To Broadway

Dreams

After we had dried off and gone back inside, I took a shower.

As I washed the chlorine out of my hair and had turned the water off, I stepped out into my steamy bathroom. My room and bathroom are connected so I didn't have to bother with running across the hall making sure my towel didn't fall. I changed into a tee shirt and shorts, then walked back into my bathroom. after I finished brushing out my semi long, light brown hair, I walked back into the living room with my phone in hand.

Brooke called me just as I was about to put on Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary show. "Stephanie is coming over to my house tomorrow, do you want to come?", she asked. "sure, let me ask!", I turned away from my phone for a second. "mom?" "yes?" "Can I go over to Brooke's house tomorrow? Since it's Friday?" "yes, but you have to go with her to her house, I have to work tomorrow." she replied. My mom works at school as the assistant principle, so she has to stay later, and I go home. "she says I can go, just I'd need to go with you from school to your house." "I was planning that we all take the bus back to my house anyway so this works fine.", she said happily. "ok see you tomorrow!" "bye", we both said at the same time.

*.*.*.*.*.| Next Day|.*.*.*.*.*

I arrived at choir, once again a few minutes early. Sitting where I had yesterday. I plopped my stuff down next to the risers. "Hi Alyssa", said Mrs. Tess from her office inside the choir room. I peeked inside the door, "hi!". "Do you want to stick with the part you have or do you want to try the other part that has the note one lower?", she questioned. I obviously knew what she was talking about, "actually, I want to stick with that part. But, I want to be able to sing that note." She was smiling, "let's start with vocal warmups and learning all the notes. It's not that difficult once you get the hang of it.", she said now walking towards the piano. "lets start on C.", She said pressing the middle key. "ok.", then sung the note perfectly. She kept going higher until I couldn't go anymore. My voice cracked on the same note. "you must keep trying, if you want to get to that note", she said calmly.

As the first few people had started filing in, I went and sat where I had yesterday. I started humming "Think of Me" from watching Phantom of the Opera last night. I hadn't realized that Brooke had come in until I heard "remember me, every so often. Promise me you'll try." I turned to look at her, "hey!" "aren't you excited for later?", she nudged' me. I looked over at Steph who was making her way over to us. "Hi guys!", she flopped her stuff down. "Hey!" Brooke and I said in unison. "Time to get started everyone.", Mrs. Tess called out from her office.

*.*.*.*.*.| Later that Day|.*.*.*.*.*

We all got off the bus and started walking to Brooke's house. "How is choir going for everyone?", Stephanie asked. "pretty good", Brooke answered. Both girls were now looking at me waiting for my answer. "uh, good?", I said nervously. "I was in your place once." Brooke looked down. "do you guys have any favorite musicals?", I asked hoping that we could bond over one. "have you seen Les Miserables?" Stephanie asked suddenly excited. "no, I want to though." "you haven't lived until you've seen it.", Stephanie said, shocked that I hadn't seen it. "Phantom of the Opera?", Brooke asked. I smiled really excited and held her arms. "Have you seen the 25th anniversary show?!" "yes!!" "isn't it amazing!?" "obviously! who doesn't lo-" "why is phantom so amazing?", Stephanie asked. "you've never seen phantom?!" Brooke and I yelled walking up to Brooke's door as she opened it. "we should watch it, I want to see it." Stephanie said. "I have the DVD of it." Brooke said. "I'm gonna sing along!" I exclaimed. Steph laughed at how crazy we were about Phantom. "You guys can take your shoes off and my mom should be home in like ten minutes." Brooke said as we put our bags down by hers.

After we had gone upstairs and put the DVD on, I had seen it enough times to know what was next. A minute before Think of Me came on I whispered to Brooke, "I have an idea." I said, shooting a glance at Stephanie who had her eyes glued to the screen. "what?" Brooke whispered, leaning towards me. "I'll be Christine, you be the Phantom. We'll act out the movie and sing the songs." I said smiling. "Ok." She said. turning back to the screen just in time. I hastily stood up and took my position to the left of the screen. When Emmy Rossum, who was playing Christine, started to sing I joined in. "Think of me, think of me fondly. When we've said goodbye." I sang "Remember me, every so often. Promise me you'll try. On that day, that not so distant day when you are far away and free. If you ever find a moment, spare a thought for me." I sang.

The song was almost over and I knew the second to last note was pretty high so I would at least attempt, I was only with friends and I knew they wouldn't judge if I messed up.

That last note. It was all I could think about. The words were coming out of my mouth and I didn't know it. I glanced at Stephanie as I started doing the scales that were towards the end. She was smiling the brightest I had ever seen before and was glancing between the me and the TV. I knew that Emmy's voice was lower than most Christine's but I was still singing as high as most everyone else who played her did. On that last note, I sang as high as I could. My voice! It didn't crack! I sang the last note and then did a miniature fangirl. Brooke hugged me as I sat down and so did Stephanie; after she quit clapping that is. I beamed a bright smile, proud of myself for hitting the note. "you did amazing!" Steph said. "yeah, that was awesome!" Brooke said, hugging me again. I knew Angel of Music was going to come on in a bit so I sat on the floor waiting for my cue again. The other girls were sitting on beanbag chairs and I was sitting on one for a bit but I found that it would be useless for Brooke and I since we would be up quite a bit.

After I sang Angel of Music, Brooke got up and walked behind the mirror that she had in her room. She sang the mirror lines while walking out from behind it while holding one hand out and the other over the side of her face. We heard a click and turned to Stephanie who was laughing and taking pictures on her phone. We laughed but kept with our character.

After I had taken Brooke's hand, she lead us back to the seats. We flopped down and Steph paused the movie. "Now I know what I've been missing." she said, looking like this was the most amazing movie. "well you should go see it on Broadway if you think what we have to offer is good." Brooke said. "I've always wanted to be on Broadway as Christine." I smiled at both of them. "I bet you could do it." Steph replied to my dreamy comment. "I think you could too. Now all you'll need to take is dance." Brooke said to me. "Thanks guys." I said to both of them as they looked back to the screen. I took out my phone and texted my mom: 'never mind about the extra voice lessons, I want to take dance' I sent to her, anxiously waiting for her to respond. I felt my phone buzz, and read the text: ' we'll talk about it when you come home. Hope you are having fun!' I read that to myself and then smiled back at the screen.

*.*.*.*.*.| Next Day|.*.*.*.*.*

Another opportunity is opening in my life. Another dream. Another way to see things. I get to start Dance soon, and I'm going on a big trip. I leave for New York City in exactly two weeks! It's a choir trip that we take and we get to go to a workshop for singing and acting and I'm just so excited! We also get the chance to see a Broadway show, we are voting for what to see today so we can get our tickets. We have to choose between Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, or Wicked. Everyone got in line and took a tiny piece of paper, circled what we wanted to see, but it in the box and sat back down. Mrs. Tess already said we didn't have to share what we chose if we didn't want to. "What did you pick?" Brooke asked me. "Is this rhetorical? We both know what I picked and same for you." I replied. "Phantom?" "of course!" I exclaimed. "what did you pick?" I asked Stephanie when she came back. "I was thinking Les Mis at first, but you said that Phantom on Broadway was amazing and last night was awesome, so I voted for phantom." Steph said. "yay!" Brooke and I both cheered. "Hopefully this workshop will help me get closer to my dream being Christine. My mom is even letting me start dance." I said. "that's awesome!" They shouted. "Yea, I'm really excited for this trip!", I squealed.