Nowhere VA.

1.

I entered Clover Hill High School in the middle of my sophmore year a tad shy and depressed from my move. Now, it wasn't just the normal moving process that had me down, not after being in twenty three schools in my time in public education, it was just that I had a clique, a girlfriend and an enitre school that wanted me back. I however was stuck in Nowheresville VA with nothing barring an old (and quickly BEST) friend, Erik Wilson as my only companion. It wasn't till I found Acropolis that I realized that there was hope after all.

Acropolis was, and is, a vocal ensemble competition choir at Clover Hill. At that time, well over twenty of the best singers in the school participated in its shows to award winning results. I, thankfully was placed in this choir upon begining my 'career' as it were in Clover Hill. Acropolis was made up of a bunch of diverse individuals, some of whom would go on to be great and close companions. Navy boy/perinial gimp Jim Issacs being amung them. Jim was one of my first real friends outside of Erik that I had at the new school. Beautiful, talented people like Jessica Whitfield, Carrie Haniyak, Jabarie Brown and Sarah Post (Who I am SURE to write about later on) all graced the stage at one point under the Acropolis banner. And then, there was Leslie Curnow.

Now let me stop here for a second and explain something really quick. All through my high school performances, I had a REALLY bad habit of 'falling' for whatever unlucky female onstage with me. Everytime I had good reason, but still, It got quite annoying when I saw what I was doing but was helpless to stop it. It would eventually lead to a couple of heart stumpers but I couldn't help going head over heels for Valerie 'Ophelia' Harris, or my two 'Esmerelda's, Kristen Reyes and Caitlin Manasco. But this is all beside the point. The point is I fell for Leslie and fast. Despite having a girlfriend over in Salem. Now, not to my knowledge, Jasmine (the girl in question) had been quite liberal about what she considered 'cheating' so that was a doomed case anyway. Still, I held my toungue for no other reason than I was petrified to tell her about it. Hey, who said I can't be a shy guy once in a while? No I mean it, who said it? Liar...

Anyway, so with the attitude of 'admiring from afar' I wasted every single (and there were a few) oppertunity to score as 'The New Guy'. Especially after the break up with Jasmine where I swore off girls for a year. I look back now and say to myself, 'Self' and self answers: 'Yeah?' 'That was pretty damn stupid, Self.' 'I know, I know.' However, in the time of being too chicken to say anything to females, I bonded quite well with the guys. Other guys who had trouble 'ballsing up' to talk to them instantly clicked with me. Matter of fact, me, Jim and Chris Cotrell made up a sort of mini group of balless, sexless, dateless guys in a chorus class. Not a good position in todays homophobic high school arena.

Though I did bond with guys like Kyle Machlaughlan, who, for the lack of a better term, is one of the most motherfrickin cool sob's I have ever met and is a pleasure to call 'friend', it was tough to get through the rest of the day waiting for Acrop and seeing the beloved Leslie. Then came auditions.

Ooooh, boy. Georgia on my mind, a classic song that happened to by my mothers favorite was one of the solo oppertunites avalible. Now, I had grown up quite a bit different from most kids who were stuck on Maddona and Micheal Jackson during the glorious Eighties. I had grown up being the biggest Elvis fan on the Eight to Twenty range and knew the songs of him, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and the like, as I knew the back of my own hand. So, upon my turn at the audition, I sang it with all the soul my white, fifteen year old, chorus dork body could produce. I thought it sucked monkey balls and then some, but apparently, it was good enough to warrent an ovation from my fellow classmates, who at this point barley even remembered my name. Much less, knew I could sing. Then, Berkley, the chieftan of the choir and chorus director at the time, decided to experiment and at the same time, give me a minor heart attack.

"Why don't you, Chris, uhh...try..' he began, looking around the room at the twenty people before him. 'Let's see. Umm, Leslie, could you sing the first part and Chris, you sing the second' he said before plopping right back behind the paino and begining the intro to the solo. At that time, I looked at Jim and he later recalled that I had turned at that moment varying degrees of white.

As my part came up I felt an incredible rush and sense of competition. Leslie had a GORGEOUS voice and a flair for performance, adding in a slight country twang to her words that made it both incredibly sexy and damn hard to follow all at once. So I closed my eyes, said a silent quick prayer and sang from my heart.

I opened my eyes to see Berkley in a pose I would quickly associate with impending doom. His lips were pursed to one side and his eyes were partially glazed over. It was like he was in a different world. Berkley World. He was scheming up there, and God help the poor souls he was scheming about.

'Why don't you two sing to each other.'

I need not tell you that I almost jumped the piano to choke him out and simultaniously worshiped at his feet for this very move. Leslie had no choice of whether to show affection for me or not, now she HAD too! What, me? Proffesional? Pah!

I honestly do not remember what happened at that point. In a sign of things to come, I got into character and shut the rest of the world off. Whatever it was, it worked and me and Leslie were from then on apart of 'Dueling Duets' in the song. I was officially a 'Chorus Kid.'

As it turned out, it took me a full two years before I told her I had a crush on her. Now, at this point she was far away and at college, so the sting of rejection was much less, but I was finally able to get it out, which I was quiet proud of.

Now, about Micheal Berkley. Berk, as I call him, is one of the most talented people I have ever met. His skills at a piano and behind a mic are incredible and he was a mentor for me, egging me on to continue with drama and choir and for that, I thank him. I don't know if i would be on my way now to LA if not for his constant badgering and encouragement. However, not everyone took to Berk the same, and he didn't take to barley anyone the same as he took to me. No clue why, he just didn't. Berkley was not suited to be a high school choral teacher. His talent leads him somewhere else, but not at a high school level teaching kids who just might not be all that appreciative of a man who runs his class like boot camp. Berk ran his ship very tight and if you didn't show the things to him that he needed you to show, well, you were screwed. Right or wrong, that's the way he did things and I have yet to see anything he has had a hand in that was not entertaining and very well done.

Regardless, before my senior year, Berkley had some personal problems to take care of and the student body of the choir students (and probobly a bit more importantly, the mothers and fathers of said students) came to the agreement that a new teacher would be best. This leads to Phil Lawson, which leads to The Rat Pak, which is a WHOLE other chapter.

But let's step back, shall we? Along with the noteriety I had achieved as a chorus kid, I began to be noticed in the drama classes as well. The people who noticed ended up shaping my outlook on life in more ways than one, one in particular. Rainey Lacey.