Chapter 80: Vol.2 Chapter 79 Performing at BOZAR!

“Sis, you awake?” The next second Emma jumped on my bed to wake me up. I had dozed back off after shutting down my alarm. Well, a 15 kg cute ball of cuteness dropping on me with her full weight woke me up alright. But why was Frank waking me up? Just as I was about to ask that question he said “Mom did not come home last night. So I took the liberty to make sure you got up in time.”

He must have noticed the worry on my face so he quickly added “I got a message from aunt Bernie saying that mom's phone was dead and that she was staying over at her place.”

I felt relief come over me. At least she did not spend the night on her first date with some random guy that picked her up. If she was with aunt Bernie, I knew she was safe.

I tickled the cute little monster that was hugging me, so that she would release me, and got up.

I went to the bathroom and got ready for the day. When I got out Anna was sitting at the breakfast table talking to Frank, drinking a cup of coffee.

I walked up to her, embraced her, and gave her a kiss. Emma shouted “Unfair! Me too!” Anna, Frank, and I laughed at her cute tantrum, so I went up to her and gave her a kiss on her forehead.

Frank had put bread and sweet toppings on the table as breakfast, so I sat down and made myself a few sandwiches. This morning we were visiting BOZAR, so I did not need to prepare lunch, as we would grab something to eat in the city center with all the other girls.

I was still a bit worried about mom. It's true that I did not want her date to be too successful, but at the same time, I did not want it to have been so terrible that she ended the evening crying to her best friend about it. I just wanted her to have had a good time without everything immediately leading to major changes.

Even though the atmosphere was great at the breakfast table, it still felt like something was missing without mom here. I was so used to mom being around that she was part of the feeling of home to me.

When I was done eating, it was time to get going. Since morning traffic is hell in Brussels, we decided to go by metro. We both put on a scarf and sunglasses, and I covered my hair with a cute cap. That way we should be able to avoid what had happened when I was out on my date with the prince.

Even though the metro was pretty crowded during rush hour, we had no trouble arriving pretty quickly at the BOZAR. Many of the other girls were already there.

Gazette was instructing Maura where to stand to hold the sound recording equipment. It seemed that Gazette and Elodie were going to make a little documentary about our visit.

I looked around to see where Fien was and spotted her reading a complicated-looking book about math in the corner of the income hall while making some notes. This could not be for school, since it looked way more advanced than anything we would deal with in high school. I was surprised not to see her around Elodie, and even more surprised that she wasn't reading yuri. I noticed her taking cold glances at Maura. If she was jealous, she could just go up to them. It is what I would expect the energetic Fien to do, but she remained where she was. Something must have happened yesterday at their meeting. It seemed that it would not be as easy to get Maura and Fien to spend time together as I initially thought.

The next one to arrive was Mia, delivering another surprise. She walked up to Fien and patted her on her head. Fien smiled at her, they had a short exchange. When did they become such good friends? After that, Mia walked straight to Valerie, who was talking to Maria, Magda, and Lena, who scurried away as soon as they saw Mia. Valerie welcomed Mia with a broad sweet smile, worthy of the princess in any yuri book I read up to now. Even in her new role, she seemed to have it easy to flirt with girls, and the girls seemed to love getting attention from her. I could clearly see Mia's dissatisfaction at that, but she kept in her own princely role and just said gave Valerie a kiss on the cheek, clearly showing to Valerie's fan club that Valerie was hers. I watched Valerie’s Fanclub and could see that Mia’s behavior was having an opposite effect on them. They were not running away, they were squealing because of Mia and Valerie standing together, and keeping their fangirl eyes on them. I had the feeling several of them even jumped ships and were even fangirling for Mia instead of Valerie.

In another part of the room, Elsa, Therese and Eve were gossiping. Like they did before all their trouble started. I was glad that at least that case seemed to run smoothly. I hoped it kept going so smoothly when Tina would enter the mix again.

I pointed out my observations to Anna. She was agreeing that we still had a lot of work ahead of us. We were discussing all the cases when we were all called together by the person everyone was waiting for. Our director and the responsible adult to take us on the tour, Ms. Stick.

Ms. Stick looked rather tired like she had not really slept last night, but at the same time, she seemed to be in a really good mood. Knowing how her date with Thea ended yesterday at the brasserie, didn't make her state easy to stop my imagination.

“Girls, in a few moments, we are going on a tour of the theater stage at BOZAR. Even though things may look very interesting, it is also a really dangerous place. So do not touch anything without the permission of the guide. We do not know how the stage is set up, so that means that if you do not listen, stuff can fall and break, because it is meant to fall and break in the play it is intended for. Those things might be dangerous if you do not know about them, so only look and touch where the guide says it is allowed.”

“I am glad you are instructing them so well! Narcy, it is good to see you!” The man who seemed to be well in his fifties, who arrived from behind Ms. Stick, was clearly on very good terms with her. He gave her three kisses. “Oh hi, Cas! I am doing just great. Girls say hi to Cas Ting, he is responsible for the bookings at the theater here, and he is amazing at his job, if I may say so.”

I noticed Ms. Stick did not fail to butter him up. He must be a real big shot in the theater world if Ms. Stick was paying him compliments.

“When I heard you were leading a theater group and wanted them to visit here, I volunteered to be the guide, I hope you don't mind.”

“Girls, you heard the man. I want you on your best behavior. It is quite an honor to get a tour from someone as distinguished as Cas!”

We were led around the concert hall, starting with the smaller halls. Cas apologized to us that we would not be seeing the exhibition halls, but that we had agreed on that beforehand.

“Even though this is our smallest hall, many famous international performers have played here, it is quite suitable for small concerts in an intimate atmosphere. For example, only yesterday the new international piano sensation Tory Yaki performed here, leaving a very memorable impression. We expect great things from her, and I am sure we will see her again on the stage at BOZAR.”

You are reading story The Y-Files [GL] at novel35.com

Tory? Like in our Tory. I raised my hand to ask a question, and after receiving permission to speak, asked “Are you talking about Tory Yaki, the Japanese American pianist student at the conservatoire de Bruxelles?”

“Ah, it seems like we have a fan among us. You seem to know her background quite well. It is rare to see someone so young as you interested in classical music.”

Tory seemed to be a really big deal. I had to be sure to tell mom to pay something extra when she performed at the brasserie.

“Well, we know each other, she works part-time in my mother's brasserie.”

“Your mother's brasserie... but that would make you the yuri Jeanne d'Arc the papers were talking about this morning!”

He turned to Narcy “Narcy dear, you did not tell me you had another celebrity in your group, and one so well connected. I heard she is the girlfriend of the heir of the Lyst group. Bozar's main sponsor.”

“Ah, that heir would be me”, Anna said with a little wave. Cas became pale, I guess being in front of the daughter of his main sponsor, made the man a little nervous. “But don't mind all that, we are here to learn after all. It has been very educational up to now.”

“Yes, of course. Hahaha.” That laugh at the end sounded really forced. To quell the tense situation Ms. Stick said “I have taken Claire here under my wing as my personal assistant, and of course, the two of them came as a pair.”

“Well, it seems like your eye for talent has not changed Narcy.”

We did not really mean to make the man feel uncomfortable, but on the other hand, it was fun to see Ms. Stick starting to suck up to Anna, now that she knew her family was influential in the theater world.

We made our way through the halls until we arrived at the famous “Henry Le Boeuf hall” that was designed by Victor Horta. The acoustics in this room was amazing. We received a lot of useful information on how a theater production was run from behind the curtains and I was surprised by all the little gadgets that had been developed to easily change the sets between the acts. Cas promised to bring us into contact with the people that made them.

“Can we rehearse our play on the stage? I want to be able to say that I performed Romeo and Juliet on the big stage in BOZAR?” Fien asked boldly. Leave it to the Dutch girl to be that bold. She looked at Cas with puppy eyes. “Oh, brilliant idea mascot!” Mia said and she pulled Valerie with her, to join Fien with the puppy eyes attack.

When did those three get so attuned to each other? The 6 puppy eyes attack was of course too powerful for Cas to resist and he soon caved to the request.

“Well since Narcy is with you, I think I can allow it. There is nothing dangerous set up for the stage since there is a classical concert tonight, and I would love to see what Narcy is working on.”

I noticed that Ms. Stick became really nervous at those words “Let us not forget that this is just a school play, and we are not yet ready to really perform.” She said a bit apologetic to Cas, and then she started to shout orders around, and Anna and I were put to work backstage. It was clear that our play had just become serious to Ms. Stick.

To my surprise, the girls on stage were already performing the new version that they had made yesterday with plenty of yuri and BL elements added. I noticed Ms. Stick becoming pale. After all, she had not yet approved these changes, but there was no way she could admit to that without losing face to Cas.

When it was all over, Ms. Stick said, “Well as you see Cas, we have a lot of work cut out for us.”

But Cas was not listening and was still watching the stage. His eyes sparkled.

“GENIUS!” I knew I had to volunteer to give you your tour, Narcy. Shakespeare played by a 100% female cast, is a nice critique of the fact that it used to be played by men only, but then adding all of these gay elements is just brilliant. It makes it a contemporary work of art. I knew I would not waste my time watching Narcy's first project after all this time. Who do I contact to book you for BOZAR?” Ms. Stick did not mind receiving the praise, and I noticed her relax and put on a smug face.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Gazette popped up and handed him a card. “If you still like it after our performance next Saturday, call me, we can discuss everything at that point.”

How did Gazette always manage to do that? She always heard what she needed to hear and popped up out of nowhere when she was needed.

Cas took the card and said “Promise me 5 good seats for next week. I have some guests that I want to bring, and we will discuss everything afterward.”

Gazette shook his hand and said, “It is a deal.”