School of Dreams

School of Dreams

Chapter 1

Oak doors. I hadn't counted on that. I'd been psyching myself up for this for a long time, and I'd been doing fine-until I reached the stairs. As I stood on the sidewalk, looking at the building, I thought, "How the heck am I supposed to do this?" A large set of stone stairs led up to the huge, solid oak double doors. Quite intimidating.

The Marrisa Rockler School for the Arts. I had dreamed of going here ever since middle school, and today was my chance. They were having auditions for next year's classes. I was so nervous, I hadn't fallen asleep until three am, and could barely eat my breakfast.

I took a deep breath, and lifted my right foot. Step. I lifted the left foot. Step. Six steps later, and I was level with the doors. Another deep breath. I reached for the golden handle.....

Wham!

Someone swung open the door-right into me. Unfortunately, those huge oak doors are heavy, and I went flying back down the stone stairs all the way to the sidewalk.

"Of course!" I thought to myself. "Of course this would have to happen to me today!"

I tried to stand up, and my right ankle protested. "Great..." I thought. I managed to stand, and put some weight on it. Doable. Then I saw my outfit. Crap.

I had dirt and dust all over me. I guess falling head over heels will do that to you....

"Oh my god, are you ok?" I looked up to see a young man, about my age, slightly older, looking at me with worried eyes. Gorgeous, green eyes...

"Um...yeah, yeah I think I'm ok." Total lie. I guess he noticed me favoring my right foot, because he gave me a "yeah right" look.

"Here, let me get your bag." He bent over and picked up my purse and jacket. "I'm so sorry about that. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Would you mind opening those doors for me? I'm a little scared now." I laughed.

I looked at my watch. Five minutes late! Terrific.

"Do you go here?" he asked me. "Nope, I'm just here to audition."

"Oh? Which category?"

"Dance." Then I looked at my foot. So did he. We both looked up at each other with a grimace, and then laughed.

"Well listen," he said, " I just finished with my audition; Let me help you get inside and find where you're supposed to go."

"Thanks! That'd be great."

He held out his left elbow, and I held it with my right hand and managed to hobble up the stairs in through the doors.

We entered into a large room, about three stories tall. Staircases went leading up on the far left and right sides, with a main desk area in the middle. There was a fancy couch and a few fancy chairs surrounding a coffee table in the middle of the room. There were potted plants and flowers everywhere, and it was all illuminated by a gigantic skylight above us; it must have been almost as big as the room itself.

So: huge solid oak doors, golden handles, fancy furniture, potted plants everywhere. In a gigantic three story lobby. Quite intimidating.

The mystery man helped me limp over to the main desk. There was a middle-aged woman sitting behind it, wearing a fuchsia plaid dress suit, and expensive jewelry. Actually, everything about this woman looked expensive.

"Hi Mrs. Webber, I'm back." Said my helper.

Mrs. Webber looked up at us. "Mhmm. And who's this?" She glared at me.