The Auditions Continue

"Faaareweeeellll," Nick's melodious voice finished. The pianist stopped playing and the faculty in the seats exploded into momentary applause and then stopped, realizing there were other students around.

In a few moments Hope was up on the stage. Nervous. Nick hadn't left, he and Nathanial both sat in the front row watching her. Ignore them, girl, you got this, she told herself, You have had this number down pat for a month.
She inhaled, her diaphram expanding as she took in the air. The pianist was waiting for her. "Whenever you're ready, Ms. Daniels," one of the directors said.

Hope inhaled again, her hand on her stomach. And then she was off.
"Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya."
She paused. The ensemble put in some "ya"s in this part of the song.
"Ya ya!"
Pause for imaginary "ya ya".
"Brrrrrrrrrr! Ooh!
Lock the door and stop complaining
Gather 'round and listen well..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"From now on we're entertaining how to hotten up this hell!"

Nathanial was watching Hope and was very impressed. He was still skimming his own copy of the song she'd given him. Nick had sat down next to him to watch, and as she had began to sing the department's vocal superstar had momentarily stopped breathing. He could understand it, her voice was phenomenal, unlike anything he'd ever heard in person. How had a talent like that ended up at this school? She belonged on Broadway already -- and she wasn't even using the mic!

"Hold your mood and hold your bladder
Skip the food and stop the chatter
Can't you hear the pitter-patter
We're not here to eat
We came for the heat!"

Nick was grasping at the arm of his chair.
Nathanial smirked. He was having almost the same reaction Hope had had. Speaking of heat, there was going to be plenty of that later when those two left the theater.

"Let's raise the roof! Let's make a scene!
Let's hope the gods of love will shine above
And show the way!
Let's call the shots! Let's roll the dice!
Take my advice, it always pays to raise the roof!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hope sang with all her might. This was her first impression, really, to most of these professors. She was coming in with a bang. The song was quick, exciting. Kind of sexy.
Scratch that, really sexy. Which was good, with Nick in the audience. The song seemed to speed by, but she was finally coming on the end.
"Before the big hand hits the one
We've got to do what must be done
So put away that smoking guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnn
And raise the roooooof!
Go raise the rooooof!
Let's raise the roooof!
Raise the roof."

The pianist stopped. The directors exploded into applause again, only this time they couldn't stop themselves.
"Hope, where have you been all my life?" one of them exclaimed.

She blushed and tucked a strand of her flaming red hair behind her ear and smiled sheepishly. "Uhm, I think Nathanial needs to..."

"Yes, of course, Nathanial...what do you have for us?"

"I'll be singing 'The Buddy System' from City of Angels," Nathanial explained as he quickly ascended to the stage.

"Wonderful," one of the professors said. It was evident none of them were particularly looking forward to this.

"Let's go," Nick suggested to Hope in a whisper.

She shot him a look. "Wait for Nathanial to finish, he's nervous and he needs some support."

"He's Nathanial, he's fine."

The look was back. "Cool it, hot stuff, and park it." Obediently, Nick returned to his comfortable sitting position.

(Disclaimer: Hope was singing the song "Raise the Roof" from the off-Broadway musical The Wild Party.)