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‘Hello,’ Lulu said when Sophie sat down. She pulled Sophie towards her, squishing her cheeks together in her hands, and added a couple of air kisses on either side of Sophie’s face for good measure.
‘Hi, Lulu,’ Sophie said. ‘How are you?’
‘Fabulous, just fabulous. And very excited to be singing with you,’ she added, grasping Sophie’s hand in her own. The abundance of silver and gold that adorned her hands crunched against Sophie’s bones, and when Lulu let go, she rubbed her fingers where Lulu’s jewellery had squashed them.
‘Right.’ Liam’s voice came from behind the piano, where he was rifling through music.
Sophie hadn’t realised he was there. The hubbub waned, and everyone who hadn’t yet found their seat shuffled into place. ‘Let’s get started, shall we? Now where are my new altos?’ He caught Sophie’s eye. ‘Perfect.’
Sophie looked over at Kate, who was wiggling her eyebrows in mock seductiveness, and she quickly stuck her middle finger up at her. Kate laughed and snorted loudly before trying to style out her embarrassment. Serves her right, thought Sophie.
‘So, this evening,’ Liam said, finally pulling out the sheet music he’d been looking for, ‘we’re going to sing through the two numbers we did last week and then cover a couple more. Let’s see if we can remember our harmonies.’
There was a collective groan. Sophie knew, without a doubt, that very few of them would have remembered their harmonies from a week ago. In fact, they would only really remember them in the final few days leading up to the concert itself. That was how it always was. The fear of an imminent performance was when the harmonies generally began to stick.
Liam continued, ‘Then, at about nine-ish, most of you can go home and I’ll run through the auditions with those that have signed up.’
Excited, Lulu squeezed Sophie’s hand and let out a little squeak. She loved auditions and solos and the attention of it all. Even though Sophie wasn’t auditioning herself, she felt a little knot of nerves in her stomach. It was important they got the right soloist for the concert to be a success – her concert.
‘Let’s have a go, shall we?’ Liam said, lifting his baton. ‘Let’s begin with “Gaudette”.’
The choir shuffled through their music to find the song, Sophie included. She was trying desperately to remember the alto line that Liam had taught them after rehearsal the week before. She didn’t want to look foolish in front of him – again.
Luckily, when everyone sang, it came back to her. It was like muscle memory. Plus, it wasn’t all bad that she was sitting next to a Hollywood legend – a Hollywood legend who was used to learning lines and music scores. Whenever Sophie was unsure about a note, she made sure that she tuned in to Lulu’s voice and she would be OK.
Sophie breathed a sigh of relief when Liam announced that the main part of the rehearsal was over. She’d fudged her way through all the singing and avoided having to speak to Liam one to one for the entire evening.
‘Thank you for this evening, folks,’ Sophie said, standing to address the choir. ‘We just need anyone who’s signed up for a solo to stay behind and audition. Everyone else, if I can ask you to tidy up your bit of the hall and make a swift exit, I’ll see you all next week. Thanks!’ They applauded, as was habit at the end of a rehearsal and Sophie smiled as she looked out on their cheerful faces. They were an eclectic bunch, but she really did love them all.
‘Let’s have our potential soloists over here,’ Liam announced.
Most of the choir were packing away their music and putting coats, scarves and hats on before they ventured out into the night.
‘On my list I’ve got Lulu, Greg, Albert and …’ He looked around the room and then back at the name in front of him. ‘And I’ve got Sophie,’ he said, sounding surprised to see her name on the sign-up sheet.
But perhaps not as surprised as Sophie.
‘I don’t understand.’ Sophie froze and stopped putting her music away.
‘We signed you up,’ squeaked Kate, bouncing up and down as best she could at thirty-five weeks pregnant.
‘We?’ Sophie said through gritted teeth.
‘Yes, we!’ Lulu said, enveloping her in a fur-clad arm. ‘We couldn’t let that wonderful voice get out of auditioning.’
Lulu poked Sophie on the nose. Sophie tried not to find it patronising.
Sophie didn’t know what to say.
‘You’re so brave, love,’ John said as he passed her to leave.
‘We knew you’d come through to make this concert a success,’ someone else said, patting her on the back.
‘We can always count on you, Sophie,’ said Ethel.
‘It’s so lovely how determined you are to raise money for that charity of your mother’s,’ Greg said. ‘She must be so proud of you.’
‘Thanks,’ Sophie said uncertainly and helped to pack away some of the extra chairs. Her fellow choristers’ comments echoed in her ears and she realised that she would have to audition now whether she liked it or not.
