Dedicated to Valerie Landsburg, the actress that portrayed Doris Schwartz on Fame, on her birthday.

"You have to have talent. You have to get the audition and then you have to nail the audition."

—Joel McHale (as quoted at brainyquote·com)

Preface

I was too young to watch the show Fame during its original run, except for the episode Not in Kansas Anymore [S2E19]. My parents encouraged me to watch that one so I would be occupied while they had guests over. Being a fan of The Wizard of Oz since childhood, I didn't mind one bit.

Later on, I caught reruns from a Canadian station. More recently, I've rediscovered episodes online. While I identify more with the final seasons that I watched on the Canadian station, I've also come to appreciate the first three seasons more. The first season began with a lot of references to the movie before going in a different direction. The next two seasons saw the main core of characters develop and deal with hardships.

If I had to choose favorite characters—or characters that stand out the most to me—from the first half of the show, Bruno and Doris would probably be my picks. Bruno starts off as a very introverted character that retreats to his music. By the time his character leaves his show at the start of season three, he's opened up a bit more with his peers while still letting his music do most of his talking.

On the other hand, Doris is a bit more flamboyant. Her desire to be a star is so strong, she's willing to change her appearance and personality if it means she'll get a part—so much so, her well-being suffered from it in at least one episode. I suppose both characters were like any other teen with a strong desire to find success and acceptance.

That said, the show ends with Alumni Week. Bruno, despite having dropped out before graduation (due to his father's untimely passing), was somehow welcomed back, which pleased me. More surprising, though, was the news that Doris was now married with an infant daughter. This got me to thinking what could happen if Doris' daughter, Jenny, decided to audition for a spot at the School of the Arts once she was old enough. Also, what might happen if Doris ran into her old classmate, Bruno, especially since they were good friends when they were classmates? This one-shot is my attempt at writing something that answers those questions.

Acknowledgments

Very special thanks to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the original producers of the show, Fame.

Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Doris Rhythm pulled up to the curb. It had been a good 16 years since she attended the School of the Arts, but it didn't appear to be too different—on the outside at least.

"Mom?" Jenny asked, interrupting her mother's silent reminiscing.

"Something wrong?" Doris asked in reply.

"You were spacing out there for a minute."

Doris chuckled. "You do remember I went to school here. I was thinking about how much it's changed and how much it's stayed the same... if it's still the same."

"Well, if I'm accepted, you'll find out soon enough. You can always ask me," Jenny deadpanned.

"Better yet, I can see for myself at parent-teacher conferences," Doris retorted.

"So that's where I get that from."

"Jenny, if we keep trying to one-up each other all morning, you'll be late. You don't want to make a bad impression on your hopeful teachers." Doris then kissed her daughter's cheek before adding, "Good luck, OK?"

"Thanks, mom," Jenny replied as she opened the car door and left, eager to walk up the stairs and into the School of the Arts.

As Doris pulled away, she couldn't help thinking, I wonder if any other alumni had kids that went here.

After checking in, news that the morning session consisted of academic assessments surprised Jenny, leading her to think, Why do they need to check that? I already submitted a written portfolio. She settled into a chair in the front of the classroom and looked around.

"Good morning, everyone. I'm Mr. Thomas, one of the math teachers here at the School of the Arts. Undoubtedly, you're all here to be performing arts students. However, your academic performance is just as important. Since both go hand in hand, we will be testing you in subjects including math, science, and social studies."

Mr. Thomas then passed out exams to each of the students and told them, "You may begin as soon as you receive your exam. Follow the instructions on the first page very carefully. You will lose points if you don't follow them. You have until the hour to finish the exam. Once you're complete, hand your exam to me and silently leave for the cafeteria where you can grab a snack and relax until your next exam. If you have any questions, come up to my desk."

Jenny looked at her exam. After reading the instructions, she did as she was directed and put her name on the back of the last page. She then turned the exam around and skimmed through the questions. There were questions ranging from basic math to pre-algebra and basic geometry.

Here goes nothing, she thought.

Jenny took a deep breath as she returned to the cafeteria. After morning exams in math and science, it was lunch time. As she perused the menu and the offerings, she looked around. Nobody seemed familiar to her. At the same time, she realized everyone else probably felt the same way.

After paying for a lunch consisting of: a slice of somewhat-greasy pizza, fries, banana pudding, and chocolate milk, she looked for a place to sit.

"You look lost. There's a seat here for you," a female voice called out.

Jenny turned to face the girl. "Thanks," she replied as she sat down.

"It's crazy, huh?"

"You got it. Say, what's your name?"

"Ashley."

"I'm Jenny. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Let me guess, you're a hopeful like I am."

Jenny nodded. "Something like that. I can't believe we have an afternoon, and another whole day, of these tests," she said.

"Tell me about it," Ashley replied. "I think the academic exams were pretty heavy. I mean, anyone can dance, sing, or tell cheesy jokes if they really want to learn how. But if you don't know the regular subjects, you're kinda screwed, you know?"

"I never thought of it that way," Jenny answered before taking a bite out of her pizza.

"What exams did you have this morning?"

"Math and science."

"Ugh, my two least favorite subjects. I'm not looking forward to them tomorrow. At least English and Social Studies weren't too bad."

"Math wasn't too bad. The teacher giving them was nice. The science proctor had less personality than this pizza, though."

Ashley chuckled before she asked, "Drama major?"

"Actually, I hope to get into music or dance—or maybe both. My mom was a student here a long time ago."

"I'm thinking of dance, myself. If that doesn't work, there's always the drama department. So, you're one of those kids here because mommy said so?"

After taking a swig of her milk, Jenny replied, "Hardly. Yeah, my parents are involved in show biz, but they didn't push me into this one bit. You know how lame that would be. I did some plays in middle school and enjoyed it a lot, so I thought I'd see if I'm any good at it all the time. If I follow in mom's footsteps, great. If not, I at least have my studies to fall back on."

"OK, so I was wrong. No need to bite my head off," Ashley said.

"I'd rather eat these fries... or something more palatable."

"You know, Jenny, you just might want to consider drama if dance or music doesn't work out."

Jenny giggled. "Who knows, maybe we'll meet up in a dance audition."

"That's be awesome. Speaking of which, I better get changed and ready for mine. See ya, Jenny. And, good luck."

"You too, Ashley."

A day later, Jenny had her final artistic audition: a group piano ensemble. She started off in perfect unison, but found herself slightly lagging behind the rest of the class. Eager to please the teacher, she chose to add extra flourish to the middle part of the composition.

The teacher, Mr. Martelli, immediately heard something amiss. "Stop! Hold on!" he called out. Spotting who he thought was the culprit, he said, "I know you were having some trouble, but it was nothing out of the ordinary for an audition of incoming freshman. But, the fancy stuff has got to go, Miss..."

"Rhythm. Jenny Rhythm," Jenny replied.

"Well, you might want to live up to your name and stay in rhythm next time." After the class giggled, he said, "Alright, enough of that. Let's start again, da capo."

Jenny shook her head and started to play again on cue.

Done for the day, Jenny went into the locker room where auditioning students had temporary access to lockers in which to store their belongings during the day. There, she ran into Ashley again.

"Hey, Jenny. There you are. I didn't think I'd see you again."

"I know. I had a rough audition. I'm so glad it's over."

"Really? What class?"

"Music. The teacher was pretty snarky."

"Really, which one?"

"Some guy with an Italian-sounding name."

Ashley thought for a moment. "I don't think he did my audition," she conceded.

"Be lucky. He was a real drag. How was your audition?" Jenny asked.

"It went OK, I guess. I had no problem with the steps and combinations, but I don't know if I'll make it."

"You'll get in, you've got the body for it," another girl interjected.

"Umm, what are you talking about, Nita?"

"You did good on your routine and you got the right body for it."

"I still don't follow you."

"Are you really that clueless, Ash? They don't want dancers with big boobs, that would draw too much attention away from the background dancers. That's why they don't take ones with too small ones, either."

Jenny found herself looking at her own body as Nita explained her theory.

"Don't worry, you'd make the dance department," Nita assured Jenny.

"I've never heard that," Jenny replied.

"Me, either," Ashley answered. "Well, let's just hope we get accepted. It's be nice to know a few of our classmates this fall."

"Let's hope. I better go. My mom's waiting for me."

"What's your e-mail? I'd love to let you know if I get in, and hear if you did too."

Jenny thought for a minute. It couldn't hurt to give a hopeful friend and classmate a way to stay in touch, did it? She finally replied. "Little Rhythm 87 at empire dot invalid."

"Thanks. I'll let you know one way or another."

"Cool, but I gotta go. Good luck, you two."

Doris stood inside the main lobby of the School of the Arts. It looked like the floor may have been re-tiled at some point in the not-so-distant past, but everything else still looked familiar.

"Mom!" Jenny called out.

"Hey, kiddo. How'd it go today?" Doris asked in reply.

"OK, I guess. I wish my music..." Jenny answered before she noticed her mother's attention shifting away from her.

Doris looked at the adult walking towards the office. He looked vaguely familiar. If it was who she thought, he had less hair than she remembered. Doesn't everyone at our age, though, she thought. Taking a chance, she called out, "Bruno?"

Bruno froze in his tracks and looked at the person calling his name. He found himself thinking, Is it really? Finally, he responded with, "Doris?"

Doris ran up to him and was all set to hug him before she stopped. Making a scene would probably be a bad thing, she thought. She instead asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I teach music here now. What are you doing here?" Bruno asked in reply.

"I'm picking up my daughter. She's been auditioning for a spot in the incoming class."

Bruno looked at Jenny again and gave a small sigh. "I guess I owe you both an apology."

"For what?"

"I might have made fun of your last name when reminding your daughter to play in unison with the group," Bruno confessed.

To Bruno's surprise, Doris chuckled. "Trust me, having the last name 'Rhythm' means the three of us—Bob, Jenny, and I—end up the butt of many jokes. So long as you weren't too rude, we're used to it."

"Either way, if I'm going to have your daughter in my class, I don't want to get off on the wrong foot. So, I apologize."

"Accepted," Doris replied.

"It wasn't mean, you were right to remind me not to get too fancy," Jenny added.

"So this is what you've been doing with yourself, huh?" Doris asked Bruno.

"Well, after being a lounge singer for a while, it got too repetitive. So, I went to night school, got my GED, and took classes at City College when I could to get my music degree. One thing led to another, and now I'm here teaching."

"I'm proud of you, Bruno. That's great news. I hate to ask, but does Jenny have a chance."

"You know better, Doris. Remember our own auditions? No one teacher makes the final decision. Besides, it wouldn't be right to give your daughter a break."

"You got a point," Doris conceded. "Can you imagine Miss Sherwood or Mr. Shorofsky giving us breaks?"

"There's a better chance of me playing Hooked on Rap than either of them giving any student a break. But I guess I can tell you that Jenny did a decent job with a very tough piece of music."

"It was tricky," Jenny replied.

"I chose it on purpose. I know nearly every hopeful student will stumble at one point or another. I want to see how they react afterwards. A good musician will keep playing as if they never made a mistake. Most rookies try to overcompensate. You're a talented musician, though. If you make it, I'd love to teach you to be better."

"Thanks."

"Bruno, I'd love to stay, but Jenny and I have to go pick up my husband. I imagine I'll be seeing quite a bit of you, though, with parent-teacher conferences and student performances."

"That assumes Jenny here gets accepted."

"I miss the optimistic Bruno."

"Life in the real world does that to a person," Bruno quipped.

"Indeed it does. Anyways, good to see you again. I just hope it isn't 14 more years between now and the next time."

"It'd be nice. Bye for now."

"Good bye, sir," Jenny added.

Bruno then left the pair and went into the main office.

"Do you know any other teachers here, mom?" Jenny asked half-seriously and half-nervous.

"I don't think so. You'll be lucky to have Bruno, err, Mr. Martelli as a teacher. He and I went to school here together and he was a very talented musician—especially with his synthesizers."

"I hope I make it."

"Remember what I told you, kiddo? Regardless of what happens, I'm proud of you for even making it to the audition stage of the application. Maybe I'm biased, but I think you can make it. But if not, you can still pursue your dreams."

"Thanks, mom," Jenny replied as she shared a hug with her mother.

Two weeks later, Doris looked at the mail. Going through the bills and other usual letters, she saw one addressed To the Parents of Jennifer Rhythm.

"Jenny, come here, please," she called out.

Jenny came out of her room and joined her mother. "What's up?" she asked.

"This is addressed to me, but I'm pretty sure it's something you'll want to read."

Jenny looked at the envelope. "I'm not sure I can read it. What if it's a reject notice?"

"It's part of the business. Go ahead, open it and read it to me."

Jenny opened the envelope and removed the letter. She unfolded it and read:

"It is my pleasure to announce that your daughter, Jennifer, has been accepted to the School of the Arts. Congratulation on being part of the Class of 2005."

Jenny screamed for joy and didn't bother reading the rest of the letter. After receiving another hug from her mother, Doris took the letter and read it. The remained of it had information on ninth grade orientation, course selection, and other important information for new students and parents.

"See, I said you'd make it," Doris said.

"I'll be just like you mom, you'll be proud of me," Jenny replied.

"No, Jenny. Be yourself. When I was your age, I thought I had to be all kinds of different people in order to be a star. Eventually, I learned that I had to be myself first, and adjust to roles... not let roles define me. Don't make the same mistakes I did."

"I'll try to remember that."

"Just wait till your father gets home, he'll be happy to hear the good news."

"Yeah," Jenny replied. As she smiled at the good news, she thought, I hope Ashley got accepted, too.

Closing Commentary: For me, this one-shot was a chance to explore a number of speculative topics related to what happened after Fame ended in 1986-87 after six seasons.

Initially, the show introduced Jenny's character as a two month old in Fame's grand finale. I found myself curious what might happen to Doris' daughter as she grew up. Given both of her parents have ties to the performing arts, it made sense for Jenny to choose to do the same. I liked the idea of having her make it clear the decision was hers and it wasn't because she felt obligated or pressured to follow in her parents' footsteps.

Also, it was a chance to explore how teens might interact in 2001. Writing accurate portrayals of teens—and earlier time periods—is a challenge for me. I'd like to believe, though, that teen girls do discuss personal topics in a locker or dressing room, just as guys do. I also thought it might realistic to show teens perpetuating misconceptions—in this case, the misconception being that chest size plays a role in which females get accepted into the dance department. In addition, the internet was starting to become more popular at this time. Therefore, it made sense for teens to exchange e-mail addresses instead of phone numbers as they might have done in the past.

Furthermore, I wanted to show Doris with a bit of nostalgia as she revisits her former high school. Even though one might expect a new slate of teachers and staff—along with minor cosmetic changes to the school—there will always be student plays and performances at a school focused on the performing arts. I also imagine Doris is curious to see what Jenny eventually decides to study once she's accepted. Her advice to Jenny about not making the same mistakes she made as a teen is telling. Sure, teens do experiment a lot with their appearance and other things. However, Doris wants to use her own experiences, both positive and negative, to help her daughter.

Finally, I wanted to explore a future possibility for Bruno. While it was realistic for him to have to drop out of school when his father (his only surviving parent) died, I thought it was disappointing since he was presumably a senior and close to graduation. I can truly picture Bruno eventually earning his GED (General Educational Development) and pursuing some sort of musical studies in college. I also thought it might be interesting to show him as a teacher with a personality partially influenced by the stern Mr. Shorofsky. Unlike Mr. Shorofsky, however, I see Bruno being more personable and better able to reach out to the next generation of students based on his own experiences.

This was fun story to write. Thanks for taking time to read it.

END