No Rules To Love

Prologue:

"Next!"

I swear I could feel my heart stop beating with that one simple word. My breathing hitched as I thought about what I was about to do. Come on, Talia, I mentally reprimanded myself. You're confident and you're talented. Very talented. You go out there and show them what you've got!

I nodded to myself and to the voice in my head and stepped out of the wings and onto the stage. I clutched my sheet music tightly in my trembling hands. The three people I had to impress were sitting expectantly in the auditorium. First, was the Principle of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. The second was the head of Musical Theatre at the school. And the third was another Musical Theatre teacher. I had acted for them; I had danced for them and now I would have to sing for them.

Ms Robertson smiled kindly at me and asked for me to state my name and my audition songs. I did what she asked and handed my sheet-music to the man at the piano and smiled my thanks towards him as he took them. I spent some time with the pianist to work on the tempo of the songs. My task was to pick two contrasting musical theatre songs. So, I chose On My Own from Les Misérables and Popular from Wicked, as they were both quite different. I realised both songs would be popular choices, but they played to my strengths. I knew I could impress the panel of judges with these songs.

"Okay, when you're ready, Talia." Ms Robertson told me. I walked back to the centre of the stage and took a deep breath. I then closed my eyes to centre myself and calm myself down. Although I was confident in my abilities, the occasional bout of nerves still struck me, as it would with any other person. So, I had to control them. I didn't want them to ruin my performance.

I opened my eyes and flashed everyone a dazzling smile — to show them I was confident. I then turned my head to look at the piano man and nodded, to show him I was ready for him to play the opening bars of my song. He nodded back and expertly brushed his fingers across the keys.

When I heard the first few bars of the song, I looked towards the judging panel and threw them a tentative smile. I then pictured the rest of the auditorium as full to the brim, to give me an even bigger incentive to perform well.

As the notes continued to come out of the piano, I centred myself once more. I channelled my inner Eponine, opened my mouth and began to sing.

"And now I'm all alone again, no-where to turn, no-one to go to. Without a home, without a friend, without a face to say 'hello' to. And now the night is near, now I can make believe he's here..."

I was in the zone.

***

I smiled fondly as the memory of my audition popped back into my head. My performance pleased me, I must admit; everyone else seemed to enjoy it as well.

My smile slipped off my face as I looked back down at what was in my shaking hands. It was an envelope, holding essential information about my future. It was from Mountview. This one piece of paper was either going to bring me one step closer to achieving my dreams. Or crush them completely.

What was I going to do if it said no?

The answer was, I had no clue. I dedicated my whole life to the theatre and if I didn't have that, there would literally be nothing else to do. I know that sounded melodramatic, but something placed me on this Earth to perform and there was nothing else I could do. There was nothing else that brought me joy like it.

My hand hovered over the seal of the envelope. I was still toying with the idea of just ripping it open and hoping for the best, but there was always this voice in the back of my mind that stopped me from opening it and finding out my fate.

Before I could decide, I heard the jingle of a bunch of keys before someone pushed them into the lock on my front door. My parents had gone out shopping when I had received the letter from the friendly postal worker. No doubt, this would be them coming back. I decided I would wait for my parents to settle themselves before I opened the letter. I wanted them to be there when I did, so that bad news would be less difficult to take.

The door finally swung open and both of my parents stood there, weighed down with bags of shopping. Mum took one look at me on the stairs with my sullen face and the bags of shopping slipped through her fingers. They landed on the floor with a thud. A second later a heard the rolling of glass on the floor as most of the shopping had escaped from the force of the fall.

"Oh God," Mum whispered. Her hand came to cover her mouth, hence her next sentence sounding muffled. "It's here, isn't it?"

She knew from the instant she saw me what was going on and she had hit the nail on the head. So, I responded with a mere nod and looked down at the letter in my hands for what seemed to be about the millionth time.

"Have you opened it?" Dad asked from behind Mum. He'd only heard the latter end of the conversation, but he soon picked it up.

I shook my head. I finally found my voice. So, I whispered, "I'm scared."

Mum took on her maternal instincts and rushed over to me in an instant. She sat down next to me, took me in a tight embrace, and cradled me like a weeping baby. Thus, leaving Dad to clean up the mess she had made.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Mum asked me. What's the worst that could happen? Was this woman insane? I only had to look at her dead-panned, for her to understand what I meant. "Okay, so they say no. So what? You can try again next year. We can work on making you even more talented, so you'll wow the judges and they'll be begging for you to join the school."

I sat up. Mum was right! And I was breaking my second rule. Never doubt your own abilities. I knew I was talented and extremely good at what I did. Mountview would be lucky to have someone like me study at their school.

I grinned up at my mum and she understood I was going to dive into the deep end and open the letter.

"Peter! You better get your arse in here right now!" Mum commanded to my father (she's the one that wore the pants in the relationship). "Talia is about to open her letter!"

Next thing you know, Dad scurried from the kitchen and took a seat on the stairs, on the other side of me. I took a deep breath and — with both of my parents peering expectantly over my shoulders — opened the letter and skim-read the text.

I screamed. 

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 Hiya guys! 

The song on the side is On My Own from Les Miserables, the song that Talia sang for her audition. It is one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite musicals and the person singing it is Lea Salonga, she's one of my favourite musical theatre stars and my fave Eponine! So check it out!

I'll post Popular from Wicked (the other song that Talia sang) in the next chapter.

Hope you enjoyed! And I'm sorry for any mistakes, I tend to type quite fast and I don't really notice what I'm saying half of the time, so don't be afraid to point out any mistakes if you see any. Again, any feedback is appreciated.

This chapter is dedicated to Sazo1409 for her help and encouragement... And for practically begging me to cast Ryan Fletcher (from the band Lawson) as Hunter!

Thank you for reading and thanks for reading this seriously long A/N.

COMMENT AND VOTE!