350 Stepping into the scene confidently

Time - 10:00 AM

Through the speakers spread around the school premises, the staff announced the commencement of the school festival and requested every family to assemble inside the indoor stadium shortly.

People slowly turned to move towards the main building in groups. Gigi urged everyone to hurry up as she planned to record Lia's stage play. To film the performance, she needed good seats with great angles. Hence, Gigi's rushed her parents to move ahead while joining them. She advised Giselle and Ethan to keep up as well since the two got stuck at the tail of the group.

Giselle took the lead, leaving behind Ethan, who kept a close eye on her ever since she returned. He pulled the tip of her hair for attention, slowing her down to match his pace.

Giselle followed Ethan's meddle to walk next to him.

"What happened?"

"Where did you go?"

"Are you alright?"

His question kept pouring like a stream. Giselle remained silent for a long time before giving him a proper response. She informed Ethan about telling Lillian not to attend the school festival. Ethan showed his dissent, yet held back to let Giselle finish talking. Once she explained the reason why she chose to make such a rash decision, Ethan still kept his objection fair and decided to express it.

"Are you sure that it is the right decision? Lia was already down from Anna and Jake's absence," he exclaimed.

Giselle saw the displeasure in his eye and knew Ethan was speaking for Lia's sake. Still, she couldn't come to think that her judgment was wrong.

"You saw how Lia's face changed from dad's words!" she expressed.

Ethan remembered Eric mentioning Lillian's recent fame and how it can affect her actions in public.

By this time, Gigi and her parents were far ahead into the building. Gigi turned around to find that her sister and Ethan are still lagging.

One yell!

She caught the two's attention and signaled them to hurry.

Ethan waved his hand in agreement.

"It's not that I'm against you, Giselle. However, you will have to take care of Lia. She was expecting to meet Lillian. Eric's words were temporary and without proof. If Lia happens to find out that Lillian never came, then without a proper reason, she would certainly get hurt,"

Ethan said to find Gigi's face change to throw a fit as she widened her eyes furiously, hinting them to speed up or she might kick them out of this school,

"Don't worry. If it goes wrong, I'll try to do my best to distract Lia. We'll figure this out. Now, come on, your sister is getting mad."

Ethan said to speed up his pace. Giselle kept staggering for a while before she entered inside an arena, a space spread in length to display the stage. In front of it were numerous rows of chairs arranged neatly and allowed people to take their seats.

Giselle found Ethan, who finally caught up to Gigi and the couple. He turned to meet Giselle and signaled her the seats.

Giselle sighed from watching everyone make a noise. She excused herself to get to her seat. Thanks to Gigi's influence, the group got to set up their camp in the third row from the front. Gigi took the edge seat as it served the best angle for recording the play. She removed her camera to play with it before recording.

Eric and Melanie conversed with themselves while Giselle and Ethan sat in silence.

***

Bright Red screen covered the stage as Lia stood behind in one corner to take a peek at the audience. She found her family to her right:

Gigi was holding a camera and working on it focused.

Eric and Melanie chatted with themselves.

Meanwhile, her parents, Ethan and Giselle, were far towards the side-wall, sitting idle and mute. Lia could easily spot her mother's expression fall to a sulk. She remained lifeless to the child's eyes.

"Lia?"

"What are you doing here?"

Lia's gaze shifted around to find Stephanie. As soon as the announcement came, Jessica and Andy infiltrated backstage once again to meet their friends. They wished and cheered for Lia and Stephanie before sneaking out unnoticed.

Being in the choir, Stephanie is to take the stage before Lia. When she was getting ready and found little Lia peeking from behind the curtain, Stephanie stopped by to bother. One glance at Lia, she could tell something smelled off with her.

"What happened? Didn't your family arrive yet?" Stephanie asked to join Lia, taking her side to peek as well.

Now, there were two little heads peeping outside at a corner of the curtain. Since everyone was busy talking, no one saw the girls. Stephanie brushed a look around, spotted her family having a commotion on who should record, then moved her gaze to find Jessica and Andy with their parents sitting together. Andy and Jessica were heatedly bickering. Stephanie rolled her eyes to keep looking.

"There is your family, Lia. Wow, a big crowd!" Stephanie commented.

The two heads retreated behind the curtain. Stephanie found Lia still looking weary. She consoled her with a generous amount of words.

Lia had no choice but to put on a smiling face for her friend's efforts.

"Take your time, relax, and only think about your lines!"

Just as Stephanie kept comforting Lia, her name got summoned from the other end of the stage. Stephanie looked to see her choir members calling for her.

"You should go," Lia said.

Stephanie paused to give Lia another look, patted on her shoulder, then left.

Lia saw her leave. Her smile sadly fades to two thin lines. She deeply exhaled to worry if Lillian would come to see her play or not!

She earnestly wished one last time before shortly her name got summoned as well.

****

Meanwhile, Lillian Grey finally reached the destination.

She arrived at the front gate and found something unusual.

The school was working, but there seems to be no indication of any celebration. There were no families, kids running around, or signs of Christmas festival.

Inside the school premises was still and no soul to witness.

Panic rose to Lillian as she appeared perplexed. She looks into the map again on her mobile phone for verification. It indicated that she is in the correct spot. Nonetheless, the name of the destination appears slightly different.

Instead of Edward Harris Elementary school, Lillian had selected Edward Henris School mistakenly.

The realization left her scream thousands of curses mentally. Ashamed of herself for blindly following without confirming, she immediately grabs the mobile to check Giselle's message for the proper address.

The time was already ten in the morning. As mentioned by Giselle, in the same message, the event starts sharp, so lateness isn't allowed.

Cold Sweats formed on her ashen face as she checked how long will it take to reach the correct destination.

Thankfully, it was only ten minutes away. Without wasting any time, Lillian started the engine to a roar, following the route.

Ten minutes extended to fifteen when she lastly reached the actual school where Lia goes to study. The school revealed its massive Christmas tree, which could be noticeable even from the outside, along with various enhancements filling the space to paint Christmas joy.

Parking the car swiftly, Lillian came out, covering a thick scarf around her neck with a knot and a beanie concealing her head from feeling the blast of the cold breeze.

Time - 10:16 AM

A full white display with a knitted cardigan and a clean white pant underneath a long grey coat was Lillian's choice of clothes. She had sunglasses on to hide her face and kept walking, heaving a relieved sigh from passing every decoration soon to stumble upon a majestic Christmas tree. The sight made her lose herself for a good few seconds before a faint cheer echoed from inside the building. Alarmed to her senses, Lillian resumed her pace towards the sound, seeking people for directions. The noise grew as she hurried and soon arrived to find herself standing outside the indoor stadium.

Lillian glanced inside quickly to get a look.

The noise that went down now appears to be for the group of little girls who are leaving the stage accompanied by their music teacher as their performance had ended with big applause.

Lillian exhaled again in relief. Despite reaching late, she was confident that Lia's stage play would not be the first act right away.

Nevertheless, she could be patiently relaxed as Lillian tried her best to spot Giselle in the crowded place. To her bad luck, she failed miserably. There was no means Lillian could traverse her way in as well, which threw her in trouble. She was standing outside the stadium entrance while taking a peek.

Just then, the announcement for the stage play commences to the closing of the curtain. Before the red screen covered the stage, Lillian found another way to get closer.

Leaving the spot at once, she hurried again to find the entrance that leads to the backstage. Racing forward along the lines of the wall, Lillian reached the other end, only to get stopped by a staff in-charge of guarding others against trespassing.

Lillian made a sincere request, yet got shunned by that staff. She then remembered telling Jenna about attending the school event as a regular person. To eat her own words, Lillian removed her sunglass to introduce herself as the famous novelist Gill.

Lia and her friends were getting ready to take the stage soon. Lia was in the second act, so she remained in her spot without entertaining any chats. Everyone surrounding her had smiles plastered on their faces; Excitement, thrill, and even fright for some as it was their first time on stage. However, little Lia was drowning into gloom all by herself.

Even during Stephanie's performance, she glimpsed out at the audience and found no trace of Lillian Grey, which kept failing her mood. Her family was sitting in the same spot, actively enjoying the Christmas carols. After confirming that Lillian could never come, Lia's energy drained, leaving her with no desire. Thus, enduring silence, Lia had her eyes anchored on the stage to finish her play as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, Lillian was losing her patience and started to make a commotion, drawing more attention to her side. Soon, one in the group identified her as the recently famed author, Gill. It appears that Lillian recognized that woman as well since they met on the book signing event. Following which everything went smooth as Lillian earned special permission to enter backstage to watch the play.

Just as Lillian arrived, the play already started to have Lia on the standby.

The curtains unveiled to reveal the first act: The little boy dressed as an aged man took the stage in his character.

Lillian pushed everyone to send signals at little Lia.

When Lia turned to the mumbled cry, she found Lillian Grey, drenched in a cold sweat with a bright smile.

Lia looked at her in surprise. Her mouth opened full in awe.

However, since their play started already, Lia had no authority to leave her spot.

Lillian understood to let her be and signaled her to stay as well. Then smiling brightly, she sent her good wishes, making funny faces to amuse the child and begged for being late. Though Lia glowered at first when Lillian expressed, soon, the frustration ceased. Lia shook her head to thank Lillian wholeheartedly for coming. She then gestured Lillian to wait for her.

Lillian nodded to agree.

They kept sending signals back and forth before the staff signaled Lia and her friends to get ready for the second act.

Lia and Lillian paused their wordless chatter. Lillian wished her good luck again, telling her to perform well under the spotlight.

Lia followed to leave.

Stepping into the scene and getting ready for her act, the second act began.