A New Style of Education

by Karen Page

Part 42

The Boxing Day revue happens followed by the field trip. Unfortunately, things don't go to plan.

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Part 42

"I'd like to welcome you to our Boxing Day revue. I'm sure, by now, that all our American cousins have worked out that it isn't a day of violence, which hopefully hasn't disappointed too many. Now to kick things off I will jumble up all the entries. I wish we could use ERNIE*, but since we can't, we are reliant on what we have available. I would like to ask Rachel, who has been chosen by all in year-A, to come up and press the button to kick off today's events."

I was unsure what Mr Hobson meant by ERNIE, and made a mental note to look it up later. A huge screen had been erected high on the top right corner of the theatre, which showed a scrolling list of entries. Next to Mr Hobson stood a stand with a huge illuminated red button on the top. Rachel appeared and with a flourish, pressed the button. The screen pixelated and the pixels moved round in a random way. After a few seconds, the screen cleared and the names of the first four performances appeared.

"Okay, we have our running order sorted," Mr Hobson continued. "The screen shows the current performance and the next three, which will automatically update as the day goes on. If you are involved with one of the performances, please make your way quietly backstage to get yourselves ready. That way we should be able to get through the day without too much of an issue. So if everyone involved with the first four could now make their way backstage. Our first performance should be in ten minutes."

I breathed a sigh of relief seeing that I wasn't part of the first show. Just like everyone else around, I pulled out my PDA and glanced at the full list. Helen and I weren't on until later on, so unless a lot of the acts were very short, we wouldn't be on until after lunch. Knowing that, I settled back to enjoy the show. It was great hearing and seeing what others could do, but I knew I would appreciate lunch for a long break. Oh, we'd not sat still for all that time, and we'd had small breaks, but it wasn't good for the bum to be sat that long.

After a break, I'd just settled down for some more entertainment when I heard a familiar voice. "Hi, Jayne." I smiled, as I'd not seen Matilda for a few days.

"Hey, Matilda," I replied, turning to see her. I'd nearly said 'Little Munchkin' but had stopped myself just in time. I'm sure I'd have a sore leg by now if I had. "How did the trip go the other day?"

"It was okay," she replied.

"Is that a good okay, or a bad okay?"

"Good, I suppose."

"Matilda, what's up? You're normally a lot more talkative than this."

"I dunno, it just seemed a bit strange. We went to a place called Portsmouth and looked at some old ships. I just don't know why we went there."

"Was June nice?"

"Oh yeah, she was great and she had all these wonderful fun things in her car."

"I bet," I laughed. I knew Portsmouth was on the south coast and was a navy port, but that was about it. I felt slightly embarrassed that Matilda probably knew more about the place than me. "So these old ships, where they from World War II or something?"

"No, really old. Sixteenth and Seventeenth century I think."

"They were wrecks?"

"No, well one was. We went on two. One called HMS Warrior and one called HMS Victory. It was kind of funny though; I think that everyone must have been real small back then, as Victory had such low ceilings. Everyone on the tour kept banging their heads as they went up and down the steps."

"Did it hurt?"

Matilda laughed. "Okay, everyone else did. I didn't hit mine once."

"That's good." I wonder if June took Matilda there so she could see there were times it was better to be small? Matilda might be very clever, but she hadn't spotted this one yet. "So, do you think it's worth a trip there sometime?"

"Oh sure, it's kinda neat there. They have this really old wreck that they'd raised and now they're trying to preserve it. Later, we even got to go on a boat tour of the harbour. There were some huge modern ships in dock there."

"Any idea where or when your other trip is?"

"We're going the day after we get back from Russia, or so June said. It seems Mr Hobson didn't want anything to risk the field trip. She's still keeping where a secret. I guess June is all right, if a little strange, but I guess it should be fun."

The way things worked out, I was on fourth after lunch. That would give me plenty of time to get dressed as David. I'd gradually got quicker at switching between Jayne and David, so there shouldn't be too much of a rush. In fact, it was going to be more of a rush switching back to being Jayne for one of the other performances I'd been roped into. I had been hoping they wouldn't be so close together, so I could mellow in being David for a few moments longer.

"Wow, David, you do look sharp!" commented Brenda. Well it was Brenda's voice, but looked nothing like her. She'd obviously gone to a great deal of trouble. "I just can't make out what on Earth you're-"

Brenda's voice tailed off and her jaw just hung there for a moment. I turned to see Helen, in a stunning dress. Someone must have helped her do her makeup, because I know she wasn't capable of that level of "Wow!"

The dress wasn't indecent, far from it. It was just that this was a dress that looked like it was made for her. It hugged her body in just the right places, loose in the places it needed to be, and hinted at so much more. I'd been in Helen's wardrobe before, but had never seen anything like it. She'd discussed what dress to wear with Kelly, but hadn't told me what they'd finally come up with.

"It's going to be a surprise," was all she would say. It was certainly one heck of a surprise.

"Hands off," Helen yelled, as I rushed towards her. I came to an abrupt halt, lost my balance and slipped to the floor.

Brenda, who was watching, did what she does best and burst out laughing. I'm not sure how she did it, but her spontaneous laughter sounded nothing like her Andy laugh. It was so obviously a female laugh. Did she practice that much, that when she was in female mode everything she did was female? I don't think I could ever do that, or want to.

Helen rushed across and helped me to my feet. She'd even put on some type of perfume. I looked into her eyes and my heart started pounding faster.

"Save it for when you get to your room," called Brenda.

I blushed.

Brenda was joined by some others. "Isn't that-"

"Shania Twain," finished Helen, mirroring my thoughts.

"You don’t think they’re going to sing-"

Again Helen interrupted me, "I wouldn’t be surprised."

"Oh my, that’s going to be one heck of a performance."

We didn't have long to find out as the act that was on stage finished and got a great applause. I presumed one of the people about to go on stage with Brenda was Stacy, but I couldn't be sure. The person who looked like Shania turned to the others and said in a voice that sounded just like Shania, "Let's go, girls."

'Shania' winked at me and led the band onto the stage.

Helen and I stood as close to the side entrance to the stage as we could, our arms around each other. The audience went wild as they performed 'Man, I feel like a woman!' They played loud enough and with enough oomph that people came rushing out of the makeshift dressing rooms to see the performance. By the time they were finished, the wings of the theatre were packed with students.

"How can we follow that?" asked Sam, sounding rather disheartened.

"I think we sound pretty good," retorted Pru. "If David and Helen dance like they did at last night's practice, then I don't think we should have a problem."

I just hope that we can live up to Pru's confidence. The band came off the stage to thunderous applause, Brenda's grin wide as anything. It really looked like they had had fun up there.

"You were great," I mentioned, well gushed, to Brenda as she passed.

"Thanks, it was fun. Now at last I get to see what you have been scheming."

"I've not been scheming," I responded, trying my best to sound hurt. "You should know by now that Helen is the one that does the scheming."

Helen just laughed. "A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do. Just ask Stacy."

"And don't I know it," confirmed Brenda. "So, where are your instruments? Aren't you going on with the others?"

"You'll see," Helen and I teased.

The music started and I grabbed Helen's hand and led her onto the stage, to the sound of applause and a few wolf whistles. As we passed the band, I grabbed a red rose from a jar and placed it between my teeth. This was one thing that we'd loved at the end of True Lies. Our original plan had been to put the rose on the piano, but since the grand was open, it wasn't a good idea.

The sound of the music, the encouragement of the audience and, most of all, the sight of Helen gave me confidence. Simon and Kelly had trained us well and we moved in time with the music. As the music finally finished, my lips naturally touched Helens. Wow, I could have kissed her forever. Eventually our lips parted and, after a second of silence, the audience gave us a huge round of applause. Red with embarrassment, Helen and I quickly followed the band off the stage.

"Thank you all," Helen said to the others when we were safely off the stage.

"We loved it," Pru murmured. "And that was one sweet kiss."

"How do you expect us to follow those two great performances?" asked Stuart, as he passed us to go onto the stage.

"By giving another great show," called Brenda.

"Haven't you got changed yet?" I asked Brenda. Sam, Jessica, Pru, Matthew had gone to change. Sophia had disappeared back onstage as she was helping out in this next performance.

"Nor have I," came Stacy's voice. I looked around and couldn't see her. There were so many people in different costumes.

I presumed she was also part of the Shania Twain group. I spotted one that was about the right height. "Ah, I didn't know you played the guitar?"

"There is a lot you don't know about me," she laughed, joining Brenda. "We wanted to see your performance. When you finished, the others in the band slipped off to change. One word of advice to both of you though; remember our chats in Paris."

I glanced at Helen, who took a deep breath and nodded. "David, don't you need to get changed? I thought you were in the next act?"

"Sorry," I uttered, slightly embarrassed by the reminder from Stacy and that our possible actions were that obvious. I rushed off to get changed. My time as David was at an end. Well, at an end for another week. This had been a short but welcome interlude during my time as Jayne. I don't know how I did it, but I was back in the theatre's wing in time.

The performances were great. It was fun for us to see what we could do, and for others to appreciate our skills. Not only did the students watch, but most of the staff sat in the hall to watch. This was a rare time for them to see and hear us.

"We have one last performance," said Stacy from the front of the theatre's stage. "This is a special performance that includes all the students. If you could all bear with us for half an hour while we get prepared."

We all scarpered to our rooms and put on our fancy concert outfits. Helen, who had stayed in her dance outfit, had been unknowingly causing me trouble most of the afternoon. Perhaps she thought that since I was now dressed as Jayne, things wouldn't be so bad. Or possibly she thought that being less tactile would have calmed me down.

"Can I take a picture of you?" I asked as we got to our room.

"You haven't taken any all day?"

"Well perhaps a few, but I'd like one with you on your settee."

"I suppose so, but then we must get changed or we'll be late."

After taking the pictures, I reluctantly turned to go back to my room to change.

"Sorry, but can you undo the back of my dress. Kelly helped me fasten it earlier."

I didn't answer, but did as asked. The dress slipped down, revealing Helen in a way I wasn't expecting. She wasn't in her ordinary underwear, but something a whole lot more… wow. This was too much for me. It was the straw that broke the camel's back. I felt my stomach churn, quickly rushed to Helen's bathroom and threw up into her toilet.

"Are you okay?" Helen asked, rushing in after me.

What a silly question? I'd just been sick and she was asking if I was okay.

"I will be," I replied, trying to get the nasty taste out of my mouth. "Please go and get changed. I will be out in a minute."

"But-"

"Please," I all but begged, waving a hand towards the door while trying not to look at her. I wasn't sure if she understood, so I tried to explain a bit more. "You look too good and I wanted to do things that my body reacted badly to."

"Oh," Helen said bleakly. "I'm sorry."

"It isn't your fault. You didn't know."

"But you were nearly sick like that once before. I should have realised."

"You're just so attractive, and when I saw you in —" I paused to sneeze and the foul tasting bile polluted my nose.

"Look, let me get some extra things on and you try and recover a bit. Then I'll go with you to see the nurse."

"I'm not ill," I protested. "And I don't want to have to explain this to the nurse. Anyway, we have the finale to do. You put your dress on, and in a moment I'll go to my room and get myself dressed."

"Are you sure?" Helen asked again. My heart just leapt again at how loving and caring she was.

"Sure, now get moving or we'll be late."

Helen disappeared and I finished cleaning myself up. I hated being sick, but I hated clearing up afterwards more. I was so glad I'd managed to puke into the toilet and not all over the floor. I scurried to my room, carefully shielding my eyes from seeing Helen, and quickly got ready. Living as Jayne the last few weeks, and for the previous field trip, had certainly reduced the time it took to do the feminine stuff. The worst thing was that I didn't have time to do all my makeup, but spent that last bit of time trying to make myself look respectable.

"Are you ready?" Helen queried.

"Not really, but I've no time for more," I responded.

Helen came through and nodded. "You'll do. At least you won't have makeup to remove before we go to bed."

I got some strange looks as we assembled backstage. We were treating this rather like we did the practice concert before the French trip. However, this time there weren't any teachers with us; they were sitting in the audience where they had been most of the day. Thank goodness we'd been under the expert handling of Year-Five to get onto the stage at the right times.

"Are you okay?" Kevin asked, as I warmed up my French-Horn.

"I'll be fine," I said, trying to brush off the query.

"You don't look it. You look white, and just like someone who has been sick."

"I was. That's why I didn't have time to put on my makeup."

"Have you been to see the nurse?"

"No. It wasn't much and I'll be fine. Anyway, I didn't want to miss this."

Kevin gave me a look of understanding, but didn't have chance to say anything else, as Stacy called us to file onto the stage. All our conversations ended and we mentally switched to show time. This was a concert and we would be professional. It didn't matter that it was just for the staff. A concert was a concert, after all.

When we were all seated, Stacy came onto the stage to loud applause, took a bow before taking her seat. I expected her to make a statement but she didn't. Next on were Lewis and Roberta.

"Thank you all for listening so patiently all day," said Lewis, facing the audience. "We thought it would be nice to have a final piece that we all played together. We would like to thank Ryan and Sophia for arranging this for our orchestra and choir. I'm sure it will be familiar to some of you."

The audience burst into applause as Ryan stood and Sophia made herself known.

"But before we start to play, a few more thank yous. First off, a big thank you to all the performers. Everyone in the two schools was in at least one performance. Some, such as the pianists were in many more, and as such were the backbone of today."

The audience applauded the four pianists, as they acknowledge them. Poor Sophia looked like she was going to be thanked a lot!

"I'd like to thank years five and H for their superb behind the scenes organisation." Again the audience applauded. "As everyone will have noticed, it has taken twenty-six of them to cover so that Mr Hobson could take a rest and watch the performance." That got a laugh.

"Finally, I would like to thank you all, for not just sitting, watching and encouraging us with your tremendous applause, but for all the support that you have given to us over the years. A lot of you might work behind the scenes, cleaning, cooking, washing, sewing, and caretaking. Some of you might never see our faces for us to thank you in person, so from us now, a very big thank-you."

The whole orchestra and choir stood up and applauded. I wasn't sure where Lewis got all this from, but he was doing a great job. Once we'd finished applauding, Lewis finished off, "Here is the finale, conducted by Roberta."

The lights in the hall were dimmed and the choir and orchestra lights raised, leaving us well illuminated. After Lewis exited into the wings, Roberta raised her arms, bringing silence to the hall and we started playing our final piece in this rather fantastic revue. The audience was as attentive as they had been for our earlier performances. As we finished, we got exactly the response that we'd hoped for. There were some small sighs of contentment and a thunderous appreciation. What a great day this had been.

Eventually, we filed off the stage, and after I'd put my instrument away, Kevin came up to me and said, "Come on Jayne, I'll take you to see the nurse."

"I'm okay," I quietly complained. I was trying not to draw attention to myself.

Helen, who was already coming towards me, quickened her pace and was soon asking, "What's happening?"

"I'm taking Jayne to see the nurse. She said she'd been ill, and it is a good idea to be checked out."

"Look darling, we think we know why you were sick, but isn't it a good idea to get checked out just in case. You wouldn't like to find out the day before we go away that you're coming down with something and can't go."

I couldn't fault Helen's logic, but I was still worried that the nurse would ask what we thought was wrong.

"What do you think caused it?" asked Kevin.

My heart sank. Even Kevin was worried enough to ask and he wasn't a professional nurse. Perhaps seeing the nurse wasn't such a good idea.

"It's a bit personal," I murmured.

"You what?" asked Kevin, who hadn't heard me properly.

"It's a bit personal," I said a bit louder. It must have been a bit louder than I'd expected, as the room went quiet and most of the people were looking at me. They must have seen I was embarrassed, as the chatting soon started again. However, we were soon joined by most of our year.

"Are you okay?" asked Jill.

"Jayne, was a bit ill earlier and is about to see the nurse," Helen said. "It's nothing to worry about."

"Okay," said Sam. "I was just a bit worried, because of what happened the other week."

"It's nothing like that." I was horrified by the thought that others still worried that I might be suicidal.

Sam looked at Helen who quickly agreed with me.

As Helen and I walked to see the nurse, Brenda came steaming up behind. "Wait up a second," she called.

"Hey, Brenda," Helen and I said together.

"I heard you were sick and something suddenly just occurred to me. Do you think this is related to what we talked about, when you had that chat with Andy?"

"I think so," I sighed. "Helen thought it best that I get checked, just on the off chance it was something else."

"A good idea," approved Brenda. "Look, if you think it was what you suspect, then a chat with Rachel might not be a bad idea."

"I don't think I'm ready for that," I said after a moment's thought. "Perhaps after we come back from Russia, I can explore who I am a bit more and things might become clearer. Since Rachel said she wanted to chat more with me during 'your fun', I can kill two birds with one stone."

"I don't think it would have been a good idea before we go away," added Helen. "You don't want something like that playing on your mind."

"True," I agreed. We arrived at the nurses, and Brenda left. I was checked over, and a blood sample was taken to make sure I wasn't suffering from food poisoning. I think a few more people in the school would have been ill if it had been food poisoning. Also, since it was a pretty contained school, illness was something that occurred a lot less often.

As I waited to be released, I wasn't surprised to see Rachel appear. The psychiatrists here aren't just psychiatrists, but like family.

"Hi Jayne," she greeted me, as she came round the modesty curtain. "I hear you've not been well."

"It didn't take long for you to hear," I said, trying to put on a smile.

"I have my ways," she laughed. "So, how are you holding up?"

"I'm feeling a lot better than earlier. I was sick, but I'm feeling fine now. A few people said it would be best to get checked out, just in case."

"Sounds like you have some good friends, though with this lot here, I'm not surprised. Do you mind if I stay with you until the results come in?"

"Not at all," I said, my heart sinking.

"Don't worry. I'm not here to shrink your brain. I just want to make sure you're okay. You did very well in the revue; you certainly pulled off the dancing."

"Thanks, though we couldn't have done it without Kelly and Simon."

"Probably, but if you two hadn't put in the effort, all the help in the world wouldn't have made you able to dance like that."

The nurse, Robert, came round the curtain. "Well, your blood tests came back clear. The rest of the other tests should be in by early tomorrow morning. How are you feeling now?"

"I feel a lot better."

"Well you seem to have a bit more colour in your cheeks. Unless you want to, I don't see any reason to keep you here. As long as you are feeling up to it, you can have a normal meal tonight. It looks like you have escaped from Hospital Food. If you feel sick again, then please come back and we will monitor you."

"Thanks." I flashed him a smile.

As we all left, Rachel asked Helen, "Have you changed from the underwear that Kelly gave you for the dance?"

"Yes," she blushed.

"Then if you behave, I don't think Jayne will be sick again tonight."

I opened my mouth to respond, but Rachel continued, "You best run along, your friends will want to know you're okay."

Helen grabbed my hand and led me to our year-room before I could say anything.

* * *

The next few days were back to rehearsals for our trip and it wasn't long before the thirtieth arrived. This was only my third flight, and I was quite nervous. The first two flights covered my trip to Edinburgh and back, so weren't very long journeys. This one was going to take a few hours.

Life can sometimes be so frustrating. There had been leaks, and the beta teams had managed to gleam some information, but nothing to narrow down the identity of the leaker, just that it was now beyond doubt that there was a drip that was rapidly developing into a more serious trickle. Yet here we were, on a plane, about to depart on our trip to Russia, still unsure if, or how much of our trip details had been leaked to the Russians.

"Are you okay?" asked Helen, rubbing my leg.

"I'm fine," I smiled. "I was just thinking about what's been going on. Are you okay?"

"I think so," she said, her smile not as reassuring as mine. "I've only flown a few times, and they weren't very long flights. I've never been on such a large plane before."

"I thought a plane like this would have had a first class area, like they do in the movies," I thought aloud.

"I suppose they have some that are the same all the way through so they can get more passengers in," said Ruth, who was sitting next to Helen. I'd been offered the window seat, and there was no way I was going to give that up.

As we taxied towards the runway, I tried to calm myself down by closing my eyes and taking deep breaths. It didn't really help that I kept hearing the safety announcement echo in my head about where life jackets were kept and what would happen if we needed oxygen. Helen grabbed my hand and gave it a tight squeeze. I think Helen was more nervous than she wanted others to know.

"It'll be okay," I said reassuringly. "They fly planes every day, and Mr Hobson isn't the pilot."

That caused a chuckle from the others students that heard.

"I wonder if the captain would let me have a try," said Brenda, a few rows behind. How on Earth had she heard me?

That caused quite a lot of heckling, and it wasn't until things calmed down that I realised that we were airborne. I nudged Helen and pointed out of the window. The look of panic on her face faded and she tried to see out of the tiny window.

"Would you like to swap when the seat belt sign is off?" I asked. "Then you can look out during the landing."

"Really?" Helen responded, sounding excited. We were only thirteen, after all. Perhaps when I was fourteen in a few weeks, I would grow up a bit. Helen would have to wait a bit longer until she was fourteen.

"Really."

The flight was uneventful; apart from there being a lot more singing on the journey than when we went to France. Brenda was slightly disappointed that she wasn't allowed to visit the flight deck. She'd hoped that since this was a private charter it would have had more relaxed rules.

After an hour into the flight, I swapped places with Helen. There was nothing to see at this stage apart from clear sky all around. We were very high, so there was no chance of making out any landmarks below. The only way we knew where we were was with the navigation program in the entertainment system, built into the seat in front of us.

During the approach, Helen peered out of the window. At first, I tried to lean across, but it was too awkward with the seatbelt on, so I settled back and listened to Helen's commentary. As we got closer, Helen's speech became tenser, and shorter in structure.

"Hold my hand if you want," I said quietly to her.

"I'm okay," she said briskly.

"I know," I smiled to myself. "I'm nervous."

"Oh," Helen quickly responded by grabbing my hand and the tightness told me I'd guessed right. A few minutes later the plane gently landed on the runway.

The reverse jets kicked in and made a much louder noise than I'd expected from my trip to Scotland. That flight had been on a smaller plane than this, so I presume it had smaller engines. These were so loud, poor Helen almost jumped out of her skin and pulled my hand with her.

"It's just the jets reversing to slow us down," I explained.

"I don't remember them being that loud."

"I suppose these are bigger engines, so more noise."

"Hey, you should have heard the ones on the 777 we came to England on," said Ruth. "Now they were loud."

The plane slowed down and taxied to the main terminal. As we disembarked, the first thing we all did was put on our thick winter coats. Wow, it was cold! No, it was colder than cold. In the UK, we'd just had our first covering of snow. It was only probably a centimetre thick, but it was enough to cause huge traffic chaos, not just on the roads, but also on the trains. Apparently it was the wrong type of snow. Here there was a thick blanket of snow.

At immigration, our passports were checked a lot more thoroughly than when we went to France. However, everything was in order, so we easily passed through. I wonder if my Jayne passport was a forgery, or was it a valid one, obtained with forged documents, or did the school know someone inside the passport agency. It was another one of the thoughts I had; one that I knew I probably would never find out the answer to.

The hotel was rather grand, and was nothing like the one at Disney, the only other hotel I'd stayed in. Mr Moore took care of checking us all in, and our internal competition began again — who was the first person that got spoken back to in English.

"Okay, before you all go shooting up to your rooms, a few words," Mr Hobson said. "First, our schedule. Our evening meal will be in an hour in the hotel restaurant. Tomorrow we have some sightseeing scheduled, and then a last minute rehearsal for the concert which is the evening after. If any of you want to go for a walk, that's fine but please inform one of the members of staff first, and no solo walks. Anybody below the age of sixteen must either go with a member of staff or someone from years four or five, or equivalent."

The trip was nothing like the one to France. This was purely a concert, with a bit of sightseeing thrown in for good measure. The school would never miss the opportunity for us to learn something of the world around us. So since we were in Moscow to do a concert, it was a good time to see some of the things that made Moscow, well ... Moscow. It was a slightly strange time, as it was still part of their Christmas festivities. Since the Orthodox Church hadn't adopted the Gregorian calendar and the Russian government had, some people in Russia started celebrating Christmas with the rest of the world on December 25th, and then religiously on January 7th. New Year was also celebrated twice, on the 1st and again on the 13th of January.

It wasn't all boring sightseeing; we had plenty of fun things to do as well, like ice-skating in Red Square. I'd never ice skated before, but when Helen and a few others saw it, they all wanted to have a go.

"Can you all skate?" asked Dan, one of the pair of staff with our year.

Only Emma and I didn't raise our hands.

"We've seen a lot, so why not," said Edith Covington, the other member of staff with us.

"We have a lot of snow at the school and a nice rink has been one of the joys of winter at our school most years," explained Melissa.

I was quite nervous about getting on the ice. Walking in the boots wasn't too bad, but when I saw a few people fall over on the ice, I started to get a bit scared.

"Don't worry, I'll hold your hand and help you get used to it," reassured Helen. "Just look at Randall and Kenny."

I gapped as I saw them flash around the rink, looking like they didn't have a care in the world. When I looked round, I was about to stand on the ice. Helen had once again successfully diverted my attention. I grabbed hold of the rail, and took a tentative step onto the ice.

"Are you okay?" Helen asked.

"I'm fine," I replied, trying to smile. "I'm a bit nervous and my legs feel like jelly, but apart from that, I'm fine."

"Not scared of falling?"

"Of course I'm scared of falling." I couldn't believe Helen would ask that.

"Why don't you hold my hand, and we can see if we can get you going," offered Helen.

"But I might fall."

"If you do, you will drag me down with you. Have faith in me."

I took a deep breath and willed my left hand off the rail and grabbed hold of Helen's hand. My right hand stayed firmly gripped onto the rail.

"Are you ready?"

I nodded and we inched forward, my right hand never too far from the rail.

"You're doing great!" encouraged Helen.

As I went forward, we approached a gap in the rails. My heartbeat was already going faster than usual, but as we neared the gap, I felt my heart speed up.

"What's up?" Helen asked, as my grip tightened.

"The gap," I gasped.

Some of the others must have noticed as Wesley suddenly appeared, stopping by us with a sudden spray of ice.

"Would you like me to take your other hand?" he asked.

"Thanks," I murmured, slightly embarrassed.

"Just repaying a debt. I'd never skated before either, and my first winter at school someone noticed my need and helped me. Helen is doing a great job, but sometime a person on both sides helps."

I made it past the gap and then onwards around the rink. I looked across and saw Paula, who had been helping Emma, wasn't working alone now. Philip had offered his assistance, just like Wesley had for us.

"Toe pick!" laughed Melissa, skating up to Aurora who had just landed flat on her face.

"You've seen that film too many times," laughed Wesley as we went past.

"I wish they had hockey boots here," called back Aurora, picking herself up from the ice.

"What film?" Helen asked.

"The Cutting Edge," Wesley continued to laugh. "I recommend you put it on when we finish this trip."

I started to relax and gain a bit more confidence.

"Toe pick!" I heard again being called out by Melissa. I looked across and saw Aurora again sprawled on the cold ice.

We probably weren't on the ice more than an hour, but when we came off the ice, I wanted to try it again sometime. As we changed out of our ice-skates, I saw a familiar face rushing through the square. I tapped Helen's arm and pointed.

"Wow, we'll have to let Stacy know who's in town."

* * *

Since this wasn't a holiday like the French trip, the concert soon came upon us. The rehearsal had passed smoothly. It wasn't as grand as the practice we did in France, but there was no real need to get us over the shock of playing in a large hall. This performance was going to be a much more discrete affair. The practice was just a run through; we all knew what we were going to play and how to play it.

"The audience is ready, you are all ready, so let's do it," said Mr Hobson. "You played wonderfully in France, and after yesterday's rehearsal, I'm sure you will play even better tonight."

"Jill, can I have an A?" requested Mrs Russell.

The real tune-up then started. It didn't take long and we were guided quietly to the wing. After a signal we made an orderly entrance onto the stage. This was my first chance to see the audience. It was packed. Unlike in France, there wasn't a gap at the front. The Russian premier was already seated. That wasn't the face that made me nearly freeze. I'm sure I spotted Karl Jenkins himself seated on the second row.

After a minute, Stacy followed us onto the stage, and the audience applauded as she took her seat, soon to be followed by Roberta. The lights over the audience dimmed, Roberta raised her arms and the sound of a marching army started to build. Our Moscow concert had begun.

The Armed Man wasn't hardest on the orchestra, though there were some parts which got quite technical. No, it was worst for the choir. The lyrics were in French, Latin and English. I'm surprised that they didn't get mixed up.

When it came to the Benedictus, Stuart was moved out from the main orchestra. The sound that he got from his cello, brought tears to my eyes. It was perfectly controlled with the notes just right, but it was the feeling that floated gently across the room. Was it as good as Guy Johnson on the CD version we'd listened to in our year room? I thought Stuart played it better, but I was biased.

"Well done," Mrs Russell praised us, as the interval started. "That was very well played, sung and conducted. Have your ice-cream and try to relax, you will be on again in twenty minutes."

Remembering what had happened in France, I decide a toilet visit wasn't a bad idea. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony wasn't short and I didn't want to feel uncomfortable during the end. Going to the toilet wasn't easy in a nice concert dress. When I came out of the toilet, I found Lewis pacing up and down the hall.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"A bit nervous. I'm just trying to keep calm."

"You will be fine," I said, trying my best to reassure him. "You conducted very well in the practice yesterday, and you did a great job in France."

"Really?"

"Really. Do you honestly think they would have you conducting unless they thought you could do it perfectly?"

"I suppose not," he laughed, still rather nervously. "This school does seem to bring out the best in us all."

"Yes, and you are the best one to conduct this. The orchestra and choir know what you want. If Roberta conducted it now, we would be all over the place."

We didn't get chance to talk more, as it was time to go back onstage. When Lewis walked out, none of his nerves showed. This might have been a long piece, but it was full of activity. My own nerves also vanished as I concentrated on providing pleasure to the audience. It seemed like only a few minutes had passed, when I realised that we were actually playing the final few bars.

Wow, what a piece that was. The last echoes of the music faded, but Lewis's hands didn't move from their raised position, as if he was trying to remember this day forever. The final concert in France had been grand, but this place was unbelievable.

Silence.

Apart from the rapid beating of my heart, not a sound could be heard. I felt the sweat gently fall towards my neatly trimmed eyebrows. My lips trembled slightly as they relaxed after the tortuous effort to play what was one of the longest symphonies. The length of this one symphony had forced Philips to alter the size of the compact disc from sixty to seventy-four minutes, just so it could fit onto a single disc.

Silence.

My gaze continued to be fixed on Lewis, the look of relief that he'd managed to successfully conduct Beethoven's final symphony was gradually replaced with one of sheer joy. He closed his eyes, and smiled with heartfelt joy. I couldn't see any other faces without looking around, which would be unprofessional, but I could feel the exhilaration from those seated close.

Silence.

Joy. Hope. Freedom. Love. I now had my own thoughts about the masterpiece that a deaf man had created. One should never judge a person by a disability, an illness, the colour of their skin, religion, sexuality, or gender. This was taught very strongly at school, and this was just an example of a wonderful creation that might never have happened if people had just judged him because of his deafness.

Silence.

Lewis's arms dropped and we lowered our instruments. The silence was replaced with applause and what applause it was. Lewis turned and bowed a few times, then waved us all to our feet; the applause grew louder. We sat down as Lewis disappeared and returned with four people who gave bouquets of flowers to the four soloists. One by one, Lewis signalled each soloist, who took a bow. Sandy's top was so low, I'm sure she gave everyone a good show as she took a very deep bow.

The four soloists followed Lewis as he left the stage. Stacy rose and followed. Taking our queue from Stacy, we all followed, exiting in our prescribed order. I wondered what was going on. The clapping was loud enough for an encore, and what happened to the national anthems? Something didn't feel right.

As I left the stage, Stacy stood at the exit, her arms folded. This was the sign that I hoped I would never see. Something had gone wrong with the Alpha team.

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