Another year begins.
The first few months of 2017 were certainly busy ones, not just in terms of college studies or the strains of the world of work; indeed, those that had left their college days behind them found that the world of work was, on the whole, okay. Ethan had settled in nicely at the bank, and had won plaudits with his superiors when he had spotted an opportunity to develop a new account for those that felt wary of the institutions that had the closest links to the new President. It was true that his policies had done some harm to the ethical policies of some companies, but it had opened up new prospects in other areas too. Flint was grateful to discover that the Bernstein organisation still placed the environment high on its list of priorities, and he was a key player in the team that ensured that they stuck to them at all times and levels. The firm was committed to the reality of the situation as stated by scientists, not that postulated by an untrained Presidential eye.
Beats had also been relieved when the city's mayor had announced that there would be no change to the policies they used just because of what the President was saying he wished. He was also grateful that he was given a choice between two projects to work on; the new Second Avenue Subway, or the 'L' Train. He had chosen the latter for two reasons; firstly, it would be longer term, and secondly because it ensured he avoided his worst nightmare - being pinned down by Rachel Berry when she began to suffer from the demise of the most convenient train to Manhattan for 18 months. He also made a promise to his colleagues that were working on the project that he would do his best to deflect her letters; he was wise enough not to make such a promise for anything that came from Santana…
For Thad, working at Dalton was every bit as rewarding as he had anticipated it would be. He had proved popular with the students, all of whom appreciated his very different teaching style. He ensured that the facts were got across, but he also encouraged the boys to go on and do their own research. He made sure his lessons were interesting too, with plenty of visual displays, not to mention a spot of desk based role playing. As for the faculty, the majority of them knew him, and had indeed taught him not so long ago; they had expected that he would be an exemplary teacher, and they were not disappointed. As for the Warblers, he had taken a hands off stance from the start, letting the council run things as they had done in Wes' day. On the other hand, when they needed advice, he was there and ready to hand out what wisdom he did have. His strategy had seen the boys make it to a close second place at Regionals.
That had been a slight disappointment, but he had also taken a bolder step. He had entered them in a nationwide Acappella choir contest. In that, they had coasted straight through the heats, and straight into the finals. On one perfect Saturday night in March, Thad had stood at the side of a stage in San Francisco, with David at his side, cheering loudly as the current Head Warbler had lifted the trophy aloft. His first action after the victory was to enter the Warblers for the competition again next year. He had then tweeted all about the victory, and was pleased to discover how much the other alumni loved the news. Later that night, he and David were joined by Wes, who was just as overjoyed, although he had to admit that he was sad that he had not known about the competition when he was Head Warbler, as he would have entered his group of boys for it at once…
For Trent, the first few months of the year had been busy, as this was a pivotal year for him. He would graduate that year, and at the moment it was predicted he would do so with the top marks in his class. His essays on the various aspects of politics that were taught to them all scored highly; his essay on strategy and deception, and how parties worked behind the scenes to undermine a candidate was singled out for particular praise. In his comments, his tutor had complemented him on his breadth of knowledge, and had then jokingly asked if he had first hand experience. Trent naturally denied that, but was secretly quite pleased that his work behind the scenes to aide Sue Sylvester had paid off so handsomely… Life in Washington for himself and Rory had changed since the election; Burt was after all no longer on the side of the President, and the speeches they wrote now had a much more critical tone than ever before.
Sue Sylvester had lived up to everyone's expectations and her spats with the more senior members of the Republican party had become the stuff of legend already in the corridors of power. As far as anyone was aware, she had been the sole new Republican member of Congress to have boycotted the inauguration of the President, saying she had urgent work to attend to; one political journalist had taken great pleasure in saying he had seen her in Walmart, buying chips, at the precise moment Trump took his oath of office. The next day she was prominent at the march against the President's policies; she had kept her distance from Burt, who was there with Carole, Trent and Rory at his side. They were eventually joined by Nick, Jeff, Sebastian, Santana, Brittany and Flint, all of whom were determined that they were not just going to lie down and take what was being proposed without a fight.
Ethan and Beats had been unable to come to the march, having had other commitments, but they played their part too later on. They had joined the most vocal of all of them, Santana, at the protests against the President's travel ban at JFK. Burt and Rory had been at Dulles at the same time, trying to help out however they could. As the weeks went by, the debates in Trent's classes certainly became more heated and lively. He was shocked at the identity of some of those that were defending the President and his more controversial policies. As for himself, he tried to occupy the centre ground in the debates; he was not convinced that full blown socialism would ever be possible in the country, but at the same time, he was certain that Mr Trump's policies were not the way forward either. He could only sit and listen with sadness as the world began to turn on his nation - and with growing interest as more and more information came out concerning the Russia scandal. He would be graduating with a politics degree in very interesting times, that much was certainly true. He was also lucky to know that he would be going straight into a full-time job in Congress. It had been arranged by Burt, but it had been Trent's own strength of character that had won him the coveted role.
Trent would be the only one of the Warblers in his Dalton class to graduate that year of course. The decision by his fellow musketeers to take a gap year to recover from the stress of their senior year meant that his contemporaries would still have one year left to go when he finished up. For them there would be at least another year of writing essays and working hard on projects. After the big events of the summer, Sebastian had walked back into NYADA to the adulation and respect of his classmates; the young man that had scored himself a Broadway lead in a major hit, even if it was only for one night, was now a bit of a celebrity at the school; he had still blushed furiously when a nervous freshman had come walking up to him and asked if he could possibly get an autograph. Santana had witnessed the whole thing, and pulled his leg without mercy after that, bowing and curtseying whenever he walked towards her. Mason did not attract the same level of attention, much to his personal relief.
What with his classes, and his four a week gig at the theatre, Sebastian had very little time for himself, but he and Dave coped. They made sure that even if their respective careers meant that they did not see each other all day, they would always share the same bed at night, and also dedicated themselves to one date night per week. Dave's own schedule had become heavier too, as he was called upon to play more often, and was in demand to help coach younger players.
In the house above them, Mason and Roderick were also dealing with an increased workload at school, with the former now having a crash course in tap added to his other classes. Of all of them in Murray Hill though it was Cooper that was the busiest of all, as he worked between two shows right through to the end of February. His last night as Charlie Price was marked by a full house and a standing ovation that seemed to last forever. The party that was then given in his honour after the show left him quite emotional, and he was glad that he had the following day off to recover. But that was all the time he did have; on the Tuesday he was back in a new dressing room, in a new theatre, but thankfully, he was now wearing much more sensible shoes…
Cooper's opening night in his new show was marked on everyone's calendar, but then so was another night that month. The night that Rachel took on her new role had less excitement about it for most of them, but it did mark a significant change in her life. Her name was not going to be on the marquee this time, but that was okay; it was there in big enough lettering on the posters, under the names Bette Midler and David Hyde-Pierce. It had been a challenging role for her to accept, but she had managed to impress everyone with her skill and performance, and now her debut in the new part was being anticipated by the critics. She had walked away from the lead role in Funny Girl with no regrets, just good memories; and on the positive side, she had another opening night to look forward to…
As for the others living in Bushwick, life was good too. Both Sam and Santana had decided to just concentrate on their studies, although they still found time in their busy schedules to help coach the drama workshops that NYADA operated as part of an outreach programme. With that, classes, and their shifts at the Spotlight, their lives were pretty full. Brittany too was kept busy with her math classes at NYU, where she continued to astound her tutors and classmates with her ability to solve the most complex of problems in just a few moments, before proceeding to explain how she had done so in layman's terms. The college had already offered her a job after she graduated, assisting with research projects and tutoring, and she had accepted it, with the caveat that she was given enough time off to do the other things that she loved.
Life was also good for Mike Chang. He had moved up swiftly through the ranks of the corps, progressing from chorus to a minor named role quite swiftly. He had not wanted a big gathering for that debut, instead telling all of his old friends to come once he had made it to the front. He would only expect them to gather for him when he was the lead. It had not stopped Nick and Jeff from turning up of course, as that was what roommates did after all. It was the first time that either of them had attended the ballet, but from the moment that it began, the two of them were entranced. Mike's dancing was perfect in their eyes, and they were both pleased for him when he was singled out in the official reviews for much praise. For his part, Mike found such things embarrassing, but accepted it as a part of the job he had taken.
For Jeff himself, the year was proving much quieter. After the phenomenal success of The Judging Angel, he had taken on a much smaller scale project this year; a series of related drawings, rather than one huge piece of work. He had done them in such a way that if they were alone, they made sense, but if placed side by side, they would be one obvious piece of work. He had elected to draw a street scene, and he had chosen the perfect one to illustrate; his own. He had naturally populated the street with all of his friends. These were accompanied by a series of drawings for which he had a problematic sitter, as Caleb refused to sit still enough for very long, always looking out for new things. He had added to those a drawing with the most ideal sitter, Artie. He had only been too happy to oblige, and had smiled as Jeff had set up the perfect scene; a table next to him on which rested his camera, a clapperboard, and a director's cap, sourced from a flea market.
Jeff had been concerned that his tutors would feel let down by his work that year, but he need not have been, as each new work was greeted with the same enthusiasm as his masterpiece; the subject might be smaller, but his attention to detail was still there. The biggest event for him that year had come in early March, when he and Nick attended the gala event at the Met to mark the official unveiling of The Judging Angel in the gallery. His drawing had taken pride of place in the room, and the event had been busy. The attention of the city's art scene had been focused back on him. He had obligingly stood there and made small talk, signing the occasional autograph, but his own focus had been on the angel standing by the side of his own portrait, invisible to most of those gathered. An angel that was beaming with pride at the fact that when Jeff had been asked to give the okay to the official description of his work on the label, he had insisted that four little words came right at the end - 'Inspired by Wes Montgomery.'
Nick's own workload had been excessively heavy since the summer, and in the period after Christmas, it got heavier still. He had anticipated that it would be tough, but there were moments when he wondered why he was putting himself under so much strain. His big investigative study into the issues that had been raised by the Montgomery trials had kept him fully occupied on some days, and very busy on many others. He had also to spend long hours doing his research for his other essays, studying the files of cases that were decades old to find the justification for the arguments that he had put forward. If that was not enough, there were a series of mock trials that he had to prepare for and then carry out. He had caused a bit of a stir with one of his tutors when he had arrived at the mock trial and informed him that he could not in all conscience carry out the defence role. When asked why, he pointed out that the guilt of the perpetrator was so evident that even attempting to make some defence of their actions would be a mockery of the entire legal system.
Some of his classmates had immediately mocked him, or jeered at him, making all kinds of wild accusations as to why he really wasn't prepared to take part, mainly that he had not prepared. His tutor had asked to speak to him privately, and Nick had headed over with his file, and the notes that he had made on it. To the surprise of the others in the room, and indeed of Nick himself, his tutor had reviewed all that Nick had written, and then informed them that he had just shown that he had a strong and clear set of morals, which was not something he should be castigated for; indeed, he should be praised.
"Mr Sterling-Duval felt that he could not argue in the face of the overwhelming evidence that his client was innocent, and that admission is a courageous one to make. It is the correct one for him in this case; a jury will see through you at once if you do not believe in the claims of your client. I would say to you know that if any of you ever feel that you cannot with any conviction present the case you are asked to, then you should not attempt to do so. The fact that you as the defence have doubts will swing the verdict away from you. For that reason, I will be awarding Mr Sterling-Duval an A- for today."
Nick walked out with those words of advice ringing in his head; he knew there and then that they would serve as his watchwords for when he was doing the job for real…
With work and school keeping them all occupied, the chances to gather as a group began to rapidly diminish. It did not help that Sebastian's weekends were spent at the theatre, and often he would be the one that was not there. He did manage however to join with everyone else for the first big event of the year; in a way, he had to, as he was the star… The premiere of Artie's first full length film, Vegas Night, was too big a draw for any of them to miss. They all knew what the plot was, of course; they all knew what would happen when Stephen and Dustin, on a trip to Las Vegas to meet up with Stephen's estranged brother Jude, in the company of Dustin's dad, had a few too many free drinks at the casino…
There had been enough changes made that a stranger would never be able to identify for sure the real protagonists, but the hints were still there for all those that knew them well. Stephen was now a lapsed, conflicted and definitely gay Mormon missionary; he had lost his companion and met Dustin on the same night. The story was perfect and the performances of the actors spot on; the fact that the cinematography and the direction were excellent was another bonus. When the film ended to the strains of a group of Mormon missionaries singing Viva Las Vegas, there was loud and genuine applause. The critics that had been invited by the film school to view it lapped it up.
As a result, Artie was informed the following day that his film had been awarded the highest marks so far that year at the school. On top of that, he had been invited to show the film to a wider audience at the Tribeca Film Festival in the city later that year, and much to his surprise and delight, he was also on the shortlist for a place at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival later that year, subject to a little bit of editing. As he was allowed to enter additional films in both shows, he wondered if he could also manage to get his other project ready in time. That film would be much harder hitting, and a documentary. They were not nearly as popular, but everyone agreed that his film, Dalton Boys, an account of the life of the Warblers under the reign of Hunter Clarington, had to be made, to ensure that all of those events did not become just a footnote in history.
Those events at the start of March had been a welcome break from the relentless cycle of work for all of them. It was also the last night that Cooper had been free before he began the hectic round of final rehearsals before his previews on the new show began at the end of the month. His opening night, as such, would be on a Sunday night; this was an unusual night on which to have one, but it was a choice that would give all of them an advantage. It was the one night on which most of the friends that he had in the city could more or less be sure of being able to be in the audience. Sebastian had requested the day off the moment that he knew it was going to take place, and when he explained why, he had been granted it.
For some of them it would be their second opening night of the week; after all, it was taking place just a few days after the opening night of Hello Dolly! which they had all been invited to by Rachel. Sebastian was fortunate in that he had managed to obtain some of the best seats in the house to go along and cheer on his Auntie Bette as she owned the stage with the titular character. Rachel's dads had been in the audience nearby; for them, this was the moment that their little girl arrived for real. Yes, she had been a lead on Broadway before, but now she was appearing on stage alongside one of their icons… The critics were more than favourable to all of the cast of the show the following day, with all of the reviews more or less positive. The media had also carried an interview with the star of the show herself, thanking them all for their kind words and appreciation, before urging them all to make time to go and see the other big show that was opening officially on Sunday…