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“You have big ears.” I rolled my eyes as I walked down the hall with Amanda and she continued to throw petty little insults my way. It was Thursday night—the night of the first performance—and my job was changed from being tech crew with Shane to the runner who told everyone where to go and when they were onstage. I, unfortunately, had to give most of my time to Amanda because she had the most work to do on her costume, hair and makeup and she had a lot of parts on stage. Basically, I was stuck by her side for most of the night.

“I don’t really care,” I said. “You might as well just give up.” Amanda frowned and kept walking, now in silence. She had already done her hair and makeup at her house but Mr. Sadusky still made me stick by her side. If this was his way to force us into making amends and stop our fighting, he was really bad at it. “Okay, you can change in here,” I said, opening one of the classroom doors. It had been set up that the desks were moved to the side and a mirror had been placed on the side. It was a sad excuse for a change room but it was better than nothing.

Amanda scowled. “I’m stuck in this piece of shit?” she asked. “You guys really go all out.”

“You could change in the hall,” I said, crossing my arms over my clipboard and raising my eyebrows. She glared at me and I nodded. “Exactly. Get someone to find me when you’re done changing and I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?”

“To attend to some other people,” I replied. “I’ve got a big job here so stay put. I have to keep track of like, ten people and I’m being forced to spend most of my night with you. Neither of us are happy about that so let’s just say as little as we possibly can to each other and it’ll all go over smoothly.”

I turned and walked out of the room, but she followed me. I frowned.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“To find my friends,” she replied. “We’ve still got like fourty five minutes. I’ll be back in time.”

She walked passed me down the hall with her massive blond curls bouncing on the back of her head. Kayti tapped me on the back and I turned to face her. She was wearing men’s leotards and a massive cloak. In addition, she had a white wig on and a super long beard.

“You look good,” I said, smirking.

“I look like Santa Claus. What are you talking about?” she said, shuffling around and fixing her underwear. “This stuff is so uncomfortable. I can’t believe I got stuck playing that Capulet guy. Why couldn’t I have gotten a girl’s part?”

“Maybe because you auditioned for this one?” I put in, giggling.

“You should see Blade,” she said, scratching her head beneath the wig. “He looks like Robin Hood with those pants. I would not want to be him right now.”

Blade and I had hardly talked at all since the incident in my living room. When I told Nick about it one day at lunch time, he started laughing and made little comments about how it was about time Blade pulled a move or how I was stupid for still thinking he didn’t like me. Of course now, I at least thought it was possible.

“So you’re all ready to go?” I asked, checking my clip board. She nodded and tugged the pants down.

“Yeah, I’m set,” she replied. “You’re my runner, right?”

I nodded. “I’m also Marcy’s, David’s and Andrew’s. And a bunch of other people,” I replied, opening the program and flipping through the pages. “I’ve got one of the first parts so I should probably get ready soon.”

“Want me to take over?” she asked, putting her hands out. I shook my head.

“It’s okay. This is my job and it gives me something to do. I’ll talk to you later,” I said, lightly hitting her on the arm and walking around to one of the change rooms down the hall. I had to help David out with his costume because he had a really difficult one to do up, and then I had to jump across the hall to help one of the girl’s with her makeup. Fourty five minutes was going to fly by.



“Has anyone seen Amanda?” I asked, stepping into the left wing of the stage. A number of people looked up from their conversations and shook their heads. It was fifteen minutes until we had to present and I hadn’t been able to find her anywhere. I had checked her dressing room and her costume was still hung up on the rack. No one seemed to know where she was. I groaned and walked back into the hall, trying to find someone who might have had an idea where she could be.

I asked her friends but they said she had left ten minutes ago to get ready. It shouldn’t have taken her this long.

“Chris, are you okay?” Shane asked, grabbing my arm. Marcy stood beside him, fiddling with her dress. I shook my head.

“I lost one of the people I’m supposed to take care of and no one knows where she is,” I said, opening a change room door to find it empty. “Have you seen Amanda?”

“You’re missing our leading lady?” Shane asked, chuckling. “Oh well. It’s Amanda. If she went missing, it wouldn’t be that awful.”

“Shane!” I yelled, slapping him on the shoulder. “Help me find her!”

“Chris, we don’t have a lot of time. If you’ve scanned like, the whole building and you still haven’t found her yet, the chances of finding her now aren’t that great either.”

“Then what the hell are we going to do?!”

“Well first of all, you need to take a breather,” he said. “In and out.”

I glared at him. “I don’t have time for this.” I turned around and walked into the right wing. “Does anyone know where Amanda is?” I asked the people standing around. They all shrugged or shook their heads, mumbling “no, sorry” to me. I turned back around and Mr. Sadusky was suddenly right in front of me.

“You can’t find Amanda?” he asked.

“How did you know that?”

He tapped my headset and smiled. “You forgot to cover it so I also heard your conversation with Kayti. I saw Amanda about a half an hour ago. She was with her friends. Did you talk to them?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’ve asked everyone but they have no idea where she is either,” I replied. “Are you sure you saw her?”

“Yeah, and she also passed me when she was heading to the change room. She’s not in there?”

I shook my head. “I’ve checked everywhere.”

Shane stuck his head around the corner. “Did you try the boys’ change rooms too?”

I nodded. “Like I said, I checked everywhere.”

“Okay, that’s it. Christabelle, suit up,” Mr. Sadusky said, pointing to the door. My eyes went wide.

“What?”

“You know all of Juliet’s lines. I’ve heard you practicing with Blade before. You can do this,” he said, putting his hand on my shoulder and giving me a light push toward the exit.

“But Mr. Sadusky—”

“No buts. Marcy, go get her ready,” he cut in.

Marcy grinned and shoved me out the door.

“Wait! Who’s going to play the prince?” I asked.

“Shane, go get changed,” Mr. Sadusky said.

Shane threw his arms up in the air. “Yes!” he exclaimed, racing out beside me and stepping into the change room I was supposed to be in. Marcy grabbed my arm and yanked me down the hall.

“This is working out perfectly,” she said, smiling. Kayti came up beside us.

“Did it work? Is Christabelle playing Juliet?” she asked. Marcy nodded.

I paused. “Wait a second. Did what work?” My eyes went wide. “Did you guys do something to Amanda so I would get the part?”

“Yeah. We locked her inside the janitor’s closet,” Marcy said simply, giving me another hard shove. My jaw dropped.

“What?!”

“Don’t worry. We’ve got the key and we’ll let her out before the night ends,” Kayti said. “You’re just playing the part now so she’ll get kicked out and you’ll get Juliet back. Not that you should have ever lost it in the first place.”

“Guys, this isn’t right!”

Marcy covered my mouth with her hands. “Look, we don’t have time for this! You’ve only got like, fifteen minutes to get ready. We’ll do your hair and makeup. You just have to get dressed, okay?”

Blade passed by and raised his eyebrows. “Hey. What’s going on?” he asked.

“Chris is playing Juliet now,” Marcy replied. “You’ve got yourself a new leading lady.” She opened the change room door and shoved me inside. Then she closed the door and held it closed so I couldn’t get out. I growled and decided to cooperate so I took the dress off the hanger, got changed and knocked on the door. Marcy and Kayti came inside and got to work automatically. It was miraculous how fast they could do my hair but then again, they were both holding their own hair curler.

When Kayti finished my makeup, she clicked the cap back onto the lipstick and smiled.

“There. Done. Now go get to the stage because your part is coming up soon,” she said, pushing me out the door. I raced down the hall, stumbling a little because I still wasn’t used to wearing heels. I stepped into the side wing and Mr. Sadusky looked over at me. He grinned.

“There she is,” he said. Blade leaned forward so he could see me and his eyes went wide.

“Whoa,” he said. “You look . . . nice.”

“Thanks.” I said, moving toward them. “I have a question, Mr. S.”

“Okay, what is it?” he asked.

“The kiss,” I said, shifting my weight to the other foot. “We haven’t gone over that and my dad is in the audience, expecting me to play a man’s part.”

“Hm,” he said, tapping his chin. “Okay well Blade, just kiss her cheek during the ball scene and for the other ones, we’ll bring the curtain down early. Just make it look like you’re about to kiss her on the lips. I’ll talk to Phil and get him to do that.”

He clapped his hands together and walked away, heading to the other wing. That left Blade and I all alone together. I rubbed my hands together, anxiously. Blade looked over at me.

“So do you know what happened to Amanda?” he asked.

“Marcy and Kayti locked her in the janitor’s closet so that I could get my part back,” I replied. Blade laughed.

“Seriously? That’s awesome,” he said. I smiled and looked out onto the stage. The first scene of the play was being performed right now but I didn’t have to go on for another few minutes. I was just getting really nervous because through the curtains, I could see the whole theatre and it was absolutely packed.

Blade cleared his throat nervously and I turned to face him. “Can we uhm . . . can we talk after the play? I need to tell you something.”

My heart skipped a sudden beat because now, that was all I could think about. I wanted to know now what he was going to tell me and I didn’t want to have to wait. I nodded. “Sure,” I said. He smiled and nodded.

“Okay. Thanks,” he said. Mr. Sadusky appeared beside us again.

“All right, Blade. You’re up,” he said, nodding to the stage. “Good luck.”



“You nervous?” Kayti asked me. I nodded. “Take a deep breath. It’s the last scene anyway so after this, you’re done for the night. Just relax.”

I inhaled and exhaled slowly. “I know and the scenes I’ve already done were a breeze since I’ve practiced them millions of times before with Blade but I’ve only briefly gone over the last one. What if I mess up?”

She shook her head. “You won’t. Now get out there.” She gave me an encouraging smile and nudged me out onto the stage. The curtain was closed so that I could lie down on a table the drama club had decorated to make it look like a casket. I got into it, lied down, closed my eyes and laid my hands over my chest. The curtain came up and Blade and David entered, saying their lines.

It was really weird just lying there pretending to be dead while David and Blade were being so enthusiastic with everything they said. I couldn’t do much of anything, and I had never been so aware of my tongue. The extent of movement that I could make was wiggling my toes in my shoes. I even had to shorten my breathing so it wasn’t too obvious.

David fell to the floor and pretended to be dead as well, while Blade approached me and started reciting his really long line. And that was when it happened. My nose started to twitch and tingle, my eyes became blurry even beneath my eyelids and as much as I tried to hold it back, I couldn’t.

I sneezed.

“Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide. Thou desperate pilot—bless you,” Blade said, right in the middle of his sentence.

“Thank you,” I whispered, but the damage was done. The entire audience burst into a fit of laughter and I covered my face, unable to tuck away my own laugh. Blade looked down at me and started to chuckle, but shortly after, he was laughing just as hard as everyone else. I sat up and glanced at David, who was on the floor giggling and clapping his hands together.

“Oh gosh,” I said, shaking my head. I got out of the casket and took Blade’s hand. We both bowed to the audience, who suddenly started to cheer for us. David followed us as we walked off the stage. He was laughing so hard I thought he was going to pass out. Mr. Sadusky smirked at us when we reached him.

“Well done,” he said. “Besides the ending, it was a very convincing performance.”

I smiled. Mr. Sadusky walked onto the stage and said a few words to the audience. We didn’t even get to finish the whole play because of me sneezing. It just ruined everything. Mr. Sadusky invited our class out onto the stage for one last bow and as we met him out there, Kayti came up behind me, patted me on the back and chuckled.

“Lovely performance," she joked.
I grinned at her and everyone grabbed hands, lifting them in the air and taking one final bow as the theatre was filled with cheers and applause.



“You were so good!” Karlee said when the play was over and they were waiting outside of the theatre for me. I had changed and wiped off the makeup but I liked how my hair looked so I didn’t bother to straighten it out again. I had packed my bags and then watched with Marcy and Kayti as the scene unraveled between Amanda and Mr. Sadusky. He was furious that she didn’t show up and then she got kicked out of the play, so I got the part back. Then she freaked out at Marcy and Kayti, but didn’t say a word to me, which was a little surprising considering I got her part. She told Mr. Sadusky that she got locked in the janitor’s closet but he said that no one would be stupid enough to go in there in the first place, and none of the student’s had the key to lock the door either so he didn’t believe her. All in all, it was a really great night.

“The ending was my favourite,” Aiden said, smirking. “I prefer that version over what it’s really supposed to be like.”

I shoved him and he laughed.

“It was embarrassing,” I mumbled.

“But it was funny,” he said. “Everyone loved it.”

“Hey Chris!”

I looked over my shoulder and saw Shane running up to me. “Blade’s parents are taking all of us out for a celebratory dinner. You in?” That would mean that I wouldn't get a chance to talk to Blade alone, but at least I got to spend some time with him.

I looked at my dad, and he nodded.

“Go ahead,” he said, kissing me on the forehead. “I’ll take your bag back home. You did really well tonight and you looked beautiful.”

I smiled. “Thanks dad,” I said, and walked off with Shane. We got out to the parking lot where Blade stood with Marcy, Kayti, and David. They were all laughing about the performance and what happened when I sneezed. Marcy put her hand on my shoulder when we reached them.

“You saved Kayti from having to recite her last few lines,” she said. “She thanks you for that.”

I laughed. “Shut up.”

Mr. Donahue walked out of the school, rubbing his hands together. “All right, gang. Is everybody ready? There should be enough room in the car but you may have to squish just a little bit,” he said, getting into the driver’s seat. Blade sat in the front with his dad while Shane, David, Marcy, Kayti and I piled into the back. Kayti was practically on Shane’s lap but he didn’t say anything about it and neither did she.

On the car ride to the restaurant, Blade’s dad started talking to us all about the play and what he liked, but his words were slurred. I chuckled when he mentioned something about how my sneeze made his night and pulled out my cell phone.

Is your dad drunk? I asked Blade.

He pulled his phone out when it vibrated in his pocket and I saw him smile.

A little bit. It’s happened before. Totally controllable.

When we pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot and everyone jumped out, I could see through the window that Eric, Shelby, Isabelle, Addison, Scarlett and Blade’s mom were all sitting together at a table. I knew it wasn’t going to be as crazy as the first time I ate dinner with them but we were still going to take up a lot of space. We all found our seats and made casual conversation, discussing how hilarious the play was and everything that went wrong behind the curtain. Apparently when Blade and I were doing the ball scene, Shane had walked by the janitor’s closet and heard a banging that Amanda was in charge of but he had no idea so he fell onto his ass from being so shocked.

Also, Ryan had showed up and said hello to everyone but when he went to say hello to Marcy and she was fixing up her mascara, she poked herself in the eye because she wasn’t paying enough attention to it. That explained why her eye was all red now.

“I just thought you got punched or something,” David said, laughing. “I didn’t know you got injured from a beauty product.”

She threw her croissant at him. “Shut up.”

He grinned. “Thank you,” he said, biting into it. When we were finished ordering and eating, Shelby and Eric asked us to tell them more about how the play went while Blade’s mom talked onto her cell phone, Isabelle drew a smiley face into her ice cream, Mr. Donahue sipped quietly on his third glass of white wine, and Addison and Scarlett quietly chomped on some crackers.

Shelby looked up from Addison sitting on her lap, now gnawing on Shelby’s finger and smiled at me. “So it was a fun night?”

I nodded. “Yeah, it was great.”

“Let’s have a toast,” Eric said, lifting his glass in the air. We all grabbed our glasses.

“To Christabelle’s sneeze, a bunch of terrific kids and what I’m sure will be a great summer in two weeks,” he said, smiling.

“Cheers,” we all said, laughing and clinking our glasses together. Mr. Donahue grinned and patted Blade on the back.

“Too bad you didn’t get to see your brother,” he said to Eric. I smiled and took a sip from my glass of water. “You would have liked the play. It was really great. I mean, I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it because I’m not a big Shakespeare fan but Nathaniel here really turned me around.”

I spit my water out across the table and all conversation came to a sudden stop. Blade went completely still and Kayti and Marcy stared at him with wide eyes. David, Eric and Shelby looked confused out of their minds while Shane’s face went bright red.

“What?” I blurted, wiping my mouth.

“Dad . . .” Blade said, covering his face with both hands.

“What?” Mr. Donahue asked. “What did I say?”

“Nathaniel?!” Marcy exclaimed. David’s eyes widened now.

“Oh!” he yelled. “Ooh.”

“Shit,” Shane mumbled, rubbing his temples. Blade bit his lip.

“What?” I repeated with my jaw dropped. “You’re Nathaniel?”

He opened his mouth to say something but nothing ended up coming out. He just sat there, looking ashamed and embarrassed.

“What’s going on?” Eric asked, looking back and forth between Blade and I. The silence stopped when Addison grabbed some of her leftover spaghetti and chucked it at Mrs. Donahue’s head with a screech. I scoffed and stood up.

“Chris . . . wait—” Blade said but I shook my head and walked around the table.

“Thank you for dinner,” I said to Shelby since she was the one taking care of the bill. “I don’t think I should stay any longer but it was nice to see you again.”

She looked confused but nodded anyway. “Uhm, okay. Good to see you too, Christabelle.” I turned and stormed out of the restaurant, just wanted to get the hell away from Blade. I had never felt so humiliated in my life as I did right now. I heard footsteps behind me but I didn’t slow my pace; if anything, I sped up. I didn’t turn around, I didn’t steal a look over my shoulder. I just wanted to get home right now. Blade grabbed my hand and told me to wait again, and that sudden contact set all of my emotions to life. I whirled around on him.

“Are you out of your mind?” I snapped harshly, poking him hard in the chest. "Is this what you wanted to talk to me about after the play?"

He took a step back, startled. “Just let me explain,” he said, putting his hands up.

“No, I don’t want to listen to what you have to say,” I hissed. “All of this time, you were Nathaniel? You were the one person I could trust when I talked to you about him but really, you were just making a fool of me! Do you know how that makes me feel? You couldn’t have told me the truth? You used me, you abused our friendship, you lied to me, you de—”

Blade moved first and grabbed my face in his hands. Then his lips were on mine before I even had a change to finish my sentence. My body froze up immediately and my eyes widened. I had waited months for him to kiss me like this, but I hadn’t expected him to kiss me when we were in this situation. He was Nathaniel after all. I put my hands on his chest and tried to push him away, but he was too strong. I groaned against his lips. When he pulled back from the kiss, he leaned his forehead against mine and narrowed his eyes a little.

“You want me to tell you the truth?” he asked. “Okay, here it is. I’m crazy about you. I’ve been crazy about you for months now and I know I was stupid but honestly, it doesn’t matter who I am. All that matters is that I want to be with you, Christabelle and if you want to be with me too, tell me now because I can’t wait another minute wondering.”

I only stared at him. What could I possibly say to that? God, of course I wanted to be with him but he lied to me. He lied to me so much and I had no idea what I wanted to tell him now that I really knew the truth. He knew everything about me. Everything I told Nathaniel about my feelings for Blade, and everything I told Blade about my feelings for Nathaniel, it was all going to the same person. I couldn’t believe my own stupidity but even more, I couldn’t believe him for everything he had done, and how he was making me feel right now. I wanted him to kiss me again, but I was still furious.

I glared at him and took a step back. He swallowed hard, waiting for an answer.

“Well?” he asked, his voice shaking. “Do you want to be with me?”

“No.”

And then I turned, tears clouding my vision, and walked home all by myself. Truthfully, I had never felt so alone.