Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.


The entire week, Namine attempted to think of everything but the impending doom. Sadly, Kairi reminded her of it every single second.

"I still can't believe how FANTASTIC you were! I mean, I knew you could act, but that was so great!" Her best friend appeared to have drunk six cups of coffee that day as they walked through the school hallways after lunch. "You're so going to be Juliet."

"But I don't want to be! I'll have to memorize all those lines, and be on the stage most of the time in front of everyone, and, oh yeah, PRETEND TO BE IN LOVE WITH SOME RANDOM GUY," Namine exclaimed.

Kairi smiled, raising her eyebrows. "Well, considering Roxas is probably going to be Romeo…"

Namine punched her in the arm. "Shut. Up." Kairi only grinned wider. "Besides, Selphie is going to end up getting Juliet. And then her and Roxas will fall in love and get married and have adorable blonde haired green eyed babies as I sit alone with 30 cats drawing all day."

Her friend rolled her eyes. "I should be recording this conversation. I can play it at the wedding."

"Shut UP, Kairi!" As the two girls rounded the corner heading towards English, Roxas joined them. And, of course, stupid Kairi zipped away, whispering to Namine that the couple needed some alone time. Sigh.

Roxas looked unfazed. "What class do you have again, Nams?"

"English. Kairi and I were supposed to get there early to study for a test, but she seems to have vanished," she sighed.

He laughed. "She always seems to do that! I don't get it!"

Namine attempted to hold back a blush, remembering Kairi's parting words. "No clue."

"So, Nams, how many times has she told you you're going to get the lead?" Roxas asked, smiling.

"It's impossible to count," she said sarcastically.

He looked over at her. "She's right, you know. You were amazing. I've never seen you like that before."

This time she couldn't help her face turning red. "T-Thank you." She quickly turned the conversation back to him. "You weren't too bad yourself, mister," she told him, bumping her shoulder against his.

Roxas scratched the back of his neck and looked at the ground, suddenly shy. "Thanks."

"Have fun being Romeo with Selphie as Juliet, though," Namine said, rolling her eyes.

He let out a laugh, his shyness forgotten. "If she's Juliet and I get Romeo, I'll be killing myself way before the end of the play."

They both burst out into laughter as the classroom door loomed in front of them. "Well, see ya, Nams," he said, walking down the hall. He turned around with an afterthought. "Don't forget, results go up after school!"

Namine felt dread fill her stomach again. Yikes.


By the end of the day, Namine felt like she was going to throw up. As Kairi led her to the board where the list was supposed to be pinned up, chattering the whole way, all she could think was What if I get it? What if Roxas gets Romeo? What if we end up falling in love for real? Oh wait, that's not going to happen.

As the two waited in a throng of people, Roxas and Sora approached, pushing through the crowd.

"So, how much longer?" Sora's blue eyes looked much more excited than his brother's, who was nervously looking around, scoping out the multitude of teenagers who were waiting. "There's got to be half the school here! I never knew these plays were this big!"

Kairi glared at her boyfriend, then looked over at her best friend, who was visibly shaking. "Not helping, Sora."

"Hey, she can't be as nervous as Roxas! He's been talking my ear off all day!"

"Have not! It's not a big deal!" he said unconvincingly. Namine had never seen him this anxious before, and they had been friends for five years. He was always the calm one, the guy who would help her worries disappear. What was the big deal about this play?

Murmurs went through the crowd, and Namine heard Selphie screech as Mr. Leonhart approached the crowd. "Back away, people!" he yelled, and they parted like the Red Sea as he pinned the list to the board.

The four friends were shoved forward as everyone crowded in to see who received the parts. Next to her, Namine felt a hand brush hers, and was surprised to see Roxas gritting his teeth fearfully. She looked up at him. "It'll be okay," she said with a small smile.

Do you have to believe the words yourself in order to reassure someone?

A high pitched scream bounced through the hallway. "NO!"

Kairi grinned at her best friends. "Looks like Selphie won't be your Juliet, Roxas."

The brunette girl stomped through the crowd, her eyes searching.

Until they landed right on Namine.

"YOU BRAT! YOU STOLE IT FROM ME!" she yelled.

Namine's eyes went wide, and she felt a hand grab hers, pulling her away from the girl. Turning around to see Roxas staring daggers at Selphie, he pushed the bystanders away so they could get to the front of the crowd.

And as the two friends looked at the list, Namine felt her heart rise and her head collapse.

Juliet- Namine Sato

Romeo-Roxas Hikari

Oh. No.

Before she could turn to Roxas, Selphie was in her face again.

"You really think that you can be Juliet? Well, guess who's your understudy? That means if something happens to you, I get to have it. So watch your back, brat," she sneered, flouncing away.

She didn't even realize that Roxas was still holding her hand until he tightened his grip on hers before letting go. Namine put on a fake smile. "You got the part!"

The anger in his eyes slowly dissipated, and was replaced with happiness. "Yeah. We both did. Great job, Nams," he said, his grin making up for her fake smile.

Mr. Leonhart, who was standing to the side waiting for the chaos to calm, gestured the two of them over.

"First off, congratulations, you two. I was very impressed with both of your auditions. Second off, since you two are the leads, I expect you two to practice together, starting today. Go over to someone's house and do a read through. Easy enough. The first rehearsal will be in two days after school, from 3:30 to 6:00. Do not be late. I will not hesitate to give the parts to your understudies. I also expect you both to have your lines memorized in two weeks, and since most of them are with each other, I want you guys to do it together. I hope you two like each other, because for the next two months, you'll be seeing a lot of the other. Now, get going," he said, handing them each a thick script and walking off.

Roxas scratched the back off his neck, quirking his mouth. "So, um, want to come over and practice? My mom won't care. And I think Sora's doing something with Kairi. "

"S-sure. My parents are at work till six, so it'll be fine as long as I get home before then," she stammered nervously.

"Awesome. You take the bus, right?"

"Y-yeah."

"Okay. I'll take you to my house, then. Let's go."

Namine looked behind her to see Kairi squealing and Sora giving her a thumbs up. As her and Roxas walked towards the double doors leading to the parking lot, she heard Sora yell over the crowd, "No sex!"

I am going to kill that guy.


The drive to Roxas' house was mostly filled with silence as Namine silently read the first few pages of the script. Before they opened the car door, Roxas stopped her.

"You've never been to my house, have you?"

"Well, I think a few times in seventh grade. But not recently. Why?"

"Um…Just warning you, my mom can be a bit overwhelming."

"Okay?"

"Like, a lot overwhelming. And I apologize in advance," he said, biting his lip, popping open the car doors, and walking towards the house before she could say anything else.

Namine was hit with the smell of chocolate chip cookies as she walked into the modest house. A woman with Sora's dark hair and Roxas' eyes ran toward her, arms open.

"Ahhhh! You must be Namine! You're so much prettier than I expected! Are you bringing her here to meet me, Roxy? Is she your girlfriend now? Aw, you two are so cute! Would you like a cookie? I just made some! He talks about you all the time, you know, and he finally brought you home! I'm so excited!"

Namine thought to herself silently, She and Kairi would get along well.

Roxas stared at his mother, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. He sure seems to do that a lot now. "No, Ma, she's not my girlfriend. Remember the play I auditioned for? We got the leads, so our director wants us to read through the script and practice memorizing it together every day.

Roxas' mother swept them both up in a big hug. "Oh, that's so wonderful! I'm so happy for you two! And isn't the play Romeo and Juliet? You two will be a couple before long!"

"Ma!" Roxas exclaimed.

After escaping Roxas' mother and heading up to his room armed with cookies, Namine sat on his bed, laughing. "So, Roxy, you talk about me?"

It wasn't like her to be this…obvious. She would usually just drop it. But deep down, Namine wanted to hear his answer.

"Hey! No nicknames." He said, laughing. "And I've mentioned you once or twice."

She tried to ignore the leaps and bounds her stomach was doing. "You call me Nams. I call you Roxy. So there."

"No fair, Nams."

She laughed, and Roxas sat down next to her. "Okay, let's start. Should we just read through the whole thing, or only our parts?" she asked.

"The whole thing. I call doing funny voices for them!"

As they read, Namine found herself giggling more than actually performing. And thinking about where she was, who she was with, instead of the play.

She tuned back in when she noticed that Roxas had fallen silent.

"Um, Nams? Read this part," he said, pointing to a line in the book.

Yes! I mean, NOOOO!

"We have to kiss?!" Her voice came out sharper than she intended.

"Um…yeah," he said sheepishly.

"Oh goodness…" She was not excited. Nope. Not at all. Not even a little.

Kairi is going to freak. Eep.

"It's not that big of a deal. It's just a quick kiss."

"Yeah."

"Nothing big."

"Nope."

"And I mean, it's not like we'll fall in love because of that!"

"Not at all." And before she could stop herself, she said, "Let's make a deal."

"About what?"

"That this won't affect our friendship."

"Of course not."

"It's just a kiss."

"Just a kiss."

"Deal?"

She heard a sigh escape from him. "Deal."


I am sick. Therefore, I write. I don't know what this chapter is like, but in my sick state, I like it. It's the longest thing I've ever written as a single chapter on this site. :D

But yes, thank you for reading! Be sure to review, favorite, and follow. Nothing encourages me more than those three things. Thanks to yukipup5ds and elsalives09 for doing those things! :)

Also, if you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in reviews!

~Audrey