The Crumbling Pyramid

First semester ended with terrifying finals and the casting of the next show that was to premiere in February. It was a dance show that they were creating that would be strictly Beatles music called, "All You Need Is Love." Mr. Wind had said something about them having a new choreographer for this show so Carol could spend more time working in town on her own shows, but it only mattered to Hailey, who was dancing in it. Anette, on the other hand, would be creating all the makeup for the show and leading the makeup crew, something she was really excited about. Gerard and Mikey had both decided to take a break and wait until the last show to do anything, and Anette didn't really blame them, because they had both worked their asses off for Grease.

But it was now Christmas break, two weeks of nothing but relaxation, watching after Terrence, recovering from school, and family time. Anette purposefully turned off her cell phone and didn't get on her computer at all. Above everything else, she needed a break from her friends, which were starting to have a "so-called" in front of their title. They never invited her to anything anymore anyways, so she didn't really care if they were trying to contact her.

The only person she did talk to from her "friends" was Chase. They were slowly working through their argument, but she was still mad at him for calling her a whore, because she wasn't. And really, she just felt like the spark wasn't there anymore, even though she still loved him. It was a weird situation, anyways.

The day before Christmas, there was a ring at the doorbell, and Anette left Terrence in the kitchen to go answer the door. She knew her mom would be home soon, but why was she using the doorbell?

Anette pulled open the door to find that her assumption was completely incorrect. Standing in the doorway was her older sister Noel, some snow flakes in her black hair and holding a suitcase in each hand. "Hey little sis," Noel said, stepping inside and closing the door behind her. "What's up?"

"Noel!" Anette said, and she hugged her sister before she could set down her bags.

"Give me a second," she said, dropping her bags and hugging her sister back.

"Elle!" came Terrence's voice, and he stumbled into the room as fast as his short, unsteady legs could carry him.

"And here's my Terry, look how big you are!" Noel said, picking him up and swinging him around, causing him to giggle at a high pitch. "You're walking!"

"Yeah, he's been at it since August," Anette said, smiling. "I didn't know you were coming home for Christmas."

"I didn't either, but I ended up being able to come early."

"Early for what?"

"I'll tell you later when Mom gets home. Is she working?"

"Yeah. She's only letting herself take tomorrow off. You'd be surprised how many people want to buy flowers on Christmas Eve."

They went back to the kitchen so Terrence could continue playing with his Batman action figures and the sisters sat down at the kitchen table.

"Mom told me you got a lead."

Anette smiled. "Yeah, I was Sandy in Grease."

"Excellent. Who was Danny? Dalton?"

"At first, but he got caught at a party. Do you remember Gerard Way?"

"Um..." Noel said, thinking. "Black hair? I think he was a freshman my senior year."

"That's probably him. He took over the role after Dalton got kicked out. And it was his first musical being on stage."

Noel looked impressed. "Damn, he must be good."

"Yeah, he was. Do you want something to drink?"

"Does Mom still have a stash of chai mix?"

"Don't you know it," Anette said, and she got some coffee mugs out to make the tea. "So how're you?"

"Pretty good. I'm so close to having all my credits, it's driving me crazy. I'm taking spring semester off and doing the summer one."

"How come?"

"A job came up." She accepted the tea from her sister.

"Good. Done any shows?"

"Lots. But the best was this October, I was in Lord of the Dance."

Anette laughed in amazement. Lord of the Dance was a very cool, very intense tap dance show. "Really?"

"Yeup. I was just part of the chorus, but hey, I got in. And I made a bunch of great contacts, so when I get back from this job then I'll have access to just about every dance show New York can offer."

"That's great Noel!"

"I'm home!" called a voice, and Noel and Anette called, "Hi Mom!" at the same time.

"Noel? Is that you?" Shirley asked, walking into the room. "It is! Goodness, I wasn't expecting you home for Christmas! I haven't even wrapped your present!"

"It's fine Mom. I hate to drop in, but I got an opportunity to come early."

"You must tell me what this job is, I’ve been dying to know," Shirley said, following suit and making herself a cup of chai tea.

"Well... I got an e-mail from Mr. Wind a few weeks ago, and he wanted me to come down and choreograph the dance show at the high school," Noel said, smirking.

"You're going to be our guest choreographer?" Anette asked, flabbergasted.

"Yeup. Did you get in?"

"I'm designing the makeup and running that crew, and Hailey is going to be a dance captain," Anette said a bit faintly.

"Great. I need a strong dancer like her leading everyone," Noel said, nodding.

Anette had a sudden flashback to her mid-school days, when Noel and Hailey would be dancing together while her father played the piano and Anette sung along. The thought threatened to bring tears to her eyes.

"Well, I'm glad you're coming in to make this show. It's gonna be awesome," Anette finally said. "We're designing the costumes too. It'll be crazy."

"Crazy is good."

Christmas Eve was quiet and pleasant. Shirley and Noel sat in chairs in the living room while Anette played Batman with Terrence, trying to keep his mind off of the presents that were under the brightly lit tree. Noel told them stories about college life and dance shows and her two crazy roommates and her eccentric professors. Anette listened with a wistful sense, wishing that she could just leave for college, that wonderful place her older sister talked about so fondly. But more than that, Anette wished she could be more like her sister. Sure, Anette was popular, but Noel had been friends with everyone, everyone from people like Chase to people like Ray and everyone in between. Everyone liked her, and she liked everyone. Anette had always been striving to be like that, but her own story had turned out very differently, and now she didn't know exactly what or who she was.

Anette and Terrence got to open one present before Terrence was put to bed. He got a new book, (this one about dinosaurs) and Anette got the pop CD she had been wanting for a long time. Noel, Anette and Shirley stayed up late taking, and once Anette helped Noel get her stuff up to her old room, Anette went to bed, feeling both a lot happier and a lot more lost than she had in ages.

-

"Annie, Christmas!" Terrence whispered in her ear, pulling Anette out of her dreams. He was standing next to her bed, still in his PJ's, his blonde hair rumpled and his blue eyes bright.

Anette yawned and stretched, pushing the covers off herself. It was six-thirty in the morning.

"Christmas!" Terrence said a little louder, jumping up and down in place, trying as hard as he could to contain his excitement.

"Merry Christmas," Anette said sleepily. "Are Mom and Noel up yet?"

"Yes!"

"Do you think Santa came?"

Terrence thought for a moment, and then nodded his head vigorously.

"Let's go find out," Anette said, swinging her legs off her beg and following her brother downstairs, keeping herself at the ready for in case he decided to fall down the stairs.

"Merry Christmas!" Shirley said brightly at the kids came into the living room, grinning and holding her camera. "Santa's been here!"

"Yay!" cried Terrence, and he accepted the package Noel handed him.

"Merry Christmas," she said, handing Anette a present. "Straight from New York."

It was really heavy and blocky, and when Anette un-wrapped it, she found it to be a book containing pictures and behind the scenes stories from Wicked, a musical that Anette loved. And in the front cover were pictures from the actual backstage of one of the shows, and it was signed by all the cast and some of the crew members.

"Noel, these are amazing," Anette said in wonder, looking at the pictures.

"My Modern Musical Theatre class got to go see it and then went backstage. I thought you might like it."

"I love it! Thank you!" Anette hugged Noel as tight as possible.

The day went by far too fast and was far too fun. Anette's big present this year was a new iPod Touch, as her Classic had finally broken in September and she had sorely missed listening to music the past few months. At around noon, her Aunt Carley (from her dad's side) and her family came over and there was a wonderful Christmas dinner of turkey and homemade bread and playing with her younger cousins, Richard and Shawn, who were twelve and fourteen. They had brought their X-Box, which after dinner was immediately hooked up to the TV in the living room and Anette was slaughtered on Call of Duty, Tomb Raider, and other various games that they enjoyed. Near the end of the day, there was cake, and jumping on the trampoline in the frigid cold, and Anette really couldn't have asked for a better Christmas, because what better way to spend the holiday than with your family.