Practising ((Alarice))

[joanrabbit]

Katrina looked around the student lounge and finally found an empty corner where she sat down with her sheets of music. She read the words again and again. She had wanted to sing this song for ages but with all her new subjects she had not got round to it. She sat there, humming each note. She started to look around, no one was noticing so she began to whisper the words

"When you believe, then you will see"

She repeated the line ten times, each time a different tone or pitch. She read the next line and noticed that it was not made for only one person. Two people were supposed to. Oh cool, she thought.

She looked around but no one was there she knew who would like to sing with her. She looked down at the words again and waited a bit longer. She really wanted to sing the song and she started to rub her eyes. She sighed as she read it again, finally figuring how beautiful the words were as a duet.

[ashley]

Alarice skipped down the cooridoor, in an unnaturally cheerful mood, her sandy blonde curls bouncing against her back with each leap she took. It had been a long time since she had felt this happy, and it felt good. She had had a rough couple of months but that was over now. Her closure had finally come. Emily had finally faded away, along with the greif Alarice had suffered after her death. Dressed in a pair of jeans and a simple pink tee shirt, Alarice decided to go into the student lounge and hang around there for a while. She passed by Mrs. Norris who had been lurking behind one of the stone gargoyles, and spotted the door that lead to the lounge. It was fairly crowded that day, but it wasnt too bad. Alarice saw a familiar face in the corner of the room. She was staring at a sheet of paper, sitting alone. It was Katrina Becket. Alarice only knew her by passing. They were in the same house, and same year, but they had only talked once. This just wouldnt do. Alarice decided to go over and get to know her a bit better.
"Hi Katrina!" Said Alarice, standing beside the girl. The sheet of paper, Alarice noticed, was infact a sheet of music.

[joanrabbit]

Katrina looked up to see Alarice talking to her. Thank the Lord, she thought, finally someone who will sing this with me.
"Hi Alarice, do you mind doing me a little favour?" she asked as politely as she could, she didn't want Alarice to feel forced into singing the song.

"I've got this song my mum sent me and I've just figured out it's a duet, do you want to join?" she asked, bowing her head at Alarice.

Katrina noticed that people were starting to leave and after more and more time the student lounge was getting to be quite empty. It was perfect for them to sing together or at least talk about the song. Katrina was waiting anxiously for Alarice's response.

[ashley]

Katrina had just asked Alarice to sing with her. Her mum had sent her a song and it was a duet. Alarice loved to sing. She loved it more than anything, and before she had found out she was a witch, she had wanted to become a proffesional singer when she grew up. Thrilled that the two girls had something in common, Alarice smiled. "Sure, I'll sing it with you." She noticed that the lounge was beginning to empty out. It was perfect. "How does the song go?"

[joanrabbit]

When Alarice said she would do it Katrina's heart jumped for absolute joy, it was great that someone had such a pleasure singing as much as Katrina.
Alarice wanted to know how the tune went.
"Well, as far as I know it goes like this," she said and at that she began to sing.

"When you believe, you will see,
time goes faster with faith
in your heart.
Life can't go on without
this feeling in my heart
When you believe, you will see,
the pain goes faster with faith..."

Katrina didn't want to sing all of it but she sang one of the verses. As she sang, you swung her hand to the sound of her voice and closed her eyes so she could concentrate on the music perfectly.
She opened them eventually and looked at Alarice,
"So...what do you think?"

[ashley]

Alarice sat back and listened to Katrina sing. She had a beautiful calming voice, and Alarice thought that it would be great fun to do a duet with her, but she began to feel a bit of anxiety. She had never really gotton over her fear of singing to other peopole. "That was brilliant!" Said Alarice once Katrina had finished. "Your really good. And you know, I like the song too!" Alarice began to hum the tune that Katrina had just finished with, memorizing each note, until finally she thought she had gotton it down. She took a deep breath, about to try the song, but then stopped herself. A wave of nerves had just swept over her, and she felt her knees get weak. Great. Thought Alarice miserably. This always happened to her. She could sing so easily alone but not once had she ever, EVER been able to sing in front of another person. Except Emily. She had sang in front of her. But Alarice was hoping to be able to sing with Katrina. Her and Emily used to make up music and then show it to eachother all the time, and Alarice missed that. She wanted to be able to try it with Katrina, but her voice already felt to shaky. She opened her mouth again, and took a deep breath.
"When you beleive.." Alarice stopped herself after only those few words. "sorry." She mumbled to Katrina, feeling her cheeks go red.

[joanrabbit]

Katrina could tell that Alarice was scared of singing in front of her and finally she did. She sounded great but she stopped, nerves had obviously hit her.
Katrina didn't really know why she wasn't just singing proudly and loudly as that is what Katrina had always done.

"Hey, that sounded great! If you like, we can sing together?" Katrina suggested, placing a hand on Alarice's shoulder to comfort her. She hoped that this helped Alarice a little.

Katrina had never thought herself a very good singer until she joined a choir. She had a very strong and sometimes quite low voice. She had always wanted a much more high voice but many people had told her that her voice was beautiful. She had never seen it in herself before and still didn't.

Katrina looked at Alarice and smiled, she really wanted her to sing as she knew she was good even by singing those first lines.

[ashley]

Katrina placed a comforting hand on Alarice's shoulder and she felt her nerves subside just a little bit. But not enough to where she would sing it alone.
"Come on Al, you can do this. It's not that hard, and it's only one person. You sang in front of me all the time, and your great!." Said a voice inside of Alarice's head, and she knew whose it was.
"Sure." Alarice finally said to Katrina with a smile. "Yeah, lets try it together." And this time, she would really sing, without stopping. She wasnt afraid anymore. She knew she could do it. She opened her mouth with a deep breath and began to sing softly the first few lines of the song, Katrina's voice conjoining with her own.

[joanrabbit]

Katrina and Alarice's voices filled up the room. The song went thought the corridors so their beautiful voices could be heard in the other rooms.

Alarices's high voice complimented Katrina's voice perfectly and as they finished they both looked at each other. She smiled and have Alarice a small hug to congratulate her but to mostly thank her.

She looked down at the words and felt a little worried, some of the notes were hard but she knew she could reach them. She reached into her bag and got out a quill and dipped it into a bottle of blue ink which had been left down by her. She blew on it and started circling parts of the song.
"Now, the notes circled need to be sang a little higher to make it better if we can now..." she crossed out a word and it's matching note, "get rid of that so it's:
and I can only believe in you
instead of:
and I can only believe in holy you.
I think it gives us much more space to breath and I think it will sound a lot better as well."

Katrina was happy with the result of the second verse and began to hum it quietly.

[ashley]

When Alarice and Katrina had finished singing the song, Alarice's adreniline was running high. It had sounded great, and not only did she finally sing infront of Katrina, she felt that she had finally gotton over her fear all together! It was such a great feeling. She felt as though she could sing anything now, infront of any size crowd.

Katrina gave Alarice a quick hug of congratulation, then took a quill out, and began to circle bits of the music. She changed a certain part of the song. She thought that it would give them more breathing space. Alarice agreed. It had been a bit hard at that point in the music to breathe and belt out words at the same time.
"Do you wanna try it again?" Alarice asked excitedly. She was having a great time singing with Katrina, more fun than she had ever had singing alone in her dormitory when no one was around.

[joanrabbit]

As Alarice asked her to sing again, katrina nodded excitedly.
"Let's start from the beginning and go through the two verses and the chorus, okay?"

Katrina took deep breath and closed her eyes and imagined her home in the countryside so her mind was completly clear and peaceful.

"When you believe, you will see,
time goes faster with faith
in your heart.
Life can't go on without
this feeling in my heart
When you believe, you will see,
the pain goes faster with faith.

I know that it's hard,
I have felt it every day,
but the feeling my faith will give me,
I will feel that everyday.
I know who I believe in
and I can only believe in you,
so please share the faith between us two.

I know that it's so hard,
and the pain is sinking through,
but I know my faith will see the light,
and I'll know just what to do.
So please I ask, I beg, I pray,
don't lie, that just won't do.
See my lips, my eyes my face
and now it must be true.
The thing I know is my faith
is only you."

Katrina finished again and started to breathe normally again. The song had been hard on her voice so she grabbed her chest to relieve herself. She smiled at Alarice who's voice had made the song sound so much better.

Katrina looked down at the sheet of music and wrote a line down under the last word. She wrote high c over e and then folded the paper in half.

"Wow, you were amazing! It sound so good, I really wish I had a voice like yours," Katrina explained to Alarice who was looking very confident.

[ashley]

They had sang the song again, the whole song this time, and it had sounded beautiful. Each note rang loudly through the lounge, Maryn and Alarice's voices in such perfect harmony that the few people who were in the room appluaded. Once they had finished, Alarice felt exhilerated.
"Wow, you were amazing! It sounds so good, I really wish I had a voice like yours," Said Katrina.
"Why?" Exclaimed Alarice, quite taken aback but flattered at the same time. "You are so good! Your voice is unique and strong, and I like that. And it sounds great singing this song." Alarice paused. She had been thinking about showing Katrina some of her own music, music that she had made up a long time ago, and had only ever shown to one other person. She felt like she could share it with Katrina, without her laughing, or making fun of the lyrics, which was Alarice's worst fear. They were personal, but now that she had over come her fear of singing infront of others, she felt confident enough to do anything. "You know, I've written a few songs. Would you like to hear them?" Asked Alarice timidly.

[joanrabbit]

Katrina was delighted that Alarice had liked her voice, she was delighted that the people in the room had applauded but nothing could of beaten the delight that came from the news that Alarice had written some music.
"Oh my god, that's great! Do you have any with you, I would love to read it and maybe I could give it a go!" she said, pleased that the two of them had grown to like each other. Katrina didn't know a lot about her except she had gone through some tough times but she was all for trying to make her feel better and not ignoring her.

[ashley]

Alarice's heart lifted at the fact that Katrina had wanted to hear her music, but she suddenly became quite nervous again. What if she thought her lyrics were stupid? What if she didnt like them? But these petty fears wernt going to stop Alarice from sharing her songs with her new friend. So she reached into her backpack that had been tossed on the floor and pulled out the tiny black notebook she kept with her at all times. Without a word she handed it to Katrina. She had all of the words memorized.
"Here, this is how the first one goes." Said Alarice apprehensivly. The song was a slow, low balad that she had made up just a little while back, about three months before Emily died. Alarice hoped Katrina would like it, as she opened her mouth, ready to belt out the first note. It was called, Believe.

Life goes on around us
but we never seem to see
the strangest things we encounter
that we choose not to believe
We close ourselves from things
We cant accept as true
because that means that we
know less than we thought we knew.
Or is it fear that holds us here
in what we'll never know,
when the truth is buried
its kept so deep below
But there is so much hidden
held so tight within
that we dont know where we're going
we dont know where we've been
Empty spaces
familiar faces
you find the truth in the strangest of places
What happens when you cant erase it
When all of the lies leave painful traces
You just have to believe
Dont forget what you see
And soon enough
your soul will be free

[joanrabbit]

Katina closed her eyes so she could listen to her voice. She liked the song, she wondered whether Alarice had really written it but she still loved the way the song had gone. As she got to the end, Katrina was already humming the tune.

When she had finished, Katrina broke into her own, little applause. She smiled widely at Alarice, she was so pleased she had not chickened out of it.

"Wow! That's really good, I would love to sing that with you!" Katrina said happily and she shifted herself so that she could be taught the song.

"So, can you teach me?" she said, her eyes very wide in anticipation.

[ashley]

(Sorry its sorta short!! I couldnt really think of anything to write!!)

"Er, thanks." Alarice felt the words stumble out of her mouth, once she had finished her song. Katrina had actually liked it. She had applauded her! Feeling pleased with herself, Alarice allowed a wide, modest grin spread across her lips. "Sure you can sing it with me! Can you read notes or would you rather me just teach you each part aloud?" Asked Alarice. She had never been able to read music off of a sheet and then sing the exact notes written on the paper, but maybe Katrina could.

[joanrabbit]

(I think your picture has gone a bit wrong There is no picture actually there)

Katrina made herself comfortable and was asked politely by Alarice,
"Can you read notes or would you rather me just teach you each part aloud?"

Katrina thought about it for a while. She had never been good at reading notes as she was terrible at playing the piano but she didn't want to make it hard for Alarice.

"You teach me the way you like, I don't mind!" she said, throwing her hand to empathize she didn't mind.