Audition Piece

[Red Ranger 1]

Thanks for your comments, hope you like this one.

CHAPTER 11

“Why did we have to come in so early?”Annie asked as they made their way across the playground, “There’s nearly half an hour before lessons start.”

“Well, there’s something I wanted to do first,”Jai told her.

“Oh?What?”

“This.”Jai stopped her in the middle of the playground.Then he got down on one knee in front of her.

“Jai, what are you doing?”Annie looked around self-consciously.Everyone else in the playground had stopped what they were doing and come over, standing in a circle around them.

Jai reached into his pocket and took out a ring.There was a series of gasps, including one from Annie.He held it out to her.“I know we’re young, Annie, but I’ve never felt like this about anyone and I know I want to spend my life with you.Will you marry me?”

Annie glanced around at her classmates, who all seemed to be waiting for her answer.“Jai, people are looking…”

“Then give them something to look at.Have you got an answer?”

“Yes?”Annie suggested cautiously and then a smile spread across her face and she almost forgot that they weren’t alone,“Yes, Jai, I will marry you!”

Jai scrambled to his feet and slipped the ring on her finger.Then he took her in his arms and kissed her as all around them people broke out into applause.

“Well?”Annie asked expectantly.

Aden took a deep breath.“I don’t think I trust myself to say,”he said at last.

Annie looked at Belle who shrugged.“Neither do I.”

“You proposed to her in the playground?”Nicole blurted out.

“She’ll say it,”Geoff sighed.

“In the playground?”

“Look, we’ve only got four years to get everything done,”Jai reminded her,“We’re going to be at school for three of them.Getting married when we’re still at school is pretty much the only option.”

“In the playground?”

“Nicole, get over it.”

“I thought it was really romantic,”Annie complained.

“Annie, proposing to you on a moonlit beach is romantic,”Belle told her,“Proposing to you in an expensive restaurant is romantic.Proposing to you on a picnic at an idyllic spot is romantic.Proposing to you in a playground is…proposing to you in a playground.”

“I think it’s got a nice innocent quality that reflects the characters,”Steve mused,“Still, maybe we could have them get engaged during a hostage situation or when they’re about to get blown up.”

Annie folded her arms sulkily.“Well if you’re going to be like that, we’re not going to tell you the rest of it.”

“We’re sorry, Annie,”Geoff told her,“We’ll be good from now on.”

Irene hugged them both enthusiastically.“Oh, I’m so pleased for you!”It had been a quiet service at the local registry office, neither of them able to afford anything grand and refusing to accept help from their families.But Jai had hired out a suit for the occasion and Irene and Belle had insisted on buying a wedding dress for Annie.Irene looked at Jai in a mock threatening manner.“Now you’d better look after this girl or I’m telling you there’ll be hell to pay.”

“I will, Mrs.Roberts,”Jai promised her.

Miles and Kirsty came over to them next.“Well, Annie, guess we should be welcoming you to the family,” Miles told her.

Annie smiled.“Thanks, Mr.Copeland.”

Miles looked at Kirsty for guidance.“Is she still supposed to be calling me Mr.Copeland?”

“Um, Miles, maybe you should give Jai and Annie their wedding present now.”

“Oh.Yeah.Good advice.”

“Guys, we told you you didn’t have to go to any trouble,”Jai reminded them.

“Don’t worry, this isn’t costing us a penny,”Miles assured him,“Except for the cost of hiring out those suites at the Sands but, hey, your foster son only gets married once.At least in theory…”He held out a key. “Here.Key to the house.”

“You’re giving us the house?”Annie asked.

“Just for the night,”Kirsty explained.

“It’s all yours, no interruptions, all night,”Miles added,“So you can get up to whatever newlyweds get up to on their wedding night.”He seemed to consider this for a moment before turning to Kirsty.“Hey, did I just hear someone calling us over there?”

“I think you did, Miles,”Kirsty agreed, taking his arm and leading him away.

Jai swung the key in front of Annie and looked around the reception.“How soon do you think we’ll be able to slip away without anyone noticing?”

[Red Ranger 1]

Thanks for your comments.Sorry if it's not to your taste but there's going to be a fair bit more of Jai and Annie and I'm actually quite enjoying writing for them.

CHAPTER 12

Jai and Annie got in through the door of the caravan park house and stopped, staring about them.The room had been decked out with candles and rose petals, leading upstairs.“Oh, Jai,”Annie gasped,“This is so romantic.Thank you.”

“Er, yeah, it is,”Jai agreed,“But, um, I didn’t do it.”

“You didn’t?Then who did?”

Jai looked around and noticed a card propped up on the table.He opened the envelope and read the contents out loud.“Happy wedding night, guys, don’t do anything we wouldn’t do.From Nicole, Ruby and Melody.”

“They did all this for us?”Annie asked,“That’s so sweet.”

Smiling, Jai put his arms around her.“Have I mentioned how gorgeous you look today?”

“Why, thank you.You’re looking very handsome as well.”

He kissed her gently, then leaned back, lifting her off her feet slightly so she gave a yelp of surprise and delight.Then he took her hand and led her towards the stairs.

“And you’re cutting it there,”Geoff decided.

Annie looked at him, put out.“Geoff!I was enjoying that!”

“So was I,”Jai added.

“We could tell,”Belle commented.

“I am not going to hear anything else of that nature about my sister,”Geoff insisted.

“Well, I had to listen to you caressing Nicole’s bare flesh,”Annie complained.

“I did not say ‘caressing her bare flesh’!”Geoff looked around.“Did I?”Everyone nodded.

Annie folded her arms, disgruntled.“So how come no-one gets to caress my bare flesh?”

“Those are words I never thought I would hear coming out of your mouth,”Nicole told her.

Geoff glanced at Steve.“Adjudicator?Please.”

Steve thought for a moment.“Should probably keep the x-rated scenes to a minimum.I mean, it’s okay with me but the networks get a bit touchy about these things.Don’t want to end up with an A rating.”

Aden looked at Belle.“How come we didn’t include any x-rated scenes in our story?”

“We don’t need to, we’ll get them anyway.”

“And how come my name wasn’t on the card?”Geoff continued.

Jai gave him a look.“Are you seriously suggesting that you’d arrange for your sister to have a romantic wedding night?”

“Um…withdraw the comment.”

“Okay.”Jai sighed.“Seeing as how we have to skip the next bit, it’s a few days later…”

“Ah, good morning, sleepyheads,”Miles greeted them as they came downstairs,“At least, I’ll assume it’s sleep you’ve been up to…”Kirsty hit him gently in the arm and he gave her a look of mock hurt.“Ow.”

“Morning, Mr.Copeland,”Annie responded as she and Jai joined them at the breakfast table.She noticed the look he gave her.“Sorry.Miles.”

“So, have you given any thought as to where you’re going to live?”

“We’re still looking,”Jai admitted,“We just haven’t found anywhere we can afford yet.”

“You mean on the money from your paper round and Annie’s two shifts at the Diner?”

“No-one in Summer Bay has a paper round,”Aden complained.

“Sam Marshall had one once,”Jai retorted.

Aden thought about this for a minute.“Dammit.They’ve got an answer for everything.”

Annie stuck her tongue out at him then turned to Jai.“Who’s Sam Marshall?”

“So what we were wondering,”Kirsty continued,“is how about you staying on here?”

“It’s nice of you, Kirsty,”Annie replied,“but we really want a place of her own.”

“Well, how about if this was your place of your own?”

Jai looked from Kirsty to Miles in astonishment.“Really?”

“We’ve been talking to my sister, Sally,”Miles explained,“You know how she lives in Phuket?Well, she’s asked for the two of us and Ollie to join her and Pippa out there.And we were thinking, now that you’re married, maybe we should sign this place over to you.”

Jai shook his head.“We can’t ask you to do that.”

Miles patted them both on the arm.“Mate.Seriously.We couldn’t leave the place in better hands.”

“They just give you the house?”Aden asked.

“Well, it solves the problem of how we can afford it,”Annie pointed out.

“They just give it to you?”

“Just because no-one would ever give you a house,”Jai commented.

“Hey, Roman would sign the house over to me like a shot if he was leaving.Tell them, Belle.”

“Um, actually, no, I don’t think he would.”

Aden glared at her for a moment then turned to Steve.“Is it too late for me to change partners?”

“Why?”asked Nicole,“Would you rather be with Geoff?”

“Okay, the gay jokes about us two are getting a bit tired now,”Geoff sighed,“How would you feel if people kept trying to pair you up with Ruby?”

“Um, hello.”Annie waved her arm at them.“Little sister still talking.”

“Oh, go right ahead,”Nicole told her,“I’m waiting for the next chapter when you’re invited to be town mayor.”

Annie looked at Jai.“See?I told you we should have done that.”

[Red Ranger 1]

CHAPTER 13

Jai and Annie had sought out a quiet spot under a tree in the school yard and sat there kissing…until they heard a heavy footfall next to them and a familiar “harrumph” demanding attention.They looked up to find Martin Bartlett standing there.“You know the rules on public displays of affection,”he told them,“We expect our Year 12s to set an example.”

“We’re married, Mr.Bartlett,”Annie protested.

“Yes, Mrs.Fernandez, I’m very well aware of that but perhaps you could save it for the marital home, hmm?”His point made, he carried on his way.

Jai helped Annie to her feet and they were about to head towards the school when one of the Year 7s barrelled into them, scattering their books everywhere.“Sorry,”he apologised, stooping to help pick them up.

Annie smiled kindly at him as she accepted his pile of books.“That’s okay, Jamie.”She paused, looking at him curiously.“Are you..?”

“I, um, have to go,”he replied before hurrying off.

“What was that all about?”Jai asked.

Annie was looking after Jamie.“Did you smell him?”

“Surprisingly enough, no.”

“I don’t think his uniform had been washed.”

“Why wouldn’t it have been?”

“I don’t know.Maybe something’s wrong.”

“That’s Jamie?”asked Aden,“Someone you go to school with?”

“Well…can you think of a better place to find a troubled youngster than Summer Bay High?”Annie asked him.

“She’s got you there,”Belle smirked.

“This is ridiculous,”Aden protested,“This storyline is never going to happen.”

“It’s the best way for us to meet him,”Jai insisted.

Aden looked beseechingly at Steve.“Come on, can’t we wrap this up now?They’re obviously not going to get the job.”

“Well…I’ve still got them pencilled in as a ‘maybe’.”He smiled slightly.“So maybe they should carry on?”

“Jamie!”called out Annie as they saw him leaving school at the end of the day.

Jamie looked at the pair nervously.“Is this about earlier?”

“No, it’s not,”Jai assured him,“We were just wondering if we could go home with you?”

Jamie didn’t look any less nervous.“Home with me?Why?”

“There’s just a few things we want to check out,”Annie replied.

“My nan doesn’t like visitors.”

“It’s okay, we won’t stay long.”Annie thought quickly.“Mr.Bartlett asked us to have a word with your nan.”

“Um, okay.”Jamie eyed them warily.“You’d better come then.”

“No way would he agree to that,”Aden insisted.

“Especially if he’s got some deep dark secret at home,”Nicole added,“There is some deep dark secret, I trust?”

Annie grinned slightly.“Stay tuned.”

“Nan, are you here?”Jamie called out as they came in through the door,“I’ve brought some friends home.”

A woman who appeared somewhere in her early seventies came through from the kitchen.“Oh yes, hello. Nice to see you again.”

Annie looked at her in confusion.“We’ve…never met before, Mrs.Hastings.”

“We haven’t?Ah well.You youngsters, you all look the same to me.”She turned to Jamie.“Dinner will be ready in about half an hour, pet.”

Jamie went through into the kitchen and opened the oven door before looking at his nan in distress.“Nan, you haven’t turned this on again!”

“Haven’t I?Oh dear, well, I’ll do that now.”

Jamie sighed.“No, it’s all right, Nan.I’ll do it.”

Annie drew Jai aside.“See?There is something wrong here.”

“His nan is behaving a bit oddly.”

“She’s like Ruby’s dad when he got ill.We can’t leave him alone with her like this.”

“What do you suggest we do?”asked Jai,“Call Human Services?If we do, they’ll take him into care.”

Annie thought for a moment.“He could stay with us!”

“What?Annie…”

“Well, we’ve got room.”

“Annie, no way are they going to agree to that.”

“Well, we could ask them.”

Jai sighed.“All right.”He took out the phone.“I’ll make the call.”

“Ha-hah!”Nicole pointed at Jai in triumph.“Long-suffering husband!”

Jai looked at her, confused.“What?”

“You would make a great long-suffering husband.And Aden would make a great long-suffering husband…”She turned and looked at Geoff.“Why wouldn’t you make a great long-suffering husband?”

“I can be long-suffering when I want to be.”

“No, trust me.I’m the long-suffering one in this relationship.”She noticed Annie and Jai looking at her. “Sorry.Carry on.”

“The doctor will need to do more tests to confirm it,”the social worker told them,“But Jamie’s grandmother is almost certainly suffering from dementia.They want to admit her to a hospital overnight for observation.We’re applying for a temporary care order for Jamie.”

“We said we’d look after him,”Annie reminded her.

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

“Well, we would normally expect our carers to be a bit older.”

“We really want to do this,”Jai assured her.

“And Jamie knows us,”Annie added,“It’s better than him being with strangers.”

The social worker nodded slowly.“All right, well, if Jamie agrees, we’ll arrange it as a temporary measure.You can then apply for permanent residency if you want.”

Annie smiled at her.“We just want to help.”

Everyone was looking expectantly at Aden.He held up his hands.“Not saying a word.”

[Red Ranger 1]

Glad people are still enjoying this.

CHAPTER 14

Annie had just finished hanging out the washing and was heading back into the house.She saw Jai on the phone and heard the end of the conversation.“Sorry.I hope you find someone else.Okay, bye.”

“Who was that?”she asked.

Jai looked round.“DOCS.They thought Miles was still living here.There’s a couple of kids needing foster care and he’s still on the approved list.”

“Two of them?”

“Yeah, um, Ben and Megan, two teenagers.They grew up on a farm near here but their father was killed in a tractor accident.They’ve got no family left.”

“Well, couldn’t they come here?”

Jai looked at her, bewildered.“What?”

“Well, having Jamie around’s worked out all right, hasn’t it?”

“Annie, these two are barely younger than us!We can’t be parents to them.”

“They need somewhere to stay, we’ve got somewhere.I mean, I grew up on a farm and if Irene hadn’t taken me and Geoff in when Pop died…”

Jai sighed.“I’m going to have to get used to you coming up with ideas like this, aren’t I?”

Annie smiled.“Call them back.”

“Okay and you complained about us getting approved as foster carers?”asked Aden.

“We’ve got as good a case as you have,”Jai told him.

“We were adults!You’re schoolchildren!”

“Well at least I don’t have to tick the box marked ‘I occasionally try to kill people.’”

“No, just the one marked ‘I occasionally jump off cliffs.’”

Jai looked disgruntled.“Those were extreme circumstances.”

“So were mine!I had to have counselling!”

“So did I.It’s just I’m not important enough for it to actually be shown.”

“Plus you’re forgetting the most important thing,”put in Annie.

“Which is?”asked Belle.

“We’re way cuter than you.”

Aden looked at the others.“Is that right?”

Nicole thought about this for a moment.“Yeah, they’re cuter.”

“Geoff?”

“Well, she’s my sister but, then again, you’re Aden so…yeah, they’re cuter.”

Aden glanced at Belle.“If I ask you, I’m not going to like the answer, am I?”

“Probably not.”

“So is that the end of it?”asked Steve.

Jai stuck his hand up.“Er, there is one more thing we wanted to do.”

Annie looked distressed. “Oh, do we have to?I mean, it’d be really painful for me.”

“Oh boy,”Nicole sighed.

Annie was waiting in the kitchen as the three children filed past, handing them their lunches.“There you go, Ben.Good luck with the football tryouts.Megan, a full vegan lunch as promised.Jamie, try and get in some extra revision before the geography test and remember that the capital of China is Peking, not Hong Kong.”

There was a mumble of “Thanks, Annie” from the trio as they headed off to school.

Jai had come in in time to catch the tail end of the conversation.“Wow, you’ve really come on in the past year.When they first came here, they’d barely talk to you.”

“I guess it took time for them to get to know us.”

“And to realise what a great mum you are.”

Annie smiled.“I’m glad you think that because…”

Jai’s eyes widened in delight.“Really?But we’ve only been trying a few weeks!”

“Guess we got lucky.So, are you going to tell those three they’re going to have a new baby brother or sister or should I?”

Jai hugged her tightly and kissed her.“Maybe we could tell them together.”

Geoff looked at them both in horror.“You two have sex?”

[Red Ranger 1]

Last chapter!Bit on the short side but I felt it needed to be on its own.Thanks to everyone who's been reading this and hope you like it.

CHAPTER 15

“Well, we’ve had all three of your submissions,”Steve told them,“And we’re ready to make our final decision.”

“It’s got to be us,”Aden told him,“I mean, we top all the favourite couple polls.Put us in the central roles and you’re made.”

“Plus you can’t beat that storyline,”put in Belle.

Aden nodded eagerly.“Yeah, we had long lost relatives…”

“Violent parents…”

“And possibly a combine harvester.”

“I’m sorry, what was so great about your story?”Nicole demanded,“Did you have nail biting car crash drama?Infertility?A brave couple fighting back against the odds, whilst being way hotter than you?”

“Not to mention scenes set in a church,”Geoff added,“The show definitely needs more of those.They’re not just for weddings and funerals, you know.”

“Right,”Nicole agreed,“You can use them for christenings too.”

Geoff sighed.“What about Christmas carol services?”

“Hmm, in the town where it’s never Christmas.”

“How come we’re not in the running here?”Jai demanded,“I mean, come on, mental health issues, teen marriage, Kirsty going to Phuket…”

“And most importantly of all,”added Annie,“we’re cuter than you.”

“Important points all of them,”Steve agreed,“But I’ve consulted with the other staffmembers and we’ve made our decision.”

“Getting ready to receive the congratulations now,”Aden told the others.

“In four years time, the lead couple on Summer Bay is going to be…Roman and Ruby.”

Six pairs of eyes stared at him in astonishment.Six hearts momentarily stopped.For a moment, the world stopped turning.Then Geoff ventured a response.“Er, what?”

Steve nodded, enthusiastically.“It’s going to be the age gap relationship that’s going to blow the Bay apart.See, what happens is, in two years Roman marries Martha but then she gets killed in an unfortunate accident at a cheese factory.And by that point, Ruby’s working part-time at the Diner whilst doing her HSC.And one night, after hours, she ends up comforting him, one thing leads to another and wham!It’s gonna affect Charlie, it’s gonna affect Nicole…It’s gonna be great.”

Nicole paused for a moment before looking at Belle.“I think I preferred the idea of you as my stepmum.”

“Excellent, Nicole, exactly the reaction we want!I can see you’re all really getting into this.”Steve got to his feet.“And listen, thanks for all your ideas, guys.Great stuff.This should keep us in business for years. Especially liked the combine harvester.Farm machinery related deaths, can’t believe it never occurred to us before.And if you’ve got any ideas, any at all, my door’s always open.Keep looking hot!”

And with that he breezed out, leaving six teenagers staring after him.There was an uncomfortable pause, no-one knowing quite where to look.Then Annie spoke up.

“How about we suggest a storyline where we all get to go to Disneyland?”

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