A/N:
In response to Guest Reviewers:
To Suzie, Did I mention just how much your reviews brighten my day? In regards to Mrs. B, I do believe you'll get some answers within this chapter. For Rose, I definitely agree that she'll certainly take the charge with social media! And, when it comes to that music room getting a little warmer - just wait ;D They might be slower to act than other couples, but they'll certainly get to raise the temperature in that regard.
To the guest who spoke of CJ and Butte being gone for a week, I'm so pleased you enjoyed this last update! And, when it comes to Mrs. Butte, this was the last segment she's going to have any real power - though she'll pop up a few more times. And, :D I'm very tickled you got a kick out of the Spratt/CJ section - I definitely think he'll be able to help with the fundraising!
General Author's Note: It's not as long as a chapter as I'd prefer, but I did want to get something out before the week ended. Regardless of how or if you're celebrating today, I hope you've been having a good time!
Disclaimer that I meant to make much earlier: The schools brought up are purely fictional. The architect for Downton is based off of a former school of mine, yes. However, all other buildings (as well as teachers, conductors, choir directors, authority figures, etc.) are purely fictional. Any resemblance to real life people is coincidental.
_._
Dear Charles,
Is everything alright at Downton? Only I'm a little concerned because you never responded to my previous email. And, seeing how, not only I have always known you to be a rather prompt responder, it is has been a week since we last spoke, I do believe concern is in order.
I look forward to your next response and to meeting again soon. Let me know when you're available.
Fondly,
Alice Neal
And, that wasn't the only irritation awaiting him in his inbox.
Dear Mr. Carson,
I am afraid that I am experiencing far more issues with recovering than I anticipated. I will be sending for a doctor's note as soon as I can obtain one, in order to ensure your trust in the situation. As of now, I will be out for at least a few more days if not the end of the week.
Sincerely,
Emma Butte
As relieved as he was to not have to deal with his soon-to-be-former colleague just yet, he was in no mood to tolerate what was almost entirely a lie.
It was with a sigh that Charles begrudgingly clicked the "Reply" button on-screen. Alice's would be first, seeing as how he knew she'd be emailing again today if he didn't respond. Emma's email, on the other hand, didn't strike him as one that was anticipating an immediate reply.
Dear Alice,
The keys were struck with unforgiving force as his mind fought to come up with something that cordial but candid.
"What did that keyboard do to deserve such treatment?" Elsie asked from her desk on the other side of the room. He settled for a harrumph instead of an official response - only garnering a chortle for his troubles.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
Charles thought it over a moment, uncertain. Elsie wouldn't be able to help with Emma - except to remind him to be relieved that she'd soon be leaving Downton. With Alice, on the other hand… Well, he wasn't entirely sure.
"Do you have any advice for dealing with unpleasant matters?"
"If such unpleasant matters involve corresponding with women named Alice or Emma," She knowingly spoke up, obtaining not only a wide-eyed expression but also a double take. "I have a few suggestions."
Charles couldn't help but smile appreciatively, very grateful he didn't have to explain everything.
"They do indeed." He maneuvered his swivel chair back a few inches, so as to see her better from across the room and truly converse. Though, there hadn't been a need for that - she was already rising out of her chair and walking over to look at these emails herself. "So, what do you suggest?"
"Firstly, you can always inform Alice that Mrs. Butte has yet to make an official decision - which is why you have refrained from responding." Now, why hadn't he thought of that? "Secondly, if she's insisting on meeting then I could come along and turn it into a choir discussion amongst colleagues."
Now Charles was beginning to realize just how lucky he was that Elsie Hughes was in his life.
"Do you mean that?" The choir director asked, somewhat awestruck. Had the situation been reversed, he honestly wouldn't know how he'd react or if such an idea would have come to mind.
"Why would I suggest something I wouldn't do?"
Oh, how he loved her dry sense of humour. And her very existence.
"That means more to me than I could possibly say." She shook off the compliment, looking on at the second email in question.
"Now, when it comes to Mrs. Butte, may I try my hand at a draft?"
"Go right ahead," Charles said gesturing to the computer. And, if her composing a draft meant accidentally brushing up against him several times in the process, well, it was all in the name of helping the choirs.
_._
Dear Mrs. Butte,
We at the choir department are quite sorry to hear of your unfortunate delay. Do not worry about procuring a doctor's note - focus solely on recovering. And do let us know when you are able to secure employment. You are, of course, more than welcome to consider The Center's offer. However, no offense will be taken whichever path you next take.
Best,
Mr. Carson
She glanced down at her phone's message, scoffing in disbelief.
"'No offense will be taken whichever path you next take'? How kind."
Charles' silly attempt at placation didn't really matter either way; Emma had already arrived at her destination. Having now approached the entrance of a certain grey-brick building that she'd never before dared to enter, the woman looked at the institution with almost a sense of vindication.
Standing at an impressive five stories, the grey boxy structure gleamed with a type of pride she never found at Downton. The windows gave an austere presence to the building, the overall appearance accentuating the frigid and unforgivingly ruthless reputation that the institution had spent decades crafting:
Carlisle Institute.
Once a building she never cared to set eyes on, now an institution she took great delight in visiting.
Honestly, had she encountered such an academy eleven years prior, Downton's choirs would never have stood a chance. Though frankly, after the treatment she received these last two weeks - and by someone who supposedly claimed to be her friend for the last decade, no less - it made perfect sense as to why she stood here in this moment.
After all, instinct brought her here today. Instinct guided her steps whilst intuition had encouraged her to call up an old friend who worked at this fine institution. And with those feelings there came a surge of unabashed glee that accompanied her steps the closer she got to the entrance. A sense of fulfillment at the thought that she'd finally right the wrongs of the last few months.
It was time to offer her services to their rival school. And, once she proved herself useful to them, Emma was more than certain that they'd take her on.
So, now, even if Ms. Hughes wasn't to be cast out by the end of this semester, it didn't matter. She'd long since made up her mind that Ms. Hughes leaving would hardly make up for this semester. Having been given such treatment - being replaced by that woman, having been made a fool of by Mrs. Levinson, putting up with such horrid singing for so many years, and still not being trusted by Charles after all these years to do her job - Emma felt she more than deserved to take this next step.
"Emma?" Phoebe Miller, her long time friend and the very person she'd be so eager to see, was waiting for her at the entrance. "I'm so glad you could make it!"
"So am I," She easily confessed, following her friend into the looming entrance doors. "You won't believe what I've had to endure."
"Tell me all about it." The woman encouragingly responded, quite curious as to why Emma had had a change in heart about her employment after all these years.
_._
"Students," Elsie began the announcements today, looking across the sea of singers to gage interest. "As you may have noticed, there are several papers on the piano."
All of them had indeed noticed this, even if they didn't inquire just yet.
"These are the various forms for each fundraising project." The choir teacher then began to gesture to each individual set of papers, fighting back a smile at the rising enthusiasm. "This is for signing up to be in the solo showcase, this is for helping with the bake-sale next week, these are the forms for the Valentine song requests, and this is the sign-up for helping with the social media pages."
Practically bouncing in their seats like toddlers, she continued to ignore their excitement - if only so as to keep the momentum going.
"Now, I would prefer it if you all would be willing to take the papers you're interested in or sign-up for to help with the events by the end of class. And, yes, you can sign up for multiple opportunities or grab multiple song requests. You are also under no obligation to participate in any of these fundraising efforts." She looked at the raised hand, "Yes, Anna?"
"Mrs. Hughes, are there online version of the Valentine's song request forms?"
"Not at this moment, no. However, I am more than happy to create an online form as well." Anna nodded appreciatively at this, dropping her hand with ease.
"Are there any more questions? Yes, William?"
"Mrs. Hughes, will we be recording songs today? If we're participating in the Valentine's requests, that is."
"We will be rehearsing the songs today and recording our selections tomorrow." Seeing the unspoken questions still buzzing around the room, she continued. "The plan is to have one excellent video for each song, and then to film individual students give an introduction clip for specific requests."
William nodded, lowering his hand.
"Any other questions?" This time, much to nobody's surprise, it was Rose who energetically voiced the question many were thinking.
"And when will we have the opportunity to 'sign up'?" Sensing Mr. Carson's disapproval at the casual manner of which she spoke, the soprano quickly added a polite, "Mrs. Hughes?"
_._
When several students - of all ages and distinctions - began to chatter wildly away about some sort of song request for Valentine's Day, Violet Crawley hardly paid them half a mind.
However, when one of the pupils was brazen enough to ask if she would be paying for and sending in a song request - well, let's just say that there was a lesson taught within the halls of Downton. With only a minute raising of the eyebrow and a contortion of facial features, Violet was easily able to convey how likely that would be.
Besides, she'd already sent in her request. Having received the list of songs from Mrs. Hughes the moment the woman had composed it, Violet Crawley had long since contributed to the choir.
_._
"Dashing away with the smoothing iron,"
He heard faint whispers of what had to be a hallucination coming from 403.
She stole my heart away!"
It wasn't possible for Elsie to be resurrecting his favorite a cappella song. And there was no reason for the choir to be singing it.
Or, at least, there was no reason when they were already going to be performing "In My Life".
"'Twas on a Sunday morning,"
Of course, Charles hadn't given himself a chance to look over just which songs all of the choirs would be performing - interestingly enough, he had been all too content to leave the details of that specific fundraising event to his colleague. He would handle the administrative paperwork, he would organize several aspects behind every other project - between him and Elsie, the bake-sale would be far more of a success under his management - but he did not touch the song selections for this particular effort.
"And there I saw my darling,"
Still.
It was apparently no hallucination.
"She looked so neat and charming"
Charles approached the door to the room, still shellshocked by the sound emanating from the room.
"In every high degree!"
And it was almost as though he was being transported back to September, back when life had been far simpler. Which was terribly ironic, seeing as how he thought Elsie Hughes' arrival to the choir department was the most chaotic change he could have ever experienced at Downton. Honestly, in practically a fortnight she'd already added a choir to the program, changed song selections, and redirected his overall perspective in an entirely different direction.
"She looked so neat and nimble-o
A-wearing of her linen oh,"
He could only imagine the enriching changes she'd continue to bring.
_._
"My, my," William froze at the sound of her off-hand remark echoing down the stairwell. He hadn't meant to meander out of the building, but the outside world had stolen his focus. And now he was going to be pay for being distracted by awkwardly crossing paths with his two favorite teachers. "Isn't it beautiful?"
"If you are referring to the outbreak of snow that has been building in intensity for the last hour, I am not sure I can classify such incessant weather as 'beautiful'." William almost snorted at the indignant retort. Thankfully, even if he had snorted, Mrs. Hughes' bubbling laughter reverberating through the stairwell would have been loud enough to mask the noise.
"I hardly think this flurry is deserving of such a harsh description, Mr. Carson. Especially since it's a perfectly acceptable reason to return upstairs and delay in leaving the building just yet."
With their footsteps still descending closer and closer, William had no time to decode just what that meant. He only knew that there was only time to silently move towards the nearest floor and quickly slip out of the stairwell before the three of them bumped into each other.
In short, all William had time for was a run.
_._
"Did you hear something?" Mrs. Hughes asked, her ears detecting the sound of nervous footsteps scurrying away. However, it seemed her previous coy words had stunned Mr. Carson to the point where he could only blankly look at her.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Hughes - what did you say?"
She looked past him and down the stairs, not catching sight of anyone on the steps.
"Never you mind, Mr. Carson." Whoever it was, they were long gone, "Never you mind."
However, the fleeting presence of those footsteps had made an unspoken choice for the couple: feeling almost certain that there had been someone on the stairs, Elsie decided now was not the time to be overly affectionate in any regard.
Still, she couldn't just go back to pretending as though they didn't even know each other.
"I suppose you'll want to make sure I survive the journey back home." It was spoken with a trace of cheekiness, a tease coloring her words.
But, her eyes spoke of the sincerity she couldn't let slip into her tone.
"Of course," His hand reached out to briefly grasp hers, "How could you possibly expect anything else?"
_._
It was at the end of the day when she had finally had a chance to check her email. Having had to handle hundreds of eager choristers from dawn till dusk, she hadn't necessarily been in the mood to do administrative work - not that she normally did, mind.
But, it was either that or chat with her so-called boss about their competition preparations. Which was something she had even less motivation to partake in at this time.
Luckily, it looked like she had a legitimate excuse to delay both administrative tasks and that long-winded chat.
Dear Alice,
My apologies for the delay in response - our teacher who will soon be departing, Mrs. Butte, has recently become injured. Consequently, we have refrained from inquiring about whether or not she will be accepting your offer until she has recovered. Nevertheless, I should be able to notify you about that decision soon.
Now, in regards to meeting up, I believe I will be available to meet sometime later this February. Though, I was also wondering if a colleague could join us in this encounter as well? They have been very fascinated to meet you, especially upon hearing of your history on the stage and our past performances.
Best,
Charles
Well, whoever this colleague of Charles was, he certainly knew what he was talking about. After all, Alice had quite the career as a soprano back in her prime - having been known as the Lark of Song throughout most of her time on the stage. Moreover, if Charles was bringing her up to his colleagues, then perhaps his feelings have changed in a more suitable direction.
She knew he'd been hurt by her choosing a career over love all those years ago, but it worked out splendidly. They were still in relative distance to one another, she knew him to still be madly infatuated with her underneath all of that professionalism, and never did another woman cross his path to take him away from her. They still met on an almost yearly basis - outside of the spring competitions, that is. And, other than his longtime colleague suddenly having to leave, there shouldn't be any changes in anything.
"Other than that new colleague." She murmured to herself, "However, I doubt he'll be anything other than a fanboy, from the sounds of it."
Which was never a problem for her. Admiration from all accounts was something she strove to always accept. It never helped to hurt someone's feelings, and certainly not when they were being complimentary.
Little did Alice know, that colleague of Charles was not a fanboy of her.
Not in the slightest.
_._
A/N: For those concerned about Alice's appearance, I'd just like to say that - even though there will be drama - we have gotten through the worse of it. So, even though she'll be making at least two more appearances, she's not stepping in for Mrs. Butte.
On a different note, what do we think of occasionally having a week's worth of writing in one chapter? Like, going through a whole school week within one chapter instead of focusing on one-two days at a time. It would take slightly longer to get the updates out (like 3-4 days instead of 2-3), though I wouldn't do this for every chapter.
Either way, let me know your thoughts!