I stood staring at the enormous brick building before me, I was so nervous that I thought I would faint, as the Headmistress droned on about the school, and about how rewarded I'd be when I completed it. She talked with pride about how the Wellingston School for the Performing Arts had turned out young men and women in the fields of acting, singing, dancing, and so on. I grabbed my stomach as the butterflies attacked it, and the Headmistress stopped in her speech.

"Are you okay?"

She looked perturbed that I would have had such a reaction, which set my nervous off more. I nodded my head, and brought my hands back down to my side. I was so out of my league here, all these other young men and women came from privileged families, I was recommended by my high school music teacher, and given a scholarship after I gave a performance for the deans of Wellingston. The Headmistress gave me a mad look, but resumed.

"Now, you will be instructed by Mr. Neel, on how to read, write, and sing music. We already know that you have a beautiful voice, but it needs training. You, Ms. Carroll, will be in class with him three nights a week..."

"Nights?"

She gave me a stern look, and sighed, shaking her head.

"Ms. Carroll, you do understand that this is still a school, right?"

I nodded and looked down.

"Good. You will still receive an education, taking regular classes in English, History, Science, and so forth, as well as training your voice. You will do that after class, three times a week, with Mr. Neel. Now, can we please move on?"

I wanted to cry, her voice had changed to sound as though she were speaking with a three year old child. I held back the tears and nodded my head. She moved her arm in a jester that we would begin walking again, and we went around to the front door of the massive building.

"This Ms. Carroll is where you will be staying. I will hand you off now to Mrs. Kelly, the Headmistress of the girls' dormitory, and she will give you the rules of the house, and show you to your room."

"Thank you, Mrs. Gillard."

She gave a warming smile finally and nodded her head.

"You will do fine here Jessica, don't worry. Keep up your studies, keep up your work on your voice, and Wellingston will turn you into a star."

I smiled at her, and turned to greet the house mother. She was a plump woman, with a cheerful face, and her eyes beamed as she took my hand in hers.

"Good afternoon, Jessica! I'm so pleased to meet you. Come on in and I'll show you around the house."

She took me from room to room, one large sitting room after another, pointing in them, telling me that this room is where the girls studied, this room was where they could watch television, only after their studies were finished, this one was where the phone was, and you could use it anytime you wanted, just make sure the door is closed, that way people know you're on the phone. When we headed to the dining area, Mrs. Kelly became more serious.

"Now, Ms. Carroll, there are 20 girls here, each one has their duties to the house. We take turns on a weekly basis as to who clears the dishes from the table, and who washes them. We have a cook for the meals, so you'll never have to do that, but you must help with the after dinner chorus and you must help serve the meals."

I smiled at her and nodded my head.

"No problem Mrs. Kelly."

She patted my shoulder and led me up the stairs to the bedrooms. We walked down long corridors, walking past closed doors, winding around corners until she stopped at one of the mahogany doors.

"This is your room. Usually the girls' pair up, but you are going to make 21, so you will have your own room. All the girls have already been assigned rooms and roommates."

"Oh okay."

I was a little down hearted, I was the odd one out, and I wondered how the other girls, who had been attending this school for so long were going to take to me. As Mrs. Kelly opened the door, I gasped. The room was much bigger than the bedroom I was used to at home, painted in a pretty lavender color, with matching comforters and furniture. There was one stand alone dresser, but the dresser took up almost the entire wall, and two dark wood nightstands stood on either side of the queen sized bed.

"You have your own bathroom."

"What?"

"Your bathroom. It's right through those doors. We try to keep a clean house, and in doing so we have separate bathrooms in every room. That way the girls aren't sharing one, and we can keep everything clean. You will be responsible for keeping your room and bathing area clean, Ms. Carroll."

I nodded my head, still in awe of the room.

"Now, we need to go over just a few things. Come and sit down."

She directed me to the two antique looking chairs in the room, and I sat, my eyes still sweeping over everything.

"Okay, now, no boys ever up in these rooms, you hear?"

"Yes."

"You may have male visitors; they are to stay in the common rooms downstairs. Also, if you go out, you will be back in this house by eight o'clock on school nights, ten o'clock on the weekends, and you must tell me where you are going. I cannot have my girls running around all over town."

"Yes, Mrs. Kelly."

"I hope you have fun here Jessica. I am sure the girls will welcome you warmly, and you will make a lot of friends here, along with moving your career along."

"Thank you."

She patted me on the knee.

"Now, I know you just got here, but work starts immediately. Most of the girls are in class now. You will not go to your regular classes today, but Mr. Neel is excited to meet you. I will walk you over to the music building, and leave you to meet him."

"What's he like?"

"Who Mr. Neel?"

"Yeah. I'm a little nervous about meeting him."

"Don't worry child, he's a sweet man, young too, the youngest professor we got here, and so handsome! I hear some of the girls wishing that they were here for singing instead of something else; just to go to his class."

I smiled weakly, and got up, the butterflies starting their mad flight in my stomach again. Mrs. Kelly walked me over the music building, only a short walk from the dorm. She left me at the front door.

"Go on in, and turn right, the first set of doors to your left is Mr. Neel's classroom."

"Okay, thank you."

I took a deep breath and walked into the building; I followed Mrs. Kelly's direction and found myself at the door to my voice trainer's room. I took another deep breath and knocked softly on the door, no answer. I wondered if he was there, and opened the door a little, I didn't hear anything at first, but saw the huge room, and my eyes widened. There was a stage, and stadium styled seats coming all the way to the door. I walked in, my heels making a clicking noise on the floor. I walked down the stairs, and saw two men by the stage. One was a young man, about my age, holding a sheet of paper, and mouthing words, the other an older man who stood behind him, his hand on the young man's chest. They both stopped and looked at me.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt, but Mrs. Kelly told me this is where I could find Mr. Neel, and that he was expecting me."

The younger man smiled at me, and turned around.

"Is this the new prodigy you've been speaking about T?"

The other man laughed and came out from behind him.

"Yes, I believe it is. Miss. Carroll right?"

I nodded my head, but my eyes grew wide at the site of this man. Mrs. Kelly had been right, he was very handsome. He was tall, with dark brown hair that waved back from his forehead, and deep brown eyes. His mouth had softened into a slight smile, and he relaxed his well-formed body as he invited me to shake his hand. As I looked at him, I had to place him in his late 30's early 40's, he was young. Most of the teachers that I had seen walking around were well into their 60's. My heart skipped a beat as I placed my small hand in his big one, and he shook it firmly.

"Nice to meet you, Jessica."

"Nice to meet you as well, Mr. Neel."

I couldn't keep my eyes from him, he was so attractive, and laid back. He moved his eyes away from me and looked over at the other man.

"Brad, I think we can call it a day. I want to hear Jessica sing."

"Mr. Neel, would you do me the honor of letting me sing with this young lady?"

I blushed, and clasped my hands together as my eyes shifted from Mr. Neel to Brad.

"Oh I think we could do that. Hold on one second."

He went behind the stage and came back with some sheet music.

"It's not a duet, but it will help me hear your voice and all that it can do."

He gave me a wink; I smiled and blushed again, taking the music from him. I looked down and was happy to see that it was a song I knew, "Arise My Love." I had sung it in choir classes before, and knew it quite well. I put the music down at my side, and breathed deeply. Brad would sing first, the female part of the song followed the male, and Mr. Neel, hit a key on piano, giving Brad his cue, and he began. He had a beautiful baritone, and I almost missed my part as I listened to him sing. I closed my eyes, and began the female part, my low alto voice blending in well with Brad's. I heard no mistakes, but when I opened my eyes, as Brad sung his next part, Mr. Neel was shaking his head. A look of disappointment crossed my face, and Mr. Neel came towards me as I began to sing again. He placed his hand on the middle of my chest, just below my breasts, and pressed in. His thumb grazed the side of my breast, and I faltered while singing. He kept his hand there, as we finished the song, and I could swear that he was moving his thumb along the outline of my breasts as I sang.

"That was wonderful Jessica, very beautiful, but..."

He pressed his hand just a little more into my chest, and brought his body closer to mine. My breath caught as he pressed against me.

"You need to sing more from the diaphragm, less from the throat."

He moved his hand up, while speaking and rested it on the base of my throat. I looked over to Brad, but he didn't seem to pay any attention, so I figured that what Mr. Neel was doing was normal.

"I'm sorry Mr. Neel."

"Quite alright. Having only semi-trained music teachers at your old school is the reason you sing like that. Don't worry, we will be spending a lot of time together and I will show you how it's done. You do have a beautiful voice, and it's not going to need a lot of training. Isn't that right Brad?"

"Oh yeah, Mr. Neel. Beautiful. Well, I should go, have English class soon. See ya later."

I gave him a wave, and looked back to my new teacher. I couldn't help but look at him, and think about his hand placement on me. I wanted him to do it again, and I felt bad for that. I had never really been interested in boys, my education was more important to me. I had never had a real boyfriend, and it didn't matter to me that I didn't. But Mr. Neel was so intriguing, so handsome, and I couldn't stop feeling his hands on my chest and neck.

"I think that'll bout do her for today Jessica. Don't want you to work too hard on your first day here. But we have class again tomorrow at five, and I'll see you then."

"Okay, thank you Mr. Neel."

"No problem, babe."

I had to hold back a giggle, and I hurriedly went to the door, and back out to the cloudy Boston day. I didn't go back to my room immediately; I walked around the grounds, finding a little park, with a lake and some benches. I sat there for a while, thinking about Mr. Neel. I could see why all the girls wanted him to be their teacher now. I shook my head, I had to stop. I was here for a reason, not to have some puppy-love crush on one of my professors.