Ben's Baby Sister (A Sky Flaherty love story) [IN EDITING]

Chapter One

Madi's POV:

My entire body trembled.
My breathing was shaky and uneven.
I felt a warm hand wrap around mine.
"Madi, calm down," Ben reminds me. "You're going to be fine."
"Easy for you to say. The last time I checked, you're not the one with an anxiety disorder."
"Just take a deep breath," He suggests. "I'll be right here backing you up!"
I laughed. "You just quoted the show, didn't you."
"Yup!" He beams, popping the p.
"Wow. That's all I have to say to that; wow."
"Let's go."
Together, we walk into the theater. A few twists and turns later, and we arrived - the room where it happens.
I tightened my grip on Ben's hand, took a deep breath, smiled, and whispered, "Let's do this."
We stepped into the large room, where we were greeted by none other than Jeff Calhoun.
He smiles at us. "You must be the Cooks."
We nod.
"Great. I'm Jeff, the director. You two find your seats, and we'll be starting momentarily."
Ben and I split up to find our name tags. I noticed he sat between two boys around our age, one with red hair, the other with brown. My seat was in between two of the other girls in the cast. To my left, Meredith Inglesby was going to sit.
How cool is that?!
Meredith Inglesby!
To my right, there was a blonde girl who seemed to be a few years older than me. Her name tag read 'Stephanie Styles -- Katherine'.
That meant I'd be her understudy. In addition to being a Bowerry Beauty and Smalls, of course.
Stephanie turned to me, beaming.
"Hi, my name's Stephanie."
She held out a hand. I shook it.
"Nice to meet you, Stephanie. I'm Madison, or Madi."
"A pleasure."
"So you're Katherine?"
She nodded. "It's all so exciting, isn't it?"
"Yeah, if really is. But also terrifying."
"Exactly! Well, I'm sure you'll do great."
"And the same to you."
Jeff clapped, gaining the attention of the whole room.
"Alright, everybody! For those of you who didn't meet me on your way in, I'm Jeff Calhoun, and I am pleased to announce that I will be directing the first national tour for Newsies. Now, can we go around the room and introduce ourselves? Say your name, how old you are, and who you're going to be playing."
The first person to go was a dark-haired boy who couldn't have been too much older than I was.
"Hi, I'm Dan Deluca," he greeted. "I'm 24 years old, and I'm going to be playing Jack."
Stephanie was next. "Hello everybody! My name is Stephanje Styles, and I'm going to be playing Katherine. And I'm 25."
"Um, hi, everyone, my name is Madi, I'm 17, and I'm going to be a Nun, a Bowery Beauty, Smalls, and the Katherine understudy."
And so we continued down the line.
Meredith Inglesby.
Steve Blanchard.
Zachary Sayle.
Eventually, we got to the redhead next to Ben.
"Hi, my name is Sky, I'm 18, and I'm going to be playing Albert."
Ben was next. "Hey, I'm Ben Cook, I'm 16, and I'm playing Racetrack."
And then it was the brunette on his other side.
"I'm Josh Burrage, I am also 18, and I'm playing Jojo and Darcy."
And so we continued.
Iain Young.
Ethan Steiner.
Vincent Crocilla.
Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera.
Once we'd gotten through everybody, we finally opened our scripts to start the table read.
There were a few bumps, a couple of mess ups, and a number of laughs, but eventually, we finished.
Jeff beamed.
"And that concludes our table read for the first national tour of Newsies! Now everybody get some rest tonight, and we'll see you for music rehearsals tomorrow."
As soon as he dismissed us, Ben ran over to me grabbed my wrist, and dragged me over to meet Sky and Josh.
Josh held out his hand, which I shook, and Sky offered the same courtesy.
"Anyone up for dinner?" Josh questioned.
"Sure," Ben smiled. "It's either that or sit in our hotel room room all night."
Sky beamed. "Great! Does McDonalds sound good to everyone?"

***

"Finally! We're here!" Josh exclaimed as we stepped into the air-conditioned restaurant. "I just wish they served bacon."
"Bacon?"
"Yes, bacon!" Josh retorted. "Bacon is the best!"
"Not at a fast food resturant!" Sky exclaims.
"Yes at a fast food restaurant!"
"No."
"Yeah!"
"No!"
"Yeah!"
Simultaneously, they turned to us.
"Ben, Madi, tell Josh/Sky I'm right!"
Ben thought for a moment. "Bacon."
"No way," I scoffed. "Not at a McDonalds."
"Agree to disagree."
Once we all ordered our food, we found a table in the back where we sat.
Sky started the conversation. "So, what was each of your first roles?"
"I was Annie in Annie when I was 7," I beamed.
"You were 7?!" Josh exclaims, incredulous. "My first role was Tin Man in Wizard of Oz when I was 14!"
Ben chuckles. "I was Tiny Tim when I was 7. Sky?"
"I was the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz when I was 12."
"That means I've been doing this longer than all of you," I smirk.
Ben rolled his eyes. "Can it, Miss Cocky."
And so we sat there for nearly an hour before each returning to our hotels for the night.

A/N -

Whew, that was a workout for my thumbs.
Thank you to OliveBranch32109 for requesting this rewrite.
Please comment and message me with any other stories you want rewritten.
Love yalls,
Rebecca
Biana
Morris
Ballad
Lieutenant R. Washington
AJ