With her head down, Stacey played a slow, random melody on the piano to try and soothe herself. It was slow. It was sad. It was so simple and yet so difficult.
Aaron came hurrying into the room, led by the male staff member who had found her earlier. Mindy trailed behind him. Their entrance startled Stacey out of her introspection. Immediately she threw up her walls, stiffening and hugging herself, backing away into a corner.
"Oh, Stacey, your makeup," Mindy exclaimed, pulling out her phone and making a phone call. "Tonton, emergency. Quick come to Practice Room One. Your favourite trainee needs your help. Her makeup's a mess."
"Stacey, are you alright?" Aaron asked her.
"Yes. No. I don't know," Stacey replied, wiping her eyes again and then saw how much makeup she had rubbed off onto her hands. "I'm sorry. Sorry to make trouble."
"What's wrong?" Mindy asked her.
"Everything. Nothing," Stacey said, taking a deep breath. "Nothing. It's nothing."
"Doesn't look like nothing to me," Mindy said. "Assembly is going to start. You can't be late and you can't go looking like that."
"I'm here!" called a breathless Tonton, carrying a big makeup bag. He looked at Stacey. "Oh my dear. You're having a tough time, aren't you? Sit. Sit. Let me fix you up. Do you think you can turn off the waterworks?"
Stacey was ushered to and seated on the piano stool before she realised it.
"No," Stacey gave the man a tiny smile at his warm hug and how he immediately got to cleaning the smudged makeup off her hands, "but I can try."
She blew her nose when she was passed a tissue and tossed the used thing into the bin.
"That would be a great start," Tonton told her, quickly cleaning up her wrecked makeup with his assistant's help. "What's going on?"
"I think the enormity of how far behind I am and how much I have to learn and catch up to in as short a time as possible just overwhelmed me," Stacey replied, taking deep shuddering breaths. "I'm so scared. Is it possible to learn everything before I get kicked back out onto the streets? Will I be able to learn fast enough?"
"For the average person, no," Tonton told her while he worked. "If I were you, I would have already broken down long ago. But you aren't a normal, average person, are you? I saw your audition last night and I was blown away. You made me blubber like a baby through most of it. You're so young and so tough and so amazingly talented that I was touched that I could ever meet someone like you. You can't have come from an ordinary family. Look how well you can play the piano. Listen to the way you talk. You're not uneducated, that's for sure. Although you've forgotten a lot and don't know a lot and you've lost your family early, it doesn't mean that you aren't still you. You look like you must have been a high achiever but then a lot of things must have happened. Something tragic or you wouldn't have forgotten so much. I'm glad that you have at least managed to retain your memory of music. That's something to hold onto, isn't it? Although you have forgotten so many other things, your fingers remember how to play the piano and voice remembers how to sing, just as my fingers will always know how to put makeup on a person to bring out their best."
"I believe in you, Stacey," Mindy encouraged, putting some folded tissues into Stacey's pocket. "You've got this. You can do it."
"That's right," Tonton said. "If anyone can pull off a miracle and prove that you aren't to be looked down on to all those less talented people who run their mouths without thinking just because they're jealous of the attention you've been getting, it's you. Stacey, dear, you can do this."
Stacey took a few deep breaths and Tonton dabbed the remains of the water from her eyes before he finally redid her eye makeup.
"I can do this," Stacey whispered to herself. "I can do this."
"That's right," Tonton cheered. "You keep telling yourself that. We're all cheering for you. Set yourself on fire and go out fighting. That's the spirit."
"I can do this," Stacey repeated in a firmer voice.
"I'm done," Tonton announced.
"Quick," Aaron glanced at his watch. "Run or you're going to be late."
They all raced to the auditorium and Stacey managed to catch up with the last of the trainees who were entering the door. Endo and Flail stood up to wave Stacey over. Ken shuffled over for her to sit between him and Endo, while Endo and Flail argued over who should sit beside her.
"You ok?" Ken asked her in concern. "You look upset."
"I'm fine," Stacey gave him a tight smile. "I think. I think I'll be fine."
"Here, eat this," Ken pressed a jam toast sandwich into her hands. "Eat quick before they start. You haven't had breakfast yet."
"Thanks," Stacey said, eating the cold toast as quickly as she could. For a moment, her tears threatened to spill again. She looked up to keep them from falling. She dabbed at her eyes carefully with a tissue from her pocket. It had been smart of Mindy to give her these tissues. Although she had only just met these boys yesterday, they had been so good to her. She was going to have to find a way to thank them and especially Ken for his thoughtfulness.
"We tried to go look for you but we couldn't find you," Flail leaned over Endo. "The staff had blocked the practice room corridor. Apparently something was happening over there. We heard a piano playing."
Ken pulled out a wet hand tissue from an individual packet to wipe the stickiness from her hands. Stacey had just finished when the assembly started with a burst of music.