Here's Chapter 3! It's kinda long but I wanted to give you all a good sized chapter. Pretty please, with a cherry on top, Review!
Sam POV- 3:00PM Day 2
The last bell of the day finally rings and I breathe a sigh of relief. Racing to get out the door, I freeze when I remember where I have to go today and groan internally. Ugh. I hate this already. I drag myself to the theater and reluctantly push the door open. An elevated stage, rows thirty across and thirty deep filled the bottom floor of the auditorium. Plush red carpet and red velvet seats as far as the eye could see. I looked upwards, curious to see how high the ceiling was. Instead, I saw a balcony with at least fifty more of the red velvet seats. I had always heard that our theater was fancier than most high schools but this was incredible.
"It is beautiful, no?" An accented woman's voice from behind me said, making me jump. "Oh, do not be scared my little chicken." She pinches my cheek when I turn to face her. A sixty something lady with huge glasses and a pretty blue scarf draped around her neck stood in front of me. She can't possibly clear five feet and I tower over her.
"You're Ms. Esposito, right?" I finally say. I'm surprised that when she pinched my cheek, it didn't really bother me. I was starting to go soft already! I make a mental note to beat up Freddie at Carly's, where I won't get detention. Her eyes widen and suddenly she's jumping up in down in excitement, almost like a little kid at Christmas. I glance around the auditorium to see if I'm just imagining this. My eyes are immediately drawn to about thirty kids on the stage, all staring at us in shock. I turn my eyes back to the crazy old lady and suddenly she's grabbing my cheeks, my hair. Poking and prodding my arms and stomach and I'm still to shocked to do anything. I finally come to, gently slapping at her hands because I can't hurt this old lady even if I wanted to.
"Oh, I am sorry my little chicken but you are perfect! I always saw Juliet with blond, curly hair anyway! Dark hair, bah!" she clucks her tongue. "We can't have Juliet and Romeo look like siblings, can we?" She waves her hand dismissively and I stare at her uncomprehendingly. "Ahh I can already see it! The fair Capulet and the dark Montague, as different as night and day!" She jerks me down to her height and whispers so that only I can hear. "Yet they love each other more than anything else, no?" She lets me up and clicks her fingers at the nearest student. "Get me Romeo!" she orders, rolling the o in an odd way. I finally get an opportunity to speak.
"Look, I think there's been some mistake. I'm not even in this play. I just showed up here." I explain and the lady rolls her eyes and waves her hand dismissively.
"Ay me! You are in the play!" She pinches my cheeks again. "You are my beautiful Juliet!" It takes me a second to realize that she said Juliet because she pronounces it like the J is an H.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Ok, now I know you've made a mistake. I didn't even try out! This is my first day!" I tell her franticly. She waves her hand again.
"Pfft. Pish Posh! I will teach you and make you my perfect Juliet!" Her voice is high pitched with excitement. I'm about to protest again, but someone else speaks first.
"You wanted me Ms. Esposito?" Freddie asks, not noticing my presence. Not surprising since I've maneuvered myself behind a seat, unconsciously hiding from the people on stage. My heart picks up double time and my palms began to sweat just at the sound of his voice. Pathetic, absolutely pathetic.
"What are you doing here, Benson?" I say sharply. Freddie jumps and turns to look for the source of the voice.
"Oh, hey Sam! Ms. Esposito called me and I was just wondering what she wanted." He turns back to the lady who looks like she's about to pass out. "Hey, what's wrong?" Freddie asks, worried. I move out from behind the seat and stand on his other side.
"Yeah, are you ok?" I'm surprised to find that I'm genuinely worried about this woman. She's already starting to grow on me. Her eyes fill with tears and she shakes with deep emotion. Freddie and I simultaneously reach out to touch her but instead our hands brush and sudden electricity passes through us. I pull away blushing, looking at Freddie's face to see that he's blushing too.
"YES!" Ms. Esposito suddenly shouts joyfully. Tears of happiness spill over and she can hardly contain her shaking.
"What?" Freddie and I ask at the same time. I turn to look at him and he stares back at me, unnerved. This whole thing is bizarre. Ms. Esposito continues her victory dance until I grab her hands, still waiting for an answer.
"It's just been so long since the two leads in my play have had such chemistry! You are perfect together, my chickens!" She pulls us into a three way hug, still jumping up and down. Knocking me into Freddie probably isn't the best idea because our faces are already tomato red. "Oh, my chickens! This is just wonderful! My perfect Romeo and Juliet!" her words are muffled and it takes us a second longer than usual to understand. I look at Freddie in panic when I finally absorb them.
"You're Romeo!" I cry out. This couldn't be happening! Of all the cute boys they had to pick they had to choose my best friend/enemy who I happen to have a crush on! My panicked look is carbon copied onto Freddie's features, but I'm sure his panic is for a completely different reason.
"Juliet." He whispers. We turn to face each other, everything else suddenly unimportant. Our eyes lock and we begin a silent conversation.
What can we do? My eyes beg him, looking for some way out of this. He immediately pulls me into a hug to comfort me, something he wouldn't even think of doing usually. The worst part is that this hug isn't awkward or uncomfortable. As I cling to him desperately, I try not to think about the ordeal ahead. Instead, I'm distracted by how close we're pressed together. Close enough that when he rocks me back and forth to calm me, I can feel his heart racing in his chest. He smells good and I inhale deeply. Mmm…like cinnamon and vanilla. It was a very comforting smell, mostly because Freddie always smelled like this. I don't want to be the first to break the hug, but I really don't want people to think that I like him. Sure, I could admit it to myself, but I will never speak of it. Mostly because he will never give up on Carly and like me back. Also because a small part of me is too proud to admit it. I push him away and Freddie backs away cooperatively.
We can't do anything. His eyes confirm my thoughts. He leans down to whisper in my ear. When the chiz had he gotten so tall? Not like it was a bad thing, but I had been too busy staring at his face to focus on his height lately.
"It's okay, Sam. We'll figure something out." He straightens to see my response. I nod my head slowly, preoccupied with staring at his chocolate eyes.
What the hell are you doing Puckett? Look away! I clear my throat and turn to face the stage. Thirty pairs of eyes stare at us in shock and all I want to do is disappear. I feel something solid and warm on my right side and I turn my head up slightly. Unconsciously, I had shrunk into Freddie to escape the stares. Barely containing a blush, I push away from him awkwardly. A wrinkled hand suddenly grabs me by my hand and jerks me forward.
"Come forth, my chickens! Opening night is only a month away!" Ms. Esposito says, pulling me with one hand and Freddie with her other hand. She leads us until we reach a desk with a small microphone, a desk lamp, and various papers. Her hand releases me but now she's pushing me toward the stage. I avoid the stares, looking at the ground to be sure not to trip. Steeling myself, I look around the suddenly huge stage. Carly walks towards me quickly, obviously upset. She places a reassuring hand on my arm.
"Are you okay, Sam?" she asks, worried. I nod mutely, screaming in my head that I am not in any way, shape, or form okay. Carly's eyes shift to something behind me.
"What about you Freddie?" I turn quickly at her words. Sure enough, he's right behind me, deep in thought. Most girls would be ecstatic at this turn of events. I mean to get to do a play that involved- I shuddered-kissing with your crush…. Except, for me, this was one of those worst case scenarios that are almost like waking nightmares because they scare you so much. The fact that it was Freddie that I liked was what made it so terrible. Freddie would always love Carly, end of story. I suddenly had an idea that just might help keep me sane. Without thinking twice, I grab Freddie's hand and pull him towards the backstage area. Trying to ignore how aware I was of Freddie by just touching his hand, I push protesting people out of my way. I needed to find a quiet place where we could talk. Freddie is surprisingly silent as I pull him along, accepting my tugging him along with good grace. I catch sight of a prop closet and feel relief pulse through me. I throw open the door and flip the light switch. Freddie closes the door quietly behind us and I push myself against the back wall as much as possible. Freddie stands less than a foot away, pushed against the door in a similar fashion as me. I'm filled with sudden annoyance with myself for picking the stupid prop closet. I fold my arms across my chest and look anywhere but at Freddie. Palpable tension flows between us and I try to sink deeper into the wall.
"So…" he finally says to break the ice.
"We both have to do this, right?" I ask him and he nods in confirmation. "I can't get expelled and you..." I trail off. "Why are you doing this?" Freddie chuckles under his breath.
"She tricked me into promising by crying." He tells me, his eyebrows scrunching together like he's trying to solve a difficult problem. I can't help but notice that he looks really cute with that face. I curse myself mentally, trying to sink deeper into the wall.
"What are we going to do?" He asks me, hoping I'll have a solution.
"Well, I do have one idea. I think it's really stupid, but it might work." I speak slowly, fidgeting with my hands. Freddie leans forward in interest and I promptly lose my train of thought. I shake my head and scold myself. "Well, if we have to stay in character here, it's going to be difficult to go back to fighting every day. Maybe we should call a temporary truce." I ask, feeling stupid. Freddie leans back onto the door again, thinking.
"I like it. I promise." He finally says approvingly.
"I promise." I whisper, trying not to remember the last time we promised something. I had broken that one the second I made it. I had never hated Freddie, not really. He was just the perfect target for taunts and pranks. I curse myself for stirring up old memories.
"Let's go." He says, offering his arm. I laugh and take it gladly as we exit the closet. We walk back onto the stage a few minutes later, still laughing. Thirty pairs of curious eyes fall on us again and I groan. Carly comes over immediately, grabbing our joined arms and pulling us off to the side.
"Where were you two?" she hissed. We look at each other, a silent question. He raised his eyebrow and I nod.
"I was telling her about the play. She didn't read it freshman year when Ms. Briggs assigned it." He explains calmly. A flawless lie. Impressive, Romeo. Carly's expression softened.
"Oh. Well, here are your scripts." She says, shoving a huge stack of papers into each of our hands.
"They expect us to memorize this?" I ask, incredulous. Freddie flips through his and I see page upon page of just Romeo and Juliet.
"There's no way." He whispers in agreement. A bright spotlight suddenly comes on and blinds us. I flinch and shift my eyes to look at the floor, anywhere but the blinding lights.
"Narrator, you're on!" I hear Ms. Esposito's voice from the crowd. A short girl with long, dark hair steps forward to speak. For some reason, I find myself turning to stare up at Freddie.
Did you like it? Did you hate it? Any theories about what's going to happen next? What was your favorite part? Did you not have a favorite part cuz it was so terrible?
Since I'm asking you so many questions for the review, I'll answer them myself!
I thought this chapter was okay, probably my favorite so far but future chapters I like even better. My favorite part was Ms. Esposito:
"Ahh I can already see it! The fair Capulet and the dark Montague, as different as night and day!" She jerks me down to her height and whispers so that only I can hear. "Yet they love each other more than anything else, no?"
I thought that was a pretty good Seddie comparison. Did you think that was a terrible Seddie comparison? How am I supposed to know if you don't review? :(