I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I've been really, really sick. Worse than I usually am. I caught the flu, and then my lungs decided to backfire, so I've been having problems breathing. So, I haven't been writing. However! This story actually has been written out before hand! I keep a journal of ideas and summaries, and this story is almost complete in it. Also, I started working on a Harry Potter fan fiction story. If anybody would read it, I'll appreciate it. I have five lousy (actually, they're very nice reviews) so far, and I want more. And finally, to anybody who has tried to e-mail me (*cough, Queen Hotaru*) I'm sorry, my e-mail hasn't been working. I'm getting a new one, so joy. I'll tell it to you people later, k? Oh, and I changed my Authors name. To many people were raising an eyebrow at it, so... it's Moonrose from now on.

Ummm... ok, one more thing. My dearest friend Goth_Flutist pointed out that Kline acted like a ditz. Kline isn't. That conversation letter they sent was staged. Me and her do it all the time when e-mailing my crush, so I just added it into the story. I forgot to write that in, sorry.

Chapter Two: Auditions

"I'm BORED," Kline screamed. I raised an eyebrow at her, and laughed quietly. Christine looked up from her book and rolled her eyes.

"Aren't you the one who said that we'd be having the time of our lives here?" she asked quietly. Kline laughed.

"Christine, I can only beat you so many times at chess. You really suck at that, you know?" she teased. Her friend smiled and returned to her book. Holmes stared at her.

"If you are truly bored, then why not play me at chess?" he asked her. Kline laughed again.

"No way, Jose. You slaughtered Jenny. You think I'm going to play you?" she asked. I glared at her.

"Excuse me? He did not 'slaughter' me," I protested. This time Holmes laughed.

"I had you in check mate after four moves. That is 'slaughter'," he laughed. I flopped down in a chair huffily.

"Fine, whatever. You two are deluding yourselves. Everyone knows Christine and I are the real champions," I announced. Christine looked up from her book again.

"Hey, don't get me involved in this conversation," she droned.

Both Kline and Christine had been in London for about six days now. We had done almost everything that they had even the mildest interest in. We had gone to see a play, eaten out, gone to Madam Touselli's Wax thingamabob-whatever- and just for a laugh, we went to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. We had bought our Christmas presents for each other, watched TV, read the newspaper a zillion times, bugged Scotland Yard, done more experiments imaginable with Holmes's chemistry set, fenced (Christine and Holmes champions) and played chess to many times to count (Kline and Holmes champions). Kline was right. We were bored.

We were hanging out in my basement at the moment. Kline was busy fiddling with her flute, while Holmes scanned the newspaper. Christine reading 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' for the fiftieth time in a row (she liked Professor Lupin), and I was typing on my laptop.

"So, Sherlock, anything good in the newspaper? Anyone been brutally murdered, and Scotland Yard is stumped? I'll take petty theft! Just give me something to do!" Kline yelled. I rolled my eyes at her statement. Next thing I knew she was peering over my shoulder.

"Interesting... interesting... uh, you forgot a comma there. Ok, better now. Ewww, did that really happen?" she asked. I shoved her away angrily.

"Kline, I'm trying to type here. Go bug Christine. Trick her into playing a game with you," I muttered. I was writing about my first adventure with Holmes, and really didn't want to be disturbed. Kline glared at me, and then sat down next to Christine.

" 'Bang! Thin, snakelike cords burst from the end of Snape's wand and twisted themselves around Lupin's mouth, wrists, and ankles; he overbalanced and fell to the floor, unable to move. With a roar of rage, Black-' hey, I was reading that!" Kline protested as Christine drew the book to her chest defensively.

"Excuse me, but I'm reading Kline. I need my fix," she said. Christine then smiled stupidly as her eyes glazed over. Holmes laughed.

"Christine, addicted to something? Never thought I'd see that coming," Holmes chuckled. Kline moved away from Christine as she continued to stare off in to space.

"Obsessed with Lupin, I swear... Sherlock, are you done with that?" she asked, pointing to a discarded portion of the newspaper. Holmes nodded absently as Kline scooped it up.

"Cool, theatre section. Hmmm... new play out-boring. Come see Hamlet-boring. Hey, what about this?" Kline said suddenly. Christine snapped out of her reverie as Holmes and I looked at Kline curiously. She stood up and began to read the article.

" 'Calling all musicians, dancers, actors/actresses, and stage hands. Auditions for 'Holmes the Musical' and 'The Nutcracker' will be taking place on December 24th, 2001. We will be pleased to accept everyone, and look forward to seeing the talent brought before us. Musicians will be expected to play the pieces handed out, and should be able to play both for both theatre performances. Actors/Actresses must be able to sing. See below for listed parts.' It goes on from there, but do you want to go? We all reasonably good at our instruments, right?" Kline asked. Holmes nodded, and I bobbed my head accordingly. Christine shrugged.

"I don't know. I could try out for an acting position, though. Let me see the list," Christine asked. Kline tossed the newspaper at her. Christine scanned the paper quickly, then handed it back to her.

"Ok, why not? So... who's driving?" Christine asked. I grinned happily.

"I will."

Christine began to sob into her hands.

*************************************************************************************************

"Wow, this place is big," Kline muttered. Her hands wrapped tighter around her flute as she stared upward at the ceiling, which depicted angels flying. Christine looked up, nodded, and then began looking around.

"So where do we go? Who goes where?" she asked. I shrugged.

"Holmes?"

"Well, I'm not quite sure. According to the newspaper, the violins hold their auditions in the basement, clarinets in the auditioning room, flutes in the costume area, and actresses on stage. As for where each area is..." Holmes trailed off. We stood there for a little while, just looking around, when we heard-

"Hey, are you here for the auditions?" a male voice said suddenly. Kline and Christine both whipped around and stared at the boy. He laughed at their reactions.

"I'm not going to hurt you, jeez. So, are you here for the auditions?" the boy asked again. Holmes nodded.

"Yes, we are, but we are not sure where to go," he told the boy. The boy nodded happily.

"So, flute, violin, clarinet and..." he trailed off and pointed to Christine. She smiled.

"Actress, for the role of Cricket," she said quietly. The boy raised his eyebrow in askance, but then nodded again.

"Ok, flutes go that way, violins go that way, clarinets go forward, and you can follow me," he said, directing us all, pointing in different directions. He grabbed Christine's wrist (she slapped him away) and then led her away. Kline disappeared almost instantly, leaving me alone with Holmes.

"Well. Good luck, and all," I said softly. Holmes smiled at me and pecked me on the cheek.

"You'll do fine, don't worry about it. You'll make the top ten chairs, I promise. You're really good," he said earnestly. I laughed.

"Please, Holmes. I'll be very lucky if I make the top ten. You will, of course. Anybody could see that. So, what do you know about that boy?" I asked. Holmes frowned slightly.

"Very little, actually. His name is Todd Ceiland. He is 16, just like us, and goes to a private school. He's an actor, and is trying out for the role of Wiggins," Holmes told me. Then he glared again.

"What, worried they're going to ruin your ancestors name or something?" I teased. Holmes smiled at me.

"Of course. This is one of the better ones, actually. Problem is, it's a musical. And I know for a fact that the original Sherlock Holmes only sang when in one of his roles," laughed Holmes. I grinned.

"Well, was he any good?"

"But of course. We must go, we're all ready going to be very, very late."

I nodded at Holmes and we separated, him going down the stairs to the basement, and I going down a long hallway to what I assumed was the audition room.

When I entered the room, the first thing that struck me was how unbelievably white it was. It hurt my eyes just to look at the wall. The second thing that hit me was how little clarinets there were. Most of them were hardly older than me, other than four older women, one who was in her late sixties or so. I sat down in a white chair and put together my clarinet, blowing into it and running a few scales. The older woman heard me and walked over.

"Hello, miss. I'm Claudia Walper. Who are you?" she asked. She had a very distinct Russian accent, and I smiled up at the woman.

"Jennifer Watson. It's nice to meet you. Have you already auditioned?" I asked. Claudia sat down next to me.

"No. The clarinets haven't even begun yet. They have to get through the oboes before they begin us."

"Why are most of the people here my age?"

"Oh, with all the other, bigger plays going on, you cannot expect the better musicians to come. So we're stuck with amateurs, or younger players. No offense to you, of course. I'm sure you're quite good. Maybe we'll be stand partners."

"How long have you been playing?"

"Um, since I was ten. I'm sixty eight right now, so I would say I've been playing a while. You?"

"I've been playing since I was three. I'm sixteen. I'm not really going to say that I'm very good, I don't like to boast."

"Smart girl. Oh, look, here comes some lady. Maybe she's going to audition us now."

Indeed, a woman dressed all in lime green had entered the room. She was... colorful. Her hair was dyed purple, and she had emerald colored eyes, obviously from contacts. Her nose was pierced about three times, and she had nose rings in. Her ears were pierced all the way up, and you could see a belly button piercing also.

"My name," she drawled in a voice that could break glass, "is Sallay Jargin. I'm the musical director, and you people have the ultimate pleasure of having me as your main audition board.

"You will all get in, of course. There are only eleven of you, and we can't waste anybody.

"You will be given a number, and when we call it out, you are to enter the room and sit in the chair that we direct you to sit in. Then we will set a piece in front of you. You will play select measures for us, and then we will dismiss you. When we are all done, we'll come back out here and tell you your chair. Understand?" Miss Jargin snapped. The entire room mumbled it's answer. Jargin smiled unpleasantly, and then began handing numbers out.

She stopped in front of me and glared as she handed me a number. As she moved away, I stared after her.

Ok, she is officially creepy. And she will not be fun to work with, I thought to myself. I glanced at my number. Five. Wonderful.

Claudia came over and sat next to me again.

"What number you got? I'm four."

"Five. Does that lady seem weird to you?" I asked. Claudia shrugged.

"Most theater people are, Jenny. She just has a bad outlook on life, is all."

The auditions for the first four people went smoothly. Claudia looked happy when she came out, so I would have guessed she did pretty well. Finally, it was my turn.

Miss Jargin called my number, and I rose unsteadily to my feet. I entered the tiny closet area and looked around.

It too was painted white. Everything in their was white, including the clothes of the people auditioning me. The only contrast of the room was Miss Jargin herself, and the silver chair in the middle of the room. The stand was white!

Miss Jargin pointed me to the chair, and I sat in it.

"Name?" she asked impolitely. I bit back the fear that was threatening to come out of my mouth in the form of my lunch and smiled at Miss Jargin.

"Jennifer Watson."

"Age?"

"Sixteen."

"How long have you been playing?"

"Thirteen years."

"That'll do. Please play measures ten through twenty two on this piece please," Miss Jargin asked. She set the music in front of me, and I stared at it. It was called 'Prologue'. Not a very original title.

I played through the measures quickly enough, and then looked up at Miss Jargin and the other panelists. They were nodding slightly, and even Jargin herself had lost some of the nasty look on her face.

Oh good. They don't hate me right off the bat.

"Now play this, measures fifty two through one hundred," Jargin recited. I was once again handed a piece. This one was called 'Something Here'. Apparently, in the play Lestrade and Gregson sang it.

I played through that with a little more difficulty. The measures were much different, and their was even a few notes I didn't know. But when I finished, Jargin was smiling.

"Excellent. Go sit outside, please." Jargin commanded. I nodded fearfully and went out of the room. Claudia waved me over to a seat in the corner, and I went gratefully over to it.

"Well? How'd you do?" Claudia asked. I shrugged.

"All right, I guess. The Prologue was all right, kinda easy, though. I would assume the violins have the main part. Something Here I didn't do as well on. I didn't know some of the notes," I told her. When I mentioned the violins, she had studied my expression a great deal more.

"Do you like violins?" she asked. Surprised, I shrugged again.

"I think they're cool. My, er, boyfriend is a violin player. He's really, really good. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he got first chair."

Claudia smiled at me, and we began talking about other things. Claudia had married when she was twenty five, but her husband had been killed in a plane accident many, many years ago. She had twin daughters, who both lived in Russia, although they wanted to live in China. They hadn't gotten around to moving yet. She was, all in all, a very interesting woman.

Finally, after an hour or so, Jargin came out again, this time with another man who hadn't been in the room before. He had blonde hair, hazel eyes, and very, very tan skin. He wore white clothes, like most of the people around there, and he was grinning happily. Jargin cleared her throat.

"I would like to introduce to you Mr. John Goodmena, the director of the show. He has met all the other musicians already, and the actors, so you are last on the list. When we announce your name and chair, please stand up so he may know who you are.

"First chair... Claudia Walper."

Claudia stood and grinned at me, very happy. My smile came out strained, even though I was happy for her. I was actually scared, and didn't want to know my chair position. I held my breath when Jargin opened her mouth again.

"Second chair... Jennifer Watson."

I felt my blood rush to my head as I stood up. I was shocked, amazed, confused, afraid, worried, and finally, proud. Goodmena smiled at me when I stood, and Claudia hugged me.

"Third chair... Angelina DeAngelo."

Another girl across the room stood up. Her eyes were amazingly icy, and she didn't look happy. I zoned out the rest of the chairs, as Claudia and I talked happily among ourselves. Eventually, Jargin cut in.

"You may go now. Be back here two days after Christmas, and bring much of your clothes and materials. You will be staying in a hotel for the run of the show. Leave!" barked Jargin. I scurried out of the room as fast as I could go, and when I got back to the reception area, I saw Kline, Holmes, and Christine standing there. I ran over to them.

"Second chair!" I squealed. Holmes winced as my voice screeched and echoed in the airy area. I looked at him.

"Holmes?"

"First chair."

"Of course. I don't know why I expected otherwise," I commented laughingly. Holmes smiled at me and kissed me on the cheek.

"Nice job, Watson."

"Thanks, Holmes. Kline, what did you get?"

Kline rose from her seat and scowled at me.

"Third chair! The gall of those people! Don't they recognize talent when they see it?" she mocked. Holmes laughed.

"How much longer are we going to have to hear from you?" he asked. Kline shrugged.

"The run of the show, I suppose. Now Christine, tell Jenny what you got," Kline said eagerly. Christine rose from her spot on the wall and sighed.

"I got the role," she said mundanely. I shrieked, and Holmes winced again.

"That's great, Chris!" I yelped. She raised an eyebrow.

"Chris? Since when have you called me Chris?" she asked. I laughed.

"Come on, you have to have a nickname. Holmes, Watson/Jenny, Kline. You don't see me waltzing around calling Holmes Sherlock, or Kline Amanda. You need a nickname. Christine is too long," I told her. Christine sighed.

"My name is fine. It means 'Anointed One', or 'Chosen by the Lord'. Chris is a guys name. Call me Christine. Why are we arguing about names? What are you on?" Christine demanded suddenly. I giggled.

"Adrenaline. And pop. Lots and lots of pop. Don't give me Coke before I audition, let me tell you. What did they have you guys audition on?" I asked. Holmes thought a minute.

"I played a piece called 'London in Flames' and 'Nothing More'. The only hard part was to do two scales in one measure. That is very hard. I didn't like Nothing More very much. It has Sherlock Holmes singing of a lost love, and his lost love singing about him, and about how they've moved on. Disgusting," Holmes spat. Kline grinned.

"Poor Sherlock. I played 'Epilogue' and 'I Used to Know'. I don't think you'd like I Used to Know very much, Sherlock. It is about Holmes's lost love singing about how jerkish he is," she laughed. Holmes scowled and flopped down in a nearby chair. I turned to Christine.

"I had to sing 'Crickets Prayer' and 'Crickets Prayer Reprise'. Oh, it's so sad. In Crickets Prayer Reprise Holmes's lost love ends up dying by Moriarty's hand. I've heard this entire musical before (A/N- Love it! Go to the website, www.holmesthemusical.com and check it out!), and I really liked it. It always made me cry," Christine announced. Holmes snorted from his seat, but we all ignored him.

"I played 'Prologue' and 'Something Here'. Gregson and Lestrade sing it. But I don't know the lyrics very well, actually, I don't know them at all, so I can't tell you what it's about. Come on, let's go home. In twelve minutes, it's Christmas, and I want to open presents." I lead our troop out the door, with Christine humming sections of the musical under her breath, Kline doing little jumps and skips, and Holmes scowling the entire way.

Ok, done. Oh, and I got my new e-mail address. It's

kep05@hotmail.com

Nothing fancy. Please review, and tell me what you think of this. And read my Harry Potter story, please! I'm really desperate now. Oh, and Queen Hotaru? I'm trying to read your story, I really am, but my mum keeps kicking me off the computer before I can get to it. Sorry.