Lovers

Fantine

Hello, I'm over here having a casual panic over whether or not I'm going to be able to go to college in the fall, so I hope your night is going better that mine is. Haha but seriously stay the heck home kiddos. If you can't come up with a reason then do it so that I can go to college please. That's all. Without further ado, enjoy this one! Comment/vote if you please xxx
-ab

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May 29, 2028

Harper

"Thank you so much," I say to Elizabeth, for what feels like the hundredth time.

"It's nothing, truly. You just go have a great first rehearsal, and I'll take care of everything."

"If there's anything that you need, please don't be afraid to call me."

"I'll be fine, I promise," she tells me. "You're going to be magical today, Harper."

"Thanks," I smile. "Patrick will be home at 16:30 or so, and he can handle her from there."

"What about tonight, during your memorial service? Patrick is coming to that, isn't he?"

"He's going to bring Millie with him. It's going to be quite warm tonight, and she loves getting some fresh air. It's happening at 18:00, and we'll be home by a reasonable time."

"Are you sure you want to bring her?"

"We talked about it, and we really want her there," I nod. "Now, I really must be on my way, but thank you so much again. I'll see you later."

"Goodbye, dear," Elizabeth says to me. I give my baby girl a quick kiss, then place her in the arms of her grandma.

Outside, I walk briskly, making my way to the tube stop. It rained overnight, so the pavement has a certain glow to it, and the air smells of spring.

I smile to myself as I grasp my script and sit on the tube, making my way to the theatre for my first rehearsal as Fantine.

I spent the weekend learning this music, and I truly forgot how much I loved singing from this show. The times that I spent in Les Mis were some of the best of my life, and it's absolutely insane that I'm getting to do it all over again, in a different role. Only a handful of people have gotten to play two different roles in two different runs of a show. I'm one of those lucky people.

When I get to rehearsal, I walk into the room and take a seat among the others, who I know will soon become my family. I watch the door as others trickle in. I recognize quite a few faces, but I'm not really able to match most of them with a name.

The biggest shock comes when Brittney walks into the rehearsal and sits down next to me.

"Hey there, Fantine. What's up?"

My eyes widen as I look at the girl sitting next to me.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" I gasp.

She chuckles. "I wasn't allowed to say anything until we knew that this was official. I didn't find out until late last night that my emergency visa had been accepted. I'm officially in the country for the duration of this concert staging. I spent all day yesterday at the American embassy to make this happen. I'mplaying Eponine in this production."

"Oh my god," I laugh. "That's crazy."

"So that's why I wasn't answering my texts all day yesterday."

"That makes a lot of sense," I laugh. I had tried so hard to get ahold of Brit yesterday, as I had figured that she was going home very soon and I wanted to soak up every minute with her that I could get. I was frustrated when she wasn't answering my messages, but now, I see that it was for a good reason.

"So... you're not flying home in a few days?"

"Nope," she responds. "There's nothing keeping me in New York. I don't have projects lined up. My mum's the only person in my family who I really keep in contact with, and she couldn't be more excited about this. I don't have a boyfriend. There's no reason for me to not stay in London, since I was given this opportunity."

I smile at the girl sitting next to me, who has grown to be one of my closest friends. The thought that we get to do this show together again is amazing.

"Oh my god," I gasp, having a sudden realization. "We are going to get to sing together. In the finale."

Brittney nods. "I can't wait. It's going to be so much fun."

Brit and I talk for a bit longer, about how excited we are. I'm even able to quickly introduce her to Toby before we are called to order for the beginning of our first rehearsal.

"Today, we are going to be mostly focusing on the performance that we are going to be doing at tonight's memorial service for the cast members who we lost in the attacks."

We all nod, as that makes sense.

"We are going to begin with Fantine and Eponine's duet in the final song of the show, starting with 'Take my hand, and lead me to salvation,'" Sam continues. "Valjean is going to join in with them on the line 'And remember, the truth that once was spoken.' So, Harper, Toby, and Brittney, I'm going to have you three go off and work with Steve, our musical director. Everyone else is going to stay here and work with Mark, our assistant musical director. You will all be singing the reprise of 'Do You Hear The People Sing?' which closes our show. Everything that's happening tonight is straight out of the vocal score, so it will be good to have it learned so that we can insert it into our concert staging. Now, the three who I just named can go off with Steve, and everyone else, stay put."

Toby, Brit, and I stand up and follow Steve to a smaller room. We do some vocal warm ups, then he asks if we can simply sight read the music.

From there, we start to work on our individual parts. Luckily, it's a very short chunk of music, and we were all well-prepared, so there's not too much work to do.

By our lunch break, we have rejoined the rest of the group and sung through what we will be performing tonight. I'm amazed at how good it sounds, with only two hours of practicing.

As I'm walking out to go grab a sandwich at Pret, Sam pulls me aside.

"Harper, I am asking a few cast members to speak at tonight's memorial. Would you be willing to say a few words in honour of our dear Emmalyn? She was Cosette, and I thought you would have the closest connection to her, for that reason. Nobody here really knew her, it seems."

"Oh my god, of course," I nod. "I'm honoured that you asked me."

"Thank you so much," he tells me. "You're doing amazingly so far."

I smile at Sam and thank him, then excuse myself, to go and grab lunch.

And it looks like I'm going to be writing a speech on my break, as well.