Together

At The Beginning

Well hello, all of you lovely people! Welcome to my new book, the sequel to my book, Captivated! I'm Abby, in case you don't know. I am super excited about this book, and I think that you all will like it. So, without further ado, here you go! Enjoy, and don't forget to drop a comment and a vote! Thank you xxx
-ab

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September 29, 2025

Harper

I take a deep breath as I stand outside of the Piccadilly Theatre. I'm about to begin my first rehearsal for Anastasia.

With my script in hand, I enter the theatre. There is a group of others standing in the lobby. I know that this is everyone who I am about to go into the rehearsal process with. We are about to become a family, even though we aren't related by blood. Sharing this common experience is going to bring us closer than a blood relationship ever could.

Unsure of what to do exactly, I just stand off to the side by myself. I've never been one to hop right into a crowd and begin to mingle. I always come off as 'shy' until I'm comfortable in a situation.

"Hey," a man says, coming up to me. "I'm Toby. I'm playing Dimitri."

I give him a little smile. "I'm Harper. Anya."

"Well then," he tells me, "I guess we will be spending a lot of time together.

"I suppose so," I reply.

"Have you done any West End shows before?"

"I just finished up in Les Miserables," I tell him. "I played Cosette."

"Wait, really?" he asks. "I made my West End debut in Les Mis too. Back in 2018. I played Marius."

I look at him with wide eyes. "Oh my god, I thought you looked familiar. You're Toby Miles, aren't you?"

"The one and only," he says with a cheeky laugh.

"I saw you in Les Mis, back when I was sixteen. Actually, perhaps more than once. I saw that show more than I'd care to admit when I was a teenager."

"It's the best, though."

"That's for sure."

"So, tell me a little bit about yourself. Besides the fact that you were in Les Mis, I mean," Toby prompts. "If we are going to be playing the romantic leads of this show, then we had better get to know each other."

"Okay... um, well, there really isn't much to know about me. I'm 23, I graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, I'm engaged to this guy Patrick, who I love so much, I've been to too many Taylor Swift concerts to count..."

Toby laughs. "That's wonderful."

"It's expensive is what it is," I laugh. "Weird, long, story, but Patrick is actually Taylor's brother-in-law, so I get to sit in the sound booth with her family now, and I don't have to pay nearly as much. Before I met Patrick, though, my flatmates and I used to joke that the three of us might as well just pay Taylor's rent directly. We loved going to concerts together."

"Well, I hope you didn't give that up now, just becuase the situation has changed," he tells me. "It's still fun to just go be a fan, sometimes."

"I know. Taylor's playing at the Jingle Bell Ball here in London, and the three of us have tickets for her show on Sunday, December 7th. Taylor has honestly no idea."

"That's so great," he laughs. "So much respect for pulling that one off."

"What about you?" I ask him. "You know some stuff about me now, but what about you?"

"Well, I'm quite a bit older than you are, for starters," he laughs. "I just turned thirty a few days ago. I trained at the Arts Educational Schools here in London, and I'm also a qualified personal trainer. And I play about a billion instruments," he tells me."

"Wow. That's really cool. What all do you play?"

"On top of singing, I play piano, saxophone, guitar, clarinet, bass, and percussion."

"Oh my god, Toby!" I gasp with a laugh. "That's so cool! I wish I could do all of that."

The two of us chat for a few more moments, until a man who I recognize from the audition as Luke, walks into the room.

"Hello, may I have your attention, please?"

All of our focus snaps onto him.

"A huge welcome to all of you. You're going to, essentially, be our 2026 cast of Anastasia here on the West End. Each of you have earned your rightful spot in this cast. Congratulations on that. I'm very excited about the group of you who we have put together. Does everybody have their scripts?"

We all collectively nod.

"Wonderful," Luke says. "So, what's going to happen right now is that we are all going to walk over to the rehearsal studio, then we are going to start learning some vocals. Our team of music directors wanted to work on a few small things before we do a read through in tomorrow's rehearsal. Harper Kennedy, are you here?"

I raise my hand.

"Perfect. This is our wonderful Anya, ladies and gentlemen. Toby Miles?"

Toby raises his hand.

"And this is our Dimitri. The two of you are going to go off with Maria, who is our assistant music director, and do some work on your solos. The rest of you, for right now, are going to go learn 'Land Of Yesterday,' and probably some other ensemble things, with William, our music director. From tomorrow until further notice, please report to the rehearsal studio for rehearsals. Now, everyone gather your things and let's head over there."

After a brief walk to the rehearsal studio, we split up as we have been told to do. Toby and I meet Maria, who takes us off into a small practice room with a piano and music stands for both of us. We do a basic warm up for our voices, then Maria turns to me.

"Harper, can we start with 'Once Upon A December?' That's going to probably be your most comfortable song, as it requires the least belt voice, and I know that you typically sing a lyrical soprano."

"Sure," I shrug.

"Have you done any work on this music yet?"

"A bit."

"Excellent." Maria begins to play the piano part, and I begin to sing.

After I'm done, Toby begins to clap. "You have a beautiful voice," he whispers to me, as Maria begins to mark things down on a notepad.

"Thanks," I tell him.

After I say that, Maria begins to dig into the notes which she has jotted down.

"We aren't going to do this again right now," she explains after her remarks on my singing, "becuase we have got to get to all of your solos, Toby's solos, and your duet, but right now, just make a note of what I tell you. I promise, by the time that you open this show, you will sing all of these songs many, many times."

I laugh, knowing that the words she speaks are true.

"Now," Maria suggests, "how about you take a break, and Toby does a run through 'My Petersburg?'"

"Fine by me," I reply. Then, I grab my water bottle and sit down in the chair behind me to listen to Toby sing through his song, which is truly one of my favourites in the entire show.

With every passing moment, more and more excitement grows inside of me. I really missed being part of a show, and now that I'm back in rehearsals, that need inside of me is being fulfilled.

I know that it's going to be a great production.