A/N: So, as you can probably tell by the title, this story is MY version of the episode "Becky and the Bard." I, like Becky, love the work of William Shakespeare and was thrilled by the idea of Wordgirl and Shakespeare combined. But I was kinda disappointed by the episode itself, and I felt bad for Tobey not getting to say even a single word at the auditions. So I decided to rewrite it! Some of it is right from the episode, but most of it is different. And, as always, Tobey and Wordgirl (and even Tobey and Becky!) pairing in this fic, yay! I hope you like it :)

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Wordgirl or any of the characters, and, no, I have no rights to the episode "Becky and the Bard." No copyright infringement intended.


Chapter 1: Auditions

Wordgirl and Captain Huggyface zoomed through the window and into the hallway of the elementary school, changing into their mild-mannered alter egos Becky and Bob Botsford at the same time. Bob still held the disco ball that had helped them defeat the Energy Monster only moments before. Thanks to Wordgirl's super speed, though, they arrived back at school before the end of recess, just in time to hear Scoops say to Violet, "Sounds like we're both ready for the big audition."

"What audition?" Becky asked, joining their conversation as if she hadn't just been out battling a giant electrical monster.

"The audition for the school play," Scoops replied.

"Romeo and Juliet!" Violet added excitedly.

Becky gasped and grabbed Violet's shoulders.

"As in, my favorite play of all time, Romeo and Juliet?" she asked frantically.

"That's right, and auditions are this afternoon," said Scoops, only to become the next victim of Becky's violent shoulder grabbing.

"This afternoon?" Becky shrieked. She pushed away from Scoops, "Why didn't I know about this?"

Bob squeaked at her and held up the disco ball, reminding her of her crime-fighting escapades. Scoops and Violet merely looked confused by Becky's sudden outburst.

"Oh well, at least I've already got a couple of Juliet's lines memorized, I mean, it is my favorite play after all," Becky said, with an air of relief, "I just wish I'd had a little more time to prepare for this."

"I'm sure you'll do fine, Becky," Violet said in her sweet, dreamy voice.

"Aw, thanks Violet. You too! Are you trying out for Juliet?" said Becky.

"Uh-huh," Violet said with a smile, "But I'd be happy with whatever part I got."

Just then the bell rang, initiating the mad rush through the halls of students returning to their classrooms, and Becky and her friends followed suit.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur for Becky as she went over her lines in her head, scrutinizing what the best way to deliver them would be, and almost blurting out "Capulet" when Mr. Dudley asked her for the name of the second president of the United States.

Little did Becky know, but across the room someone else was equally enthusiastic about last minute preparations for the auditions…

Theodore "Tobey" MacCallister III poured over the extensive notes he had taken on Romeo and Juliet, the meanings of the archaic words, and the motivations of the main characters. Though Tobey had never done anything involving acting, he, like Becky, was an avid fan of the playwright William Shakespeare, and was determined to use his genius to the fullest and earn himself the lead in one of his favorite plays. Yes, Tobey was determined to play the part of Romeo.

After what seemed like an eternity to many eager young thespians, the final bell rang. Becky and her friends made their way through the crowded hallways to the auditorium, chatting excitedly and wishing each other luck. Tobey hustled through the crowds as well, clutching his armful of notes, and having somewhat more difficulty navigating, as people wouldn't move out of the way for him unless he shoved. In an incident involving a gaggle of belligerent third graders, Tobey's notes took the opportunity to free themselves and go spilling all across the floor. Tobey berated the children — who merely continued their exodus of the school without any concern for the disorder they had caused — as he scrambled to gather up all his notes before they were trampled. He grumbled and reached for a sheet a little farther away than the rest, but found that someone had beat him to it. He looked in up in surprise to see none other than Becky Botsford, also kneeling on the floor, and holding several sheets of his notes.

"Oh, they're your notes," she said, seeming now to regret her decision to help pick them up, "Um, I think that was the last of them. Here you go." She stood up quickly and handed the notes to Tobey, who had risen with her.

"Erm, thanks," he said, taking hold of them. But something in the corner of one of the papers had caught Becky's attention and she didn't let go.

"What's that?" she asked. Tobey looked to see what she meant.

"Ahhh! Um, nothing, nothing at all!" he said, quickly snatching the papers from Becky's grasp.

"It wasn't nothing, it was a doodle," she said teasingly, "A doodle of Wordgirl!"

"You could tell what that was?" asked Tobey, blushing and glancing down at the misshapen sketch that was indeed his attempt at rendering the young super-heroine.

"Well, it sure isn't the most accurate drawing of m— mmm, Wordgirl, but it is wearing a bright yellow cape." Tobey's blush grew a few shades brighter.

Just then Scoops' voice came from down the hall a ways, where he and Violet had walked before realizing Becky was no longer with them, "Come on Becky, we don't want to be late for the auditions!"

"Coming!" she called back, "Um, see you," she said awkwardly to Tobey, then hurried off to catch up with her friends. Tobey sighed and headed towards the auditorium after them.


"All right," Mr. Dudley said as the students stood nervously onstage, "Now, before we start the auditions, let me tell you a little bit about Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet is a play written by—"

But here Becky cut him off, flinging herself to the middle of the stage in her bard-induced excitement.

"William Shakespeare!" she blurted out, then, gesturing dramatically, "It is the story of a boy named Romeo, and a girl named Juliet who fall madly in love, even though their families don't like each other. It is a captivating, honest, and beautiful tale of young love." Becky was going to go on and describe the fights that broke out among the Capulets and the Montagues, the tragedy of the deaths of so many of the young people in the play, especially the two star-crossed lovers, and how this final measure led to the end of the inter-family feud, but Mr. Dudley cut her off.

"Yeah. And now the auditions," he said, twirling his pen in a bored fashion, "Each of you will have a chance to perform a speech from the play, and the student who does the best job will get the role. Since there are so many characters in Romeo and Juliet, you'll probably all get a part, but there can only be one Romeo and one Juliet."

A murmur of excitement flew through the assembled children as they filed offstage. Despite the tumult, Scoops and Becky managed to emerge at the front of the line. In typical Scoops fashion, he pushed ahead of Becky and strode onstage. Though Becky did have a crush on the young reporter, she was a little annoyed, but his audition was already starting.

"Scoops Ming playing the role of Romeo…"

Becky struggled to stifle a giggle as Scoops proceeded to deliver not only Romeo's lines, but all of the stage directions he had added as well. Thankfully, he had only a few lines prepared, and it was soon Becky's turn. Scoops walked off and Becky walked on.

"Hello," she began nervously, "While I am a huge fan of Romeo and Juliet, I unfortunately did not hear about these auditions until this afternoon, and so I have not had time to work on my speech as much as I'd have liked to."

"Just do your best," said Mr. Dudley unenthusiastically, seemingly more focused on his box of Chinese take-out.

"Yes, but I really should have had everything fully prepared a long time ago, except I was busy figh…er, cleaning out my… family's basement!" So the Botsfords didn't have a basement, but hopefully Mr. Dudley would never find that out.

"It's ok, Becky," he said, rolling his eyes, "Just give it a shot."

"Ok, here goes." She took a deep breath, willing away all her babbling and jumpiness, and – as cheesy as it sounded – searching for the essence of Juliet. After a pause filled with only Mr. Dudley's munching, she began her speech.

"Oh Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?" Becky said, with all of Juliet's longing for the one boy she could never have, "Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet." With her excellent vocabulary, she understood every word of the Bard's antiquated language, and it showed as she acted out the well-known lines with all the passion and sincerity of her fifth-grade self. She went on through the famous 'rose' lines and Juliet's wish that she and Romeo could put aside their names and familial alliances and simply be in love. By the time she finished with, "And for thy name, which is no part of thee, take all myself," Mr. Dudley had put down his chopsticks and soy sauce and was leaning forward intently, captivated by her performance. And he wasn't the only one. In the wings, where he had been jostled to the back of the line, Tobey had also watched Becky's performance attentively. He had to admit that, despite being pretty annoying, Becky Botsdford was an amazing actress when it came to Shakespeare.

"Ooh, wow. Not bad, Becky," Mr. Dudley said, the highest praise one was liable to get from him, "Next."

Becky was grinning from ear to ear as she walked off to join Scoops on the other side of the stage.

The auditions continued. Eugene went next, followed by a nervous dark-haired boy who nearly fainted onstage. Next went an Asian girl who showed off her acting skills by pretending to be a cat. Violet went next, but her fear of speaking in front of people got the better of her just like during the Young Inventors' Challenge and Friendly Competition. Still, she managed to get through her Juliet monologue before heading into the wings with Becky.

The next person to audition was someone Becky had never seen before, but was definitely one of the handsomest boys ever!

"Hello, my name is Hunter Throbheart, reading for the part of Romeo," the blond boy said, with a distinct English accent. Both girls in the wings swooned.

"Oh, who's that?" Becky asked Violet.

"He's Hunter Throbheart, the new student from England," Violet replied dreamily, imitating the boy's accent.

"Oh, England, the birthplace of William Shakespeare," said Becky, her enthusiasm for the playwright overshadowing her interest in the good-looking boy.

"And Hunter Throbheart!" Violet added, unwilling to let Becky go off on some tangent about Shakespearean stuff. But now Hunter was preparing to read. Becky wondered if his acting equaled his looks.

"But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun."

Once again Becky was forced to stifle giggles at his cheesy, overwrought delivery of the beloved lines. Violet seemed to enjoy it, however. "Ooh, good job, good job!" she called, clapping. Becky rolled her eyes a little at her friend's antics. Thankfully, Mr. Dudley seemed to be of a mind with Becky, and dismissed Hunter with a mere, "Next."

Grinning smugly (though Becky couldn't fathom why) Hunter strode offstage. Violet nearly hyperventilated as the blond boy brushed by her.

"I hope he's Romeo!" she whispered to Becky.

"Really? He's not a very good actor," Becky whispered back.

"Oh?" said Violet, "Well, maybe he was a little too dramatic… Hey, I didn't know Tobey was auditioning."

Becky turned her eyes to the stage in surprise. It was true; Tobey was already standing in the middle of the stage, holding his script and the notes Becky had helped him pick up earlier.

"Tobey MacCallister playing the part of Romeo," he said, sounding surprisingly nervous. Becky almost laughed out loud. Tobey as Romeo? That was ridiculous.

Meanwhile onstage, Tobey took one last glance over his script before setting it and his notes (the page with the Wordgirl doodle carefully hidden in the middle) down to the side on the floor. Well, at least he's memorized thought Becky. Hunter Throbheart had not been.

Tobey, like Becky before him, took a deep calming breath. He knew the play inside out, he knew his lines perfectly, and he knew Romeo's character and motivation by heart, now he just needed to show it. He searched for – as cheesy as it sounded to his intellectual mind – the essence of Romeo.

"But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?" Tobey began, the well-rehearsed words opening up a world of secret nighttime encounters and true love, "It is the east, and Juliet is the sun." Despite the similarity of their accents, Tobey's performance could not have been more different from that of Hunter Throbheart. Where Hunter was pompous and overly dramatic, Tobey was sincere, as if he really was Romeo, not putting on a character. Mr. Dudley looked up, no longer disinterestedly constructing a ship inside a bottle. Tobey continued through the lines describing Juliet, how she outshines the moon and stars. In the wings, Becky grudgingly rethought her opinion of Tobey as Romeo. By the time he said the final lines of the monologue, Mr. Dudley's ship-in-a-bottle was completely forgotten, and Becky was – to her surprise – quite impressed.

"Um, that's all, thank you," Tobey said, all traces of the romantic hero he had been a few moments before gone, replaced now by awkward blushing schoolboy. Before the "thank you" was even quite finished, he was making his way offstage. He fled so quickly that he didn't hear Mr. Dudley remark, "Bravo, Tobey. There may be hope for us after all. Next!"

And so the auditions continued. But for Becky and Tobey, the excruciating wait for the final verdict of who would play their treasured roles had already begun.


A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review so I know if you like this. More to come, but I don't know how long it will take what with the end of the school year and other stuff. Wordup! :)