Chapter 29. Fundamentals

Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious.


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Performers' Orientation, UCLA - September 3rd, Freshman Year

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There's no way that today can get any worse.

Already assuming the worst, the reality was that Tori had no idea at all what to expect would happen after class ended. All throughout today, she had already seen on several different occasions that the assumptions she had made had no panned out for her.

She thought she was waking up at 8 AM, when in reality she had woken up closer to 9.

She assumed that the Performing Arts Center was with all the other academic buildings, when it was actually quite a distance away from them.

She expected Tom to be some punk guy who was lying about being in the same major as her. The jury was still out on the punk part, but he was in the same major at least.

But given this poor track record of hers, she felt like trying to get an idea of what may happen next would be just a waste, both of time and of her brain power. All she could do was sit in silence and watch as the countdown towards the class ending slowly trickle down while Mr. O'Hennesy spoke with authority.

"Now then, while I'm sure that the class would just love the idea of me repeating what I had been saying for the past fifteen minutes or so, I am limited on time, so provided there are no more students who are expected to arrive late, I think we can get started. Wouldn't you all agree?"

A handful of snickers and a few low volume grunts of approval answered in response to the director's sarcastic question. Tori simply shot a quick glance at the lecture hall doors, wishing that she could just leave. But for as much as she might have wanted to leave and avoid whatever punishment was coming, she feared that the repercussions for doing that would be all the more severe than what was already to come.

"So, I'm going to come right out and ask. Not including your audition, how many of you have have performed before? Let's say, outside of school plays or such, how many of you have experience. Raise your hands if you have," O'Hennesy requested as several hands shot up, Tori being among them.

From where she sat, Tori could see pretty much everyone in the class. To her surprise, only about five or six students aside from her actually rose their hands. Wow. Not used to most of the class not being trained performers. Like the complete opposite of Hollywood Arts.

"Alright, so less than half of you. Honestly, that's actually a little surprising. We usually don't get that many people who have at least some experience. In any event though, that is fine. This major, we teach it assuming that none have experience, so depending on what degree of exposure you have, over the course of the year through your various classes, there might be things you'll run into which you may already know."

Assuming that we all have no experience. It really is like the opposite of Hollywood Arts!

"And with this class too, even though this is designed as an Orientation, it's still a course, you're still getting credit towards your degree, and throughout this semester, we will be covering some general things, some which may help you down the line, some which won't."

O'Hennesy stopped his lecturing for a moment, just long enough for him to take a quick survey around to see the faces of the students. One or two faces that looked like they were a little intimidated, but for the most part it looked like everyone was composed, even ready.

"Now, you all auditioned to get accepted into this major, and of well over a thousand applicants, we chose you. You should feel proud, but as I said earlier, getting in is the easy part. It's what you make of it, what you take from this class which will very much help and influence your success. Most of you chose the singer route for your audition, and by in large that was the preferred method that people who auditioned went with. Not exclusively, and that's important to note. Over the course of this year, you'll come to find out which side of the spectrum you stand on, be it the performer with acting or singing preferences. Because so many of you opted in with the singing, I'm going to assume that that was influenced by probably many of you not having performed on stage. Of those who raised their hands earlier, how many of you actually have acted?"

Tori rose her hand again, shocked to see that none of the students who had risen their hands earlier rose one here. Was she really the only person who had experience both performing and having acted on stage?

O'Hennesy took note of this too, "Only one. That is more of what I expect of an incoming class. So, even though we may have lost a little bit of time as far as today's class goes, I think it's only fitting that we do a little exercise. I'll be dividing you up into four groups, four groups of five and you will be doing something called alphabetical improv. Does anyone know what that is?"

Tori was confused. She thought that she had gone to UCLA for Performing Arts, but it felt like she was back in Hollywood Arts. Here was her instructor asking about the very same exercise that she was involved with on her first day back at Hollywood Arts. Regardless of how odd the whole situation seemed for her, she rose her hand again.

"Tori," O'Hennesy roared, causing many of the students to turn their heads and look at her.

She cleared her throat, happening to glance and see all of the eyes staring right at her, "When you act out a scene but the first word of your line has to start with the letter. A, then B, then C, etc."

"Precisely. So, let's have you in the first group, to give us an idea of what to expect. So, please come up, and let me just see who all else will go." Tori sighed as she again felt the eyes of everyone stare at her as she made her way towards the center of the well. O'Hennesy in the meanwhile was again positioned as the lectern, examining the attendance sheet. "Let me get Jason Kargill, Mohummad Silva, Amberlynn Grigsin, and Catelyn Mitton. The scene can be anything you want, only rule is you have to start with the letter that goes next. We'll start with the letter A. Also, because this is improv, you don't have much time. 30 seconds, or else you're eliminated."

Glancing at each individual who had come into the well to join Tori, the director looked to the Latina and nodded, "Tori, the letter's A. Go."

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A Short Time Later

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As the exercises went on and students began to become more familiar with the exercise, it didn't take long before it dawned upon the director and the students that the entire duration of the course had actually come to an end. "And that does it for today's class. Undoubtedly you will be seeing some students later on over the course of the week. Remember, we'll return to this class next Monday. Please. Be. On. Time," He yelled out as students quickly began to evacuate their seats, rushing towards the doors.

Tori took another glance at the door, so tempted to join them, knowing it would be easy to escape with the crowd. The sound of O'Hennesy's voice wiped any hopes she had of going unnoticed, "Tori, Tom, stay here."

Leaning back, she didn't know why, but she couldn't help but think that Tom was going to bail regardless. To her shock, she saw that he hadn't even gotten up from his seat initially. "What'd you think is going to happen?"

Tom shrugged his shoulders, "He's probably gonna bitch us out or something."

Tori hoped that wasn't the case. After all, it was the first day of class. Was it such a shocker to believe that some students might not have known where they were supposed to go for their first class?

"Hopefully not," she said with a level of reluctance. A reluctance to believe that the day couldn't get any worse than it had seemed to go so far.

Seemingly having disappeared as the class flurried out of the lecture hall, O'Hennesy all of a sudden reappeared within the well, watching as the last couple of students slowly exited. Once the last student finally left, he quickly ascended the stairs and shut the doors. Turning towards the two late arrivers, there appeared a sinister smile on his face, "Alright, that's better. Thank you for sticking around. Won't lie, kinda thought that you two might have booked it out of here if given the option. So already you've proven me wrong."

His tone confused Tori. He didn't seem angry, but instead seemed more friendly, inviting even.

She hoped that it might have meant that they were in the clear. "Does that mean we're not in trouble?"

O'Hennesy chuckled. "Heh, you never were."

Tom responded to the laughter with a dirty look, "Then the remarks earlier?"

"Well, I mean can't give the impression to new students that I condone them being late. Time is limited, and if students think that they can arrive up late and miss a third of the material covered, doesn't help them at all."

"So, what are we free to go then?" Not even waiting for the director to respond, Tom had already begun to get out of his seat and proceed towards the exit.

"No." O'Hennesy's voice was cold. Demanding. And it was enough to cause Tom to stop in his tracks and reluctantly return to his seat.

Similarly, it couldn't help but panic Tori slightly. "But you just said we weren't in trouble."

"No, you're not in trouble for being late. But that doesn't change the fact that I do actually need to speak with you both. The fact that you both arrived to class late, that's a perfect pretext to get you here."

Frustrated with the doubletalk that O'Hennesy was giving, Tom asked coldly, "Couldn't you have just scheduled a meeting with us, rather than do that?"

O'Hennesy rose an eyebrow at Tom's remark. Even Tori couldn't help but find the abrasiveness surprising, if not stupid. After a second, O'Hennesy again drew a wicked smirk on his face as he looked right at Tom, "Couldn't you have shown up on time, rather than put me in this spot?"

Tori just looked on, her focus switching between both Tom and O'Hennesy, and while the director looked like he was clearly enjoying himself, Tom looked like he was ready to walk out right then and there, regardless if he was asked to stay.

Or at worst, take a swing at the director. She hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

O'Hennesy rose his hands in hopes of de-escalating the situation. "Apologies. Believe me, last thing I'm looking to do is cause bad blood. But I am curious of something. You didn't raise your hand earlier when I asked who had exposure to performing."

"And?" Tom asked, clearly still irritated, though seeming to calm down rather quickly.

"Well, that's not true, is it? After all, you transferred here from Syracuse. From their Performing Art department. You know, I didn't even know they had one before we got your request."

"Yeah. Well it's not as prestigious I guess, as UCLA's." Tom said with a hint of sarcasm to his voice. Obviously, he viewed the director's remark as an insult, and honestly, Tori couldn't help but think along the same lines.

"I never implied as such. Truthfully I don't compare other majors with ours, doesn't do anything. My aim is simple, to create the best program possible, one that anyone can come into from the start and come out capable of becoming a successful performer. It was the goal that I aimed to achieve when I helped create this major, and it's always been that way, to push talent and creativity, not to compromise and leave them without every possible benefit."

O'Hennesy stopped, half expecting at this point that Tom was going to respond to each question with a remark of some sort. Once it became clear he wasn't going to, he continued. "And in your particular case, I worry that that won't be possible."

"What do you mean won't be possible?" Tom asked, not sure where the director was getting at.

O'Hennesy took a deep breath. If there had been any chance of the two of them having a civil conversation without dragging emotion into it, it was pretty clear that that option was no longer possible. "Do you have any objection if I speak openly?"

Tom shrugged his shoulders. "Go ahead."

"Alright then. When we got your request for a transfer, there were some among our faculty who had great reservations about having you here. We've never really had a situation where students sought to transfer into the major before and in all honesty, you're the first one that we've accepted. The preferred stance has been having students enter the major and go throughout all four years in the program and the classes, the projects, things of that nature, they are all designed to reflect that. We've never had a situation where we had to change the course or curriculum around to accommodate a transfer student. Now, I was actually one of the few who was on board with having you here, but there are still quite a few who aren't."

Wow, I can't believe that. Tori found herself finding that to be ridiculous. There were honestly professors within the major who took objection – and apparently some who still have a problem – with them allowing a student to transfer into the major? It was petty. Juvenile even.

The look on Tom's face showed that he was thinking the same.

"I can see from the looks on both of your faces that you can't believe it. To a degree, I can't help but feel the same, but at the same time, I do to an extent understand where they are coming from. This is not an indictment against you personally Tom, but with this situation there are a number of uncertainties attached to it."

He was met with silence. Though she said nothing, Tori had no idea about this no transfer-student policy before, and honestly it surprised her to hear that it existed at all.

"Now, while I do approve of the idea of having you here, here is a concern that I have regardless. The benefits of having a student who goes through the entire process, such as Tori for instance, we can watch as she develops as a performer. By the time that she becomes a second year or third year student, we'll know what she excels at, where she struggles, tendencies, things of that nature. My concern, and you may prove me wrong, but I can't help but worry that with the more credit you come in with beforehand, a lot of the classes where we might identify attribute A, B, or C, they're no longer options. And because we'll be playing catchup essentially, the longer it goes where we lag behind, the more I fear grows the risk of failure."

"Well is that what you think? That I'm going to struggle?"

O'Hennesy simply looked at Tom, not really registering a confirmation nor a denial to the claims made. "Well, with the example scenario I just gave you, I'll give you your actual situation. Between the credit you earned at Syracuse and the courses you took in high school, you're technically a second year student. Remember how I said about those classes that we miss out on? Essentially we've lost an entire year's worth of fundamentals and development. And because your credit transfers to those freshman classes, we just have to keep pushing you forward, giving you classes that you'd take normally during your second year."

Tori glanced between Tom and O'Hennesy. It seemed that the director viewed the situation far more seriously than her classmate – perhaps in part due to the apparent backroom drama that had been described.

"OK, I get that some classes I'm gonna miss out on. But I feel like you're way overblowing this? I mean, can't I just be treated as a normal second year student, taking the usual second year classes?"

"Yes, to an extent. You see, the biggest thing is that those freshman courses, a lot of they are intended for are you to teach you the fundamentals. As I said during the Orientation, much of the first year is akin to an extended crash course of what you'll come to expect. You may be able to go into your second year classes without much issue at first, but they will eventually – and this will be all the more true down the line in your third and fourth year – they will become uphill battles."

Tom laughed, though of disbelief than anything. "So what you're saying is on one hand because I'm a second year student that I can't take any of the courses that are meant to teach me the fundamentals. But on the other hand you're saying that the classes that I am supposed to take I won't do well because I don't have those fundamentals. Pretty much a lose-lose from where I sit."

"I agree," Tori chimed in, having been otherwise quiet for a good deal of the twos' exchange.

The director nodded, "You see why it's a troubling issue. Now, I don't dismiss the fact that you did transfer from a Performing Arts major, so much of what we're worried about may be for nothing. For all we know, you may know all of what we expect of you already. As faculty and as advisors, we just don't know, and that scares us."

"Better off just assume I don't know shit then, that it? Awesome…"

"I get that it's sounds all miserable and it seems like it's a lost cause, but I actually do think there might be something we can do to fix things."

Even though it didn't concern her, Tori couldn't help but perk up at hearing this. All that she seemed to have heard up to this point were a bunch of barriers being put up in front of Tom. So to hear that there was something that could be done rather than just accept it, it was right.

Though while she might have been interested, Tom didn't even bother looking at O'Hennesy, instead just looking absently at the door. "And that is?"

"You've lost out on a year of what we would normally teach you. So to try to balance that loss, over the course of this semester, we'll basically shove as much information into you as possible. Assign you a mentor, of sorts, who'll help you get ready. Then come the end of the semester, you'll put on a performance. Similar to what we do following the end of a student's freshman year."

Tom didn't immediately respond, instead getting up from his seat, causing Tori to turn her head. "A year's worth of classes, all crammed into a couple of months? That's the plan?"

O'Hennesy nodded, "It's hardly a perfect situation, but I think that this is our best shot. In a way, ironically enough, it's a good thing that you're only coming in as a second year. I don't think this would be feasible if you were a third year or later."

"Alright then," Tom began as he started walking towards the door and out of the classroom altogether, though not before stopping to open the door, "Do what you need to.." Then he walked out, slamming shut the door.

He really just left?

Tori half expected O'Hennesy to look utterly enraged by this, given how uneasy things seemed between the two of them. But to her surprise, O'Hennesy seemed calm, almost as if he had been expecting that to happen.

O'Hennesy exhaled. "Can't say that that's too much of a surprise. Stayed longer than I figured he would."

His words left Tori a bit confused. She couldn't help but feel like there was more to what was going on than what O'Hennesy was letting on. Hell, even to this point she didn't know why she was here. The conversation had up to this point pretty much only focused on Tom, Tori being an afterthought.

"So, uh, Mr. O'Hennesy? I'm sorry, I don't get what's going on. What was with that, what's with him? And really, I don't know why I'm here still."

"Well, before he walked out, I was going to say that I was going to suggest who I thought should be the one who would mentor him."

He nodded lightly, as if to indicate to Tori just what he was implying, and though she didn't realize it at first, very quickly it seemed that she understood. "Me?"

O'Hennesy nodded again, affirming Tori's suspicion.

"Why me though? I mean, I'm flattered, but I'm just a freshman! I haven't taken any of the classes yet!"

"No. No you haven't." The director began to walk away from the table, back towards the well in the center of the room. "But you did graduate from Hollywood Arts, and you have probably one of, if not the most impressive resume as far as a student coming into this major has shown."

Tori also got up from her seat, but rather than proceeding towards the door – which a part of her still kind of wanted to do – she found herself following the director towards the well. "I can't be the only person who's gone to Hollywood Arts! I'm sure you have like some juniors or seniors who've gone too?"

O'Hennesy stopped at the lectern, grabbing some of his papers and organizing them together as he turned back towards Tori, "And how many of them sang at the Platinum Music Awards? I can tell you, the answer is none. You're the only one coming in here who has."

"Even still, that doesn't mean I know what the classes are or anything. And how can you think I can teach someone if I don't even know the material?"

"You want me to let you in on a little secret?"

Tori nodded, a small part of her not wanting to know what this secret might have been.

"A good deal of our curriculum, particularly with the classes that we offer freshman year, Erwin Sikowitz was an incredibly huge influence on them, both in respects to the material and what we emphasize within them. I'm sure you saw in just today's class, something similar to what you experienced at Hollywood Arts?"

"My first day there. We did the same thing. The alphabetical improv."

"A fun little game to break the ice, to see how quickly students can adapt to changing scenarios and while under pressure. But back to the point I was making. Like I said back at the beginning of the lecture, we assume that people who come into this major do not know anything about performing. Believe it or not, we simply don't just take people who have the best audition, though we do look heavily at that. Whether a person shows heart, whether they're a natural performer, maybe there's just that spark that we see in a person. The point is that the pool of accepted students is a diverse one."

Hearing that, it made the fact that there were so few students with backgrounds in performing seem much less difficult to believe. It actually was entirely believable. You don't need to have experience just to have a good performance. Helps maybe, but isn't required.

"And the fact is, because we're not looking at twenty instances of you, we need to get them into a position where they can be, competitive's not the right word, but you get the idea. Give them exposure, build confidence. What you'll no doubt find, is that much of what you're going to see over the course of this year will be things that you have either probably done to some degree at Hollywood Arts."

"You're saying it's like a fifth year of Hollywood Arts?"

O'Hennesy shrugged his shoulders, "That's one way of looking at it perhaps. Another way might be looking at it like the most important aspects of what you learned over your four years there all bunched up into one. Which is why, for someone like you, who has just graduated from there, and has already shown that they're a capable performer, well you see where I'm going with this."

Tori nodded, "I do, but just…. Why not one of the seniors?"

"Not enough time. By a student's third year, we give them the option to begin work on their key project. About half of them wait until their Senior Year to do this, and that will occupy the greater extent of their entire year, certainly at least this semester. If I went through all of them and checked to see if they would be willing to or not, and same goes for my third year students, that would be chancing things, much more than I'm willing to risk."

"You can't ask another instructor?"

"No. Not with so many of them still opposed to the idea of him being here."

There was an uneasy feeling about all of this. Her first day of college, and already she was being asked to effectively act as a tutor to someone, more specifically someone who various instructors had concerns about. And honestly, she couldn't help but have concerns about the whole thing as well. She felt bad saying this, but Tom seemed a bit like - as Jade would say - an asshole.

"I don't know. I mean, I'm flattered by the offer, but it's just... You saw him, how can I tell if he's even going to agree to allowing me help him?"

"Well that's a question in itself, isn't it?" O'Hennesy began to go through the papers on the lectern, collecting them together as he started to make his way towards the classroom door. As he came within a couple feet of the door, he turned his head towards Tori, "I don't see him making much of an effort to reach out to me, at least for now anyways. I'm sure that you'll come up with something. Anyway, have a good day Tori."

And like that, Tori was alone within the classroom.

It took her a little bit to fully comprehend everything that happened over the past twenty minutes. If it hadn't been for the fact that she had gotten a text from Jade asking if she wanted to get lunch, Tori might have spent much more time than she already had. As she returned to the table that she had been sitting at during class and grabbed her things, she thought a bit more about what O'Hennesy proposed, his idea of her tutoring Tom.

Why should I put myself through that? It's not going to do anything for me other than give me a giant headache...

Her phone vibrated in her hand and in an almost excited state, she glanced down to see what awaited her.

How about that taco place we saw yesterday? - Jade

Tacos? Yes please!Wasting no time herself, she typed away a response.

Sure! Be there in a few - Tori

Hmm. Maybe I should ask Jade about this whole thing. Couldn't hurt, right?

It was worth a shot, getting Jade's thoughts on the matter. Maybe she'd just confirm what Tori was starting to think; that she was better off turning down O'Hennesy's proposal.

Maybe not. But either way, it'd be additional input.


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