𝒫𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝒮𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃 𝒮𝒽𝑜𝑒𝓈

𝟣𝟢𝟩. 𝓈𝒽𝑒'𝓈 𝒶 𝒻𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉𝑒𝓇

"𝒲𝑒 𝓂𝒶𝒹𝑒 𝒾𝓉! I'm an eighth grader," Iris shouts, flopping on my bed.

"I finished kindergarten two weeks ago. I'm already in first grade," I remind her.

The good thing about homeschooling is being able to finish school early. I want to finish elementary school as soon as possible. I have a life to live!

"Fine, I made it," Iris grunts, pouncing on me, her fingers tickling me.

"Stop!" I giggle, writhing around like a roly-poly for what seems like forever until she finally relents.

"And now we have a five-week road trip," I gasp, trying to catch my breath.

"When I should be working on my field hockey skills," Iris grumbles.

We're going all across the country! Uncasville, Connecticut; Orlando, Florida; Las Vegas, Nevada; Los Angeles, California; and for Nationals, Lake Tahoe, Nevada. I'm so excited! Nonna and Nonno are gonna come to watch me at Nationals and Grandma and Papa are gonna watch me this week!

"Can you imagine if this show makes it big?" Iris asks.

"Probably won't. But if it does, maybe I can do some modeling and even acting!" I exclaim, bouncing up and down.

"Don't get your hopes up. Sixty-five percent of shows fail within their first season," Iris points out.

"You're probably right," I huff, stretching out my legs.

After a moment of silence, I ask, "Do you think Logan's gonna move in?"

"Nah. Mom's gonna break up with that dork when they can't see each other every week and be like, 'Oh my darling, I love you so much. Here are all the diamonds in the world. Do you like the way I walk?'" Iris mocks and I giggle.

"The way he walks?" I ask.

"Haven't you noticed? Every time Logan comes over, he's constantly asking if we like everything he does. Validation hog," she insults.

I might be warming up to him, but it will be refreshing to just have the three of us again. Like when we first were braving the world without Daddy.

❤️❤️

"Who's ready for the road trip?" Chloé asks, and we clap.

"Oh my gosh, this is going to be so fun! I cannot wait!" Nia squeals.

"We should try to find all fifty state license plates," Brooke comments.

"Well, we have one. Pennsylvania," I answer.

"Ooh, I'll make a checklist," Maddie offers.

"I wanna go to California so bad! I want to eat their clam chowder," Paige states.

"Ew," Vivi-Anne and Mackenzie grunt.

"What? It's good!" Paige defends.

"Mom wants me to go to an audition, maybe get an agent out there," Maddie reveals.

"That'd be so cool!" Chloé exclaims, throwing herself over Maddie.

"Grandma and Papa are gonna come see me perform this week," I mutter.

Grandma and Papa are Daddy's parents. They always send me and Iris twenty-dollar bills in the mail for our birthdays and when we're not in Nevada for Christmas, we go up to Massachusetts. I love it there. I wanna live there once I retire from ballet.

"That's cool. Mom or Dad's side?" Nia asks.

"Daddy's side. I haven't seen them since Christmas," I answer.