Disclaimer: I do not own any Broadway musical mentioned here, any of the songs and lyrics mentioned here, or Glee.
Written before I knew Harmony was a sophomore...oh well.
Hex Girl
Hex (hĕks) n. 1. a malevolent curse. 2. One thought to bring bad luck : jinx. –v. 1. To put under an evil spell. 2. To jinx.
Her parents didn't notice right away. She can't blame them, not really. Harmony's pretty sure they're going to be in the honeymoon phase of their marriage for the rest of their lives – stuck in their "meet-cute." She was actress at an Ohio community theatre; he was the stagehand who caught her when she fell off a platform in Kiss Me, Kate; and the rest was history.
They named their daughter Harmony for the musical talent they hoped she'd inherit.
They made her middle name Elsie, after the cow in "Over the Moon" from Rent and Sally's friend in the song "Cabaret" from Cabaret. Harmony's not really sure what they were trying to say with that.
Her last name is her father's – Xander.
They didn't notice until it was on the birth certificate. Her initials are H-E-X. HEX.
As in, a curse.
As in, someone who casts a curse.
Like a witch.
It didn't bother Harmony initially, mostly because she was too busy to figure it out. After getting a taste of fame when her sonogram was featured on Murder, She Wrote; her parents had her audition to be the new Gerber Baby. Harmony doesn't remember any of it, but she got the gig, so she must be a natural performer! Her parents spoiled her in the arts, and payed for training in acting methods, dance, and vocal technique. Not to brag, but Harmony became quite the little prodigy.
She begins her love affair with Broadway at age eight, when her parents take her to see Wicked, the Musical. Quite simply, it's the greatest thing she has ever seen in her life. She adds the part of Elphaba to her list of future credits, right under Sutton Foster's entire rèsume.
She begins to study the great stage and screen stars, taking on a colorful retro style reminiscent of the forties. She even picks out her dream college – the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts, NYADA for short – and earns the grades to prove she can handle it. Every lifestyle choice she makes is leading Harmony in the direction of Broadway stardom. And she's only ten years old.
Since performing is so important to Harmony, she innocently assumes that her classmates feel the same way. Not so. What she calls "sharing her experiences," they call "bragging," and what she calls "exercising her talents," they call "showing off." She doesn't get why they think she's a bad person just because she's the only kid who voluntarily participates in the school musicals. What''s so bad about singing and dancing?
She'll never understand why, but the moment Harmony decides that Kristin Chenoweth is cooler than Britney Spears, her social life is over. It doesn't stop her from performing or getting the lead in all her school productions, but she learns early on that it's lonely at the top.
In the seventh grade, her Social Studies class covers the Salem Witch Trials.
"These women were often young girls or teenagers," the teacher explains. "They were accused of witchcraft – of manipulating objects and hexing the townspeople."
The girl sitting next to Harmony raises her hand. "What's 'hexing'?"
"A hex is a curse cast by an evil witch."
"Are witches loud and show-off-y?"
"Well, usually, yes. In fact, many of the 'witches' were accused solely because of their colorful clothing or outspoken ways."
The girl raises her hand again. "Is Harmony a witch?"
All the air rushes out of Harmony's lungs. Suddenly the whole class is laughing at her, calling her "Hex Girl," or "witch," or worse. Ostracism turns to harassment, and try as she might, Harmony can't shake her new nickname.
It sticks through seventh grade.
It sticks through eighth grade.
She begs her parents to go to an out-of-state high school. Though they won't leave Ohio, they do decide that they've never really liked Lima.
They move to Defiance, Ohio, in August, and Harmony enters Defiance High School as a freshman, determined to make her time there different from middle school. It is different, but not better. She's invisible. Whether she was adored by audiences or bullied by her peers, Harmony's never been ignored.
The anonymity is awful. She misses her spotlight.
When all hope seems lost, a light at the end of the tunnel appears: the NYADA Prep Group – a student-run organization that holds monthly meetings to prepare performing arts students to apply to NYADA.
This could be her group. She's never had a real group before! How exciting. She writes her name on the sign-up sheet and shows up that Sunday night at the Dayton Double Tree Hotel. One thought repeats itself over and over: Don't mess up. Don't say the wrong thing.
She's met at the doorway by a girl wearing a fifties-style pink scarf and polka-dot dress. She shakes Harmony's hand enthusiastically and speaks without stopping to breathe. "Hi! My name's Pendleton, and this is my friend, Canada." An impeccably-dressed boy appears next to her. "What's your name, where are you from, and what are your credits? And full name, please."
"Harmony E-Elsie Xander," Harmony manages to stutter. "I'm the Gerber Baby...?" She's so nervous that it sounds like a question. Pendleton and Canada sympathize and don't ask for the rest of her credits or her hometown again. It's so strange – they're the same age as Harmony, yet they're as confident as seniors already.
Pendleton ushers her to the center of the room. "'HEX,' huh? That's pretty cool. Everybody welcome the Hex Girl, Harmony Elsie Xander!"
Harmony sighs as she's led to her seat. This again?
They sit her next to a tall, slender boy named Gavroche ("after ze feisty French street urchin from Les Mis!") and ask everyone in the group to sing something off the cuff to showcase their strengths.
Gavroche claims bad-initial solidarity and asks to duet with Harmony. "I may curse you," she jokes sadly. "It's been done before."
"What's so bad about that? You know who else is a Hex Girl? Elphaba."
Harmony's pretty sure she's just met her new best friend. Why didn't that occur to her before?
"It's best to just embrace the initials," Gavroche continues. "I did."
Harmony smiles. His outfit is top notch and he seems nice enough. She takes a chance and tells him he's cute. He tells her Robert Pattinson is cute. Harmony raises an eyebrow.
"Honey, my name is Gavroche Alexander Ellrick. G-A-E. Get it?"
She laughs and smiles wider. They settle for BFF's and choose a showstopping duet to wow the crowd with. "We could so something from Rent," Harmony suggests. "I'm named after the cow in 'Over the Moon.' Well, my middle name."
"Shut up."
"And Elsie from 'Cabaret.'"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Gavroche gushes. "We're twins. But those shows might be a little scandalous for the first day. We'll get to them later. Do you know any classic Broadway?"
Harmony's eyes practically glow with excitement. "We are twins!"
They choose Cole Porter's "You're the Top" and start practicing. They're both very talented, and Harmony is completely confident until they're about to go on. She look at Gavroche and panics. "I don't think I can do this," she groans.
"Why? You're a-mah-zing. Don't you act?"
"This is different! An audience is anonymous. I'm going to see these students every day at school for the next four years! If I don't make a good first impression, I'm doomed to repeat middle school."
"Did you not hear what I just told you, Harmony? Embrace your initials. Get out there and put those kids under your spell."
Harmony looks around the room again. The people there all dress with her quirky vintage flair. They obviously share her ambitions, and they all intend to join the glee club. Actually, they'll probably make up the entire glee club. They're not your old class, Harmony tells herself. They're not. They're just like you.
Despite her nerves, Gavroche and Harmony sing a decent rendition of "You're the Top," and Pendleton and Canada quickly recruit them for Defiance High's show choir, the Unitards. Harmony winces at the name. The Unitards? Who chose that?
"You know, with a voice like that, I can definitely see you as lead vocal," Canada says.
You know, the Unitards isn't that bad of a name.
Auditions for the school's winter musical are the next week. It's Evita, and due to Harmony's close personal connection to the show (she used to listen to "Buenos Aires" to cheer her up on bad days), she simply must audition for the title role. It's on her list of future credits, right after Mama Rose in Gypsy.
On audition day, Harmony nails the dance component easily, then waits with Gavroche for her turn to sing. As a junior sings the third rendition of "On My Own" of the day, Harmony glances at the rest of the students waiting to audition. None of them want this as much as I do. What if she doesn't get this part? What if she does and she's terrible? What if everyone else is terrible and show is a disaster? Worse – what if they're better than her?
By the time she steps onstage, Harmony has freaked herself out so much that she can barely stutter out her by-now-famous name. She can't remember any of the nuances and subtle movements she practiced for "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," she wants this so badly. Even as she finishes, she can practically see what the director is writing down. Lovely voice, pretty eyes, no presence.
Harmony gives Gavroche a look – What was that? – and exits the auditorium without a word.
A week later, the cast list goes up.
She's not Eva.
She's not even the understudy.
"Peron's Mistress?" Harmony moans, shaking Gavroche's shoulder. "She doesn't even have a name! Eight minutes of stage time... That's it, I'm quitting musical theatre forever. I guess I'll just drop out of the Unitards and join the Chemistry Club and spend my life in a lab coat, in a research center, never to feel the warmth of the spotlight on my face –"
"Harmony!"
"What?"
"Do you know why you weren't cast as Eva?" Gavroche asks, voice completely even.
Harmony sniffles. "Because I don't look Argentinian?"
Gavroche sighs. "No. Because you expected to be given the part."
"Hey!"
"Let me finish. You have a close personal connection to Evita. You wanted this more than anyone else, but the director doesn't know that. You can't just expect people to know where you're coming from or where you're going. No one's going to ask you're name or why you want a certain role. You get one chance, and you start at the bottom. You want a part? Get out there are take it."
Harmony thinks about this. A smile crosses her face. "Live out loud?"
"Exactly. You even get a solo. Not too shabby for your first high school production," he adds, playfully elbowing her in the side.
"But, Peron's Mistress? What do I do with that?"
"'Another Suitcase in Another Hall' is all about rejection. Take how you're feeling right now, how you felt through all of middle school, and channel that into your performance."
"What about 'Buenos Aires'?" she protests. "That's my song!"
"Harmony, I promise that you and I will find a way for you to sing "Buenos Aires" before you graduate."
Three months later, Harmony is known throughout Defiance as the actress who outshone Evita.
Harmony transforms herself into a whirlwind of color and sound. Sophomore year passes by as a succession of lead roles – both inside and outside of school – performances by the Unitards, and meetings of the NYADA Prep Group.
September
The first NYADA Prep meeting of the year. They expect new blood but receive none. They spend the evening gossiping about the school musical.
Harmony auditions for and gets the part of Cassie in Defiance High's production of A Chorus Line.
November
NYADA Prep takes a field trip to visit their future employers and sees West Side Story on Broadway.
Hell Week: Harmony and Gavroche might as well camp out at school for the amount of time they spend in the auditorium.
Opening night of A Chorus Line: Harmony saves the show by improv-ing a monologue for ten minutes while waiting for a freshman to remember to come onstage.
The Unitards win Sectionals.
January
Harmony auditions for, receives, and is praised for her performance in the role of Belle in Lima Theatre Guild's run of Beauty and the Beast. She finds it incredibly amusing that some of her old classmates are in the ensemble. The headline? "Hex Girl Xander Enchants Local Audiences." She wears her initials as a badge of honor.
NYADA Prep takes a field trip to see Harmony perform.
February
Harmony decides to try her hand at straight acting and auditions for the female lead in Macbeth, the school's spring dramatic production.
Gavroche suggests a medley of music from Les Mis for the Unitards to perform at Regionals, in honor of his name.
Harmony is cast as Lady Macbeth.
Everyone presents their audition solos and monologues at the NYADA meeting.
March
NYADA Prep is forced to relocate their meeting to Canada's house when an Edgar Alan Poe convention takes up space at the Dayton Double Tree. They spend the night singing karaok - um, researching.
The Unitards host an invitational. They consider it a good sign when no other clubs show up – supposedly out of fear.
Rehearsals continue for Macbeth. Harmony tragically loses her voice for a week due to excessive screaming.
The show choir districts for Regionals are redrawn yet again. This time, the Unitards will face off against Vocal Adrenaline.
April
The Unitards place second at Regionals. Damn Vocal Adrenaline.
NYADA Prep Group is too depressed to meet.
June
Macbeth opening night: Harmony unsurprisingly blows away the critics.
Senior members of the Unitards graduate; Harmony begins planning for next year.
She meets him when she's seventeen. Their story is just like her parents': she's Reno Sweeney in Defiance High's production of Anything Goes, and Jason is on stage crew. He's everything she's ever wanted until he isn't. Eventually, she realizes he sees her as nothing but a trophy. She's being taken advantage of. But he's her love story – he's supposed to be her love story – and he's polite to her parents and tells her he needs her. So, like the actress she is, Harmony pretends. She slaps a smile on her face and fakes happiness. She's fine. He's perfect. She's perfect. Everything's fine. She tells her friends she loves him. She tells her parents he's a gentleman. He's under her spell, she jokes. Fake it 'til you make it, right?
But it turns out that this is one spell Harmony can't cast. She can't make him love her. She really doesn't want to at this point. She just wants out, but now she's in so deep that she doesn't know how to get out. She stops pretending. Lying makes her sick. At this point, she figures it's easier to just stop talking altogether.
In the end, it's Gavroche that helps her through it. He's the first person to catch on that something's wrong, and the only person she tells. After he presses her for months, Harmony finally gives in.
She can't bring herself to tell him directly, so she just tells him something's up with Jason and asks him to pay close attention to her solo at the last NYADA Prep meeting of the year. His eyes fix on her with curiosity as she sings "I Couldn't Be Happier" from Wicked. He's surprised she didn't choose to belt her face off.
"But I couldn't be happier
Simply couldn't be happier
Well - not 'simply'
'Cause getting your dreams
It's strange, but it seems
A little - well – complicated"
Gavroche stares at Harmony more intently than before. She takes a shaky breath before continuing.
"There's a kind of a sort of...cost
There's a couple of things get...lost
There are bridges you cross
You didn't know you crossed until you've crossed"
Something warm slides down her cheek...she's crying? It's so foreign to her – Harmony hasn't expressed a real emotion in months.
"And if that joy, that thrill
Doesn't thrill like you think it will
Still –
With this perfect finale,
The cheers and the ballyhoo
Who wouldn't be happier?
So, I couldn't be happier
It's a shame, really, because her pitch-perfect vocals are slightly marred by the fact that she's trying (and failing) to hold back tears through the whole thing. The group applauds, though, because as far as they know, Harmony's just a really good actress. Gavroche sees right through her. He does not applaud. In fact, he remains completely silent until he drags her away from the crowd when the meeting adjourns.
Once they're in a deserted hallway, Gavroche grabs her arm and rolls up her sleeve, revealing a large purple bruise. "Why didn't you tell me?" he cries.
Harmony shakes her head fervently. "I-I don't know," she says, blinking back more tears. "I didn't want anyone to see me hurt."
Gavroche's face softens. "Harmony, you are a powerhouse. But that doesn't mean you have to be invincible. You don't have to be a stone wall to be," he wiggles his nose, "bewitching."
The next day, Gavroche marches Harmony right up to Jason, and she tells him she's leaving. Before Jason can even crack his knuckles, the NYADA Prep Group magically appears behind her. They stay. He leaves.
But by this point, the only things left of her junior year are a playbill, some words she'd rather not repeat, more than few hidden bruises, and a scar on the back of her neck (carefully hidden by perfect hair) that won't go away.
She spends the first two weeks of summer vacation at home, utterly ashamed. Eventually, Gavroche shows up and demands a girls' night: a Judy Garland movie marathon sleepover at his house. While he does her makeup, Harmony tells him and Judy that she has no idea who she is anymore. She's so used to being Jason's girlfriend that she doesn't know how to be Harmony Elsie Xander. He says to do what she does best. So she decides to audition for stuff.
She goes blonde, needing a change. Determined not to let that hair go to waste, Gavroche makes her audition for Elle Woods in a revue heavily featuring music from Legally Blonde: The Musical. She gets the part, and it's the first time in a long time that she has something to look forward to. She finally realizes that she's "So Much Better" as herself.
Harmony goes back to being a brunette. The tissues go away, and the red lipstick comes out.
When their senior year begins, Harmony and her friends set their sights on the upcoming NYADA Mixer for prospective students and start to plan her comeback number. She picks "Anything Goes." It's symbolic.
"But not enough," Gavroche tells her. He mashes it with "Anything You Can Do."
"Now it's symbolic."
Gavroche massages Harmony's shoulders the night of the mixer. She doesn't even pretend not to be nervous.
She sees two smug-looking new students enter the lobby from her seat at the foot of the stage and tenses up all over again. Gavroche lets go of her and rubs his hands. "Harmony, sweetie, you just turned into a stone statue."
She spins around in a panic and grabs his tie. "I don't think I can do this."
He smiles and grips her shoulders firmly. "You said that to me exactly three years ago. Do you know what the difference is between you then, and you now?"
Fakeness. Defense mechanisms. Silence. Her scar tingles and she looks at the floor.
Gavroche continues, "It's that now you can. And you don't need me as second fiddle." He pulls her into a hug.
"Go be spellbinding."
Harmony smiles. A non-fake, ear-to-ear, beautiful smile. She doesn't know who these new kids are, but she is never going back to what she was last year. No one will ever put her in that position again.
Harmony Elsie Xander is back.
Author's Note
Thanks for reading! I love minor characters – they're like blank canvases. Hopefully, this explains a few things: how Harmony became the powerhouse performer she is, why the Unitards only sing Broadway songs, a vulnerability of Harmony's (based on the actress), and why her performance of "Anything Goes/Anything You Can Do" was so intense. Mostly I just wanted to add some humanity to a character who, it appears, is being set up as the villain.
Knock on wood that Glee never gives Harmony an official last name!
Inspiration for this story: me, and this (take out the spaces): https:/ www. face book. com /notes/ lindsay-pearce /vulnerability/ 177056975688348