Chapter Text
To: All Grade Level Teachers
Re: Christmas concert
This year’s annual Christmas concert will be held on Friday, December 18, at 7pm. Please refer to the attached list for the song to which your class has been assigned.
As a reminder, classroom teachers are responsible for ensuring that students have learned their respective songs. Rehearsals may take the place of afternoon homeroom/advisory. As Ms. Undersee is occupied with preparing the school band, she will only be able to assist teachers on the final rehearsal days.
I cannot emphasize enough the significance of this event to our school community. Accordingly, I trust that you will approach the preparation of your students with the gravitas that this concert merits.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact the office.
E. Trinket
Principal, St. Alma’s Catholic Junior School
Peeta shook his head in dismay as he stared at the song title listed by his name on the faculty memo. He knew that he faced a steep learning curve as a first year teacher at St. Alma’s - something that recent budget cuts didn’t seem to help - but for the most part, he had just rolled with the punches when it came to new challenges or responsibilities.
He did not, however, anticipate that he would be adding “music teacher” to his list of responsibilities. In fact, no one who had ever heard him try to sing would have, either.
And now he was expected to teach 24 fourth graders how to sing a carol he’d never even heard of, for what appeared to be the biggest event in the school calendar? Yeah, no pressure there.
The buzz of his students returning to class from PE brought him back to the present. Peeta mentally kicked himself; having spent half the period panicking, he hadn’t taken the time to do some much-needed research on YouTube.
Standing from his desk chair, Peeta took a deep breath and got back into teacher mode. Clapping his hands, he signalled that class had officially resumed. “Okay, ladies and gentlemen!” he intoned as they settled down. “As you know, our annual Christmas concert is only three weeks away, and we’ve got a song to prepare. Unfortunately, Ms. Undersee doesn’t have time to rehearse with every class before the big day, so we will be devoting some of our afternoon homeroom time to learning your piece.”
“What’s the song?” one of the kids asked.
“‘The Holly and the Ivy.’ Has anyone ever heard of it?” Please say yes, please someone say yes, he prayed silently. The blank stares of his students, however, did not seem all that encouraging.
A lone hand shot up in the air after what seemed like an eternity. “Yes, Posy?”
“I don’t know the song,” the little girl admitted. “But my cousin Katniss does for sure. She knows all the Christmas songs.”
Peeta wasn’t exactly sure how this information was supposed to help, but he decided to humor her anyway. “That’s awesome. But how do you know she knows this one?”
“She sings with this group at her school. People call in from all over the world to ask them to sing Christmas songs over the phone, 24 hours a day. It’s really cool. Me and my brothers called last week, and they sang like four different songs!” Posy explained enthusiastically. “It’s called Call-a-Caroller.”
An idea began to form in Peeta’s head. Maybe there was a way to make this work, after all. “Okay, I’ll look into it while you guys are having lunch. Thanks for the tip,” he told her. Turning his attention to the rest of the class, he announced, “but for now, let’s get back to working on long division…”
He chuckled at the chorus of groans that rang out in the classroom. At least he knew they could complain in unison.
—
“Happy holidays, and thank you for phoning Call-a-Caroller! At the tone, please state your name, location, and the title of the song you wish to hear, followed by the number key.”
Peeta dutifully rattled off the requisite details before putting the call on speaker and setting his phone on the desk. There were four other callers ahead of him; now all he had to do was wait.
Although he knew that running to YouTube was much easier than calling into a caroling hotline, he couldn’t help but admit that his curiosity had been piqued after doing some research on the group. As it turned out, Posy hadn’t been exaggerating when she said people called them from all over the world; Call-a-Caroller had been featured on the local news, NPR, and even the Panem Post. The more he read, the more he wanted to get them involved somehow with his class. Maybe some project about community outreach through song…
Just as Peeta’s imagination began to run wild with thoughts of how to present his project ideas to the principal, the sound of the phone ringing brought him back to earth.
“Hi, thanks for your patience!” a young man greeted cheerfully. “It’s been really busy with all the exposure we’ve been getting lately. My name is Darius. Says here your name is Peter?”
“Peeta,” he corrected amiably. “I’m a teacher at St. Alma’s in Seamville, and one of my students told me about you guys…there’s a carol I need to teach my kids that I’ve never even heard of, and she said you know every Christmas song in the world.”
“Well, she’s not completely wrong,” Darius confirmed with a laugh. “How did she hear about us?”
“Oh, she said her cousin sings with you guys…I think her name is Katherine? Katniss?”
“Katniss? She’s here, actually…she’s our obscure carols expert, so if anyone can help you, it’s her! Let me go get her for you.”
“Oh, that’s not necessary, I-” Peeta tried to say, but Darius was already gone.
Next thing he knew, the low voice of a young woman cautiously greeted him, “Hello?”
The sound of Katniss’s voice sent a jolt through Peeta, and he suddenly felt rather nervous. Was this inappropriate, calling up some college girl on the recommendation from a nine-year-old and asking her to sing for him? No, he reminded himself, this is what they do. It’s a fucking carolling hotline. Nonetheless, he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling strangely embarrassed with how this was all going down.
The words tumbled out in an uncharacteristically awkward mess as he tried to explain why he had called. “Uh, hi, yes, is this Katniss? My name is Peeta Mellark, and I’m a 4th grade teacher at St. Alma’s. Posy - your cousin Posy, Posy Hawthorne - is in my class, and she told me you might be able to help me with a carol they are singing for the school Christmas concert. It’s, uh, it’s called ‘The Holly and the Ivy,’ and I’m supposed to teach it to them, and I’m both musically clueless and tone deaf, but it’s also my first year at this school and I want their performance to be good, and Posy thought you guys could help, but then your friend Darius said you’re the only one who knows it, so...yeah…” He trailed off. “That’s probably more than you needed to know.”
Thankfully, his ramblings didn’t make Katniss want to hang up. “There’s always YouTube, you know,” she pointed out, but there was no malice or sarcasm in her response. It was actually quite…playful.
“Yeah, I know,” he replied sheepishly. “But I can’t seem to find something without the extra bells and whistles and background music. I’m a terrible singer to begin with, so if I’m going to learn this, I need something simple. Plus, I can’t really say no to the idea of having someone serenade me.” Peeta smacked himself internally for letting that last comment slip. The last thing he needed was to have this girl think he was trying to flirt with her.
For her part, Katniss seemed unruffled. Perhaps she was used to dealing with idiots over the phone. “Well, we’ll see what we can do,” she responded, her voice neutral. “'The Holly and the Ivy,’ you said, right? Just let me check my lyrics book.”
After a moment, Katniss cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and sang.
The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown,
Of all the trees that are in the wood,
The holly bears the crown.
O, the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer,
The playing of the merry organ,
Sweet singing in the choir…
She sang the rest of the verses too, but the words didn’t really register. Rather, Peeta was mesmerized by the lilt of Katniss’s clear voice coming through the phone as it weaved through the song’s sweet and simple melody. When she finished, the silence left a strange void in his heart.
“Uh…hello? Are you still there?” Katniss asked.
“What? Oh, yes, sorry,” he blurted out. “That…that was absolutely beautiful.”
“Oh, um, thank you,” she replied quietly. Peeta wondered if she was blushing as she spoke. “I hope that helped you learn the melody. It’s a lovely song.”
“Definitely,” he agreed. Before he could stop himself, he continued, “But I may still need a bit of help teaching the kids. Perhaps I could get you to sing it for them when we practice this afternoon? Unless you have class, or have an exam to study for?” Cringing at the verbal diarrhea that seemed to flow unabated from his mouth, he added, “Sorry, I don’t mean to pawn this off on you or anything. I must seem like the laziest teacher in the world.”
“That’s okay,” Katniss assured him. After a brief silence, she went on. “You know what? Yes. I’ll help. I mean, ‘tis the season, right? Besides, you’re Posy’s teacher, and she’s practically like another sister to me. She’d love it if I helped out.”
“Seriously? You would be saving me, you have no idea.”
“Yeah. Can you call before 4? I have a class after that.”
“Oh, for sure,” Peeta replied enthusiastically. “I have them at the end of the day from 3 to 3:30. Does that work for you?”
“Yeah, that should be good.”
Peeta couldn’t believe his luck. “Okay. Okay, great. That’s great. I will…I will talk to you then. Thank you. Thank you, this is great.”
“Great,” Katniss repeated with a chuckle. “Uh, thanks for phoning Call-a-Caroller. Talk to you soon.”
Ending the call, Peeta removed his glasses and cleaned them with the hem of his shirt as he tried to figure out what in the world had just happened.
He still didn’t know the song. And he didn’t know the singer..not really, anyway. But he did know one thing: he was a goner.