Fairytales and Nightmares

I made it to the theatre hall in the nick of time.

“Pg. 98. Males say Romeo’s lines, females Juliet’s.” Ms. Andson said, handing out scripts. “I will randomly put you into pairs. There is an even number of girls and boys, so no one needs to worry about having to say the other gender’s lines. You two, you are first.”

I took a seat in the back of the mini-theatre as Michelle and Brian went up to audition. Tuning them out, I flipped to the designated page and began reading. It suddenly clicked that the school play was Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet. All of a sudden I had an urge to crawl up in a corner and die, a feeling only rising the further down I read. Just my luck, Ms. Andson picked one of the worst possible scenes.

I looked up to realize that time flew by and there were only 4 people left. Seeing a particularly dirty-blond patch of hair a few rows in front of me inspired me to cross my fingers and pray to the gods. Please, not him, not him…

“Jake and Katie, please come up,” Ms. Andson’s voice rang out through the theatre hall, spelling my doom. I slowly moved my eyes to the last guy left. Nate was looking over his shoulder, grinning smugly. I recognized that grin all too well. That’s the one I had on before flicking the spider at him.

“Thank you, Jake and Katie. Nate and Ciera?”

I glared daggers at Nate as I followed him grudgingly to the stage. I sighed, not believing that I’m actually doing this. Slowly, I lifted my eyes to meet Nate’s bright blue eyes, expecting hatred and vengeance. But he didn’t look the slightest mad. Or arrogant, his default expression. Instead, Nate was looking unusually serious, his blue eyes drawing me deeper into him. Suddenly remembering what I was doing, I said my line.

“Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day. It was the nightingale, and not the lark, that pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear. Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate tree. Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.” I had to try really, really hard not to gag on the word “love”.

“It was the lark, the herald of the morn; no nightingale. Look, love, what envious streaks do lace the severing clouds in yonder East.”

Nate’s deep voice caught me off guard; more so the emotion in his eyes. His captivating blue eyes grew darker when he said Romeo’s lines. For some absurd reason, I wanted him to call me “love” again.

I didn’t even realize how far we got into the passage until Nate exclaimed, “Farewell, farewell! One kiss, and I’ll descend.”

Kiss. KISS?! I just turned my face in the nick of time so that instead of his lips landing on mine, they landed on my cheek. I felt my face heating up. Oh crap, I was blushing. I. Never. Blush.

Realizing I was still auditioning, I just managed to get my line out in a whisper. We finished off the scene with Nate not even reacting to the kiss. If only I could stop blushing.

I sighed in relief as Nate said the last line. My punishment was finally over.

Or so I thought until Nate leaned down and caught my lips in a far too passionate kiss.