Chapter 4- A New Name, an Audition, and a Show
Alright, I want to start this new chapter with a big "thank you" to all of my readers. You guys are awesome. This chapter's going to be a long one, but I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter Four-
My alarm's going off. It's 5:00 already, Thursday. Our longest rehearsal. I gotta get up. I shake Jarred awake before heading to the shower. Luckily I get to go first, but I better hurry. James, our fox roommate, still has to do the same. I grab a towel and close the door behind me. After turning the lever all the way to "hot," I go and look in the mirror. The husky in front of me is barely awake, and his eyes are barely open. My fur is really messy still. Before I strip and hop in the shower, I let out a big yawn that ends with a slight whine. Wake up, Morgan.
Once I get out, I dry off and put on a nicer shirt of mine. It's a brown and blue button-up shirt that I like to wear. I slip on a pair of jeans and begin to brush my teeth. I should probably hurry, so I step out with all my clothes and things in my paws, toothbrush still in my muzzle. Jarred is giving me a funny look because of how disorganized I look. "Wah?" I ask, muffled by my toothbrush. "Nothing," he says after laughing at me. I throw my clothes and things next to my suitcase, spit out my toothpaste in the sink in the "kitchen" area, and grab my binder. "Do you want to get breakfast?" he asks me, "Rehearsal isn't until 7, so we still have time. It's almost 6 now." "Sure." I say. We go out the door and head to the lobby, leaving our roommates to get ready.
We're not really sure where we should go, but we head out the side door going to the auditorium. Apparently there's a coffee shop around the corner, so we start heading down the sidewalk. Both of us are still pretty tired, so neither of us speak. There's a bit of a line there, but we don't mind. Jarred orders a simple coffee and something to eat before I do the same. He gets his virtually right away but they're taking forever for me. The two of us are being a couple of sarcastic jerks saying things like, "Yeah dude, I bet it's super hard to microwave a croissant. I don't think I'd be able to handle it." We laugh for a while about it until one of the baristas call out "Mark!" while she looks at me. Um, okay? That must be me? I grab my coffee and my two croissants (one being a sympathy croissant for the long wait) and turn around to see Jarred standing there with a stupid grin on his face. "So I hear you got your name changed." he says, snickering. I laugh and say, "Shut up." "Hehehe I'm gonna start calling you Markie Mark." he says laughing as we walk out the door. "Oh God, no. Please, no." I jokingly plead with him.
We go back down the block toward the auditorium. We find a bench near the steps and sit down. Before we get too comfortable, Jarred's phone starts ringing. "Hello?" says the wolf, confusion in his voice. "Yeah we just got food. Yes ma'am. Don't worry, we're already here. Okay. See you then." He hangs up. "What was that about?" I ask after taking a sip of my coffee. "It was Mrs. Talob wondering what we were doing. I told her we just got breakfast and she was like, 'Oh my, you boys aren't giving yourselves enough time.'" We laugh at our poor conductor's paranoia while we finish up our food. It's still pretty early, but we head inside anyway. Once we go up the steps and down the hall, we put our initials down on the paper and head inside the Gold Room. There's a few students in here, but no sign of Sam or Isabel. I go sit down at my seat, but Jarred follows me. He gives me a silly grin before I realize what it is he wants, and I scoot down a seat so he can join me
.
This kid makes me laugh. My tail wags like crazy and I have a dumb grin on my face to match his, plus the occasional blush. The more I sit here crushing on him and not telling him, I feel like a creep or something. Here he is, trying to be nice and friendly, and I'm going nuts. You can't tell him. What if he gets weirded out and never talks to you again? I know it seems crazy, but I just don't feel right about this. I need to tell him. But when? My thoughts are interrupted while Sam and Isabel join us for a while. We've got some ten minutes left until our 8 hour rehearsal begins. Sure, we get a lunch and dinner break, but that's a long time. I'm going to be brain-dead by the time this is over. "You guys still want to go to the movie?" Isabel asks. "Of course!" Jarred says. "I'm down." I say. We continue to talk until more furs filter into the room, displacing our little group. Once all of us are in our correct seats, Grandma speaks briefly before we all stand up, ready to sing.
-About 4 hours later-
"Very good, choir. Muchas gracias! Enjoy your lunch and be back by 2:00." our conductor tells us. Finally we're excused. Why must choir be so tedious? Anyway, instead of leaping up and shoving through the crowd, I wait for my friends to group up before we head out. We decide to go to a little taco place near the plaza. Once out the big main doors, we meet up with Mrs. Talob and Howard. They're coming with us. I'm so freaking hungry, I'm probably going to order a twelve-pack of tacos for myself. The restaurant is up the big stone stairs, near the theatre. We head up there, and we all laugh our guts out when Sam trips on one of the steps. Even Mrs. Talob joins in the laughter. "Not funny you guys," Sam says, even though he's laughing just as much as we are. Jarred says some lame joke along the lines of "Dang Sam, you're trippin'." We all roll our eyes and giggle at his dumb comment.
As we eat, the conductors talk and we students are huddled around Jarred watching a bunch of funny videos, some of them being a little too "inappropriate" for Mrs. Talob, because she's sending a harsh glare our way. Jarred puts his phone away with a little shameful blush on his face and we continue to eat, trying not to laugh. Once we're done, we head back out and try to find something to do before time runs out. We've about half an hour before we need to head back to the auditorium, and there's not much else we can do. We just stroll around the plaza sharing inside jokes and passing time. I still can't shake the feeling of having to tell Jarred. I know he's straight, and I know it's crazy, but it doesn't feel right. I'm telling him Saturday. Just before the concert. Yeah, that'll give him time to process it and after that I don't need to talk to him until we go back to school. Okay, but you know the risks... Yes. I know. But I have to.
Still a bit stressed over my decision, I enter the Gold Room with my friends behind me. We were almost late, and Mrs. T almost clawed our eyes out. Nevertheless, we're signed in now, and we're getting ready to start. We pull out 'Nino Dios' and await the signal. Once again the keys begin to play in a baroque style, and we basses come in almost immediately. This song is my favorite out of all of them, I don't know why, I guess it sounds best with my voice. I love the notes that you get to hold out, for what seems like forever, and you can almost feel the sound vibrate in front of you. Where your voice can sound amazing, but loud and powerful all the same. This song lets me do that, and on every grand crescendo I can feel my voice move independently until it blends with the rest of the basses. This time that we're singing it, for some reason, the music hits me so hard I can feel the goosebumps form on my arms and my red and white fur standing on end. This, this is what music should always feel like. I wish we could do this well back home.
As good as it sounded, we have to work on a few areas. The Bass2 section is at fault this time, but we baritones have to practice along with them to balance their sound. Everyone around us is seated, watching with tired, bored, or frustrated faces because of how many times we must go over this one line. We're at about attempt number five when we finally get it right. The conductor speaks before everyone stands again,"Alright choir, now that we've got that portion out of the way, I would like to have a small group for the middle section of the piece. Anyone who wants to be a part of this small group can audition for it at the Hilton a 7:30. We will be taking two people from each voice part." She asks for all those who want to audition to stand, while the rest remain seated. Normally I would go for it, but I choose not to. Partially because I would miss the movie tonight, which is a dumb reason, but for other little reasons too. I'm going to regret it, but oh well. I look at the big group standing, and among them stands the energetic wolf with the same doofy grin on his face that gives me butterflies. I let them fly around in my stomach for a while until Grandma tells the rest of us to rise with them.
We start from the beginning of the song, and when we get to the middle section, only the group of auditionees sing. The rest of us sit again. I can hear Jarred's voice from here, and he sounds extremely good. He carries each of his notes carefully with great precision. I turned around to look at Sam to see if he's hearing what I'm hearing, but the poor bobcat is fighting hard to stay awake. I turn back around to continue listening to Jarred. No doubt he's going to make auditions. After the song's over, we begin to work on our other pieces.
-A few hours later-
Thank God, we're almost out of here. I've been looking at my phone, checking the time constantly between songs. As I suspected I would be, I'm brain-dead. All I can think about is food and the bed waiting for me back at the hotel room. I just got a text from Mrs. Talob. "Hey guys, as you know there's a lot of other music conferences and concerts going on along with Western Div. I would like you to see a Show Choir concert tonight after rehearsal." This lady can't be serious. I'm way too tied. Maybe I can find a way to sneak out of this one. I send a quick text to Jarred, forwarding what she said and joking about how crazy she is. He texts back, "Idk how long auditions will be. Tell her that I'm gonna do that." "What about me? I don't wanna go," I text back. "Idk dude, just tell her you need rest for tommrw's rehearsal. She prob won't be as mad." He's right. I send her a message filling her in on the situation. Apparently she's going to dinner with a group of colleagues, and might be a little late to the concert herself. She says it's okay if I don't go. Thank God. We need to make a plan for after rehearsal. Jarred needs to get to the hotel virtually right after to audition. Before you think that it's not that bad and the hotel isn't that far, it isn't our hotel that he's auditioning in. The poor guy has to go two blocks away from this place.
We were just dismissed, and my friends and I descend the stairs out to the front of the building. "Well, I guess our movie plans are screwed." Sam says sarcastically after Jarred explains what's going on. "I'm sorry you guys, I forgot and I really wanted to do this small part. I think I have a chance of making it." Jarred says, feeling a bit guilty. "I'm just joking," Sam states, "Let's get something to eat really quick and drop you off at the hotel." We all agree and head to a quick burger place down the block. We stop to sit and eat for a while. We have time. (Hopefully.) When we finish, we quickly throw our trash away and walk as fast as we can, almost running, to the hotel down the road. It's getting dangerously close to time, so once we see the main doors of the big hotel we start running. Once inside the lobby, we find one of the meeting halls where auditions were taking place. There's a line of 60 or so choir students, and before we leave Jarred there, we wish him good luck and he hugs all of us. I was wondering why we were all getting super friendly all of a sudden, but then when it was my turn to be hugged by the tall canine, even though it lasted just a second, my mind went blank.
The three of us left decide to head back to our own hotel and call it a night. Before you think we're all lame, you have to understand, we're exhausted. I swear, for the rest of the night I don't want to hear another note. How Mrs. Talob thought we could sit through a concert and live is beyond me, and now missing the movie doesn't seem all that bad either. We retrace our steps back down the road and feel relieved once we see our hotel standing behind the auditorium. Once I get the door of my room, I'm legitimately excited just to be able to take a break. I reach into my pocket to find my wallet which has the room key. Um, where's my wallet? It better not be stolen. I knock on the door to see if my roommates are back yet. No answer. Fuck my life. I guess I'm going to they concert...yay. I text Mrs. T to tell her that I will be there, and I also let Jarred know. She answers pretty much right away saying that she's glad and that she'll be there soon. It's about 8:30 now and it starts at 9. I guess I better head back down.
Once I'm outside, I go right from the auditorium to the exhibit hall, where the concert will be. It's empty up here, everything must be downstairs. I head down the steps and sure enough, there's a ton of furs down here. Most of them look like conductors or music professors, but the occasional student is down here too. There are booths set up showcasing different music organizations and art schools, and there are a few tables set up covered in food. This must be where all the conductors go during rehearsal. There's a few rooms to the side of the main hall, which I assume to be conference areas for our teachers. To the left of the stairs, there's a big room with risers set up and lights are being adjusted. I assume the concert will be here. I take a seat and wait for Mrs. Talob. The show should be starting soon, where is she? I'm too tired for this. I go up the stairs while I call her, but receive no answer. I push the glass doors open, and my phone rings. "Hello?" I say, "Hi Morgan, I'm on my way. I'm crossing the street from the plaza now." I look in that direction, and sure enough her and Howard are standing at the curb. "I see you. I'm going to head back inside so I can save us seats." She looks in my direction and waves. I wave back before hanging up and going back to the big room.
A few moments later she and and Howard sit with me. The sound crew's still setting up and we only see a few choir furs walk back in forth in costume. The concert is already running a few minutes late. Mrs. Talob and I joke around as we watch some teachers goof around. (Wine was served there a while ago, and I have a feeling some of them have had their fair share of glasses.) "My word," Mrs. Talob says in a comedic tone, "It's Conductors-Gone-Wild in here!" We laugh a bit before talking about music conferences, how rehearsal is going so far, and future ideas for the choir back home. She seems to be having a good time here. She's really passionate about this kind of stuff. After what seems like an eternity, the show is ready to begin. The theme of the show is "Hotel California," and all the students are dressed in bellhop costumes.
Once the music starts, I'm blown away. All of the people on the risers move in complete synchronization with absolutely no break in character, trust me, I've been watching. The dance moves are actually really cool, some of them pretty intricate. A few people have already done flips. No matter what they do, they keep their pitches. These kids put LHS Show Choir to shame, we can't even begin to compare to these guys. When it's all over, the crowd gives them a standing ovation. Mrs. Talob seems really happy that I came, and she and I continue to talk once we leave the convention center and head toward the hotel. She's like a second mom to a lot of us choir kids, even though she can be strict sometimes. She tells me "goodnight" before I leave her to her room while I head toward mine. I knock on the door, and Jarred answers. "Heya Markie Mark," he says with that dumb wolf grin he has. I laugh before entering. "Shut up, we shall never use that name!" As I enter, I'm greeted by my roommates James and Dean. "Hi Morgan," they say. "Hello, how are you?" It's funny how simple sentences such as these burst into full-blown conversations. Before we know it, all four of us are laughing and telling stories. It's really late, I should leave you here. I'll fill you in with details of conversation tomorrow, until then, goodnight.