Hey! I'm back! And yes, I know I should be updating Chances and Choices but I have writer's block and school and stuff, so while that's all working itself out, I decided to do a few short collabs along with a multi-chapter one that's on its way. This one I wrote with R5 Girlo, I give her all credit for ideas, plot, everything except for the few paragraphs that are mine. So now without further ado, (My name is Ado! That's good for you.) It's Not Stupid!
"Warbler seniors please come up the front." David ordered from the council table and all of them did. Up front by the council table were Trent, Beatz, Thad, David, Nick and Jeff. "The rest of you find a space to sit down." All of them did and the seniors had a good idea of what was going to happen. "As you all know the school year is coming to an end so we will be leaving you." The mood in the room dampened and their faces dropped. "I will miss you all, and I know that I'm not by myself there." The seniors nodded with sad smiles on their faces. "As a Warbler tradition, the seniors will share their future plans. I'll go first. I plan on going to University of Ohio and majoring in English." David said. Everyone clapped, clearly supporting his choice. Nick spoke up next.
"Wherever I go, I want to be near Jeff to support him, but I was thinking of maybe applying somewhere close by and taking some filmography courses." He said, smiling.
"I want to take a teaching course so that way I can become a teacher for children with special needs." Trent said.
"I wanna become a world famous rapper." Beatz said and laughed a little.
"I'm probably going to take some photography classes and do some stuff like that." Thad said. It was finally Jeff's turn to say what he wanted.
"I-I-I have an audition for Julliard. I want to perform on stage, or-or own my own dance studio." He said with a small smile on his lips. The room was silent before Sebastian started to laugh, everyone soon followed apart from Trent, Beatz, Thad and David. Even Nick, his BOYFRIEND, laughed at him. Jeff looked at the floor, cheeks red from embarrassment and tears building in his eyes.
"Order, I will have order in this room!" David shouted and the laughter slowly faded, with a few loose giggles around the room.
"Don't be delusional dude, you can't even get a dance lead in a number. David does!" A freshman shouted and the room erupted into laughter again. Jeff pushed himself off the council table and nearly ran out of the room with tears dripping down his face and onto the floor as he walked through Dalton's corridor, wanting to get to his dorm before he bumped into a man with a clipboard in his hands.
"Sorry Sir." He apologized quickly.
"No problem young man." He replied and Jeff nodded.
"Do you need any help?" Jeff asked, though it was the last thing he wanted to do.
"Yes, do you know a student here called Jeffrey Colin Sterling?" The man asked.
"T-T-That's me Sir." Jeff stuttered. The man put his hand out and Jeff took it.
"Paul Marsh, course director at Julliard." Jeff felt his face pale and he swore his heart stopped.
"I-I didn't think you'd be here this early, I-I didn't get the letter saying when my audition would be." Jeff said with a shaky voice, visibly shocked and nervous.
"It's ok kid, everyone's reacted like this. We want to see how you handle yourself when you're put into an unexpected situation." Paul answered with a smile on his face, this kid was so nervous to see him, that's what he wanted to see. Jeff nodded before Paul spoke again. "Would you mind taking me to the school hall please?" Jeff nodded and led the man to the empty hall in the middle of Dalton. The hall was round and had the chairs around the room set in a circle so everyone could see. It was designed so it would be easier for the Warblers or other performing clubs to fit in and for every member to be seen. "I need to get something set up so if you need to get anything or change into something else go now. You have 5 minutes." Paul said with a smile on his face. Jeff nodded before walking to his dorm, still pale and shocked. He walked into his shared dorm to see Trent, Thad, David and Beatz in there.
"H-Hey." Jeff stuttered and the 4 boys in the room knew something was wrong, Jeff never stuttered.
"What's wrong J? Is it what happened in the Warbler hall?" Trent asked immediately and watched Jeff pull out tight jeans, a blue long sleeved top and his black converse. "Why are you changing? It's too late to go anywhere."Jeff took his shoes, blazer and tie off before answering.
"P-Paul Marsh is here." Jeff saw the confused looks on their faces. "H-He's the course director at J-Julliard. M-My audition is in a few minutes." He explained as he took his shirt off and pulled on his top. It clung to his body and you could see how thin he actually was.
"You need to eat more Jeffy, you look anorexic! You can slightly see your ribs!" David exclaimed, his 'daddy Warbler' side showing. Jeff didn't listen as he took off his trousers and pulled his jeans on before sitting on his bed.
"I eat enough David. I just work it off when I practice." He said as he put his converse on and tied the laces.
"Yeah, he eats like a cow." Beatz added with a smirk.
"Hey! I don't eat all day!" Jeff said loudly and his visitors laughed. Jeff smiled and stood up, heading for the door. He walked halfway down the corridor before noticing the boys were following him. "Why are you following me?"
"You need some friends there to support you, plus we've never seen you dance." Thad answered with a tone Jeff couldn't argue with and he turned to continue to the hall with a smile on his face, happy that at least some of his friends wanted to support him. He walked into the hall and saw Paul talking to someone on his laptops web-cam. Paul looked back at him and saw the 4 boys behind him.
"Well hello there, here for moral support?" He asked and the boys nodded and he saw how nervous Jeff actually was as he walked to the centre of the hall. Paul put the laptop down, the web-cam facing him. "The teachers at Julliard want to watch your audition Jeffrey. Do you mind?" Jeff shook his head but he was dying inside. "Good, you know that the audition song is 'Try' by P!nk and flips must be included right?" Jeff nodded. "Good, good luck." Paul said before starting the song. Jeff took a deep breath before launching into the routine he had been practicing. He tried to watch everyone to see their reactions as he did a spin.
'Where there is desire there is gonna be a flame,
Where there is a flame someone's bound to get burned'
Jeff's friends laughed at him when he said he wanted to be a professional dancer then own his own dance studio and it hurt like a burn.
'But just because it burns doesn't mean you're gonna die,
You gotta get up and try, try, try'
Jeff ignored the fact his friends had laughed at him, he was auditioning and he was trying to get his place in Julliard, trying to get something to help him with his life. Eventually the music started to come to a close and Jeff did a final finishing flip at the end. He looked around at everyone nervously.
"So?" Paul looked up from his clipboard to Jeff with a small smile.
"Thank you Jeffrey. We'll take your audition into consideration." He said before standing up and turning his back on Jeff to pack his laptop up. "Good day to you Jeffrey, I'll be in touch soon." With that, Paul left the hall and Dalton. Jeff took a deep breath, trying to slow his racing heart.
"Oh my good God Jeff! That was amazing!" Trent gushed as he nearly ran to his friend and pulled him into a hug.
"I-I-I think I need to sit down." Jeff said quietly and Trent sat him in a chair where Jeff put his head in his hands.
"Jeff, you ok? Do you want me to get you water?" Thad asked worriedly and Jeff nodded once so Thad ran out of the room and to the canteen. David sat by Jeff and put his arm over Jeff's shoulders. Jeff leant into David and took a few deep breaths.
"I-I messed it u-up. I-I flipped when I was supposed to turn on point." He stuttered and tears built in his eyes.
"Did they give you a set routine or what he said it had to include?" Beatz asked.
"J-Just what he said. W-We got to choose our r-routine but I messed mine up!" Jeff answered and tears left his eyes.
"There you go, he doesn't know you did the wrong move at all J. It was amazing even if you did things in the wrong order." Beatz replied with a smile on his face and patted Jeff on the back. Thad walked back in with a bottle of water and a few dry crackers.
"Here we go." He said as he passed the bottle to David. David took the cap off the bottle and passed it to Jeff. He took it with a smile and slowly drank it. Thad gave him the dry crackers and Jeff's head tilted to the side.
"Eat it, you didn't each much before practice." He said simply and Jeff nibbled on the corner.
At the beginning of Warbler practice the week after the audition, David pulled Jeff up next to him, clearing his throat so as to get the others' attention. Once everyone was quiet, David started to speak.
"Alright Warblers. Now last week when we were announcing our future plans, many of you laughed and joked about Jeff's choice. I just wanted to inform you all of the fact that his audition was last week. Right after he left practice in fact. Trent, Thad, Beatz and I were all there to support him and let me just say that even after all your extremely inappropriate laughter and everything, he still managed to be amazing. I'm extremely disappointed in you guys and I'm sure Jeff would've loved it had you been there, but you weren't. So I just wanted to announce that." he finished as the others listened in silence. Finally Nick looked up at them.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Jeff sat in his dorm. He'd sent a group text to Trent, David, Thad and Beatz, he wanted those 4 in the room with him. They were there to comfort him after the Warblers laughed at him, they were there to see his audition, they were there when he had a mini breakdown after his audition and they were the ones to show tell the Warblers how well he'd done in his audition and they were the reason he could stand to sit in the same room as the Warblers. He sat on the edge of his bed, looking at the Julliard letter in his hands when the door was open. Trent, Thad, David and Beatz walked into the room.
"What's wrong J? 'Get to my dorm it's an emergency'?" Trent read out the text and Jeff looked up at him. It was then that Trent saw the letter. "Is that from Julliard?" Jeff nodded and the reason for his text was immediately known.
"We're here, whatever the news is. We'll always be here. The Warblers would be here if you wanted them." Beatz said as he sat by Jeff on the bed and wrapped his arm around Jeff's shoulders. Jeff nodded and turned the letter in his hands, ready to open it. Trent, David and Thad sat on the other bed in the dorm and watched Jeff slowly rip the seal on the letter. It was fully ripped and he took a deep breath before pulling the letter out. It was bent in half and he just stared at it for 5 minutes, his friends knowing how nervous he was about this letter. He unfolded the letter and read it slowly. He lowered the letter onto his lap and was white as a sheet.
"What does it say?" David asked, hoping that his friend had gotten in but he saw how Jeff had paled and had a feeling he hadn't been accepted. Jeff looked at his friends opposite him.
"I-I got in." He breathed, barely above a whisper but the room heard him. A huge smile crossed his face. "I GOT IN!" He nearly screamed and passed the letter to Thad. Beatz pulled him into a tighter hug and laughed. The 4 were so happy for their friend and how happy he was.
"Congratulation Jeffy!" Trent said and pulled the blonde boy into a hug, Beatz not letting him go. The 5 friends were soon in a group hug and they couldn't be happier. They all pulled back and sat on the beds, talking happily about their nationals win that year and how they'd all been accepted into their dream colleges. David read through Jeff's letter again and ran to Jeff's computer.
"David, what are you doing?" Jeff asked warily and was shocked when David entered the correct password to get onto his personal account. "How do you know my password?" He asked and the others laughed. David ignored him and went onto the Julliard college website. He read Jeff's letter again and followed the instructions there.
"What are you doing?" Trent asked and David smirked before turning the screen to the group behind him. He clicked a link and a separate tab opened and Paul Marsh's face came on screen.
"Hello, this is the audition tape of Jeffrey Colin Sterling who has been accepted in 2013 onto the highest dance course Julliard has to offer." His voice ran through the room and David smiled at the group in front of him. Jeff was slightly embarrassed and Trent shakes his shoulders happily and Jeff see's his audition and he had to admit that his 'mistake' made the routine look better.
"Now we can show those nitwits what real dancing looks like? No offence David." Thad said and everyone laughed at David's expression but he shrugged and joined the laughter, knowing what Thad said was completely true.
"Okay, Warblers, the end of the year is quickly approaching. We'll all be leaving soon, and most of us know what college we're going to, so to add to the list, Jeff?" David looked over at Jeff as he grinned and stood up. He looked down at Nick, having sorted everything out after he told him the news. He looked back up and around at the Warblers.
"I got into Julliard!" he exclaimed excitedly. A few people were still shocked by the fact that he could dance well enough to get in, but mostly everyone had changed their tune and were all congratulating him. Nick stood up next to him and held his hand as he basked in the attention he was getting.
"And that, students, is how I made it here and met the man of my dreams." Jeff says, looking at all the awestruck faces of the teens sitting in a circle on the floor of Sterling Dance Studio. He smiles and absentmindedly plays with the ring on his finger before he moves on to teach his students.
I really am living my dream.