"Mornington"
North Carolina:
Melanie Carol entered her office huffing and cursing under her breath after returning from yet another heated staff meeting. Melanie had been teaching at Mornington High School for close to 20 years, even though she had been threatening to quit for at least the last decade, she couldn't imagine teaching anywhere else.
She had started off as a lowly paid teacher's aide and slowly and diligently worked her way to becoming a senior member of staff and the head of the very popular and ever growing Arts Department. Over her tenure she had seen it all. When she had first begun her career, they only had 3 classrooms and had to lease the Civic Hall in Main Street for sporting events. Now they had become one the finest schools in the state.
They were known for their students to go ahead and become vital members of society. Politicians, Writers, Professional Athletes and more importantly to Melanie, a select few of her more favoured students had made successful careers in the Performing Arts industry.
Melanie was well liked and respected not only in the Education community but also in the broader Mornington community. She was proud of this recognition and all of her accomplishments. So it came as no surprise to her when she was approached about being the chair person to organize the reunion to celebrate 25 years of continued Educational Excellence at the school. The only problem was that she would have to work very closely with the head mistress and long time adversary Val Montgomery.
The two ladies had never gotten along and had butted heads more times than either or anyone bothered to count. But over the years they had gradually learned to leave their personal feelings outside of the school and work together for the good of the staff and all of their students.
They were very passionate about their respective jobs, but it had seemed that Val had gone out of her way to block certain ideas Melanie had put forward over the past 5 years since becoming Head Mistress.
Melanie slumped down into her chair drumming her fingers on her desk in an attempt to calm her fraying nerves. She knew better than to let Val get under her skin but sometimes it was like she purposely set out to aggravate her.
After a few minutes of sitting and stewing, inspiration struck. Yes it was going to get a lot of people's attention, and she was almost certainly going to ruffle quite a few feathers (which didn't bother her in the slightest) but at the end of the day how could she in all good conscious organize a reunion celebrating the school without inviting some of the most successful students in the school's history? And not to mention some of her favorites.
Melanie reached down into her handbag and retrieved her cell phone. A huge smile ghosting past her lips as she scrolled through her contacts list until she found the name she wanted.
"Here goes nothing..."
New York, Gen X Studios.
The girls sat around deep in conversation about what sort of songs they wanted on their new album and the overall theme. They had been locked in a meeting with their management and Record Executives for most of the morning going over what each side wanted. It was never going to be a win win situation for either side, but at least they were all ready to hear each other out and consider a compromise that would suit everyone. They also played them a few snippets of what they had been working on and the girls were more than happy with the productive feedback and suggestions provided. After nearly 3 hours the doors opened and everyone filed out with smiles on their faces.
"You were rather quiet in there." Laney said, waiting for Zoe as she was the last to exit.
Zoe shrugged it off. "Why not hear them out? Gavin and our managers know what they're doing and I trust them. Why else would I pay them so much?"
Laney nodded her head in agreement and dropped it. She knew something was going on with her friend but she also knew that if Zoe didn't want to talk there was no use in trying to pry it out of her.
They were about to head back into the studio with the rest of the girls when Taylor, Zoe's assistant approached.
"Sorry to interrupt but you have a phone call." Taylor smiled handing Zoe the phone.
"I'll see you in there." Laney said walking away.
Zoe nodded watching her close the door behind her. "Who is it?"
"A Miss. Melanie Carol?" Taylor replied handing the phone over.
Zoe nodded and walked back into the conference room.
"Hi Ms. C. How are you?" Zoe asked excited to hear from her favorite teacher.
"Hello sweetheart I'm well how are you?"
"I'm good thanks. So what's new?"
"Oh nothing much you know how it goes around here." Mel replied with a chuckle. "So how's everything going? Things still good for you girls?"
"Yeah things are great actually. We're writing some stuff for the new album and laying some songs out. We're all trying to get the creative juices flowing." Zoe laughed.
"Have you just started writing or are you nearly finished?" Mel asked coyly.
"No we're really just brainstorming at the moment. We have a small concert tonight and then we're taking some time off to write, why do you ask?" Zoe asked intrigued by her former teacher's questions.
"Well if you girls were having a difficult time finding inspiration in the big city, maybe you could all think about coming home?" Mel suggested hesitantly.
"Coming home?" Zoe said bursting out laughing. "Ms. C. I know you are not serious. Coming home yeah right we'll be right down."
"Ms. Lancaster." Mel said seriously. "I most certainly was not joking. It may be good for you to come back and say hello."
Zoe shook her head. She couldn't believe that she would suggest such a thing. There were very good reasons why none of the girls had been "home" since they left school and she very well knew what they were. "Ms. C. no offence but I have no intention of coming "home" and I can safely say that the other's don't either." Zoe replied adamantly. "Why would you suggest such a thing?"
"I wouldn't have normally but this year we're celebrating our 25th year of Educational Excellence and the old bat has put me in charge." Mel explained. "So I got to thinking how could we celebrate without some of our most successful students?" Mel continued excitedly. She knew trying to entice Zoe to go along with her plans were a long shot, but there's no harm in trying right? "And really as one of my favourite students I thought you might want to come and help me celebrate?"
"Oh and let me guess some of your others might be Laney, Gabriella, and Sasha? To name a few." Zoe replied with a smirk.
"What a wonderful idea! Sweetheart you're practically writing this guest list for me." Mel grinned.
"You are so transparent do you know that?" Zoe laughed.
"Why do you think I stay out of sun?" Mel quipped.
Zoe laughed shaking her head. "Well good luck with that Ms. C, but my answer is still no. But you should talk to the others they may surprise you."
"Zoe sweetheart, I know it will be a little strange but please think about it. You were one of the best students we've ever had, and by you and the girls agreeing to come back then it's a message to everyone that you're putting the past behind you and so should they." Mel replied desperately wanting Zoe to rethink her decision. "It would mean a great deal to me."
"I'll think about it leave it with me for a few days, when do you need an answer?" Zoe asked.
"Well the reunion won't be for another few months, so you have a little while yet." Mel replied understanding why Zoe and the girls wouldn't really want to come back. But she honestly thought that if they did, then maybe some of the healing could begin for everyone.
"Okay I'll call you sometime next week. I better go rehearsal starts soon." Zoe said, not looking forward to telling the girls about this.
"No problem thank you for considering this it does mean a lot." Melanie smiled, genuinely hoping that the girls would come back.
"It's okay talk to you soon bye."
"Bye sweetheart."
Taylor stood up when Zoe re-emerged into the hall. "Is everything alright?"
"Tay how the hell do I get myself caught up in shit like this?" She replied shaking her head.
Taylor looked on completely confused. "Did I miss something?"
Zoe sighed, handing the phone back to her. "Don't worry about it. If anyone else calls just take a message."