a sound she hadn't heard before

fifty-three.

A few days later, after Taylor, Ayla, and Joe are all settled into their new home, Taylor heads into central London for the first time to go to a meeting with Ben and Levi. She looks out the window as her driver takes her to the studio that has been rented out for the day. Kati has been in there since the early morning working on choreography, and Taylor's going to be meeting with Ben and Levi while Kati takes a lunch break.

Taylor has always loved London. She's heartbroken that she can't really get out and have more fun during the time that she's here, but that's really hard to do under the radar. She can only hope that she'll be able to disguise herself enough to take Ayla out a few times and show her all of the beautiful spots, and those that people will ask her about when she comes home. She wants her little girl to be able to say that she went to Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, and St. Paul's Cathedral. If even if she is too young to appreciate it now, someday, she'll look back and be thankful for those experiences. Taylor just doesn't know how she's going to pull that all off.

When the car drops Taylor off at the rehearsal studio, she thanks her driver and quickly hurries inside. She finds Ben and Levi waiting for her at a round table that they've set up in a corner, and greets both of them with a hug. She hasn't seen them since the workshop. They haven't asked her to make any changes on her work, but she knows that those requests will be coming soon, if not today.

Kati is finishing up a bit of choreography, but as soon as she sees Taylor, she stops her movement and runs over to greet the songwriter as well.

"It's been so long!" she exclaims. "How have you been?"

"Good," Taylor says. "We just got to London a few days ago, so it's still an adjustment, but I'm excited to get to work."

"And we're excited to have you here," Levi tells Taylor. "We're going to be creating something really special here. Wait until you see some of the choreography that Kati has been playing with. We've got a few songs that we don't want you to make any changes to, because they worked so perfectly in the workshop, and Kati has just figured out some of the coolest moments for them. Ben and I were standing in as bodies for working on formations."

Taylor laughs. "Oh, I'd have loved to see that."

The four of them make small talk for a bit before Kati excuses herself to get lunch, leaving Taylor, Ben, and Levi to talk business.

"So, what changes have been made that I need to be made aware of?" Taylor asks. Ben and Levi exchange a glance, then start to laugh.

"So, you are probably going to kill us," Levi says, "but we've been doing some pretty major editing to the script and your music is going to need to reflect that."

"Alright," Taylor laughs. "What changes have you made?"

"So," Ben begins, "we decided that we really want this story, or at least significant parts of it, to be clearly told through Izzy's eyes. For the workshop, it was very much told from a... collective point of view, but at the end of the day, the little girl is the one bringing everybody together and perpetuating the events of the story. Izzy was already a major character, but we want her perspective to be more clearly defined."

Taylor nods. "Okay... so... how do you want me to adapt the music?"

"We've given her a lot more lines and we are hoping to reflect that in the music," Ben says. "It's like... have you seen Matilda? The musical version?"

"No..."

Ben opens his laptop. "I'm booking you to see Matilda right now. Are you free tomorrow evening?"

Taylor laughs. "Seriously? I mean, I'm free, but-"

"Seriously. Take Ayla. She'll love it. I'll book a seat for Joe too. They did a really great job of telling a relatively complex story but through the eyes of the little girl- Matilda, in this case. Out of our four original Izzys, Ellie and Nina are staying on board with us for this production, so we are searching for two more little girls to be in that track, and each will do two shows a week, and then cover two shows a week as well. We're also looking for quite a few replacements in the kids' ensemble. Most parents aren't willing to give up everything to move to London for their kid to do a musical, especially in a small ensemble track. Three ensemble kids are staying, and we are re-casting the rest."

"It's been a logistical hell trying to get visas for even the few kids that are staying though, so it's working out for the best," Levi laughs.

Taylor smiles. "It'll be exciting to get a new group of kids to work with."

"Yeah... we're going to need your help auditioning a bunch of people though, kids and adults alike."

"Just send me the dates," Taylor assures them. "I'm not doing anything between now and starting rehearsals."

"Amazing," Ben nods, typing something into his computer. "I'll get back to you on that."

The rest of them spend a while longer going over lots of logistical things and looking at changes that have been made to the script. The meeting ends with Ben sending Taylor a copy of the newest draft of the script.

Taylor can't wait to get to work on the new music, and fixing up what she's already written. She already has lots of ideas. There's something about being in London that makes everything feel so real. She's overcome with a wave of emotion as she leaves the rehearsal studio. She's so ecstatic to get to do what she loves the most- write songs- in a totally new medium than she has been used to for her whole life. She gets to explore a new genre, a new process, and work with an incredible new team.

For the show, they'll have a full orchestra to show off Elle's beautiful orchestrations. Taylor can't wait for the first day that she'll get to hear the music that she's worked so hard on, being played by a giant orchestra of every instrument imaginable, and topped off by the wonderful, classically-trained vocalists that are working on the show- including Joe. Especially Joe.

One request that Ben and Levi asked for was a duet between Joe's character, Mr. Fadler, and Izzy. She can't help but smile at that thought- Joe is so good with kids, and it will be adorable to see that interaction play out on the stage.

It's truly unpredictable what the critics will think, but Taylor already has a gut feeling that they're going to be creating something really special that has a long, prosperous, and acclaimed run on the stage. She can't wait to see what the future holds.