Chapter 2

Theodore was quite anxious to hear Mr. Bidwell's opinion regarding the play he'd written. By the time Monday morning came, he was nearly bursting with excitement. Unable to wait until theater class, he walked to the music room, where their class was usually held and gently rapped on the door to Mr. Bidwell's office, prompting his teacher to look up at him.

"I'll let you know at class," Mr. Bidwell stated. "I haven't finished discussing it with Miss Carter yet."

Though disappointed, Theodore nodded his head. "Okay. I'll see you then." He walked out of the room and met up with his brothers, who were talking with the Chipettes. Alvin and Brittany were more arguing than talking, whereas Jeanette and Simon were currently talking about their respective projects that they had already begun working on.

"You seem chipper this morning," Eleanor nodded, smiling at her counterpart. "Did you happen to drink one of Alvin's energy drinks?"

Theodore shook his head. "No, just excited."

Eleanor gave him a confused look. "About what?"

Theodore smirked. "Oh, let's just say someone wrote an amazing play and the school just might put it into production for this year's play."

She grabbed him and hugged him. "Theodore, that's great! Oh, congratulations!" She pecked him on the cheek.

He blushed. "Thanks."

"Can I read it sometime?"

"Once I get the original copy back from Mr. Bidwell, I'll make a copy for you, I promise."

"You'd better. Has he made his decision yet?"

"No, he hasn't."

"What play was he wanting to do?"

"The Wizard of Oz."

"Didn't they do that play last year?"

"No, that was Cinderella. Remember, I asked you to go with me, but you said you had plans."

She nodded her head, remembering now. "Oh, yes, that's right."

"I didn't even bother asking Alvin." He snorted. "God forbid he actually get caught watching a play." He smiled over at Simon. "Thank goodness Simon and Jeanette weren't doing anything."

"Will you be auditioning for any roles?"

"No, I won't. I'm just the writer."

"Hey, if you're lucky, maybe they'll let you direct it."

He chuckled. "Yeah, right."

"You never know, Theodore."

He opened his mouth to object, but was cut short by the bell ringing. Silently, he turned and started down the hallway to his first period.

"I mean it, Alvin," Simon warned angrily. "I'm not going to carry you this time. One slip-up, and you're off the project. Got it?"

"All right, all right," Alvin agreed. "So, any ideas?"

"Well, I was thinking that maybe we could watch some episodes of Futurama for science project ideas."

Alvin gawked at his younger brother. "Are you serious? You know I don't watch that mindless science-fiction crap. That's like asking me to watch Doctor Who with you, which, by the way, you have done in the past."

"Pity you're not intelligent nor sophisticated enough to get those shows."

Alvin stuck his tongue out, but otherwise kept his mouth shut, deciding that it would be best to busy himself with the math problems that Mr. Priddy had put up on the board for them to do as an early morning brain teaser to get their minds going. The only problem was that it was that anything above basic math was nothing but all Greek to Alvin, so he had to rely on Simon for help, the latter whom didn't seem to have any problems with the math problems that had been presented to them, naturally. It was just a good thing that Simon didn't begrudge him if he needed help, just as long as Alvin was clearly asking for help because he genuinely needed it and actually wanted to understand the material instead of just doing it so he wouldn't have to.

"Okay, I think I get it now," Alvin said, looking over the work that Simon had done.

"And just in time too." Simon nodded towards the classroom door, where Mr. Priddy was just walking in.

"Good morning, everyone," Mr. Priddy greeted them, setting his satchel on his desk and sitting down. "I trust by now that you've all completed your morning exercises. Today, we are going to be discussing circumference . . ."

Theodore arrived to theater class early and took his seat, eager to hear what Mr. Bidwell had to say regarding his play. He figured that as long as he was busy waiting for everyone to arrive, he might as well get some writing done. Taking a notebook and a pen, he began working on a short story while all of the other students filed in the room and sat down.

"Good afternoon," Miss Carter said brightly as she entered the room, purse on her shoulder and coffee mug in hand.

"Good afternoon," the class murmured monotonously.

Mr. Bidwell arrived some time after carrying Theodore's script. "Okay, people, listen up," he announced. "This year, we are not going to be doing Wizard of Oz."

Theodore's face lit up. This was it. Mr. Bidwell had chosen his play as the play that the school would perform!

"Instead," Mr. Bidwell continued, "we are going to be doing a play that one of our own wrote." He looked the script over in his hands. "Uh, it was written by Mr. Theodore Seville, and it is called Romeo & Julian, obviously based on Shakespeare's classic romance."

"Are you sure you're saying that right?" India Matthews asked. "Shouldn't it be Romeo & Juliet?"

Mr. Bidwell shook his head. "No, India, the title is clearly Romeo & Julian." He showed her the front of the script, which simply had the title of the play, followed by its author.

India looked over at Theodore, giving him a quizzical look. "What are you, gay? You like gay porn, is that it?"

"India!" Mr. Bidwell barked. "That's enough!" He cleared his throat. "Yes, this play does feature a gay couple, obviously two men. If you've read Romeo & Juliet, and those of you who took freshman English with Mr. Miller, I'm sure you have, the basic plot is the same. Two people meet, fall in love, results in, big shocker, tragedy. So, now that the play has been approved–"

"Hold on, hold on," India jumped in yet again. "Maybe not everybody wants to put on a play about two gay guys. I mean, how does the school board feel about this?"

"The school board has approved of it," Mr. Bidwell replied.

"Well, I think we should vote on it," India objected. "Whoever wants to put on a play about two queers, raise your hand."

"India, office, now," Miss Carter exclaimed.

India shrugged and grabbed he stuff. "Whatever." She walked out of the classroom and down the hall.

"Now," Mr. Bidwell went on, "as I was saying,, now that the play has been approved, we should probably set to work designing the sets. I will be holding auditions for roles after school starting next week."

Theodore approached the teachers tentatively and asked, "I was wondering if I could maybe try directing the play this year."

"You want to direct, Theodore?" Miss Carter asked.

"Yes."

"If I let you direct," Mr. Bidwell said, "you have to let me be your co-director. This is your first directing job, so I will be available to help you."

Theodore nodded. "Okay, fair enough." He shook Mr. Bidwell's hand.

"Be sure to stay after school on Monday so that we can start auditions," Miss Carter said.

Along with the rest of his class, Theodore moved to the art room so that they could begin designing the sets.

"Here's an idea," Alvin said, biting at his nails while he lied stomach-down on his bed, "why don't we do an experiment to see how breakfast affects our minds?" He looked over at Simon to gauge his little brother's reaction.

Turning in his chair away from his computer, Simon eyed Alvin. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, for one week, we could go without eating breakfast and see how it affects our academic performance," Alvin elaborated. "Then, for another week, we could eat breakfast and see how well we do when it comes to paying attention and test taking."

Simon stroked his chin in thought. "That's not a bad idea, Alvin, although–"

"Ugh! Forget it!" Alvin slid off his bed and stood up. "Every idea that I've come up with so far, you've shot down."

"I just don't think they're good enough for a project."

"Why not? Who wouldn't be interested in seeing how breakfast affects your brain?"

"Well, it's just that, Justin Fleming did that one last year. Don't you remember?"

Alvin sighed. "Yeah, you're right."

"It was a nice idea, though."

"Yeah, yeah." He grabbed the box of Cheez-Its resting on his bed and popped a few into his mouth. "What about the chemical properties of different gases have in relation to other gases? We could put two gases together and see what the reaction is."

"I don't know, Alvin. First of all, where would we get the gases? Second of all, it could be dangerous. I mean, what if one of the reactions results in mustard gas?"

Alvin stared at him blankly.

Simon sighed and rolled his eyes. "Mustard gas is poisonous, Alvin, as in it could kill us both."

"Oh, well, never mind." He dug his hand back in the box of cheese crackers and hastily scarfed some down.

"Look, why don't we take a break?" Simon suggested, getting up. "You're clearly frustrated and my mind's too clouded right now for me to think straight."

Alvin nodded his head. "I'm with you on that one." He followed Simon downstairs to the kitchen to retrieve a can of soda from the fridge while Simon made himself something to eat.

"Oh, it's good to see you two," Theodore spoke up, eyeing them. "Listen, the school's putting on a play this year and I was wondering–"

"No, we can't help," Alvin butted in. "We're both busy right now."

"Oh." Theodore looked down dejectedly. He looked up again, his face brightening. "Did I mention that you could get the lead part?"

Alvin cocked his head to the side, popping open his Coke. "I'm listening." He took a swig.

"As I was saying, you would be able to get the lead role if you were to try out for it," Theodore continued, "and, Simon, you could probably–"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Simon interjected. "Hold on here. First of all, what's the play about? Who wrote it?"

"Well, it's a romance. I wrote it."

Simon and Alvin stared at each other, then turned back to Theodore.

"You wrote it?" Alvin asked. He smirked. "Is it any good?"

"Well, if beating out The Wizard of Oz in terms of quality is equal to good, then–"

"It's that good?" Simon inquired.

"Mr. Bidwell and Miss Carter sure seemed to love it," Theodore remarked.

"Hmm, maybe I will audition for it," Alvin mused, "provided that there's a kissing scene."

"There's at least one that I remember," Theodore told him. He turned to Simon. "And, Simon, you could help out with props and lighting and special effects. You could work the spotlight if you wanted to."

"I could probably get extra credit for working on it," Simon said, "and the extra credit would look good on my college application. Plus, it would give me something to do when I'm not working on my science project with Alvin."

Theodore beamed. "Sounds like a deal to me."

Alvin smiled. "Okay, you've got yourself a deal." He struck out his hand, which Theodore shook. "So, when can I read this marvelous play you wrote?"

"In just a few short minutes. I'm making a copy for Eleanor right now. I'll make a copy for you too so that you can have a copy to rehearse with. Speaking of which, I'd better get down to the basement to make sure it's done." He started heading to the basement door.

"While you're down there, don't be touching anything," Simon warned."You're only allowed to use the copying machine and that's it! Nothing else! Understand?!"

"I hear you, Simon," Theodore called up.

Simon chuckled and smiled at Alvin. "He sure seems excited, doesn't he?"

"Well, he should be," Alvin replied. He reared his head back and downed the rest of his Coke. "He's been trying to get out there, get his work published, get noticed as a writer for years now."

"Yeah. It's nice he's finally starting to get some recognition, isn't it?"

"Like you wouldn't believe."