Danville's Got Talent
As had been the case all summer long since its opening, The Fourth Dimension was alive with activity as kids, teens, and even some adults enjoyed its many diversions. Games were being played, mini golf putts were being made, go-kart races were being won, and laser tag games raged on and on. It was all but unfathomable that anyone could not have immense amounts of fun while in attendance at the entertainment complex.
Unfathomable though it was, however, two girls sat at a table in the food court across from each other with looks of total distress on their faces. Holly and Katie sat in silence, each lost in their own concerns over what awaited them not even twenty-four hours in the future.
"Guys, c'mon already," Adyson said, standing with arms akimbo next to their table. "How can you possibly not be having fun here?"
"Easily," Holly replied dejectedly.
"What she said," Katie added, echoing the sentiment.
"You guys haven't even tried to get your minds off of tomorrow since we got here," Adyson said, leaning towards them both. "Which, might I remind you, is the whole reason we brought you here in the first place!"
"Addie's right," Gretchen said, stepping up alongside Adyson. "Which, might I add, is something I thought I might never actually say."
"Hey!" Adyson said resentfully.
"I call 'em like I see 'em," Gretchen told her with a shrug. "Regardless, incessantly fretting over your impending performances is only going to increase the likelihood of insomnia tonight for both of you. Not to mention-"
Adyson grasped her head in mock agony. "Ow. Brain overloading with big words. Break it down, will you please G?"
Gretchen looked scathingly up at Adyson before looking back at Holly and Katie. "You're going to worry yourselves sick at this rate."
"Much better," Adyson said, patting Gretchen on the head. Gretchen swatted her hand away and left the table to go rejoin Milly in the arcade.
"We didn't ask to come here, you know," Katie told her.
"We could still be practicing instead of wasting time here," Holly added.
"You two have been practicing all freakin' summer," Adyson told them. "With the exception of Katie getting her driver's license, I can't think of much else that either of you has done that could be considered fun!"
"Not without good reason," Holly retorted. "Do you have any idea how important tomorrow is to either of us?"
"Well…frankly, no I don't," Adyson admitted, which elicited a simultaneous pair of groans from the two performers seated in front of her.
"Give it a rest, Addie," Isabella told her. "Why don't you go hit some mini-golf with Ginger? She was looking for someone to play a round with."
"Alright," Adyson said begrudgingly. "But I'm not done with either of you!"
"Thanks Izzie," Katie said once Adyson was on her way. "I know she means well, but she's not helping."
"Well, what would help?" Isabella asked. "Adyson and Gretchen are right; you two really do need to try and relax some. You've been working at your performances all summer. I'm sure you'll do great."
"That's just it," Holly told her, picking her head up off of the table. "We need to be more than just great. We both have a lot riding on tomorrow."
"I don't understand," Isabella said, looking back and forth between both girls. "It's just a recital, right? It's nothing neither of you hasn't done before, I know that for a fact."
"This isn't just another recital for us, Izzie," Katie said. "Our futures hinge on how well we perform."
"We both want to be professional performers," Holly said. "In my case, my parents aren't too thrilled at the prospect of paying to send me to a college that specializes in the performing arts; especially when they're skeptical of what kind of living I could make as a musician. The thing is…I don't care if I don't end up rich someday. That's not what I want out of life. I want to make music. I want to play for people and bring some joy into their lives. I want my performance tomorrow to show my parents once and for all that this is what I'm meant to do. This is what I love. This is what I want to do with my life."
"And what about you, Katie," Isabella asked, looking back over at the blonde girl.
"There's a really prestigious dance academy known as the Bolshoi Academy," Katie told her. "They have a summer ballet program that is second to none, but they're incredibly exclusive. Only the best dancers make it in. My Russian grandmother was a world-renown ballerina and her recommendation could very well get me into the Bolshoi program. She'll be at the recital tomorrow night with my parents. She's incredibly strict about dance, though. I've never actually gotten a compliment from her on any of my performances that she's seen. I really have to prove myself to her if I want a chance at going to Bolshoi next summer."
"So in a nutshell, both of our futures rest on our performances tomorrow," Holly said.
"Yeah, no pressure or anything," Katie added.
"Wow, guys…why didn't you tell us about all of this sooner?" Isabella asked.
"With what time?" Holly asked, throwing her arms into the air. "We've been so focused on preparing and practicing that we've barely had time for anything else."
"Yeah, Adyson was kinda right when she commented on how little else we've done this summer," Katie said, folding her arms on the table and resting her head on them. "And to be honest, even if we told you sooner, what good would it have done?"
"We could've tried to make time to be there for you guys at least," Isabella protested. "You've had to go all this time with no moral support…it's not right!"
"It is what it is now," Holly said. "Look, we appreciate the sentiment, Izzie, not to mention you guys going to the trouble of bringing us out here. But until we get past tomorrow, I don't think either Katie or I will be in much of a mood for fun."
Isabella frowned as she watched her two friends continue to mope in front of her. "Well, after it's all over we'll try to do something really fun. You guys can even pick what we do. Okay?"
"Thanks, Izzie," Katie told her. "We'll keep it in mind. C'mon, Holly, let's get going."
"Yeah, no reason everyone has to have a miserable time because of us," Holly added. "We'll see you all later, Izzie."
Isabella rose with the two and waved as they made their way out of the entertainment complex. As soon as they were gone, she went about collecting up the rest of her friends from their various activities and convening back in the parking lot with them by the spot where they'd all parked their bikes.
"So what's the deal, Izzie?" Adyson asked, folding her arms. "There's still a lot of day left. Why're we cutting this short?"
"We need to get the boys together," Isabella told her. "We've got to all be there for Holly and Katie tomorrow."
"Are you sure having us in the crowd wouldn't just make them even more tense and nervous?" Ginger asked.
Isabella shook her head. "I don't think it's possible for them to be any more tense and nervous than they already are."
"I'm with Izzie," Grechen said. "We've got to be there to support them, and I know the guys would want to be there as well."
"Buford's not much for music or dancing," Milly said pensively, though she brightened up just a moment later. "But I'm sure I could make it up to him later."
"What about you, Addie?" Isabella asked, turning back to her as she spoke. "I know you and Django don't have much time left together, but…"
"Please," Adyson said, stopping her right there. "He's been asking me on every date about when the recital was coming. This is what I get for falling for an artist."
"Well, I really can't argue with the majority ruling here," Ginger said. "Besides, I'm sure BJ will want to support Holly and Katie as well anyway."
"Okay then, girls, you have your assignments," Isabella told them as she turned to face all four, her expression becoming hardened and stern all of a sudden. All four girls snapped to attention and saluted her crisply. "I'll check in with each of you this evening to make sure we're on track for tomorrow. Remember, this is for Holly and Katie here. If you encounter any resistance from your respective boyfriend, use whatever tactics necessary to ensure compliance. Within reason, of course. Understood?"
"Aye aye, captain," the four girls cried out in response.
Isabella nodded approvingly to them. "Dismissed!"
At Isabella's word, all five of them rushed to their bikes, unlocked them from their parking spots near the entrance, and rode off to their respective boyfriends' homes to plead their cases. They were bound and determined to remind their two nerve-wracked comrades that support would always be there for them, whether they asked for it or not.
The location had changed, but Holly and Katie's demeanor had remained the same. Instead of moping around at a table at The Fourth Dimension, now they were moping around at a table at Mr. Slushy Dawg. They had decided that food was necessary despite their mood and stopped at the fast food joint for a bite to eat. Though the food had been tasty and their hunger had been sated, it had done little to settle their nerves.
"What're we gonna do, Katie?" Holly lamented. "At this rate I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight, much less actually perform tomorrow."
"I hear you, believe me I do," Katie replied, rolling her head back to look up at the restaurant's ceiling. "We've got to try and calm down about this somewhat, though. Our future as performers rests on how well we do tomorrow."
"Yeah, see, every time we come back to that point it somehow makes me feel even worse."
"Sorry. For what it's worth, it does the same to me."
"I know. It's okay, really. I just…I wish I knew how professional performers did it. How they get over these kind of nerves."
"You don't, really," a distinctly male voice said from beside their table. Holly and Katie both looked over to see Jeremy grabbing a chair and sitting backwards on it next to their table.
"You two are Gretchen's friends, right?" he asked, getting nods from both girls in response. "Thought I recognized you both when you came in. So…performance woes?"
"More like dread at this point," Holly told him.
"Our recital is tomorrow, but we both have a lot riding on how well we do," Katie added.
"I'm guessing the whole old standby of 'pretend the audience is naked' wouldn't help, then," Jeremy noted.
"Nope," Holly told him. "Neither has 'pretend there is no audience'."
"What did you mean before?" Katie asked. "When you said 'You don't, really' before you sat down?"
"Just that the nerves never go away," he told her. "After playing with my band for so many years I can tell you, the kind of thing you two are feeling never goes away. You'll always worry that you might miss a note, or forget a word, or stumble a little. And sometimes messing up on stage can't be helped. What's really important to remember, though, is it's worse to miss an opportunity than it is to miss a note or a step. You can recover from a mistake on stage and still have a fantastic show, but you can't recover from missing an opportunity to show your stuff."
Holly and Katie traded looks with each other as they both took in Jeremy's words. It gave them both a moment of respite from their worries. It was during that moment that Jeremy saw their expressions chance, as if they had both suddenly come to the same epiphany.
"And it looks like you both seem to understand now," he said, standing back up.
"Understand what," Holly asked, a bit confused.
"What's really important here," he told her. "You can give a technically flawless performance, but if all you do is play or dance perfectly you'll never get your point across. So rather than focusing on giving a perfect performance…"
"…focus on giving a performance that is uniquely ours," Katie said, finishing Jeremy's sentence how she thought he might. An approving nod from Jeremy told her that her conclusion was spot on. Holly found herself smiling at the idea as well.
"I think you'll both be fine from here on out," Jeremy told them. "I wish I could come, but Coltrane's insisting that my bachelor party is tomorrow."
"That's fine," Holly told him. "Thanks for the advice, though."
Jeremy nodded to her. "Anything for a fellow performer. Break a leg tomorrow, both of you."
Holly and Katie bid him goodbye as he disappeared back into the employee area of the restaurant. They then looked back at each other, smiling for what felt like the first time in a long time.
"You still nervous?" Katie asked Holly.
"Yeah, some," Holly admitted. "But it's different than it was before. Maybe I'm more anxious now instead."
"I think I feel the same. I'm still concerned about giving a good performance, but it's like he said. I want to give a performance that's more than just good. I want to give a performance that I can say is mine."
"Me too. I wanna knock them dead tomorrow, but I want them to know when they leave that they didn't just see a good performance; they saw my performance."
The two girls got up from the table and clasped hands, smiling at each other as a look of confidence crossed each of their faces. Tomorrow was no longer something to be feared. Instead it represented the opportunity of a lifetime, and rather than fearing it they now both resolved to seize it and make it their own.
The majority of the audience in the auditorium consisted of the parents and family members of the various performers. Such being the case, the veritable gang of teenagers taking up two rows on the left side of the auditorium couldn't help but feel a bit out of place; some more than others.
"This is seriously not my kind of scene," Buford muttered as he fidgeted in his seat and fought with the collar of the polo shirt Milly had made him wear. "And I feel like I'm wearin' a penguin suit."
"I'd hate to think what you'd feel like if you ever had to wear an actual suit, then," Baljeet commented.
Buford shook his head vigorously at the Indian teen. "Ain't never gonna happen, dude."
"You think you're uncomfortable," Django commented. "I can't remember the last time I wore full-length pants. These things are driving me crazy."
"Suck it up and deal, baby," Adyson told him. "You'll survive looking like a respectable human being for one afternoon."
Django rolled his head back as he blew a raspberry. "I'm just glad neither Vic nor Martin is here to see me like this."
There was the sudden sound of a camera shutter and Django saw Adyson checking the photo of him she'd just taken on her phone. She smiled sweetly as she patted his cheek.
"Keep complaining and they will anyway," she told him.
"Dude, you're so whipped," Buford chided, elbowing Django lightly.
"You're one to talk," Django muttered back.
"So did you talk to Holly or Katie any more since yesterday?" Phineas asked Isabella while Django and Buford continued to trade verbal barbs next to them.
"I tried to," Isabella said, frowning at her phone. "But neither of them picked up. I just hope they're not too worked up by now."
"If they weren't before, I'll bet they will be now," Gretchen added, pointing across the way. The group looked and spotted not only Holly's parents taking their seats but also Katie's family as well, who were accompanied by a short, elderly woman wearing a scarlet kerchief over her head. No doubt it was Katie's Russian grandmother whom she'd mentioned to Isabella the previous day.
"I wish we could be backstage for them," Ginger said despondently.
"We'll catch them as soon as they come out," Phineas said resolutely, addressing the whole group. "And we're out here for them, even if they don't see us or know that we're here."
The group had no sooner agreed with Phineas' sentiment than the house lights flashed to indicate the recital was about to begin. The teens, as well as everyone else in the auditorium, quickly took their seats and began to hush as the performances began.
Backstage, Holly and Katie sat next to each other, both fighting last minute nerves as they watched their fellow performers head out one act after another for their performances.
"You're up first of us two, right?" Katie asked Holly, receiving only a nod as her answer. "You'll be fantastic, Holly. I know it. I've heard you and your music is gorgeous."
"Thanks Katie," Holly told her without looking up at her. "But I'm not nervous about performing anymore. Well…I'm not as nervous about it as I was before, rather."
"So what are you nervous about, then?"
"I'm nervous about what I'll say to my folks afterwards. I still have to plead my case to them no matter how good I do out there."
Holly felt Katie's hand on her shoulder and looked up at her.
"Tell them through your performance," Katie told her. "Because no words either of us could come up with could possibly express how much this means to us."
Holly nodded, giving Katie a quick hug before standing up and straightening out her dress.
"Break a leg out there," Katie told her.
"Yeah, you too," Holly replied.
Holly collected her instrument from along the wall of the backstage area and took her spot in line waiting for her moment of truth to come. As she entered the backstage area, she handed her instrument to a stage hand who quickly whisked it off to set it up for her. She was left standing in the darkened backstage area, clutching her sheet music and silently going over her music in her head one last time. The time for practice was over; the time to seize her future was now.
"Now coming on stage," the announcer said over the auditorium's speakers. "Holly Fenton; who will be performing the Cello Suite number one prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach."
Holly walked out onto the stage slowly with her bow in her right hand and her sheet music in her left. Her simple, light green dress flowed around her as she made her way to center stage where her cello had been set up for her along with a music stand and a chair. She resisted the urge to check her hair again, which she'd had straightened for the performance, and curtseyed to the audience before taking her seat, placing her music on the stand and positioning her cello on her shoulder.
Tension permeated the air around her as she made sure everything was set just so. She adjusted the music stand, made sure her music was easy to see, checked her instrument once more, and then looked out into the auditorium. Due to the lighting, it was nearly impossible for her to see the crowd. She decided that was more of a blessing than unfortunate and, after one last deep breath, she put her bow to the strings of her cello and began.
The music immediately began to crescendo, filling the auditorium with the cello's deep, mellow sounds. Holly lost herself in the music as the familiarity of the piece came to her as soon as she'd begun playing. She swayed slightly, her expression changing as she poured her heart into the music. In that moment, nothing else existed for her. There was no nervousness, no tension, no audience. There was only her and the sound of her music. It was the most liberating sensation she had ever known, and she relished it.
Her fingers danced along the neck of the cello as she continued to play, pouring every feeling that the piece of music she'd selected had ever evoked in her into her performance. As she finished the piece in a commanding fashion she held her bow out in front of her for a moment, savoring the last remnants of music as they echoed throughout the auditorium. Moments later she only vaguely became aware of the rousing applause that had struck up for her. Looking out over the crowd she suddenly realized they were all on their feet, clapping and cheering. She carefully put her cello down and stood up, curtseying once again before quickly fleeing the stage with her bow and sheet music. As she left the stage and was summarily mobbed by her fellow performers congratulating her, she never saw the faces of her parents in the crowd. They had been the first to their feet, and they were fiercely trying to wipe tears from their faces; tears they'd shed because of the sheer beauty of their daughter's music.
As a troupe of hip hop dancers quickly made their way offstage and past her, Katie fought with her nerves one last time. Hers was one of the last performances of the recital, and while much of the recital had been a hit the pressure was on her now to help make sure the show ended on a good note. To make matters worse, while standing just offstage she had spotted her parents and grandmother in the audience.
"Up next with her original dance to Ludwig von Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata," she heard the announcer say, "Katherine Martinov."
Suddenly there was no more time for nerves or self-doubt. Just like Holly before her, Katie had to rise to her moment. She made her way on stage dressed in her pure white dance costume with a tattered, diaphanous skirt that fell around her waist and legs. She stopped at the far front edge of the stage, sat down and collapsed herself onto her side. She closed her eyes and waited. A few stray coughs from the audience punctuated the silence, which was replaced by the familiar strains of a piano playing her chosen piece. She opened her eyes and looked upwards, stretching as if from a long sleep, and her dance began.
Her dance told a story, as most great dances do. It was a story of someone, or some entity perhaps, who unlike those who rose at dawn and thrived during the day instead awoke with the dusk and claimed the night for their own. She was joyous to experience yet another night and reveled in its cool, dark majesty. Yet, there was something solemn about her at the same time, and understandably so. Ater all, one who trades the shining brightness of day for the exotic lure of night does so at a price. Solitude was all she knew and would likely ever know, as few were willing to trade the warmth of day for the blackness of night. Yet someone had to claim the night as their own and give praise to the moon just as so many gave praise to the sun. As the music slowly drew to a close, she regretfully returned to her starting position and once again collapsed to her side. Her night was done and it was time to rest once again. The day drew near, and there was no place for her in the realm of the light.
A round of applause roused her from the ending to her dance and, after a quick curtsey to the audience after she rose to her feet again, she disappeared backstage. It was far from the ovation Holly or any of the other more modern dance acts had received, but then ballet was not to everyone's liking. Katie was nonetheless thankful that her performance was done, and though she felt confident about how she'd done she couldn't help but turn her worries now to her grandmother's reaction to it.
With the recital finally behind them, Holly and Katie made their way out of the back of the auditorium; both only hoping for a quiet evening with their respective families and to hopefully spend what little summer vacation they had left being normal teenagers with their friends. Instead, they were instantly beset by a mob comprised of all of their girlfriends as soon as they stepped outside. The former Fireside Girls all grasped the two of them in a massive group hug while the boys simply watched on from several feet away.
"Oof, guys," Katie called out as she and Holly were being crushed by a group hug. "Can't breathe. Too many all at once!"
"Sorry," Isabella said, apologizing for all of them as they backed away to form a semi-circle around the two. "But we just couldn't help ourselves. You guys were fantastic!"
"Truly," Gretchen added. "Holly, your music was simply brilliant! And Katie, you looked absolutely stunning up there while dancing."
As the other girls all echoed Isabella and Gretchen's sentiments, Holly and Katie couldn't help but look past them and see their families approaching from around the corner of the building.
"Thanks for everything, girls, but.." Holly said as she and Katie separated themselves from them. Adyson had noticed the approaching families and quickly corralled the others to give the two some space.
"Go see your families," she told them with a smile. "We'll be here when you're done. And no weaseling out of coming with us to celebrate, got it?"
Katie smirked and nodded to her longtime friend before looking back at Holly.
"Shall we get this over with," she asked her. Holly just nodded and, after a quick wave, the two girls headed over to their respective families.
Holly approached her parents a bit timidly, chewing her lip as she stood before them. "How'd you like the recital?" she asked, avoiding eye contact with them.
"It was great as always," her mother said with a smile. Her face then grew more serious. "Holly, honey…your father and I did some talking during intermission after you played."
"Y-yeah?" Holly asked, her voice shrinking as her heart began to race.
"To be honest, we're still a bit daunted at the idea of sending you to a college just to learn music," her father told her. "Not just because it's expensive, but there's no certainty that you'd ever be able to make a living being a musician, sweetheart."
Holly felt her spirits fall as she hung her head, only to feel her parents each put a hand on one of her shoulders. She looked up at them again and saw them smiling at her.
"But if this is what you really want, Holly," her father told her, glancing sidewise at her mother, "then we'll see what we can do to help you chase your dream."
Holly all but tackled her parents as she hugged them both tightly. She was reduced to only being capable of repeating "thank you" to them over and over as she rejoiced. Across the way from them, Katie finally reached her family and hugged her mother and father in turn.
"You were fantastic, Katie," her father told her.
"Absolutely amazing, dear," her mother added. "But I suspect it's not our opinion you want to hear."
"I appreciate hearing it anyway, thanks mom and dad," Katie told them with a smile. She then turned to her grandmother as she approached slowly. Her grandmother folded her hands as she looked at her, her expression as dour and scrutinizing as ever.
"Son," Katie's grandmother said in a gravelly voice with a thick Russian accent. "I speak to Katherine in Russian, okay?"
"Yes, mama," Katie's father replied in Russian.
Katie's grandmother nodded to her son and then turned back to her granddaughter, who prepared herself for not only her criticism but also to have to respond in Russian as well.
"You know I am going to tell you that I am not satisfied with your performance, right Katarina?" her grandmother asked her.
"Yes grandmother," Katie replied.
"Your form is amateurish. Your poise is sloppy. Your feet are clumsy. You need much more work on everything."
"Yes grandmother."
"Frankly I am surprised that your school calls what they teach you ballet. From my point of view it is merely a bunch of pretty prancing about the stage."
"I know grandmother. I am so-"
"I suppose the only way you will ever learn properly is to attend a proper Russian ballet school."
Katie's jaw dropped as she saw one of the rarest sights she'd ever seen: a smile slowly spreading on her grandmother's face.
"My dear Katherine, though you need much work still I could feel the emotion you put into your dance. It moved me, dear child, like little I have seen in recent years on stage. I will speak to some people I know and see about arranging a place for you at the Bolshoi Academy next year. Only there will you, my little Katherine the Great, learn how to dance."
Katie felt the tears fall from her eyes as her grandmother moved to hug her gently. She felt her parents' hands on her back, but the magnitude of the moment was too much for her to register them. Like Holly, she could only express her thanks to her grandmother as she sobbed in her arms.
From afar, the collected girlfriends of the two and their boyfriends watched on with smiles on their faces. They would be heading out soon enough to celebrate Holly and Katie's success, but there was no hurry at all. This moment belonged to the two performers, and none of them was about to interrupt it for anything.
Next Episode Preview: Candace and Jeremy's wedding is just a couple of days away and everyone is making their final preparations for what promises to be the highlight of a summer filled with memories.
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*...rumble rumble…*