Meet Me At The river

Chapter Seventy

Chapter Seventy

Junior Carrington

We heard about Stuart and Gareth’s relationship a few days after the proposal, I congratulated them but I thought they were too young but they had made their minds up and I wasn’t going to win so I let them be.

Then Philip Templeton, followed by Ms White, the first years’ drama teacher, approached us and said, ‘On Friday when you four have your day off, can I ask a favour of you?’

‘Sure what do you want? I’ve not got a lot of prep but that could change depending on which teacher I have,’ I replied.

Philip looked at us and said, ‘Well there is a big problem with low self-esteem in the first years this year. Ms White and I thought it would be a good idea if you four could give us two performances. You seem to be the topic they’re talking about at the moment, and with Junior and Oliver’s make out session in the middle of Mr Trench speech you four have become local celebrities.’

‘I’ll do it, sounds pretty good and I’m sure these three won’t have any objections,’ I stated.

‘Well if you’re all in agreement I wanted to ask, what song are you and Junior working on at the moment?’ asked Philip.

‘I don’t know if it’s appropriate for their age group, but we were doing Scream by Usher, but putting a twist on it so I’m not sure Mr Trench will be happy with that,’ I replied with.

‘Exactly, so why don’t you do Passenger again? He’s a new artist, and the kids seem to like him at the moment,’ Philip suggested.

‘Sure we’ll have to brush up on it and do a few run through but we can have that ironed out by Friday,’ Oliver jumped in.

‘Great, okay, so we’ll see you four at half eleven Friday morning in the theatre,’ said Ms White.

‘We’ll see you there then.’ I replied with.

We waved as Philip and Ms White walked off.

*

Friday morning came around and we were all sitting in the theatre along with all the first years. Philip stepped on the stage and began speaking, ‘Okay first years, we have a treat for you this morning Junior Carrington, Oliver Morison, Gareth Middleton and Stuart Spencer have agreed to give us two short performances and a little talk; they’re going to tell you about their first year here at St Evans up until now currently studying their A levels. Hopefully if all goes well, studying in New York at two of the best performing arts school in the world, R.C.A.M., which is the Royal College of Arts and Music and R.D.S.N.Y. which is the Royal Drama School of New York; but first they’re going to do a music performance and a dance piece which I can assure you will be thoroughly enjoyable both for us the audience and the artists on the stage.’

We stood up and made our way to the stage and as Oliver plugged in our guitars I began to speak, ‘Hello; okay we’re going to do a performance that we did for last year’s gala. I’m sure everyone in here knows who the artist Passenger is and his debut single Let Her Go. This is our version, so I hope you enjoy it.’

Oliver then turned the amplifier on and we began to play, as I began to sing, ‘When you only need the light when it burning low….’

As we reached the chorus Oliver joined me with the singing, ‘Staring at the bottom of your glass….’

After the song finished we exited the stage and then Gareth and Stuart stepped on stage. Gareth began speaking, ‘Stuart and I both study Dance and Drama, so we’re going to do a dance performance from the musical All That Jazz traditionally done by a male and female, but looks just as elegant when two member of the same gender do it together we hope you enjoy.’

After the dance had finished Oliver and I joined Gareth and Stuart on stage and started chatting to the first years, ‘So, that was two examples of what can be achieved if you put your mind to following your heart and see things through. Here at St Evans you have some of the most knowledgeable teachers at your disposal, and being the best performing arts school in Britain, teachers like these are hard to find but they are so passionate about the things they teach and enjoy teaching that they want to pass that knowledge on to you, helping you to progress and grow to the level they’re at. It takes years and years of practice to become a performing arts teacher but when you finally reach that goal you feel rewarded that you’ve made it and can pass that knowledge on to people who are just as passionate about the same things, with just a substantial amount of less experience than them and are happy to pass that knowledge on to you. That performance you just watched that Gareth and Stuart have just done was fault free but it took them two years to perfect, and that song we just did took us several months to perfect but there is still more work needed to make it exceptional. Whatever challenges and problems stand in your way, see them through and come out stronger. I’m going to pass you over to Oliver now who in the first year had some devastating news.’

I stepped back and Oliver stepped forward, ‘I’m Oliver Morrison and one of the scholarship students here at St Evans. Just like four of you in this room, but when I was in the first year I receive news from the school counsellor, Ms Morris, that my grandma was on life support after suffering a heart attack. After I heard the news it felt like my world had crumbled around me. I was literally in bits, I was very close to my grandma and when you hear news like that, which I hope you never receive, you don’t know what to do. My grandma meant the world to me and she believed I could become very successful. A famous saying she used to say to me was ‘Always Remember.’ Now that probably means nothing to you but to me that saying gives me a whole new perspective on life. What I’m trying to say is when you’re faced with any obstacle, any problem, be it big or small, such as falling out with your friends; persevere and come out stronger on the other end. My grandma sadly passed away after we decided to turn off the life support but all my friends and the staff here at St Evans helped me out. Offering a shoulder to cry on helps you through those tough times, even the smallest gesture of arm around your shoulders can lift a massive weight off you. Just remember a problem is only as big as you make it and I guarantee you’ll have one or several here at St Evans, but there is always an older student or a teacher you can talk to who has been through it before you, and will be more than happy to offer you the help and support needed. Any questions?’ When no hands went up Philip stepped back on to the stage and dismissed everyone after having a quick chat with all the first years.