Faking It • Queen FanFiction

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 39

"So, I was thinking, do you wanna come to Rockfield Farm with us? I'm afraid it won't be very exciting, but I thought it'd be a good break from Holden and-" Brian was cut off by a shower of toast crumbs being flung over the table, coming from Bernie's mouth.

"Yes! Yes please!" She cried, running her hands through her thick hair excitedly, a smile failing to reach her eyes as her despair and flicker of joy fought against each other. "Oh my god!" Her mind raced with the prospect of being away from all of her troubles for six solid weeks. Six weeks of bliss, of no work, of no harassment, of no worry. She said "oh my god" a couple more times, in a numb state of  wonder. After taking her time to allow the opportunity to churn around in her head, she flung her arms around Brian, gratitude pouring out of her. "Wait! You leave in two days. That's the day of my exam." A dark spell came over Bernie's ecstasy as the reality set in that she wouldn't be able to just be miraculously whisked away carefree.

"What time is it?" Brian's eyebrows furrowed and he looked down at Bernie, still hugging her, feeling it unsafe to let go just yet.

"Nine thirty."

"That's perfect! We're taking separate cars this time, so either me, John or Roger can stay an extra couple of hours to pick you up from college, take you home to sort final stuff out and then drive to Rockfield." It was the perfect plan. Whilst explaining it, Brian's arms had been thrown up at how unfathomably ingenious he believed himself to be, automatically breaking the hug.

"Why couldn't Freddie stay either? Not that you three aren't suitable candidates to be in a car with for four and a half hours."

Brian's face cracked into a smile and a laugh rumbled through his body. "Ha! You've got to be having a laugh if you think Freddie can drive."

"Oh...right," she felt a bit silly, for she couldn't drive either. But she brushed it off. She was going to Wales! In two days! Then she remembered that she had a shed load of laundry to do if she wanted to be clothed at Rockfield. Not that the band would mind whether or not she wore clothes, and when she said 'band', she meant 'Roger'.

Bernie was only at Brian's for another half an hour, discussing new arrangements, before he kindly drove her back so she could get cracking right away. Packing for a six week stay away ideally wasn't an overnight job, but she simply reminded herself that it'd be worth it. She contemplated not telling Flo until she arrived in Wales, but she didn't. Mainly because Flo was there when Bernie got back, so would notice when her younger sister was marching around the flat, gathering her belongings as if she was moving out.

Having to silently drag her laundry bag past Holden's flat was no flattering task and anxiety fizzed in her stomach at the mere sight of his front door. But it certainly wasn't thankless, either. No interference meant the secret was kept firmly away from Holden, which she hoped and prayed would stay strictly confidential between herself, Flo and the band. "Eeeeee!" Was all Flo had replied with, throwing her hands about in excitement for her sister. This raised Bernie's spirits considerably; she wasn't used to having such support from her sister. It was nice.

The next day was spent precariously squashing all of her necessities (and a few luxuries) into a singular magenta suitcase, all ready for the coming day. All the packing and prepping very much reminded Bernie of when she used go on trips to the theatre or the museum with her school. With all of this consuming preparing, Bernie's schedule had barely fifteen minutes to panic about her exam the next day. So at five fifteen until five thirty, she took a well-deserved break and worried about her exam.

The day had finally come. Not that Bernie had been waiting that long for it, but she was eager nonetheless. And petrified. Utterly petrified. Not only was she being whisked away to Wales today, she was also doing her practical exam, which had very much not been pushed to the back of her head. In fact, it was as if somebody had been forcefully slamming it into the front of her head. The few week's worth of prior training had been painful but bearable, so she just had to hope that her ankle and knee could hold up.

Bernie was surprised she actually made it to college to do her exam, her legs were like jelly and she wasn't too sure if her nervous legs would take her a step further down the street. But thankfully they did; she distracted herself by prepping for the next hour that laid ahead. It wasn't gloomy, nor was it enthusiastically sunny, which worked almost too well in her favour. The odd spells of sunshine peeping out through the off-white clouds provided a nice summer day with no chance of sunburn. Even with this, Bernie wasn't convinced she wouldn't get burnt. She was extremely pale and a redhead after all.

"Nervous?" Bernie strutted across the field and Mr Bletch could see the anxiety in the way her stride carried less strife than it usually did.

"You could say," she smiled falsely, still panicked from the other day with Holden but relaxing slightly with knowing that Mr Bletch was going to be there. Like with her theory exam, this would be by herself as all of the others in her group had passed and graduated. All something to do with not breaking their ankles due to sabotaged agility equipment, of which the police case for had not had any updates for a while.

Not long after Bernie arrived and had done her pre-exam stretches, the examiner turned up. Her heart lifted above her head when she saw the examiner was wearing a shirt, trousers, work boots and had her hair tied in a tight bun, just like Bernie's. "Good morning Miss Maxwell, I'm your examiner today, please call me Sue. Now, if you could please sign...." the nice-examiner-lady (Sue) went through all the standard consents, conditions and privacy questions before the exam went on. On the blow of Sue's whistle, Bernie was weaving her body in and out of properly constructed equipment, feeling much like a cat.

There was no noise, only the sound of the stopwatch ticking, Bernie's worn out breathing and footsteps as she jumped down to the floor from the higher equipment. Overall, she didn't think the course was that difficult, but it was extremely strenuous and long. As she continued onwards, she could feel a knot forming in her lower back, rooting up her spine whilst she worked through the dull pain. By the end of the course (which mounted to taking twelve minutes and forty four seconds) Bernie was gasping for breath, but tactfully suppressing it so it didn't look or sound like she was about to keel over. Even though she did feel like she was about to keel over now that she'd stopped; her back was killing her.

Perhaps she'd twisted it when she fell all those weeks ago and it was only now that it was giving her a hard time. Luckily, this was unlike her theory exam and Sue was able to give Bernie a grade right then and there. If she didn't get a B or above, she'd have to redo the entire nine month course. Bernie did everything she could to put luck on her side, despite the couple of obvious slip ups she made throughout the exam.

"Bernadette, I am pleased to inform you that you have now successfully graduated from college. I'm giving you a B+. We'll post you a sheet of everything you did well and not so well on in the exam for you to analyse later." Sue had a rosy smile on her face, as if she understood what it was like to have to sit her exam alone. She continued on talking, but Bernie was no longer listening: pride, relief and joy was fighting for space in her brain.

Half an hour later and Bernie was back standing on the street, a permanent smile plastered to her face and an officially signed certificate snuggled up in her bag. Next stop: work! Actually, the next stop was Rockfield farm, but work was the next step for her in relation to her career. She wasn't left waiting for long before a little Alfa Romeo rolled up next to Bernie. "Hi Bernie! How'd it go?" Roger's face was lit up with hope at the sight of her standing vacantly on the path, waiting for Roger to pick her up.

Like an old lady, she clambered into the car, minding her back. "Don't." She replied glumly, not even saying hello. She looked at her knees, trying to push down a cheeky smile, avoiding eye contact and fiddled with her thumbs in her lap.

"Oh... what happened?" Roger's eyes darted around, eyebrows furrowing and sadness for Bernie glinting in his eyes.

She sniffed loudly, still avoiding eye contact. "I- I did..." she broke off, sniffing again and making her voice sound choked.

26/1/23