Kathryn sighed and stretched out contentedly on her blue lounge chair outside, in sunny Connecticut. It was the last day of April, and surprisingly, it was actually warm. This was a pleasant surprise due to the USUAL New England weather! She was in shorts and a t-shirt sitting by her pool. Graduation was great, but finals still had her drained. Now, she finally had a chance to relax.
After 3 very hard long years, Kathryn had graduated college. Of course the usual time to graduate was 4 years, and finishing up college in 3 was a pretty big deal. Especially because she had attended Yale. Running a strand of her straight as sticks shiny brown hair through her fingers, a habit developed since she was 3, her blue-green tinted eyes revealed the slightest bit of anxiety, a little bit of nervousness, but a look of relaxation and contentment.
Looking at the water with the sun reflecting on it, Kathryn sank deep into thought. She had her degree, and it was in an unusual field to many. Kathryn had chosen music, for it was her passion. She had mastered in Instrumental, focusing mostly on piano, and could also teach music, due to her teaching degree.
Amazingly, Kathryn already had a job lined up for her. Her parents, rich and powerful, had snaked through many connections and landed it for her. Her father, the president of a corporate business, and her mother, a successful worker on Wall Street often felt awfully guilty over neglecting Kathryn, and gave her mostly anything she wanted. Many children would take advantage of the situation, or feel bitter over "not getting any love or care" but Kathryn always counted her blessings. She knew very well that there were people out there without homes, without food, without families. Although sometimes she longed for a real, close family, she loved life. Besides, Nana, the housekeeper, was like a 2nd mother to Kathryn, and had always been there for a shoulder to lean on, and to lend an ear whenever Kathryn needed it.
Family, friends, and relatives had always assumed Kathryn would naturally follow in her father or mother's footsteps, but Kathryn, although loving her parents a great deal, had a burning need in her to establish her own path, make her OWN name. She didn't want to be known as Kathryn Alender, Regina Alender's daughter, or Charles Alender's daughter. She wanted to be known as Kathryn Alender. Known in the business, a master of her art.
Not having any friends to speak of that would distract her, and having a determined nature, Kathryn focused solely on her music and studies, working at an astonishing pace causing her to graduate an entire year earlier than normal. The only possible distraction she had was her little kitten, Mouse. The tiny, gray furball was her "cutie" as she called it, and as dear to her as any friend in the world. Many found it very hard to believe Kathryn had grown up without friends, but that wasn't really because of Kathryn. She had never needed anyone, and didn't believe in depending on other people. Besides, most of the people that had wanted her friendship, didn't really care about her personality. It WAS kinda hard to ignore her money and sweet looks. She wasn't a beauty queen, and didn't really have the slightly artificial model look, but Kathryn had a girl next door look, that she barely had to work on. It was true, Kathryn had met a few people in her life, that DID notice her pleasant personality. However, not wanting to take the time to "crack her shell", they eventually disappeared from her life.
Kathryn's mind switched back to her job. Kathryn's parents had kindly gotten a job for her. She was indeed very lucky, and although she had wanted to find a job herself, she realized not many people would hire an aspiring piano player who was a mere 21 years old, not even going on 22 yet. Kathryn was extremely thankful. She was going to play for Jive Records. They had put her on a tour with the musical group, *N Sync. Of course she had heard of them, and liked a few of their songs, like "It's Gonna Be Me," and a couple slow ones. She wasn't overly fond of their music, but liked it nonetheless. Just a few days ago she had flown down to Orlando and auditioned with Jive. Noticing her extraordinary talent they had hired her on the spot. In that day, Kathryn had signed the contracts and gone through most of the procedures. Kathryn was, needless to say, thrilled. She knew perfectly well that No Strings Attached was going to be one of the biggest tours of the summer, and couldn't wait. Only 3 more days and she was going to move to her apartment down in Orlando. She had bought a nice apartment, but not too expensive, since she wouldn't really be there much. Her parents wanted her to buy a beautiful, lavish apartment, but Kathryn politely refused. Very surprisingly, Kathryn wasn't a huge spender, though she didn't hesitate in buying nice things if needed.
"Kathryn, sweetheart, there's a man on the phone for you! From JIVE records! Hurry up now, dear!" called Nana excitedly from the house, breaking Kathryn suddenly from her thoughts. Nana knew all about the job opportunity, and was just as thrilled as Kathryn was over the job, if not MORE!
"Coming, Nana..." said Kathryn throwing on a long shirt.
Walking into the beautifully tiled kitchen, with sunlight pouring through the huge windows and French doors, Kathryn threw her things onto the ground. Nana thrusted the phone at her breathlessly. Grinning at Nana's eagerness, Kathryn thanked Nana quickly and answered the phone. "Hello?" She said.
"Hello, Ms.Alender, this is Steve, the head of Jive Enterprises? You might remember me from your audition day?"
"Oh yes! Of course, yes I do." she replied a hint of confusion entering her voice. She had seen him observing quietly from the back of the room, but he hadn't really spoken much to her earlier.
Chuckling at her confusion, he answered, "You're wondering why I'm calling. Well, I understand that you are moving to your apartment down here in 3 days, to start getting ready to the tour. Originally, the tour was supposed to start on May 7th, but we've pushed it back to May 4th to get more concerts in. Everything's going to start earlier. The guys are practicing like crazy, the tour workers are getting ready, and tons of work is happening."
"I see. Okay...?" Kathryn said, starting to get a faint idea of what Steve meant.
"So, if it's not way too much trouble, would it be possible for you to be down here by 6 a.m. tomorrow morning? We've already booked a flight for you, and would like you to come down unless it's absolutely necessary for you to stay in Connecticut for 3 days." finished Steve.
So in other words, Kathryn should go down to Orlando right now, and get on that flight. "Sure, ahh, I can do that. Um, I already have my tour stuff packed and all, should I bring that with me?"
"Yes. And, don't worry, when you get to Orlando Airport there should be someone standing there with your name on a card. Got it?"
"Sure, thanks Mr....?"
"No, just call me Steve. Great! See you then. Bye!" and he hung up with a click, without letting Kathryn get anything in besides a meek "Goodb..."
"Wow." said Kathryn and sat down with a sigh. Going down now....that meant 3 less days to spend with Nana. 3 less days to practice, and 3 less days to relax. She was disappointed of course, but feeling a little guilty, Kathryn was also a little happy. She had to admit she was a little eager to see what being on a tour was like. Although she didn't have much experience with public playing, she knew she could do it. Sometimes, on weekends she had filled in at nightclubs, mostly jazz clubs. Her talent was admired occasionally, but piano was often forgotten admist the drums and trumpets. However she knew that *N Sync reached a, well, MUCH MUCH MUCH bigger audience.
Nana was tapping her foot impatiently watching Kathryn think to herself. Only able to hear one side of the conversation, she was dying to know what Kathryn was talking about, and to whom. Finally unable to contain herself any longer, she burst out. "KATHRYN! WHAT WAS IT ABOUT?!"
Startled, Kathryn jumped a few feet up in the air and put a hand on her chest to stop her rapidly beating heart. Turning around slowly, she struggled to calm herself, and looked at Nana. Immediately, Nana's curious, eager, and guilty face changed Kathryn's mood from freaked out to funny. Lightly giggling, she stood up, changing her giggle into a laugh, and then nearly bursting with laughter. Really, the situation wasn't that funny, but when Kathryn started to laugh it was hard to stop. Not to mention her light laugh was shockingly infectious. Nana giggled too, and after a while, both calmed down.
"So...????" asked Nana, even more curious than BEFORE now.
"Weeeelllll. Umm, Nana....how shall I put this...? I'm leaving tonight at like, 6:00 p.m. so I can be in Orlando since the tour is starting in 5 days."
"WHAT?!" shrieked Nana, shocked, excited and upset at the same time. "But, I thought we were going to spend time together....and you need to practice...and...and...?!"
"Oh Nana! I don't really want to go either! I wanted to stay here with you for a while, but, you know Nana....I just...can't. And for practicing, don't worry. After all, have I ever failed before?" Here Kathryn grinned, staying lighthearted for Nana's sake. "Besides, I was going to leave in 3 days, ANYWAY, so don't worry!"
"Hmph. The nerve of those people, taking my kitty cat away earlier." said Nana, a little ruffled, using her old nickname for Kathryn affectionately.
"I promise to call EVERY day. Well, if I have the time, ya know?", said Kathryn teasingly.
"Oh you'll make the time, pumpkin!" retorted Nana good-naturedly.
Rolling her eyes jokingly, Kathryn couldn't help but smile. Nana was just an old softie under her sometimes tough exterior, and not many people could see that. Kathryn could though. "Well, Nans," said Kathryn calmly and composed, "I'm gonna just do some last minute packing. I have my clothes all packed, my toothbrush and stuff, some towels, and I'm just going to stuff my carry on into my backpack. I gotta get a cat carrier for Mouse... and I'm going to take a shower, and get ready...and oh God! I NEED TO BE READY BY 6:00!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!" cried Kathryn, starting to panic. "NANA! I'll be down at 5:30!" she said, spinning on her heel.
And with that, Kathryn dashed upstairs, leaving a smiling Nana shaking her head slightly. Typical.
Kathryn jumped out of the shower, drying herself off quickly. She wrapped her deep blue terrycloth robe around her and twisted up her hair into a towel. A cloud of steam billowed into the room as she opened the bathroom door, and entered her lavish, spectacular bedroom.
She waltzed into her walk-in-closet, and looked around. Most of her clothes were all packed away into her suitcases, but there was still a fair amount of clothes in her closet. Anxiously she racked through the clothes making sure everything stayed nice and tidy. Finally after 10 minutes, she chose a plain black tank top, with a sheer slightly see through blouse over it. The indigo clored blouse had white flowers embroidering the edges of the flared sleeves. Then Kathryn pulled on a pair of black flares. For a final touch she added a silver bangle and double checked to make sure her cross necklace was still around her neck. She put her hair up in a bun hurriedly, remembering that she'd be traveling. Finally, she looked in the mirror.
Perfect.
Kathryn sighed and looked around. Her suitcases and carry on were neatly in a row by the door, and her room was close to empty. She let out a breath and flopped back onto the bed. Suddenly, an odd noise struck Kathryn's ears. Startled she sat up and looked around curiously. Not seeing anything, she shrugged and lay back down. The noise came again more distinctly this time. The noise came a few more times. Kathryn looked around nervously. Quickly, it stopped. Kathryn relaxed a little bit, but as quickly it had stopped, it started again.
By now, Kathryn was frightened. Terrorists? Burgulars? Possobilities raced through her head. "Stay calm Kathryn. I'm sure it's absolutely nothing."
The noise came so close, Kathryn was sure it was right next to her. Kathryn took in a deep breath of air to scream for Nana, but she quickly let it out as she started to giggle. She started laughing uncontrollably....at herself. Because, right as she was about to scream, she looked down. And what she saw, was....MOUSE! The little kitten cocked his head in confusion at his owner and looked at her with his big blue eyes wide open. He was a bit alarmed at her strange behavior and wondered what was wrong. Mouse jumped onto Kathryn making sure she wasn't hurt. Kathryn scooped Mouse up in her hands, and cuddled him close to her.
"Awww, you scared me Mouse! You little mousie boy you! You thought it was funny, huh? Didn't you?" said Kathryn using a baby tone while rocking him gently back and forth. The little animal curled up beside her and took on a look of pure pleasure.
Suddenly, their little reverie was broken, as Nana shouted from downstairs, "Kathryn! It's 5:35! Do you want to miss your flight?!"
Kathryn rapidly sat up, causing little Mouse to clutch to her black pants in desperation. Kathryn hurriedly apologized and set him on her bed. She grabbed her things and Mouse's cat carrier and ran downstairs. She dropped the luggage by the door, and stood stock still. Something wasn't right. Mouse!
The rushed 20 year old ran upstairs swiftly reaching out and picking up Mouse off his peaceful perch on the bed, and ran downstairs. Mouse let out a slight hiss, but settled down after the shock of the sudden movement. Kathryn ran to the door, and carefully put Mouse in his cat carrier. The little kitten moved around for a minute, then lay down and started to sleep. "Well, um, Nana." said Kathryn a little nervously.
"C'mon darling, you haven't got all day, I'll help bring your stuff to the car." said Nana briskly, grabbing a few suitcases.
"Oh okay, thanks Nans." said Kathryn and the two women put all of Kathryn's belongings in the car, and Mouse's carrier in the front seat.
"Uh, well I guess I better be going." said Kathryn, feeling a tug at her heart. Nana was just like a mother, and she had never been away from Nana for a long time. Yale was so close to her home she had lived there during college, and Nana was like a part of the house.
"Oh kitty cat, I'm going to miss you! You better call, write and EVERYTHING, every single day!" said Nana hurriedly wiping away the tear from the corner of her eye.
"Nana! Do you really have to ask me to?!", asked Kathryn, half jokingly, half serious. A tear dropped out of her greenish blue eyes.
Brushing another few tears away from her eyes, Nana struggled to put on her strong front again. "Now, now! Look at us! A bunch of crying ladies! You can't miss your flight Kathryn! Now go, make your parents and me proud! If anyone can do this, you can! Goodness, I sound like a football coach!"
Smiling, Kathryn gave Nana a huge hug and kiss, and the gesture was returned. "Uh well..." stammered Kathryn, who hated goodbyes and was terrible at them, "Well, I guess I'll be talking to ya! Bye Nana! Love you!" said Kathryn as she stepped into the white Lexus.
"Bye dear! Take care of yourself! And eat enough! You must not forget all your essential vitamins each day! Drink plenty of water!" said Nana doling out her advice helpfully.
Giggling at Nana's worrying Kathryn promised to do as told and backed out, carefully driving towards the airport, completely concentrated.
Kathryn's journey had just begun...and what a journey it would be...