to call Scooter before it had gotten any later.   After only 2 rings he picked up
   “Hello?”
“Hey Scooter it’s Christina! We’re in Atlanta.”  It was loud in the background and it was hard to hear him but I had managed to pick out a few key words.


“Call, later, Justin, meet, before, hotel, package, so call, later.” CLICK

        I lifted the phone off of my ear and gave it a funny look, completely confused by the whole conversation. I tried to put it all together in my head, but we were closer to the hotel than I thought and the cab driver had pulled in front by the time the call with Scooter ended. I crawled out of the back after my mother and walked around to the trunk. I tried grabbing my luggage, but before I could grasp the handle, a bell man stepped out in front of me and grabbed it, putting it on a cart.
    “How fancy” My mother whispered as she leaned in close to me.
I saw the bell man trying to hide his smile as he signaled us to follow him into the lobby. I walked through the front doors and couldn’t help but look up. The ceiling seemed so high, with countless windows letting in the mid-day sun. Everyone around me looked as if they were off to somewhere more important as they wore fashioned off expensive name brand clothing. Suddenly I felt as though my jean shorts and T-shirt should have been left back in Appledale.
      After finally settleing into our hotel room closed my eyes as I began to fall back onto the bed. I heard something bounce and quickly sit back up and looked behind my back.

There sat two envelopes

The first one held a letter written Scooter:
Thanks for coming down to Atlanta. Can’t wait for you to bring it at auditions. If you’re half the dancer you were the day I saw then I know you’ll rock. Put in this DVD and study it.
Scooter

And the second envelope had a special letter from Justin himself:
Scooter’s done nothing but talk about you for the past week. He says you’re a sick dancer, and talented for a young age. Can’t wait to see what you bring to the table tomorrow. You’re up against a lot of competition, but if this is your dream then you got to give it your all. Dream big!
Justin

       I held the letter close to my chest as I found myself smiling ear to ear. Tomorrow would be one of the biggest days of my life, and I could hardly wait. I looked back down at Justin’s letter and I lie onto my side and read the words that were written across the page until my eyes were forced to close.