Did You Get What You Deserve?

I froze.

Did he really just say that?

He looked away, his face bright red. I hesitated a moment, then leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

“I like you too.”

He looked back at me.

“Really?”

I nodded.

“Really.”

He grinned, the red slowly disappearing from his face. I shuffled closer to him and hugged him. He seemed slightly confused for a moment, but then he put his arm around me, drawing me closer to him.

“You know... You’re really cute.”

I smiled.

“Thanks.”

The bell rang. I sighed.

“What have you got now?”

“Um... English.”

“Oh cool, me too! Oh, duh, of course, you’re in my class.”

He laughed as we stood up and picked up our lunchboxes.

“Do you remember last week Mrs Arbelle told us we were starting a new project today?”

“Ooh, really?”

He nodded.

“I think it’s something to do with poetry.”

I wrinkled my nose.

“Generally speaking, I don’t like poetry. Unless it’s Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s brilliant.”

He laughed.

“I’m glad I’ve found someone who agrees with me.”

As we reached the English classroom, Mrs Arbelle came puffing up behind us.

“Oh, Alec, I’m glad I caught you. I didn’t want to say this in front of the whole class.”

She turned to James.

“You go in and sit down, I’d like to talk to Alec alone. Tell the class I won’t be long.”

James nodded and disappeared into the classroom. Mrs Arbelle put her hands on my shoulders.

“Now, Alec, as I am about to tell the class, this term we are doing a production of Shakespeare. The play I have chosen is Romeo and Juliet, predominantly because most of your classmates will have heard of it.”

I nodded and she went on.

“Now, I know you are very keen on Shakespeare.”

Her eyes grew sad.

“So very like Alec Marshall... I taught him, you know...”

She shook her head and continued.

“As I say, I know you are very keen on Shakespeare, and I’ve heard you have an excellent stage voice. I would like you to play Juliet.”

My jaw dropped.

“Really?”

“Yes, really. I can’t think of anyone in this class who could possibly play her better than you.”

She patted me on the shoulder.

“We’re not doing the whole play, it’s far too long and far too tricky to remember. Oh, and please don’t tell anyone about this. I shall announce it when we have selected our Romeo.”

She winked at me and opened the door.

“Alright, class, settle down.”

I walked past her and sat down in the second row, between James and Lindsay. Lindsay leaned over and whispered in my ear.

“What was that about?”

I just shook my head.

“Now, class, we are going to be doing a production of Romeo and Juliet this term.”

The room was filled with a mixture of cheers and groans.

“Come on, come on, it’ll be fun.”

Laura, sitting in the front row, tossed her hair.

“I think it’s a brilliant idea, Mrs Arbelle. When are auditions? I’m going to try out for Juliet, and I need to know how long I have to perfect my lines.”

I barely held back I giggle. Laura thought she would automatically get whatever she wanted.

Not this time, I’m afraid. Sorry, Loser- I mean Laura.

Mrs Arbelle smiled.

“I’m going to take down names for who wants to be who. Then I’ll give you each an audition piece and we’ll audition the different parts on different days. The bigger parts will be auditioned first, for of course if you don’t get the big part you want, you will probably want to try for a small part.”

She beamed at us, picking up a pad of paper.

“So, who wants to be Romeo?”

Half a dozen hands shot into the air. I looked around. Some jocks, some geeks. As I looked back towards the front, I caught James’ eye. He smiled at me, then put his hand up, grinning at the look on my face. Mrs Arbelle’s eyes came to rest on him.

“James? Well, that’s unexpected. Good on you.”

She noted down his name. Laura sniffed.

“Oh god, please no. I don’t want to play Juliet for that bespectacled freak.”

“Don’t use words you can’t spell, Laura.”

Mrs Arbelle looked flustered.

“Girls, please don’t fight. Laura, be a little more polite. It’s very brave of James to volunteer.
And Alec, sometimes it’s better to let me deal with these things.”

I smiled apologetically.

“Sorry Mrs Arbelle.”

Laura sniffed and looked out the window.

Mrs Arbelle sighed and continued taking down names for parts. When she finally put down her pad, Laura’s hand shot up into the air.

“But Mrs Arbelle, you didn’t take down names for Juliet!”

Mrs Arbelle smiled.

“I know. I have already hand-picked our Juliet.”

Laura looked mortified.

“It is me, isn’t it? Isn’t it?”

Mrs Arbelle only smiled and tapped the side of her nose.

“I shall announce the name when we have selected our Romeo. The girl herself does not even know she is Juliet. It’s no use asking around. You’re all as mystified as each other.”

I grinned. Mrs Arbelle loved throwing people off the scent. At that point the bell rang and we all got up to leave. As we exited the classroom, I said goodbye to James. He went one way towards the Art rooms, and Lindsay and I went the other towards the Music hall.

As we entered the music room, we noticed that written on the board were the words ‘Practical Lesson Today.’

“Yay. No theory.”

Lindsay grinned and nodded.

Mr Bennett waltzed into the room, humming a lively tune. Upon reaching the front of the class, he spun around twice and clapped his hands.

“Okay, ladles and jelly spoons, settle down, settle down. Now, we have a practical lesson today, as you have probably noted unless you have bad eyesight or were not looking at the board.”

He pranced over to the huge instrument cupboard in the corner and flung it open.

“Now, I am not sure if this is entirely wise, but I will be giving you free run of the instruments in this cupboard. This does not mean that you can grab a guitar and sit in the corner playing whatever you want. I do not want chaos. I will sit here at the piano and play a simple piece. When I call your name, you will add a bit of your choice. You can include your voice, but you must have an instrument. Now, take your pick!”

He stood back and called us up a few at a time to choose our instruments. I chose a guitar, while Lindsay took a pair of bongo drums. When everyone had an instrument, Mr Bennett sat down at the piano and started playing a tune. He looked around the room and started calling out names. Mine was the last he called.

I smiled and began playing. Not for nothing was my dad a world-famous guitarist. When I had played for eight bars, Mr Bennett stopped and clapped his hands. The whole room fell silent, but he kept on clapping. Then, as abruptly as he had started, he stopped.

“Well, I must say, I seem to have a few musical geniuses here. Amy, that was wonderful. Lindsay, you have a great sense of rhythm. Derek, I had no idea you could play the violin like that. And Alec! I see you have inherited your father’s talent. My daughter used to listen to that music, I was always amazed by the guitarists. I’m pleased some of that talent has filtered into my class.”

I grinned, and I could feel my face burning. When Mr Bennett turned around, Lindsay poked me in the shoulder.

“Someone’s popular with the teacher.”

I poked her back.

“Shut up!”

**Author's Note: Gah it's one of those things where you get an idea but in the plotline it's a couple of years in the future. I just got one of those. Alec's death was one of those. Yeah... just warning you time may seem to go a bit fast.

XD

Thank you to those two people who have commented. You are luffed.**