A.N
This fic contains many many many musical references. Feel free to shoot me a message if there is a musical you're not familiar with and would like something explained.
Jean clenched her teeth as she sat across the desk from Principal Tynemann.
"So what exactly are you saying Patrick?"
Patrick tapped his pen on the desk
"I'm just saying I'm not sure the school budget will allow for a full-scale school musical this year"
"Football team need new boots, is that it?" Jean could scarcely contain the bitterness in her voice. It was no secret that Patrick had no time for the arts. Like many Australian men, his first and only priority was sport. But to cancel the school musical? It was Jeans baby. Every year since the first performance of The Pirates of Penzance ten years ago, Jean had pretty much single-handedly produced, costumed and directed a school musical. It was the one thing in the year Jean lived for, the thing that gave her joy and hope, and reminded her, just why she got into teaching. It certainly wasn't for the politics, or the parents who could be demanding and rude.
"Not at all" Patrick's smooth voice irked Jean "Look, I'm meeting with the school board next Wednesday and we'll discuss it then, I just wanted to give you a heads up."
"Well thank you Mr Tynemann, but I can assure you, the musical will go ahead. With or without your funding" Jean stood from her chair, nodded a farewell in his direction and walked out.
She walked straight into a man she'd never seen before and bumped into him with such force the breath was knocked out of her.
"Oh I'm sorry" she apologised distractedly as she barely registered his bearded face and stepped around him.
"No, excuse me" the voice was gentle but Jean scarcely heard it. Blood was ringing in her red ears. How dare Patrick do this to her?
Jean walked back to her office fuming. It was one thing for other teachers to look down on her, but it was another thing entirely when the Principal did it. Unfortunately, she knew most of the board would side with him, no matter what he said, too chicken to speak up.
"Bastard" Jean spat as she threw her handbag on the floor
The other teacher she shared an office with looked up from her desk "Something you wish to share with the rest of the class Jean?"
"Oh Alice." Jean slumped into her chair and spun it around to face Alice "Patrick's just told me the school might not fund the school musical this year"
"What?" Alice's face was shocked. She'd shared an office with Jean for years and knew how much of Jean's heart she poured into the musical. She helped where she could, but as a science teacher, she readily admitted to being completely out of her depth. Photocopying, and coffee runs during rehearsals were her usual tasks, and she was sometimes an extra adult when it came to supervision, but at the creative side of things she drew a blank.
"You'll work something out Jean, you always do"
"What if we did something out of copyright? We could do another Gilbert & Sullivan?"
Alice blanched "Jean, no offense, but if I have to sit through another 'wandering minstrel I' or whatever that song is about the sisters and the cousins and the aunts, one more time I shall go stir crazy"
Jean sighed. "The kids will be devastated. Some of them have been showing some real promise too"
"Don't write it off already"
"Why not. Patrick obviously has"
"Patrick may run the school, but you are still head of the performing arts department Jean. There's more than one way to get the money"
Jean looked at her "What are you suggesting, we rob a bank?" With Alice she never could tell what was going to come out of her mouth
"No silly. What about a fundraiser? Like a concert. We can sell tickets, and we, well you... can bake cakes to sell in the middle break thing… what do you call that?"
"Interval" Jean supplied
"Interval, that's the word. Come on Jean, don't give up just yet. It's only the first week back of school. Let the dust settle and we'll see where it lands"
Jean thought. Alice had a point. She could organise a fundraising concert, then maybe she wouldn't have to rely on anyone. She tapped her lips with the pen she held in her hand
"Come on, Lets go out and have a drink"
"What? On a school night? Alice I really think I'm beginning to have a bad influence on you"
Alice smiled "You're only realising this now? Come on, grab your stuff, let's get out of here"
As Jean and Alice walked through the hallway, they passed Principal Tynemann with a man and an Asian girl. Jean recognised him as the man she had bumped into in the office.
Patrick called them over "Jean, Alice, this is Doctor Lucien Blake"
'A doctor!' Jeans face flushed as she remembered how rude she must have seemed to him in the office. He held out her hand and she shook it. His skin felt dry and scratchy as if covered with sandpaper. She looked at him and felt his sharp blue eyes pierce her own. He didn't look like a doctor. In fact he looked sad. And tired.
"Pleased to meet you" his voice was low and golden and his face was worn.
Jean tried to convey her apologies with her eyes, but he had moved on and was shaking Alice's hand
"This is his daughter Li" Patrick indicated the girl, who smiled at them tentatively "She's a new student who will be starting here next week. This is Mrs Beazley, Head of Performing Arts, and Miss Harvey, one of our best Science teachers"
Li nodded at them with another smile but didn't say anything
"Performing Arts eh" Lucien Blake smiled at Jean "Li here has an amazing singing voice"
"Father" Li protested quietly as her eyes lowered with embarrassment. Jean noticed a slight accent to her voice
"Well then, when we put on our school musical this year…" Jean shot a pointed look at Patrick "I hope you will audition" Jean smiled at Li then shifted her gaze to Patrick and Lucien. "If you will excuse us" she smiled at them and began to turn away.
"Of course. Lovely to meet you both" Lucien called after them. Jean nodded at him and her and Alice continued on their way.
Once in the carpark Alice turned to Jean "What a prick"
Jean, who's mind had been on the golden voiced father, looked at her confused "huh?"
"Patrick, acting nice as pie, just five minutes after completely screwing you over"
"Oh, that. Yeah, what a dick"
"The girl looked young, wonder what year she will go into. Strange that her mother wasn't with them. She's obviously Asian. She didn't get that colour skin from her father"
"Alice!" Jean chided her "You can't go around saying things like that! She could be adopted! The mother might not even be in the picture. She could be in prison for all we know!"
Alice looked suitably chastised "Point taken" she sighed and looked across the school oval to where the football team was training. Two men stood watching them. She waved to the coach
"Ladies" he greeted them as he ran over to where they leaned on the fence
"Matthew" Alice replied and Jean just nodded
"What's up Jean? You've got a face like a thundercloud"
"Patrick's just told Jean she may not be able to do the school musical this year. Budget cuts" Alice looked at him sternly
"Hey?" Matthew looked shocked "but that's absurd"
Jean turned her face to his "Matthew do you think can you have a word in Hobarts's ear?" she pleaded as she stared at the other man on the oval who was timing the sprints
"Jean, I'm only the P.E teacher, Bill's the vice principal. He may listen to me when it comes to football, as assistant coach he has to, But on other matters, he's much more likely to be swayed by Patrick than me"
Jean's shoulders fell as her face deflated
"Look I'll see what I can do ok?" He smiled at her "I don't think I've ever told you, but I was in a school production of West Side Story. My Officer Krupke was talked about for weeks" he raised his eyebrows at them "For all the wrong reasons I'm sure. Listen, I'm sorry Jean. But I've got to get back to training. I promise to mention it to Bill." He turned back to the oval "I'll keep you posted" he called over his shoulder as he jogged back to the team.
"Well You've got Matthew Lawson on your side at least" Alice slipped her arm through her friends' elbow "Come on. Let's go have a drink"
As Jean slid into her car, her mind wandered back to the father of the young girl. There had been something sad about him, but she had noticed how his blue eyes sparkled when he talked about his daughter. She wondered as Alice had, about her mother and about why she wasn't there with them, perhaps she would meet her at parent/teacher night in a few weeks. 'In any case. It's none of your business' she chided herself as she started the car.
A.N
Pirates of Penzance is an operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan. Gilbert and Sullivan shows are very popular in schools due to their large casts and shorter lengths.
"A Wandering Minstrel I' is a song from another Gilbert and Sullivan show 'The Mikado'
HMS Pinafore is also a Gilbert and Sullivan show. Sir Joseph Porter, ruler of the Queens Navy travels everywhere with a gaggle of his sisters cousins and aunts. And it is mentioned many times in the show, always in that order, with the same tune.
The last musical reference is to West Side Story. Funnily enough I didn't even register that I had written Matthew, a policeman in Dr Blake, playing a policeman in his school play, Officer Krupke.