Finding My True Self | Protector 5.1

Chapter 44

Chapter 44

      Echo's life at home was a lot different now, a lot better. Her mom was no longer pushing her too hard with dance, and she was even okay with Echo having a boyfriend. She said she couldn't deny the chemistry Echo and I had anymore.

       I didn't know what changed her mind, but I didn't care.

       Something was off Saturday morning when I woke up. It was around eleven o'clock and normally by this time, there was bacon being made in the kitchen. Dad loved his bacon, and basically forced us to love it too.

       I mean, it was delicious.

       I pulled myself out of bed before heading downstairs and into the kitchen. Mom and Dad were both sitting at the table, and by the looks on their faces, I knew something was wrong.

       "Hey, is everything okay?" I asked.

       "Yeah," Dad said, though him wiping his tears away told me others. "It's just....your great-grandfather is in the hospital. He got really sick all of a sudden."

       "What? Really?" I asked. "Is he going to be okay?"

       "We don't know," Dad said. "He's getting old, so him getting sick can...." Dad sighed. "We'll have to see but things....things aren't looking good. We just have to hope for the best."

       "Hope for what?" Willow suddenly asked, standing in the archway between the kitchen and the living room.

      Mom looked over at Willow. "Can you get your other brother down here? He should hear it too."

       Willow nodded before quickly heading upstairs to get Zayden. When they both came back down the stairs, Mom told them both that Grandpa Gene was in the hospital and things weren't looking good. 

       I was really hoping he would make it through this. We already had to deal with enough deaths in the family with both of Grandma and Grandpa's moms passing away not too long ago. I didn't know if I can handle going to another funeral, especially Grandpa Gene's.

       Since Dad just got the news about his grandfather, he wasn't going to be able to go to the studio today for D.A.N.C.E's rehearsals, so he was going to send Jerome in our place. While Jerome was affected by it too, he was able to handle things a bit easier, especially since Grandpa Gene was only his grandfather-in-law.

       I didn't even know if I was up to heading to the rehearsal today, but I was going to try anyway. After all, we were the team heading off to Internationals this year, and we had to make sure we were prepared. 

       Every rehearsal counted.

       When Zayden and I got to the studio for the rehearsal, Echo walked over and pulled me into a hug. "I got your text message about your great-grandpa," she said. "I really hope he's okay."

       "Yeah, me too," I said.

       "And I need another girlfriend before his time comes," Zayden said. "He needs to have at least three grandchildren in a ship. Two isn't good enough."

       "When his time comes?" I asked. "Really?"

       "Sorry, I'm in a morbid mood," Zayden said. "Blame that stupid Nonpareil team for stupidly playing with my stupid heart. I think I'm going to be single for a while."

       "Or you can go for the dudes," Kingsley suddenly said behind us.

       "Like you did?" Zayden asked.

       "Hey, that was one time," Kingsley said. "And don't blame me. Everett is hot."

       "Uh, don't you have a girlfriend?" Zayden asked.

       "Yes, and I'm going over to her right now." 

       When Kingsley walked away, Zayden sighed. "I'll never understand him. Ever."

       "Don't talk to my son like that," Jerome suddenly said.

       "Gee, can you guys stop sneaking up on me?" Zayden asked.

       Jerome just shrugged before gesturing  for us to head onto the dance floor. All the dancers were there, so Jerome got their attention before speaking. "So, in case you're wondering, I'm filling in for Ryder today because he couldn't be here," he said. "For those who don't know, I'm Ryder's brother-in-law, and one of Kingsley's dads. The cool one, I might add."

       Kingsley snorted. "The cool one? No way, that's definitely Dad."

       "I'm sorry, but who let you run off to London and didn't bother stopping you?" Jerome asked. "Me, right?"

       "Kind of reckless, don't you think?" Kingsley asked. "Letting your sixteen year old son go off to England with no adult supervision?"

       "Uh, you're seventeen," Jerome said.

       "Uh, I was sixteen when I went," Kingsley said. "Seriously, Papa, be more responsible."

       The Prince-Roys were definitely an interesting family. Well, they were Princes after all, but there was something about the Prince-Roys that made them a lot more confusing than normal people.

       Jerome started ignoring Kingsley now and told everyone to start working on their dance for whatever round they were in. Everyone had always done so well in their round, whether it be the group round, male solo, female solo, or duet, so we didn't bother switching things up.

       Especially because Dad wanted everyone to have a chance to perform in a round before the semi-finals so we would all get used to being in front of whichever audience we had, and because he wanted everyone to have equal time performing.

       "So," Echo said, sitting down beside me on the bench. "I say we aim to beat our highest duet score."

       I raised an eyebrow. "We want us to beat one hundred? The highest score?"

       "Yeah," Echo said. "If we aim to beat it, which isn't even possible, we'll still get quite a high score. But first, we need the perfect song."

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Oh, is Gene ill? My bad. I'll just say that you'll probably want to go on a walk through memory lane soon.

Oops.

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