The Concert

The rehearsal

Every time I saw Eddie that day, we both had ridiculous smiles on our faces. Dustin picked up on it immediately but didn't say anything about it, he would just grin and give us a knowing nod.

On my way to see Mr Harper I happened to be going past Hellfire's hideaway, the theatre room. I opened the door to find Dustin, Jeff, Mike and Gareth sat waiting for everyone else to arrive. They all looked up at me, "Freya?" Dustin smiled, "Hey Squishy face" I smiled and then looked around the room again. "Looking for someone?" Dustin asked, more a rhetorical question than a real one, I smirked at him "Just checking in to to see if the guys are ready for this evening's rehearsals? Gareth and Jeff nodded. Just then someone grabbed me from behind and made me jump "Jesus Christ!" I spun around to see Eddie's smiling face. I hit his arm but laughed. "What do we owe the pleasure?" he asked. I didn't really have a genuine reason, other than wanting to see Eddie, so I had to think on my feet, "just checking to see if you're ready for rehearsals?" Eddie smiled "I'd say so, although I still don't think it will work". I smiled and said "you're just going to have to trust me". The others started to sit down, "Eddie?" they called tapping their watches, he nodded and looked back to me "anything else?" he smiled a devilish smile. "Yes actually", I glanced past Eddie grabbed him by his denim jacket and pulled him further out of the door and kissed him. I took him by surprise, but he was more than happy to reciprocate. I then turned and walked away as quickly as I had grabbed him "that's all". I took a few steps and turned to see him still standing by the door, he was smiling as he watched me walk away, his gaze was amorous,  "to be continued!" he said as he turned to go back through the door, he stopped and lingered. I could hear they guys calling his name. I smiled and gestured for him to go to them. He put his fist to his mouth and bit down on it, signalling that I had left him aroused. I smiled triumphantly and walked away to see Mr Harper. 

A few hours later I was sat back in the theatre room waiting for everyone to turn up. It was getting quite rowdy as there were disdainful looks being exchanged by various people. Once I felt a good number of people had arrived, I stood on the stage to get everyone's attention. "Good evening, everyone, thank you for coming". There were hushed whispers still going on, but I continued regardless. "I know there's a few of you that have some doubts about how this is all going to pan out. There's obviously a mix of skills, instruments and genres in this room. But please trust me, we can all work together and create something pretty special!" Hands started to go up, I looked to Sarah, the school's favourite musician, a prominent pianist. She specialised in classical pieces and her talent was out of this world, "how are we" she signalled to the group around her, who were also classical enthusiasts "supposed to play with them and their...noise?" she asked as she pointed to Eddie and the others. Eddie shot me a look as if to say, "I told you so!". The room started to erupt in various comments, which turned into insults. I stood there for a moment, listening to a slew of pretentious and derogatory comments flying about. Eventually I shouted as loud as I could "ENOUGH!" the room fell silent. "We all know someone that died at Star court! All of us! I think we are more than capable of putting something together, to honour them and to help raise some funds for their families!" I glared around the room "You are all extremely talented individuals, and I have no doubt that if you put your misconceptions aside and start thinking about the reason "why" we're doing this... then you'll start to focus on what's important!". The room remained silent. "The Holoway's, Ms Driscol, Chief Hopper...Billy Hargrove" I said solemnly "They are what you should be thinking of. Their families, the impact that night had on this town!" I could sense the atmosphere change in the room, everyone was focused on me and what I was saying to them. "Another reason to focus would be, which has been confirmed today, is that this concert can be used as extra credit to go towards your grades". The room started to buzz with whispers between people. I glanced over to Eddie, who was looking at me with admiration. "Anyone who doesn't want to stay, are free to leave." I paused and looked around the room. "To everyone else, give me a chance to show you what we can do when we work together!" I proceeded to hand music sheets out to the room. As they circulated, I started to position particular people in certain places. I asked Sarah to take her place at the piano, I asked Gareth to get ready at the drums, alongside Eddie and the others with their electric guitars. I asked the members of the choir to stand to the left with two of their lead singers at the front. I scanned the room for Robin, who had stayed near the back with Steve. "Robin, are you feeling brave?" I asked as I got to her. Her eyes widened "Tonight? Now?" I smiled and nodded, "yep, just like we've practiced!" She looked nervously around the room, "holy cow!" she nervously blurted out. I smiled, "No time like the present! I will need to go and work with some of the others to get them up to speed with what I want them to do, when to come in and the likes... use that time to get warmed up!" She looked like a deer caught in headlights, "don't worry I'm right here with you!" I started to walk away, I could hear Steve asking, "you can sing?".