I am officially in love with Hadley Fraser and Ramin Karimloo. I found out they have a "Bromance name", Radley! And I'm sure a lot of you knew this already, but I still think its soo cool that one of Ramin's sons is named Hadley. :)
But does that mean that if Hadley has a kid and it's a boy that he'll be named Ramin? Elaborate, please.
This chapter is the presentation. If I confused anyone, both Enjolras and Rosie are Evita Che-esque narrators, but Enjolras represents Robespierre, more or less. Coolio?
Enjolras was a bit jumpy in the hallway as he waited for his and Rosie's names to be called. Hardly anyone had dressed for the era. The only two had been Courfeyrac and Katie, who did a presentation on the lives of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Rosie had bought an old wedding dress from a thrift shop and the costumer for the drama club helped her remove the majority of the beading and extra things. She also had the skirt filled out to a point. Mr. Mackintosh had loaned her a tricolor that had been Ramin's during the high school's production of Les Miz.
Enjolras, on the other hand, had a harder time getting his hands on a costume. He ended up going to Mr. Mackintosh as well, who managed to dig up the old Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy costumes from the "Pride and Prejudice" contest play from two years ago. Karimloo's Darcy costume fit Enjolras better than Fraser's Bingley one, so he was dressed in mostly black; the long trousers altered into breeches. The choir director allowed him to borrow some white madrigals stockings, since there wasn't much difference between the Medieval man's woolen stocking and the one of Robespierre's time.
"Enjolras and Rosie!" Mr. Christophe hollered. Enjolras adjusted his coat before opening the door and entering. Thankfully, it turned out many of the others HAD been in costume. Before Enjolras could start his opening, Rosie walked over to him.
"I've got something for you," she opened her hand and revealed the tricolor pin; a cockade, Enjolras somehow recalled. He figured calling it a pin was best though, considering Courfeyrac was in the class, after all. Rosie pinned it to his lapel and he turned to address the crowd.
"Maximilien de Robespierre was born in Arras, France on May 6th, 1758 to a bourgeoisie family," Enjolras stated. "He came from a long line of lawyers, starting with his grandfather, also named Maximilien."
"At age seventeen, while studying at the Louis-le-Grand, Robespierre was chosen to give a speech in honor of the new king, Louis XVI's, coronation. He spoke in the pouring rain while the king and his queen stayed in their carriage the whole time. The royals left immediately afterwards." Rosie followed.
Enjolras took over the narrative of his political career, leading up to his execution.
"And so, Maximilien Robespierre, aged thirty-six, was killed by the monster he had created," Rosie said. "His and the National Assembly's decision to allow the use of little to no evidence against the condemned was ultimately his end. Like those he had scorned, he too climbed the scaffolding to receive a necklace which would never leave him. Like many with power, Maximilien Robespierre became paranoid. But a patriot is a patriot. He believed in a new France, but got lost along the way."
Enjolras, who had kneeled after he reached Robespierre's execution, rose again to speak one last time. "In 1794, Robespierre said, "To punish the oppressors of humanity is clemency; to forgive them is barbarity." I leave you with this; Maximilien Robespierre was a man far ahead of his time. Yet, his own words burned him in the end. His name will always remain intertwined with the history of France and its revolution. But in what way he deserves to be remembered is your decision."
The class was silent for a moment, as if they couldn't comprehend what had been shown to them. Mr. Christophe spoke up.
"I have seen many presentations on the topic of the National Assembly and Robespierre. But this one... This one stands out. Both of you are so well-spoken, and so smart that I could imagine the two of you representing both sides of the story; Robespierre's being voiced by Enjolras, and the people who grew to fear him, presented by Rosie. And the costumes are genius! How did you get them?"
"It wasn't easy," Enjolras told him. "We both haunted the drama department for a while." Rosie nodded in agreement.
"I want Mr. Mackintosh to see this. And Mr. Valjean. Heck, even Mr. Javert can come and see this if he wants to. Be ready for them on Monday. Wonderful. Just wonderful." Mr. Christophe praised.
Rosie smiled at Enjolras and threw her arms around his neck. Enjolras, slightly taken aback, wrapped his arms around her waist. Courfeyrac wolf-whistled as the class applauded and both Enjolras and Rosie looked at him annoyedly.
They got permission to go and change, and rushed out into the hallway.
"You were marvelous!" Enjolras shouted to Rosie as she went to her locker.
"You were too! I almost thought for a second that you were playing Robespierre himself, not just telling his story."
They stopped in between the two bathrooms, standing in front of the water fountain, their normal clothes balled up from being quickly stuffed into backpacks. Enjolras unpinned the cockade from his lapel and handed it to Rosie.
"Here," he offered it to her. "You keep it."
Rosie closed his hand around it. "No. It was meant for you."
Enjolras nodded and took it back, leaving to change. Rosie did the same, but kept her hair in the braid Katie had helped her with. When she exited, she could hear the hand-dryer of the boys' bathroom going; Enjolras was probably trying to get the flour out of his hair by blowing it out. When he came out, there were still specks of white in his hair, but it was more blonde than wig-white. Rosie pulled a comb from her pocket and stopped him from entering the classroom.
"Here. Let me help you," she mumbled. With a little more combing, the flour was all gone. "Better?"
Enjolras checked his reflection in the glass window by the door. He nodded and went into the classroom without saying a thing to her.
Rosie leaned against the lockers and sighed.
He truly was a Robespierre.
Please forgive my lack of knowledge on Robespierre. This was all congured from Internet research, so not all the details could be correct. :/
Review? Please?
~TheClassof1832