Miss Mercury

Moving Out

Brian and Anita are taking Amelia to ArtsEd tomorrow so she's settled into her dorm room and ready for her first day on Monday. But right now it's Saturday evening and Brian invited Roger, Debbie and the kids round for dinner.

She might not be fully leaving home but they know that life at the academy will be busy for Amelia so they will only see her every other weekend instead of every weekend.

Amelia had spoken to her friends and they agreed that going home every weekend would be too much. She tried out the tube and train journey and it's not something she wants to be doing every week, so one week they'd spend the time together in London and the other they will go home.

During dinner, Amelia is quiet and just listens to her family talk. Up until she came to pack her suitcase yesterday, she had been excited about going but now all she feels is nervous.

After she finished her food, she excused herself from the table to go check she has everything in her suitcase. As she flicks through her toiletry bad there's a light tap at her door, "It's open."

Putting the bag next to her suitcase she looks over her to see Roger standing there. She gives him a small smile then goes over to the draw next to her bed, grabbing what she needs.

"You were quiet at dinner, are you alright?" He sits on her window seat watching her mill about the room.

She shrugs, "The excitement I felt over the past week has worn off and now..."

"Your nervous," He finished for her. Sighing she sits next to him and he wraps an arm around her shoulder, "I'm not surprised you're nervous, most people don't leave home until their at least 17 or 18."

"That's not helping," She glances up at him hugging him around the waist.

Roger smiles kissing the side of her head as she cuddles into him, "It's only London, it's not like your going to America. You're going to be fine Milly, don't tell anyone I said this but even I felt homesick when I left Cornwall and moved to London. And you can call as often as you want, me, Brian, Anita, we'll all be at the other end ready to listen."

"I know I just don't want to fail."

"You need to believe in yourself, poppet. You've gotten this far and it's not because of Queen if that's what you're thinking, it's because of your talent. You go to that school, give it your all and by the end of the year, you'll look back at this moment and wonder what you were so nervous about," Roger looks around the room and notices the blue box by the bed.

"Is there a letter in there that might make you feel a bit better?"

Amelia looks at the box then looks for the list on her desk. She's not taking the box with her just the letter's she thinks she might need. Reading down the list she spots the starting high school letter then finds it out of the box.

Retaking her seat next to her uncle she reads:

Hello My Angel,

A high school student already? How crazy is that?

Congratulations on getting into ArtsEd, I so sure that you've got in and if not then this letter could be awkward.

I'm so proud of you for getting in, this is the first step on the road to your career in theatre and your dream as Eponine. You'll get there one day and I will be watching every moment of it.

I realise that you might reading this and feeling extremely nervous but don't be, you go to that school and just be yourself. I know for ArtsEd you have to live on campus because of the commute time so you may be feeling homesick too.