Chapter 25 – An Audition To Remember
-Brooklyn-
Dallas had decided to come back home the weekend after I'd run away which although was a little annoying because mum insisted that I stay at home all weekend for ‘family time’ was mostly good because it meant I wouldn’t have to travel to Dalton on my own. Dallas was not coming in with me though. The school had given me permission to have the day off and although I had to leave at 7 I was really excited.
“Brook, we have to leave in a minute, are you ready?” I heard my brother deep voice through the door and as I was still sat at the dresser putting my lip gloss on began to panic.
“Two seconds Dallas; I'm just putting my shoes on!” I shouted back through the closed door. It was a little white lie but if I'd have told him the truth then he would have been angry at me, besides I'd nearly finished. I slipped on my military heels and walked towards the door, picking up my bag on the way out. I walked down the stairs to the hall way and because mum had already left for work Dallas was the only moving thing in the house other than me.
“What took you so long Brook, you’re normally ready in no time?” Dallas sounded a little annoyed but I could understand because we were already ten minutes behind schedule.
“I have to make a good impression Dallas, this is the first time they’re seeing me and if I don’t look good then it will probably be the last.” Dallas opened the door and was almost pushing me out of it trying to get me to hurry up.
“Well you look beautiful everyday Brook and if they don’t like you then they’re mad.” We got into the car and as Dallas started the engine music came blaring out of the radio. I leaned forward to turn it down and gave Dallas a dirty look, every time we got into his car he had the music stupidly loud and I was surprised he wasn’t deaf by now.
“Dallas, you’re my brother, you have to say that.” I wasn’t falling for Dallas’ flattery but it was nice to have a bit of positivity from him, instead of criticism.
The rest of the journey to London was fairly quiet, there was the odd chit chat topic but Dallas was otherwise silent. I couldn’t place my finger on what was making me so quiet either, whether it was the pressure of the audition, the thought of missing a day of school so close to my exams or even what had happened last week.
We arrived just in time and were lucky we didn’t hit any traffic. Dallas pulled up outside and I stared up in amazement at the beautiful building that stood in front of me, the windows were ornate and through an arch in the middle I could see a small court yard with a patch of grass and benches. A brick near the top of the building read 1746 and I couldn’t believe that something so old could still look so beautiful.
I jumped out of the car ran around to give Dallas a hug and then walked towards the arch, I was still staring up when I heard a loud ringing, suddenly the before empty court yard was bustling with people. I tried to find the sign post marked ‘auditioning students’ again but now all I could see were people’s heads and bags. I pushed through crowds of giggling girls and when I felt something hit my bag I turned around to check it was still there.
“You look lost?” I turned my head back around to see that my body was pressed firmly against a dark blue Hollister jumper. I craned my neck upwards to see a beautiful sculpted face, I had a shocked look on my face and this must have been of some amusement to the god like figure in front of me because he chuckled a little and then took a step back.
I was still in stunned silence but I had to string a sentence together before he found out that I was a total idiot. “Yeah I am. I'm Brooklyn by the way.” I did it; I'd managed to talk to a ridiculously gorgeous stranger without looking stupid or weird.
“I'm Josh,” he held is hand out for me to shake, I took it and was amazed a second time, he had such a strong hand shake and I almost felt like I'd just me a star, he had an aura about him that made me want to fall into his arms. “Are you auditioning today?” he asked letting go of my hand because I was frozen on the spot. A second bell made me snap out of my daze and I realised that there was not another person in sight other than Josh. I nodded, again unable to talk. “Well I'm heading over there now to take a group for a tour so I'll walk you over there.”
Josh turned around and I couldn’t stop myself from taking a sneaky look at his behind and I was rather impressed by what I saw but I was staring for just a second to long because Josh turned around, looked at me and his expression changed suddenly.
“Were you checking out my bum?” a cheeky grin spread across his face and although he found it funny I was absolutely mortified. “It’s ok, honestly, you just better be careful that my girlfriend doesn’t see you, or she might swing at you.” He was still laughing but I didn’t find it very funny.
“You have a girlfriend?” I tried to hide my disappointment but I wasn’t known for having to best poker face.
“No, I was joking, the girls in the place are awful; they have no soul and are so bitchy it’s unbelievable.” I breathed a sigh of relieve and giggled a little with Josh. But there was one question in my mind that I just had to ask josh before I went any further.
“Is it this place that turns girls into bitches?” I pointed to the majestic building and thought to myself that if the answer to my question was yes then how hard it would be for me to believe it.
“Oh no, they come like that. You have nothing to worry about, you seem like a sweet girl, other than the whole checking out my butt thing,” I could feel my cheeks heat up again but when Josh smiled at me I relaxed a little. “Now we really should get going because they value punctuality over everything, apart from talent, even if it is the first time you’ve been here.” Josh turned towards the building and stretched his hand out behind him. I took it without a second thought but Josh turned his head as if I'd done something wrong. “I didn’t mean for you to hold my hand I was just signalling for you to come this way.” I let go as soon as he said that and although he chuckled this was now the third time I'd made a fool of myself in less than five minutes and it was getting repetitive.
“I really am sorry, I'm just really nervous and I don’t want to mess up.” my cheeks were burning again and this was not a good look on me.
“It’s ok Brooklyn, you’ll be fine,” Josh was still giggling to himself but he had just used my name for the first time so for all I care he could have called me the biggest bitch he’d ever met. “just a word to the wise, Mrs Waverly hates it if people don’t have to guts to look her in the eye, so if you don’t want to get picked on and want to make a good impression then that’s what you need to do.” Josh began walking to the building and so I hurried along behind him.
When I entered the grand hall I was amazed there were so many people and I soon lost Josh amongst the crowd but there were clear sign posts as to where I had to sit. There were lots of people who looked like they knew each other but I had yet to see Charlotte. I sat down with 8 other girls and only 3 boys and waited for the speeches to start, but they didn’t, instead Josh came back over to me and sat down.
“What are you doing here? I thought you were taking a group?” I was confused; Josh was sitting with us when he already attended the school but now he was sitting with the people who were auditioning.
“Yeah I am, yours, I spoke to Mrs Waverly and managed to swap groups so I could walk with you.” He was whispering which meant that I had to lean in close to hear him; I wasn’t sure if this was deliberate or not because the hall was full of noise.
But before I had a chance to ask him why he’d done that a tall thin woman who looked like she was in her 50’s walked onto the stage, she had a feeling about her that meant the hall was suddenly deathly silent.
“Good morning students, as you are probably well aware these days are normally full of talk after talk but here at Dalton we like to do things a little differently. You’ll notice that sat amongst you are our top pupils here at t he school, they are here to take you for tours and to talk to you about everything that happens at Dalton, they will also gladly answer any questions you might have. Now before I bore you too much more I'll hand over to the students.” She finished talking, walked of the stage and the noise levels rose again. I was just about to begin talking to Josh again when he stood up to survey the hall.
“Right, ok, my group this way.” He pointed towards the door and everyone else in my group stood up and began to follow him. I hesitated for a minute not really sure what to think about this place but then I realised that Josh was nearly out of the door so I picked up my bag and scurried towards them.
“Josh wait up!” I shouted.
“Oh sorry Brooklyn, I thought there was someone missing. You ok?” he stopped just outside the doorway while the others collected maps and booklets.
“yeah I'm fine thanks, a little out of breath, but my friends call me Brook, Brooklyn’s a little long.” I tried to catch my breath as fast as possible, but the more I tired the further away it seemed.
“Ok, Brook it is, so have you got any questions?” yeah I did have one question ‘what was he doing on Saturday?’ but I knew I couldn’t ask that because it was far too stupid, why would a guy like him want to go out with a girl like me.
“Urm, yeah, it might just be what I've seen so far but is there a reason there are a lot more girls than there are boys here?” it was probably a stupid question but it got us talking again.
“Well there isn’t a real reason but boys only make up a third of the student population and that’s mostly because boys just don’t want to come here, but I don’t get why because it really is an amazing place.” Josh’s voice was so amazing that I wished I could listen to it all day long, but I couldn’t and I really should give someone else a chance. “Now we don’t have much time till your audition slots but has anyone else got any quick questions?” Josh didn’t have to raise his voice much to get everyone’s attention and he had the same feeling about him that Mrs Waverly did.
“Yes, I was wondering about the audition process, how exactly does it work?” a smaller girl stepped forward; she was a little chubby and had ice white skin.
“Urm sorry I didn’t catch your name?” I must have looked a bit weird staring at his hazel eyes but they were so beautiful I just couldn’t help it.
“Carla,” she replied.
“Well, Carla, we’ll all go in to the hall together and apart from the person auditioning we’ll all sit at the back and watch.” Josh went on to answer other questions and show us around the rest of the building until he checked his phone again. “We have to go now because it’s time for your auditions. So back to the hall.” The mood of the group suddenly changed, no one wanted to talk and a few people put earphones in to listen to their backing tracks. I was just about to do the same when Josh tapped me on the shoulder. “Brook, I was wondering if you were doing anything this Saturday, if you are that’s ok it’s only a thought?”
“I'm not doing anything, why?” I asked, a smile spread across my face and I felt excited again.
“Well my mates having a house party and I was just wondering if you wanted to come because they’ll be loads of people from the school there and it’ll be a chance for you to make some friends before your first day. So do you want to come?” josh stepped towards me and I knew my answer before he told me that it was a party.
“Yeah sure.” I looked up at Josh and could tell that this Saturday was going to be good.