Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with The Nanny. Yet.
A/N I just wanted to do something really out there and different. I'm taking a lot of circumstances and just lumping them together in…High School…Let me know what you think!
High School Drama
Chapter 3
Fran and Chastity were waiting just outside Mr. Cannon's room for Max and Niles when they came up the hall trailed by half a dozen girls. Fran recognized those that were hanging on Niles' every word from Home Ec. the day before. "Don't worry, Chas…those girls are in our Home Ec. class. Niles saw through them yesterday."
Chastity recognized the other two girls from Show choir. "Well, don't let Kara and Debbie worry you either. Max saw how phony they are right away. They barely got out their patented, 'I found my moving buddy' before he rolled his eyes."
When Max and Niles finally reached their destination, Niles decided to end any question as to his loyalty. He and Max made the decision yesterday that this school year would be far too short to waste time. In his best 'Cary Grant' he said, "Hello, Chastity, my dahling!" Then he grabbed Chas with a flourish and dipped her.
Chastity giggled. "Niles." He waggled his eyebrows as he stood her back up.
Max didn't want to be outdone by his friend; so he dropped to his knee, grabbed Fran's hand and practically sang, "My heavenly goddess. May I have the privilege of bestowing a kiss upon thy porcelain skin?"
"You may." Fran touted proudly. Max kissed her knuckles and stood up. Then the foursome entered their class room as the 'groupies' stood stunned in the hall.
Mr. Cannon called the class to order, as he liked to put it. There were 28 students in this drama class so there would be fourteen couples to schedule time with. "Ok, gang, has each team chosen a scene to work on?" There were varied responses from the class. "When I call off your names just let me know if it's Shakespeare or Cyrano, okay?" By the end there would be eight 'Shakespeare' scenes and six of the 'Cyrano'. "Not too bad. We'll be able to alternate just enough so we shouldn't get too bored hearing the same thing over and over again. Ok, kids, find a nice quiet corner of the room and start working on your scenes. I'll be at my desk if you need any help."
"Mr. C." One of the boys called from the back of the room.
Mr. Cannon liked that the kids felt they could consider him a friend. "What is it Gene?"
"When we perform these do we need to be in costume or anything?" Gene was a big guy and worried a little about where he'd get a hold of tights for his Romeo.
"No costumes, but I'll expect you off book. You've got a month to memorize, Scott," Mr. C offered before Scott had the chance to ask. "Also, you'll be on the stage using the balcony set, so prepare to project. You can sign up for rehearsal time on the set with me and I'll give you a pass down to the auditorium."
The month flew by. Niles, Chastity, Max and Fran had rapidly become a well known fixture at school. Most of their teachers just referred to them as the 'fabfour'. They were almost always together. When the week of the drama class performances arrived, the 'fabfour' were more than ready. They had some rehearsal time on the set and spent a lot of afterschool hours running lines together as well. They'd found a nice quiet part of Central park where they would go, just the four of them. They had still not gone on an official 'date' unless you count the occasional visit to the diner for dessert. Mr. Cannon gave Max and Niles a bit of a break with regards to their scheduled time for performing their scenes since they were still new to the routine. They would go on the final Friday. Max and Niles decided that they'd make it a big deal and take the ladies out to dinner and a movie that evening, for their first real date. Fran and Chastity couldn't decide if they were more excited about performing their scenes with the boys or their dates with them afterward.
While Mr. Cannon was getting the class settled, Fran and Chastity had a few minutes alone in the girl's room. "Chas, I asked my Mom and she said you can stay over after our date with the boys."
"Oh, good, I so didn't want to go home and deal with Noel. Blech!" Chastity was checking her hair. She decided to put it up a little for the scene. "Fran…has Max really gone all out with your scene yet?"
Fran checked her make-up…again. "Whadaya mean, Chas?"
"Well, Niles hasn't really sold it yet. I don't know if he's been holding back so he didn't peak too early or if he wanted to really save it for me…is that stupid?" Chastity was a little embarrassed.
Fran smiled at her friend. "No, Honey, that's not stupid, it's sweet. Really sweet, and I'll bet you that's exactly what he's doing. He really wants to sell it to you. Just loosen up and feel it. He's never really seen you in your element. You're a great actress, Chas. This scene will be a pleasure to watch."
"I'm really excited to see you and Max too. I'll bet he makes a very dashing Romeo." Chastity winked at Fran.
Fran nudged Chastity. "You just wait until he climbs up the front and kisses me…hoo haa!" Fran sighed. "It'll stop your heart!"
The door to the ladies room opened and Chrissy, a girl from class popped her head in. "Hey, girls, Mr. Cannon says he's ready when you are…who's first?"
Mr. Cannon took the stage in front of the balcony and addressed the assembled group. Anyone with a free period, faculty, students, parents; even entire classes were welcomed to scene performances. Since this would be the first time the 'new kids' were performing, there were quite a few folks in the audience.
Fran and Chastity noticed this right off and were suddenly worried. Not for themselves, but for the boys. Fran had been in many different kinds of performances since freshman year. And Chastity was a school and city wide favorite, but neither of them knew if the boys were comfortable in front of an audience. "Oy," Fran started. "I forgot to warn Max about a possible audience."
"I didn't tell, Niles either. I wonder where they are?" Chastity straightened her dress. While costumes weren't required, she and Niles as well as Fran and Max thought dressing up a little would be nice. She was wearing a lovely pale blue dress with puffy sleeves so it almost fit the part. Fran was wearing a plain deep purple a line dress which, since Juliet was technically dressed for bed, was also not an unfitting outfit.
"Our first performance today will be the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. The part of Juliet will be played by Fran Fine. Her Romeo is a welcomed addition to the drama class, Maxwell Sheffield." Mr. Cannon leaves the stage. Max sneaks onstage and hides behind 'a tree'. Fran appears above on the balcony…sighs…and starts the assigned scene…
"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet."
Max sneaks out and hides behind a tree…
"Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?"
Fran continues…
"'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself."
Max moves forward trying to stay hidden in his very period costume…
"I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo."
Fran continues…
"What man art thou that thus bescreen'd in night
So stumblest on my counsel?"
Max comes into full view of both Fran and the audience…
"By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee;
Had I it written, I would tear the word."
Fran gasps slightly at the sight of him in his tights and tunic…
"My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
Of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound:
Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?"
Max takes his stance below her…
"Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike."
Fran smiles down at him…
"How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?
The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,
And the place death, considering who thou art,
If any of my kinsmen find thee here."
Max is in full Romeo mode and Fran is completely drawn in…
"With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls;
For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do that dares love attempt;
Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me."
Max and Fran continued on through the entire scene and then came to the part they both very much looked forward to…
Fran spoke the words so full of emotion even Mr. Cannon was a little surprised…
"Good night, good night! Parting is such
sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow."
Max leapt up and grabbed the front of the balcony, which had been well braced in preparation…
"Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast!
Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest!"
Max placed a soft kiss on Fran's lips and the audience exploded into applause. Max jumped down and Fran made her way down the back stairs and joined him on the stage where they took their much earned bow.
Mr. Cannon joined them on the stage and congratulated them both. "Folks we're going to take a short five minutes so we can reset the balcony for our final scene. Don't go away. We've still got a great scene to see."
Max and Fran hugged. "You were so great, Max. And hoo haa, that costume!" Fran waggled her eyebrows at him. Max borrowed a period tunic from the costume storage and wore well fitting pants.
"You were great too, Frannie. I want to go and change fast so I can watch Niles and Chas…" Max kissed her quickly and they left the stage. Mr. Cannon moved the balcony around re-braced it and brought the 'trees' in for more cover.
Chastity was in place on the balcony just inside the 'door'. Niles was already set beneath the balcony. Niles too had 'dressed' the part. He was wearing a period jacket and cape with form fitting pants. While Mr. Cannon took center stage and settled the audience. "This next scene is the balcony scene from Cyrano De Bergerac. Roxane will be played by Chastity Babcock and Cyrano will be played by another newcomer, Niles Brightmore." Mr. Cannon explained where they would start the scene. "We'll pick up the scene just after Roxane asks Cyrano, who she believes to be Christian, to stand on a bench so she can better see him."
Chastity points to the bench placed to the side of the balcony…
"Won't you stand on the bench so I can see you?"
Niles speaks with force hidden beneath 'the tree'…
"No!"
Chastity questions his force…
"Why such a forceful no?"
Niles lets the lines come freely, and fully heartfelt…
"Let us stay like this for a while.
It's so sweet to have this rare occasion when our hearts can speak
without our bodies seeing one another."
Chastity hears the words and feels his earnestness…
"But why should we want to speak without seeing one another?"
Niles lets his voice ring out to her…
"Oh, because it's so sweet! We are half-hidden and half-revealed.
You see the dark folds of my cloak and
I see the glimmering pale blue of your dress.
I am but a shadow, and you are a bright shining light!
Do you know what such a moment does to me?
I may have been eloquent in the past but—
Yet not until tonight has my speech sprung so directly from my heart!"
Chastity continued feeding him his cues…
"Why not?"
Niles breathed life into his lines…
"Up until now, I spoke uncertainly.
I've been so intoxicated by your beauty.
Your eyes radiate and make me dizzy.
But tonight, I think I am able to find speech for the first time!"
Chastity couldn't believe how rich Niles' voice sounded…
"'Tis true, your voice even sounds a little different."
Niles moved closer, nearer and spoke more passionately…
"Yes, I speak with a new tone!
In the sheltering dusk, I dare to be myself for once—at last!
It's all so enchanting, and so sweet and new!"
Chastity is curious…
"New? How so?"
Niles deeply moved and covers…
"It's a new feeling for me to at last speak sincerely.
Up until now, my heart feared that it would be mocked—"
Chastity continued…
"But why?"
Niles was really getting into character now…
"Because of its mad passion!
My heart has masked itself with witty words to hide itself from curious eyes.
I've aimed to bring stars down from the sky, but, fearing ridicule,
I've stooped to pick wild flowers instead!"
Chastity tilts her head seemingly confused at Niles' tone…
"Wild flowers are sweet!"
Niles continues more powerfully…
"Yes, but not tonight. Tonight I aim for the star!"
Chastity realizes something is different, she's nearly overcome…
"Oh! You've never spoken quite like this before!"
Niles lets his voice speak the feelings in his heart…
"Tonight I want to leave behind all of Cupid's arrows and quivers.
I don't want to speak about the trite little symbols of love—
the sentimental kinds of things that all lovers already speak about.
Instead, I want to speak in a fresh, pure language—
one that comes directly from my heart.
For why should we sip little thimblefuls of dull fashionable waters,
when, instead, we can quench our souls' thirst
by drinking from the great flooding river!"
Chastity is getting caught up in the words…
"But what about your wit?
Your elegant speeches?"
Niles' voice is full of emotion…
"If I have used my witty speech to gain your attention at the first,
then it would be an outrage and an insult to this night,
and to Nature herself, to speak such sugary, flowery words again.
Just look up at the stars!
The quiet sky will ease our hearts of all things artificial.
If love is expressed in terms too refined, then the real feeling is lost.
The truth of love itself becomes buried among all the flowery embellishments of poetic language."
Chastity is drawn into the words…the feeling…
"But wit, and elegant language—"
Niles continues on…
"They are a crime when it comes to love!
It is hateful to turn honest loving into a game!
When the moment comes—
and I pity those who never know that moment—
and the real feeling of love exists in us,
premeditated words are futile and only make the soul sad!"
Chastity feels suddenly anxious…
"Well, if that moment has come for us,
what words will you use now?"
Niles chest swells as he sends his words up to Chastity…
"All words! Whatever words come to me, and even as they come,
I'll fling them in a wild cluster and not wrap them in a careful bouquet.
I love you! I am mad! I am suffocating with love for you!
Your name rings in my heart like a bell.
When I think of you, I tremble, and the bell shakes and rings out your name!
Roxane…Roxane!
Everything you do I love! I remember every action of yours I've ever witnessed!
I know that last month on the third,
you changed the way you wore your hair."
Chastity was well aware that was an altered line that fit their own lives…
"I am so used to taking your hair for daylight itself that,
just as one stares at the sun and sees a red blot on all things,
when I turn away after looking at you,
I see a radiant image imprinted on everything!"
Chastity speaks and her voice trembles…
"Yes, this is love."
Niles is fully entrenched in his character and still speaks his own heart…
"Yes, the feeling which fills me is true love!
Fierce and jealous and sad, yet never selfish.
I would gladly lay down my own happiness for yours,
even if you were never to know it.
And even if I end up far away from you and lonely,
I will be content just to hear a happy echo of the joy I once brought you!
Each glance from you makes me virtuous and brave in new and unknown ways.
Do you begin to understand me?
Now, after all this time, have you begun to understand?
Do you feel my soul climbing up to you through the darkness of this night?
Oh, it is too sweet, too incredible, that I should speak this way and that you should listen!
Even in moments when my hopes rose so high,
I never could have hoped for this much!
I could die peacefully right now.
My words have had the power to make you tremble!
You are trembling, I can feel it!
I can feel the quivering of your hand echoing down through the jasmine branches!"
Chastity clutches a hanky to her chest to calm herself…
"Oh, I am trembling and weeping!
I am yours! You have conquered all of me!"
Niles leans, exhausted against the 'tree' that covers her view of him…
"Then let death come! It is I who have conquered you!
There is just one thing I dare ask you—"
Niles got special permission to change the end here rather than add Christian into the scene…he didn't tell Chastity…Niles 'whispers' to himself…
"A kiss!"
Chastity knows well her lines…
"What?"
Niles does his 'aside' in near the same volume…
"Oh, no!"
Chastity hears only Niles and her pounding heart…
"Did you ask—"
Niles plays the confused and impassioned lover so well…
"I…I… move too fast!...
Yes, I…I asked for a kiss,
But…I spoke thoughtlessly. Shame on me!"
Chastity is disappointed…she knew Niles was changing the end…but not like this…
"You withdraw your request so quickly!"
Niles hears the disappointment in Chastity's voice and wonders is it hers or Roxane's…
"Yes, I withdraw, but without really withdrawing!
I'm afraid I have offended your modesty.
If so, please do not grant me that kiss!"
Chastity decided to change things up a bit herself…
"I'm not so easily offended.
Climb up here and you shall have your kiss!"
Niles feels his heart leap in his chest…that was all Chastity…
"But I cannot. For if your eyes were to gaze upon me,
I would lose all courage."
Chastity smiles and 'wraps a kiss' in her hanky…
"Then receive my kiss upon the air."
Chastity tosses her hanky down to him and Niles catches it…and brings it to his lips…
"And keep it next to your heart whenever you feel your courage falter."
Niles thinks it's best to end the scene now…
"I will my love. Now I think its best I go…
Someone's approaching."
Niles exits the stage and Chastity watches as he goes…and whispers to herself…
"Never be afraid to love me Niles…"
The audience bursts into applause and whistles. Mr. Cannon joins Niles and Chastity on stage and it doesn't go unnoticed that the two teenagers can't keep their eyes off each other. "Well, that was extraordinary. Different there at the end…but still very well done." Mr. Cannon winked at his students and turned to the gathered audience. "That concludes our performances for the day. Thanks for coming. We look forward to seeing all of you back in the spring when we'll be doing the musical 'South Pacific'.