III

Playing Fantine was an interesting experience. Julian had expected walking on stage as a depressed prostitute to definitely be something new, but unexpectedly she wasn't prepared for the immense pressure she felt. Julian did everything.  She had been juggling life since she was 10 and had great grades, great vocal range, great friends, and a great love for mangoes but that obviously is immaterial.She was a perfectionist without the psychosis - and therefore closer to perfection. When she decided to audition for the school's production of Les Miserables, she figured she could handle the extra work, and even when she landed one of the leading roles she figured she would rise to the occasion.  So  when she began to sing "There was a time when men were kind" she was completely unprepared for the the director to stop her before she even started.

"Julian, you can't start the song like that. This isn't your vocal recital. What is Fantine thinking here?"

Julian was caught off-guard: "Um, She's kind of sad and angry."

Mr. Todd wasn't pleased. "Kind of  sad and angry?"

Julian's usual cool confidence had been lost in transit to her mouth and was apparently chugging full speed in the general direction of Winona, Minnesota. "Well... I... I wouldn't be happy to be a prostitute."

Mr. Todd walked up to the edge of the stage and in an unforeseen display of middle-aged strength was instantly standing next to Julian. "What? You wouldn't be happy? I don't care what you would be. Give me a better answer."

He was now standing next to her in the way that only theater-people and bouncers stand next to people: respecting only six inches of personal space. "I think Fantine is---" He glared.  Julian corrected herself, "Fantine is angry because she never planned her life to be like this. She had dreams and aspirations, and now she's selling herself and she's dying. She doesn't see her daughter, and no one loves her." Julian was looking enviously at the curtain folds, and wanting to hide in them.

Mr. Todd shrugged with a look of minimum approval, "From the top of the scene."

They continued like that through almost every line and gesture of the song. When she finally went back-stage with the rest of the cast to wait for her next scene to be worked on, all she wanted was a hug. However, since she was still an outsider to the drama department the best reassurance she could get was a half-smile when she meet someone's eye. It's going to be a long night. 

***

Kate Roy hated sharing music. It made her feel off balance when she was singing, and she never knew what to do with the free hand. She would become obsessed with either the unnatural stillness or excessive swaying of her fingers, and then unavoidably she did something stupid like sing during a rest. When Lauren Lance leaned over at the beginning of the period, Kate knew that she it wasn't a conspiratorial whisper and was preparing herself for 50 minutes of music sharing. 


Kate is a jovial person by nature, and she could say honestly that Lauren Lance was one of two or three people that she had ever really disliked. So it surprised Kate to find that she disliked Lauren even more after sharing music with her than she had running past a tombstone shop the night before. It was because Lauren did this sort of ostentatious bobbing while singing indicating to all of the world that 1) she had rhythm and 2) that she "felt" the music. While Kate was quite familiar with the usual kind of lilting with your binder that was common to everyone in the choir, Lauren's was a brand that resembled dry heaving. 


When the bell finally rang, Kate reached for a square of dark chocolate inside her bag put there for the express purpose of medicating the moping disposition Kate had anticipated would follow choir.


A full-bar of Lindt chocolate in ten minutes later, Kate was sitting in English her mood markedly improved. Besides the rush of seratonin that was now flooding into her system due to the sugar  Mrs. Sharma was introducing "Wudering Heights as one of the very best in British litra-ture" and Kate couldn't help but be cheered up.  

Next