Dear Ellie

Chapter 4-Sunrise

I opened my eyes to find it still dark out, I look at the time; 6:38am. I look out the window and see the sky is a light blue color indicating that the sunrise is about to come up. I know I won't be able to fall asleep since I'm too nervous and excited for today so I decide to watch the sunrise. I get out of bed and grab my 'Kings Collage' pull over jacket and slip it on and then step outside onto the balcony of our hotel room. I take a seat on one of the lounge chairs and pull my knees to my chest rubbing my legs as the chilly air bits at them. I look out and see lots of houses and buildings, some have lights on but most of them are dark indicating most of the city is still sleeping. I breath in the cool air and notice the sun start to peek up at the horizon, it's a golden orange color, almost like a calm fire ball climbing up the city. I look down to  the houses and buildings they reflect the golden glow, as the sun rises more I feel the sun's rays hitting my skin, warming me. I stare up at the clouds and just take in everything around me; today I am auditioning for a broadway show, not just a broadway show but the hottest broadway show, and not just that my favorite broadway show. I'm going to meet my idol today, the man who inspires me and helps me not give up on this, what seems like, useless life. But today I no longer feel useless, I feel powerful, I feel confident, I feel happy, I feel full of life for the first time. I never want to forget this moment, I decide to pull out my phone and record myself just so I can remember this moment forever.

"Hey," I say after I press record, "So I'm sitting here in San Francisco watching the sun rise." I turn the camera to face the sunrise and let it stay there for a moment and then turn it back to me. "I'm auditioning for Hamilton today, it's day one of three in San Fran and I'm really excited but also really nervous. I mean I'm meeting Lin Manuel Miranda today, my idol, and I just hope that he likes me and doesn't think I'm annoying or something," I laugh, "Maybe he'll recognize me from Twitter or from the music video that my friend Hannah and I put up. Speaking of Hannah, she thinks I'm gonna be at school today and I'm gonna have to lie to her since I'm not allowed to tell anyone about this expect my mom and brother." I sigh feeling bad that I'm keeping such a big secret from her but I have to, "Anyway well the sun is basically all the way up and my mom and brother will be up soon since I have to be at the audition at 9, I should probably go. But hopefully everything goes okay today, I'll let you know what happens." And with that I press the stop button and put my phone back in my pocket. I keep watching the sunrise until it's decently high in the sky and I see people waking up and heading to work. I check the time, 7:35, I get up and walk back into the hotel room to find my mom gone and my brother still asleep. I go and hop in the shower knowing that my mom and brother are going to want to use it soon, I turn on the hot water and strip off my clothes and then jump in feeling the water hug my cold skin. I quietly sing to myself warming up my voice and breathing in the steam from the hot water, after I'm done I get out and wrap myself in a towel and quickly go grab my bag from the foot of my bed and bring it back into the bathroom to get dressed. I sort through the clothes and finally decide to wear my blue jeans that were easy to move in and a black tank top with Ian's letterman jacket from last year that I had stolen. The reason I brought it with me was because it was the only jacket I could find while I was packing and I felt like I needed some good luck around me. I then brushed my hair and dried it and put on some minimal make up, when I was done I grabbed my bag and the PJ's I was wearing earlier and went back into the room to find my mom sitting in bed on her phone with a coffee in her hand and my brother trying to wake up.

"Good morning," My mom said handing me a coffee, "You ready for today?"

"I guess, I'm nervous," I said sitting down on the couch, "Thank you by the way." I said gesturing to my coffee and then taking a drink of it.

"No problem. So what time do you want to leave to head to auditions?" She asked. I glanced at my phone, 8:11.

"Probably 8:30 to make sure we get there on time incase we get lost," I say grabbing socks and my converse and putting them on.