Milo, Oh Milo, Where Art Thou?
Bea clutched the script in her fin, bringing up the courage to go and ask Milo the question she had been wanting to ask all year…
She swam up to Milo who was talking to Oscar and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He turned around and smiled. "Hey, what's up?"
Bea rolled her shoulders. "Oh, just one tiny favor I would like to ask of you…" she said.
"All right."
She handed Milo the copy of the script. "I'm going to try out for this play, and I was wondering if you could practice with me. I underlined your parts in red." She said, while Milo flipped through the script. "So, I'm…this Romeo dude?" he asked.
"That's right." She confirmed.
Oscar tensed up, and grabbed the script. "You're trying out for Romeo and Juliet?" he asked franticly. "I could practice with you!" he said, a blush creeping on his face.
Bea started to sweat—she knew that Oscar had a crush on her. I mean, wasn't it too obvious? There was just one tiny problem…Bea didn't like him. She liked him as a friend, yes! But when you add the word 'boy' at the front of friend, you get boyfriend. And that's when Bea had to draw the line.
"Er…it's okay, I don't want to mess up your schedule or anything."
Oscar shook his head. "No, it's…"
But Milo cut in. "It's okay, bro. You don't have to do this for me."
Bea scoffed and rolled her eyes, and Oscar sighed in defeat. "You…have fun." He muttered, collecting his books and hurrying to class. Bea looked at Milo from the corner of her eyes. "He DOES understand it's time for our lunch break, right?" she asked uncertainly. Milo shrugged. "Who knows?" he chuckled.
Milo and Bea slowly made their way into the empty theater, Milo still skimming through the script. Bea already learned her lines by heart, so she set her script on the table. She put her fin on Milo's script and lowered in down so he could see her face. "We're here." She said.
Milo smiled and tucked his script under his arm. They turned around and saw an orange fish with ginger hair flowing to her waist. She had icy blue eyes that seemed to kill you with one glance. Bea swam up and embraced her. She turned to Milo and gestured to the strange new fish. "Milo, this is Kennedy. Kennedy, this is Milo." Kennedy waved. "'Sup!"
"Kennedy is a new student, and a sophomore. So, while we're 14, she's 15." Bea said. "She's trying out for the play, too, and wants to practice with us. She's trying out for the Nurse." Kennedy nodded. "Yup. I don't want any major part." She assured. She then took a good look at Milo. "Is this our Romeo?" she asked Bea. Bea nodded with a wide grin spread across her face. Kennedy laughed. "Then welcome to the play, Romeo!" she said, shaking his hand. "Such a pleasure having a fish play his part at last."
Milo's eyes widened. "The part…I don't want a part in the actual play!" he interjected.
Bea slapped him on the back. "Well now you do! Now, just to tell you, I'm Juliet."
Milo put a fin up to his fore head. "JULIET? I thought you were TRYING OUT for Juliet!" Bea shrugged. "I lied."
Milo put his fins on his hips. "Fine. I'll play Romeo. But ONLY if his girlfriend is someone hot. Wait…DOES Romeo have a girlfriend?"
Kennedy looked at him in astonishment. "Uh…yeah, this is a LOVE STORY!"
Milo looked at her. "Really?"
Kennedy turned to Bea and whispered, "I don't think he knows what Romeo and Juliet is." Bea sighed. "All right, Milo. Do you want me to tell you what this play is about?" Milo nodded. "Heck, yeah!" Bea exhaled. "All right. But NO interruptions." Milo nodded.
Bea sighed. "I'll just recite the intro of the play. Every one of us does this."
"In the beautiful city of Verona, where our story takes place, a long-standing hatred between two families erupts into new violence, and citizens stain their hands with the blood of their fellow citizens. Two unlucky children of these enemy families become lovers and commit suicide. Their unfortunate deaths put an end to their parents' feud. For the next two hours, we will watch the story of their doomed love and their parents' anger, which nothing but the children's deaths could stop. If you listen to us patiently, we'll make up for everything we've left out in this prologue onstage."
Milo stared. "Sounds good." He said. "…bloody."
Kennedy ran to the stage and climbed up a balcony, where Juliet would stand. Bea pointed. "Act 2 scene 2, Milo." She said. "Oh, and don't forget, when it says 'Julie', say 'Bea'. Ok?"
Milo agreed. Bea climbed up the balcony as well, and Milo stayed down. Then, he said his first line.
"It is easy to joke about scars if they've never been cut." He said. Then, Bea appeared on the balcony. Milo continued his line. "But wait, what's that light in the window over there? It is the east, and Bea is the sun. Rise up, beautiful sun, and kill the jealous moon. The moon is already sick and pale with grief because you, Bea, her maid, are more beautiful than she.
Don't be her maid, because she is jealous. Virginity makes her look sick and green. Only fools hold on to their virginity. Let it go. Oh, there's my lady! Oh, it is my love. Oh, I wish she knew how much I love her. She's talking, but she's not saying anything. So what? Her eyes are saying something. I will answer them. I am too bold. She's not talking to me. Two of the brightest stars in the whole sky had to go away on business, and they're asking her eyes to twinkle in their places until they return. What if her eyes were in the sky and the stars were in her head?—The brightness of her cheeks would outshine the stars the way the sun outshines a lamp. If her eyes were in the night sky, they would shine so brightly through space that birds would start singing, thinking her light was the light of day. Look how she leans her hand on her cheek. Oh, I wish I was the glove on that hand so that I could touch that cheek." He recited, while he was climbing up the balcony. Suddenly, it turned out that Milo was on the outside of the balcony, and Bea was on the safe side.
"Oh my!" said Bea. Milo ignored her, talking to himself. "She speaks. Oh, speak again, bright angel. You are as glorious as an angel tonight. You shine above me, like a winged messenger from heaven who makes mortal men fall on their backs to look up at the sky, watching the angel walking on the clouds and sailing on the air."
Bea, not knowing that Milo could hear her, said, "Oh, Milo, Milo, why do you have to be Milo? Forget about your father and change your name. Or else, if you won't change your name, just swear you love me and I'll stop being a Capulet."
Milo, still talking to himself, said, "Should I listen for more, or should I speak now?"
Bea started to speak, unknowing he was in earshot, again. "It's only your name that's my enemy. You'd still be yourself even if you stopped being a Montague. What's a Montague anyway? It isn't a hand, a foot, an arm, a face, or any other part of a man. Oh, be some other name! What does a name mean? The thing we call a rose would smell just as sweet if we called it by any other name. Milo would be just as perfect even if he wasn't called Milo. Milo, lose your name. Trade in your name—which really has nothing to do with you—and take all of me in exchange."
Milo, still in the darkness, said to Bea, "I trust your words. Just call me your love, and I will take a new name. From now on I will never be Milo again."
Bea jumped in fright. "Who are you? Why do you hide in the darkness and listen to my private thoughts?"
Milo didn't come out of the dark. "I don't know how to tell you who I am by telling you a name. I hate my name, dear saint, because my name is your enemy. If I had it written down, I would tear up the paper."
Bea put both of her fins on the balcony railing. "I haven't heard you say a hundred words yet, but I recognize the sound of your voice. Aren't you Milo? And aren't you a Montague?" she asked.
"I am neither of those things if you dislike them." Milo put bluntly.
Bea, now knowing that Milo was here, said, "Tell me, how did you get in here? And why did you come? The orchard walls are high, and it's hard to climb over them. If any of my relatives find you here they'll kill you because of who you are."
Milo put his fin to his heart. "I flew over these walls with the light wings of love. Stone walls can't keep love out. Whatever a man in love can possibly do, his love will make him try to do it. Therefore your relatives are no obstacle."
"If they see you, they'll murder you." Bea said in concern.
"Alas, one angry look from you would be worse than twenty of your relatives with swords. Just look at me kindly, and I'm invincible against their hatred." Milo said.
"I'd give anything to keep them from seeing you here." Bea said, once again in concern.
"The darkness will hide me from them. And if you don't love me, let them find me here. I'd rather they killed me than have to live without your love." Milo said with feeling in his voice.
"Who told you how to get here below my bedroom?" Bea asked.
"Love showed me the way—the same thing that made me look for you in the first place. Love told me what to do, and I let love borrow my eyes. I'm not a sailor, but if you were across the farthest sea, I would risk everything to gain you."
Bea crossed her arms. "You can't see my face because it's dark out. Otherwise, you'd see me blushing about the things you've heard me say tonight. I would be happy to keep up good manners and deny the things I said. But forget about good manners. Do you love me? I know you'll say "yes," and I'll believe you. But if you swear you love me, you might turn out to be lying. They say Jove laughs when lovers lie to each other. Oh Romeo, if you really love me, say it truly. Or if you think it's too easy and quick to win my heart, I'll frown and play hard-to-get, as long as that will make you try to win me, but otherwise I wouldn't act that way for anything. In truth, handsome Montague, I like you too much, so you may think my behavior is loose. But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove myself more faithful than girls who act coy and play hard-to-get. I should have been more standoffish, I confess, but you overheard me talking about the love in my heart when I didn't know you were there. So excuse me, and do not assume that because you made me love you so easily my love isn't serious."
"Lady, I swear by the sacred moon above, the moon that paints the tops of fruit trees with silver—" Milo began.
But Bea interrupted. "Don't swear by the moon. The moon is always changing. Every month its position in the sky shifts. I don't want you to turn out to be that inconsistent too."
"What should I swear by?" Milo asked with irritation.
"Don't swear at all. But if you have to swear, swear by your wonderful self, and then I'll believe you." She said.
"If my heart's dear love—" Milo began again.
But Bea interrupted once again. "Well, don't swear. Although you bring me joy, I can't take joy in this exchange of promises tonight. It's too crazy. We haven't done enough thinking. It's too sudden. It's too much like lightning, which flashes and then disappears before you can say, "it's lightning." My sweet, good night. Our love, which right now is like a flower bud in the summer air, may turn out to be a beautiful flower by the next time we meet. I hope you enjoy the same sweet peace and rest I feel in my heart."
"Oh, are you going to leave me so unsatisfied?" Milo asked with irritation again.
"What satisfaction could you possibly have tonight?"
"I would be satisfied if we made each other true promises of love." Milo said.
"I pledged my love to you before you asked me to. Yet I wish I could take that promise back, so I had it to give again." Bea confessed.
"You would take it back? Why would you do that, my love?" Milo asked, a little shocked. Then, Milo walked into sight. They were just noses apart, and Bea gasped for air.
"Only to be generous and give it to you once more. But I'm wishing for something I already have. My generosity to you is as limitless as the sea, and my love is as deep. The more love I give you, the more I have. Both loves are infinite." Bea managed to whisper her line.
Then, Kennedy called from offstage. "Bea! Come in here!"
Bea winced. "I hear a noise inside. Dear love, goodbye—Just a minute, good Nurse. Sweet Montague, be true. Stay here for a moment. I'll come back."
Bea then exited, leaving Milo to clutch to the railing. "Oh, blessed, blessed night! Because it's dark out, I'm afraid all this is just a dream, too sweet to be real." He gasped.
Bea walked out onto the balcony again.
"Three words, dear Milo, and then it's good night for real. If your intentions as a lover are truly honorable and you want to marry me, send me word tomorrow. I'll send a messenger to you, and you can pass on a message telling me where and when we'll be married. I'll lay all my fortunes at your feet and follow you, my lord, all over the world."
Milo looked at his script. "It says that we kiss." He gasped. Bea crossed her arms. "Follow the script, then!" she snapped. Milo pecked Bea, but Bea, unsatisfied, leaned in and pressed her lips against his, closing her eyes. Milo widened his eyes, but slowly returned the kiss.
Their lips parted, and Kennedy yelled, "Madam!"
Bea looked back. "I'll be right there!" she promised. Then, she turned back to Milo. "But if you don't have honorable intentions, I beg you—"
But Kennedy interrupted. "Madam!" she yelled.
Bea turned back. "Alright, I'm coming!—I beg you to stop trying for me and leave me to my sadness. Tomorrow I'll send the messenger."
"My soul depends on it—" Milo swore.
"A thousand times good night." She said, going inside.
Kennedy walked out, very happy. "Great job, you two! You make a wonderful Romeo and Juliet!" she praised. Milo and Bea blushed. "Yeah, well…" "Not buts about it! You guys rocked!" she promised. Milo turned to Bea, and said, "Thanks for the wonderful time." Before kissing her on the cheek. Then, he left. Bea put her fin to her cheek, blushing. Kennedy smiled, and said, "Looks like you have a REAL Romeo on YOUR fins, Bea."
