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 7
Opening night was supposed to be perfect for those involved in the high school musical. The actors, the crew even the kids in the orchestra pit had all worked very hard for this day and looked forward to it with great anticipation. For the 'fabfour' it would be nothing less than amazing. Niles and Chastity would stand on stage and profess the love felt between Nellie and Emile, love that mirrored their own. Max and Fran would do the same expressing the love between Lt. Cable and the lovely Liat.
The boys picked up the girls that Friday evening to head to the school to prepare for the show. Chastity was given the use of Mr. Eastman's office for her dressing room and she, of course, shared it with Fran. Max and Niles would be sharing Mr. Cannon's small office just up the hall. When the florist arrived with two jumbo bouquets one long stemmed red roses the other long stemmed orange roses the security guard directed him to the music room.
"Chas…Fran…" Laurie called from where she was putting her hair up into the bun of 'Bloody Mary' called to them. "Ya got flowers!"
Chastity and Fran practically ran out of the small office to the door of the music room. "Oooohhh I wonder which is which?" Fran cooed over the flowers.
"The orange ones are mine." Chastity smiled softly at Fran.
Fran frowned and she thanked the deliver guy and took the card off the red roses. "How did you know?"
"I told Niles just before the Winter Formal that roses were my favorite, because they all have a special meaning." Chastity sighed at the thought that he remembered all this time.
Fran took her red roses and put them on the small table just outside the office where she shared with Chas. "Why orange long-stemmed? I mean…aren't red supposed to mean love?"
"Well, yes, I suppose that's true. Red is the symbol of romantic love." Chastity grinned slyly at her friend.
Fran shook her head. "I still don't get it Chas." Fran sat back at the make-up mirror.
"Well if you really want to know…" Chastity smiled. "Orange roses are the symbol of enthusiasm and desire, an expression of admiration and attraction with a deeper message of passion and excitement."
Fran's eyes got very big. "Hoo Haa! That Niles…" Fran waggles her eyebrows at Chastity. "It's always the ones you least expect…"
"It's exactly what I'd expect, Fran." Chastity starts. "Niles is the kindest, gentlest, most considerate boy I've ever met. He's just the right amount of fun and seriousness." Chastity sighs and smells her roses.
Fran looked at her. "Chastity…I'm so happy for you and Niles. You guys are great together."
"So are you and Max." Chastity leaned into her friend. "We're the 'fabfour'! We'll always be together."
At the other end of the hall the boys were getting ready as well. "The roses just arrived." Max was peeking out the door of the boy's dressing room. "I still don't understand why you insisted on orange roses for Chastity. I hope it doesn't hurt her feelings that you didn't get red."
"Trust me, Max." Niles grinned at his friend before the look of worry overtook his handsome features.
Max noticed right away. "I'm just kidding, Old man…I'm sure Chas will love the roses."
"It's not the roses, Max. I know that Chas will love the orange roses and she'll understand everything they mean, too. It's the other thing." Niles stopped and waited for the girl doing their make-up to leave.
Max sat next to Niles and put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I know, Niles. But the longer you wait to tell Chas, the harder it's going to be."
"I love her, Max. It'll kill me if I lose her over this." Niles sighed heavily. "I know she loves me too, but she loves the fun, spontaneous, gentleman that I've been these past several months. What's going to happen when I tell her that I'm a servant? Not just a servant, but your servant."
Max frowned. "Niles…you're my best friend. We're closer than brothers. I'll never think of you as a servant, I don't care what my parents say."
"I know that, Max. But my parents are servants and after college, well, that's what I'll be as well. At least until I've paid back your parents for my education. So forever." Niles sighed heavily. "Chastity deserves better than just some…butler."
Max stood and put his hands on Niles' shoulders and looked their reflections in the mirror. "Let me tell you something, my parents are in England, and they'll never know how we are living our lives here. That said, you tell me, Niles. Look at those boys there." Max nodded toward the mirror. "Which one is the better man? Which one is the more important man? Which one has the true and honest love of an amazing girl? Which one those boys there had the strength and courage to leave his home and family, travel thousands of miles across the ocean and start a new life?"
Niles shrugged at the point his friend was making. "Ok, Max. I understand."
"Good." Max stepped back. "We're the same over here, Niles. I'm Max Sheffield and you're Niles Brightmore. That's it. Now, I'm going to check on the girls." Max patted Niles' shoulders and left the small room, not realizing he didn't close the door completely.
Larry, the trombone player in the orchestra, was coming to get Niles for his warm-up. Niles looked at his reflection in the mirror. "I understand, Max. Here we're the same…except you're Maxwell Sheffield, Fifth Baron of Sheffield and I'm Niles Brightmore, your butler."
Larry's eyes shot open and his jaw dropped. He waited just a few seconds and then knocked on the door. "Hey, Niles…time for your warm up."
"Thanks, Larry." Niles stood up and headed out to the stage leaving Larry behind for just a moment.
"I don't believe it. He's got my part and my girl and he's nothing but a fake." Larry was an ok singer and a fair actor, but he had nothing on Niles. But, as a trombone player he was always needed in the orchestra pit, so he often felt he was being passed over, which he strongly resented.
The show starts and everything is moving along beautifully. The 'fabfour' as well as the rest of the cast, Laurie as 'Bloody Mary' and Gene from drama class as Luther Billis are also excellent. Everyone is having a grand time. It's nearing the end of the first act, Larry sees his opportunity. He has a bit of a break and excuses himself. He runs into Chastity back stage just before her last scene with Niles when 'Nellie' discovers that 'Emile' has two children from his marriage to a Polynesian woman. Larry tells Chastity everything he heard, which was really just that Max was some Baron and Niles was his butler, but Larry 'embellished'. Chastity was heartbroken. Not because Niles was a butler, but because he hadn't felt he could tell her; and maybe a little about how it would look and what her parents would think. But she had no chance to cry or run for Fran. She had to be onstage with Niles, the boy she loved who now, she wasn't even sure she knew, feeling so much like 'Nellie' felt about 'Emile'.
Gene overheard the tale Larry wove for Chastity and managed to find Niles just before his entrance to tell him. Niles noticed the odd look on her face right away and his heart sank. The scene began pleasant enough Chastity was the consummate actress, but after 'Emile' 'presents' his children to 'Nellie', everything changed. Her words seemed different, more authentic whenever Chastity, or 'Nellie', he couldn't tell, spoke. And in the end her words felt very real to him when she swore she loved him…but ran off stage in tears.
Niles' watched her run off in tears as he turned to the audience and sang as best he could…
"Once you have found her never let her go…
Once you have found her…never let her go!"
During the intermission Niles tried to see Chastity but she wouldn't even let Fran into the dressing room. "Chas…please…let me in. Honey, what's wrong?"
"I told her the truth about that lying boyfriend of hers." Larry stood a few feet behind Fran.
Fran frowned at him. "What are you talking about, Larry. What terrible thing did you make up about Niles?"
"It's no lie, Fran. I heard him say it himself. Max is some big shot Baron or something and Niles…" Larry laughed heartily. "Niles is his butler!"
Fran's eyes narrowed at Larry. "What difference does that make? Listen, Larry, this isn't going to make Chastity like you. She thinks you're a dweeb, she always has. She's only been nice to you because she feels sorry for you."
"That's not true!" Larry stormed toward Fran.
Max stepped into the room just in time to grab Larry's arm. "Go away, Larry." Max shoved him. "Fran…what's going on? Niles says that Chas won't talk to him? What's happened?"
Larry ran off with his tail between his legs. "Is it true, Max? Is Niles really your…butler?" Niles had just stepped into the music room.
"Yes, Fran…it's true." Niles spoke softly. "Tell Chastity that I'm sorry. She deserves the very best. I should have told her before. I'll never stop loving her." Niles turned and left.
Fran shook her head. "Oy, this is gonna take some serious 'Fine magic.' I hope I have enough. Max, go take care of Niles. He's still got to finish the show."
"Fran…what are you going to do?" Max waited. "I've never treated Niles like a servant, and I have no intention of making him behave in such a way. I don't care what my parents say."
Fran frowned at her boyfriend. "What do your parents have to do with it?"
"When we were just boys my parents made…an arrangement with Niles' parents. My parents agreed to pay for his education, our private school, the exchange program, even Julliard. My parents will pay for everything as long as Niles stays with me through school and after he graduates as my butler, unless he can pay them back somehow." Max hung his head. "I've hated them for it ever since."
Fran hugged him. "We'll deal with that part after the show. For now we have to get them back on the stage." Max kissed Fran on the cheek. "Break a leg, Frannie." He turned and left the music room in search of Niles.
"Chastity Claire, you open this door right now or I'm gettin' ya father." Fran was pulling out the big guns. The door opened just enough for Fran to go in. "Chas, I have to ask you somethin', and then I promise I won't bother you about it again." Chastity nodded. "Do you love Niles?" Chastity nodded. "Did you ever care about what he was gonna do after college, if the acting and singing thing didn't work out?"
Chastity shook her head. "No, I have enough money for a lifetime."
"Then tell me now, why does it matter to you that he's supposed to be some butler for Max after college?" Fran stood with her hands firmly planted on her sarong covered hips.
"My parents will have a fit, Fran. You've met my mother; she'll forbid me seeing him when she finds out his background." Chastity was trying unsuccessfully to keep her tears at bay.
Fran raised her eyebrows. "Since when do you give a leap what your mother thinks?"
Chas looked up at her friend. "But why did he lie to me?"
"What lie? When did he eva lie?" Fran asked her.
Chastity looked down at her hands in her lap. "He didn't tell me. Isn't that the same thing?"
"I would imagine it's not an easy thing for him to bring into the conversation. Not to mention look at the grief it's caused him. I can sure see why he'd try to keep it a secret." Fran added firmly. "Chastity, I've been your best friend for almost four years. My mother is a Jewish housewife and my father is, well I don't exactly know the answer to that. But definitely not on par with your parents."
Chastity looked up with the tears still in her eyes. "But you never lied to me about who you were."
"You tell me who Niles is and who he said he was." Fran charged.
Chastity thinks and shrugs. "He said he was Niles Brightmore. He was from London, and he was Max's best friend."
"All that's true, Max has said so himself." Fran offered. The stage manager called places. "We have a show to do. But I want you to think about what the last eight months would've been like if you'd never met that acting, singing butler." Fran dabbed Chastity's eyes and practically shoved her out of the dressing room.
Act two started and for the 'fabfour' seemed a little to 'real'; prejudices keeping lovers apart and all. Gene who played 'Billis' didn't understand why Niles, in character as 'Emile', was carrying a single long stemmed orange rose instead of the prop flowers they'd used during rehearsals, but he did his part and handed 'Nellie' the rose after the 'Thanksgiving Follies' scene was over and Chastity got the message.
The show went on perfectly and the audience, while getting a unique and emotional performance from the actors, seemed none the wiser to the ongoing turmoil behind the scenes. Still reeling from the 'rejection' he felt from Chastity, when the proper time came in the show, Niles easily portrayed 'Emile's' feelings about the promising future he'd seen before him slowly vanish when he sang…
Niles as Emile
One dream in my heart, one love to be living for,
One love to be living for, this nearly was mine.
One girl for my dream, one partner in paradise,
This promise of paradise, this nearly was mine.
Close to my heart she came, only to fly away;
Only to fly as day flies from moonlight.
Now, now I'm alone, still dreaming of paradise,
Still saying that paradise, once nearly was mine.
One dream in my heart, one love to be living for,
One love to be living for, this nearly was mine.
Close to my heart she came, only to fly away;
Only to fly as day flies from moonlight.
Now, now I'm alone, still dreaming of paradise,
Still saying that paradise, once nearly was mine!
Niles felt every word as he sang it, more than he'd ever felt anything. His heart was broken. The 'island' where 'Emile' and 'Lt. Cable' went to spy on the Japanese forces, was actually the sound booth where Niles and Max would read their lines over the speaker system.
Chastity had a lot of time to think about what Fran said. "…think about what the last eight months would've been like if you'd never met that acting, singing butler." Chastity loved Niles…it was one of the simplest things she'd ever had to decide. Deciding her senior class schedule was more difficult. Deciding what prom gown to buy was more difficult. Heck, if Chastity was completely honest, deciding what to have for breakfast was more difficult than deciding whether or not she loved Niles. She loved him. It wasn't a matter to decide, it just…was.
So when that final scene rolled around. Chastity sat at the table on stage with the two young kids, who were playing the roles of 'Emile's' children. The last scene had been changed around from the movie we all know…but it was better and more poignant for this special couple.
Chastity and kids
Dites-moi, pourquoi, la vie est belle,
Dies-moi, pourquoi--
Niles enters just upstage beyond where Chastity and the children sit and joins their song…
Niles
La vie est gai,
Dites-moi, pourquoi, chere Mad'moiselle,
Est-ce que, parce que, vous m'aimez?
The children run to their 'father' and hug him tightly. Niles pats them both and shoos them off stage leaving him and Chastity looking into each other's eyes. The music changes…
Chastity
Born on the opposite sides of the sea,
We are as diff'rent as people can be.
Niles
It's true
Chastity
And yet you want to marry me.
Niles
I do!
Chastity
I've known a few short weeks and yet,
Somehow you made my heart forget
All other men I have ever met but you, but you...
Niles
Some enchanted evening, when you find your true love,
When you feel her call you, across a crowded room,
Then fly to her side, and make her your own,
Or all through your life you may dream all alone.
Chastity
Once you have found him,
Never let him go.
Niles
Once you have found her,
Never let her go!
Niles could see the love in Chastity's eyes. She wasn't acting…it was real… He took her in his arms and kissed her, a little more deeply than necessary for the stage, but you understand. The curtain closed and the audience erupted into applause.