Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Romeo and Juliet.

"Alright, everyone!" Mr. Leonhart attempted to silence the rowdy teenagers invading the auditorium. "I know half of you aren't even supposed to be here, so if you are not part of the cast, please go home!" Namine and Roxas, sitting in the front, watched as Kairi and Sora stood up next to them and walked out, grumbling the entire way.

The drama teacher let out a sigh. "Thank you. Anyways, welcome, all of you! Today will be our first rehearsal, with many more to come. Before I begin, I would like to make a few announcements." He held up a thick pack of paper. "Look at the scripts I have given each of you." They all obliged. "This is your ONLY script! If you lose it, I will not help you! And if you are late by more than ten minutes to over three rehearsals, I will not hesitate to give your part to an understudy!"

Roxas looked over at Namine. "Strict, huh?" he whispered. She could barely pay attention to his words, thinking only of her understudy.

Selphie.

Since this was the first rehearsal, Mr. Leonhart wanted every cast member, including the possible replacements, to be in the theater. And sadly, that included the brunette girl who was so cruel to Namine. Even though Namine hadn't said a word to her, before their director started speaking, Selphie had muttered some harsh words in her direction already. Whether it was insulting her hair, acting ability, clothes, and even her mother, there seemed to be no line. All of this happened away from the one person who would stick up for her (and possibly punch that brat in the face): Roxas. For some reason, Selphie never came near her if her blonde friend was by.

Another reason to stick by him.

She tuned back in to hear Roxas whispering in her ear. "Did you hear who my understudy was?"

"No, why?"

"Riku," he said, narrowing his eyes.

Riku had been a thorn in Roxas' side for years. He also was a good actor, and the two were always competing for a role. Or a girl. Before Sora dated Kairi, the silver haired boy had tried to snatch her up. Since Sora was too nice to tell him off, Roxas did. And though Kairi was like a sister to the boy, Riku thought the opposite, and left Roxas with a black eye and bruises that didn't heal for two weeks. Though Sora and Riku had, amazingly enough, become friends after this incident, Namine could tell that Roxas had never really forgiven him.

It didn't help that Riku was, in most girls opinions (and while she would never admit it, hers as well) extremely attractive, with silvery hair, aquamarine eyes, and a tall, strong build. And besides punching people over girls, he was kind. While he was easily the school's most eligible bachelor, he had never expressed much interest in girls who weren't Kairi.

The boy was sitting a few rows behind them, and Namine could practically hear all the girls blatantly staring.

"Got it, everyone?" she heard Mr. Leonhart say. Not wanting to anger him on their first day, she nodded, and made a mental note to ask Roxas what she missed. Before she could say anything, he leaned over again. "Lemme guess, you weren't paying attention."

"Um…"
He grinned as a blush spread over her face. "We're doing a simple run through. Just stand on the stage and read your lines." Mr. Leonhart called out his name, and he quickly went to the front.

Namine watched him perform with some people she didn't know for a while, then zoned out. Considering she had heard him practice before, she didn't find this as interesting as when they were alone. There were fewer funny voices and more kids having to look down at their scripts every five seconds. She silently thanked Roxas for helping her memorize at least a few of her lines.

Eventually, a girl with green eyes joined him on stage as Rosalie, the girl Romeo used to love. A memory suddenly surfaced of the girl. Her name was Olette, if Namine could remember right, and she was nice.

And then Namine recalled that only knew her because she had dated Roxas in eighth grade. That potential friendship went out the window. What an ironic part for Olette to play.

Before long, it was time for Namine mount the stage and practice. The scenes went by quickly, (though she did blush a bit when talking to her "mother" about the boy who wanted to marry her, some guy named Paris who was played by a boy she didn't know) and soon it was time for Roxas to join her. Looking over the auditorium, she could see that Kairi and Sora had snuck back in. When the two noticed her glaring at them, they both waved cheerfully. The entire group seemed to be paying attention, for once.

Selphie was staring daggers at her.

Namine, though she had read the script with Roxas most likely ten times, was still a bit embarrassed about some of the scenes she had to perform. While the kiss was an entire other matter, they had to fall for each other in the space of an hour or two. Talk about awkward. "Romeo" spoke of how beautiful she was, and Namine pathetically wished it wasn't an act.

But even so, she found herself, her personality, disappearing. It was almost like she was there, she was Juliet. It was what she loved about acting. The dialogue, though too difficult for most to struggle through, came easily to her, and she could tell Roxas was getting into his character as well.

When they finished their first scene together, they looked up at Mr. Leonhart with unsure expressions on their faces. Namine could feel Roxas glance over at her.

And then, their director stood up and began to clap.

"Excellent, excellent! My word, I've never seen such chemistry between two people! It's almost as if you two are really in love!"

Namine heard a squeal come from the back of the auditorium, where Kairi was hiding. Her cheeks were on fire. It's that obvious I like him? Can I please disappear now? Gosh, I never should have done this. What was I thinking?!

Roxas appeared to be as embarrassed as she was. "Um, thank you." Oh great, he's ashamed that people think we're in love.

As Mr. Leonhart continued to compliment them, she looked over at Selphie. Her green eyes narrowed into slits, and she could practically hear the words the girl was mouthing.

You're going down.

Kairi couldn't believe what was happening. After watching the two perform, and eventually walk out of the theater, she ran towards them with Sora in tow.

"Eeeee! You guys were so good!" she yelled, and watched as both of their cheeks turned red.

Namine, probably sensing what she was going to say next, quickly said, "Um, Kairi, aren't you supposed to drive me home?"

"I thought Roxas was going to take you," she retaliated slyly.

Namine's blush grew even darker. "Well, considering you and Roxas have cars and Sora and I don't, why don't you drive me home, and then Sora and Roxas just go to their house?"

Kairi deflated a bit. "Fine."

Roxas stepped in. "You know, Nams, if you need a ride home after practices, I can gladly take you."

"No, no! I can walk home," the blonde said quickly. Kairi started to perk up again.

"No, it's no trouble. I insist," Roxas pushed.

"Oh, fine. I know you won't let it go if I don't say yes," Namine laughed a bit too nervously.

"Anyways, I've got to get her home! See you guys later!" Pecking her boyfriend on the cheek and grinning at Roxas, Kairi grabbed her best friend's arm and dragged her out to her car.

Once they were finally on the road, Kairi started to bounce up and down. "Oh. My. Gosh. Seriously, you two looked like you were lovestruck. Which you both are," she grinned.

Namine glared. "No, we are not! He thinks of me like a sister!"

"Trust me, girl. If you two were related, the way he was looking at you was illegal."

Kairi could see the bit of hope in Namine's eyes brighten before disappearing. "It's never going to happen."

"That's what I said when I was your age about Sora."

"Kairi, you're only a year older than me. You make it sound like you're my mom."

"Don't change the subject. Don't you guys have to kiss in this thing?" She smiled, knowing the answer.

"Um, yeah. But A, Mr. Leonhart is probably going to make us fake kiss, and B…Roxas and I kind of made a deal," she admitted sheepishly.

Kairi narrowed her eyes. "About what?"

"Um, we kind of said that, no matter what, we wouldn't have feelings for each other?"

"Namine!"

"Look, it's a good deal! Us being anything more than friends will ruin everything!"
"No, it won't! Who even made this stupid deal, anyway?!"

"Me…"

"And how did he act after you said it?"

"I don't know! He just said deal, and kind of sighed a bit."

"See? He's disappointed!" Kairi exclaimed.

"No, he's not!" Namine responded back in an equally loud tone.

Kairi made to take her hands off the wheel to shove her friend.

"Hey! You're going to get us killed!" Namine yelled.

"I'm sure the power of Roxas' love will do that soon enough," she teased.

"Har. Har. You're sooo funny. Are we near my house yet?"

Kairi sighed. "Fine. But give it two months, and you two will be swooning for each other in both the play and real life."

Sora was an unobservant guy. Most of the time, he never noticed anything. Heck, it took 4 years and his brother beating up Riku before he realized Kairi liked him back.

But even with his terrible skills, he could tell one thing.

What Roxas and Namine did up there was NOT just acting.

As he drove Roxas and himself home, he put the guy through an interrogation.

"What. Was. That?!"

"What do you mean?"

"Dude, I'm not blind. You two looked like you were about to get married or something."

"What?!"

"Everyone noticed it!"

He watched Roxas put his head in his hands. "Oh no…"

"What?"

"Nothing. I just don't want this to happen."

Sora raised his eyebrows. "What to happen?"

"Nothing! Can we just drop it?
"Um, no. In case you hadn't noticed, we're brothers. When I was your age-"

"Oh my gosh. In case you hadn't noticed, you're older than me by a year, not twenty."

"Don't change the subject. You two have to kiss, right?"

His brother sighed. "Yeah. But we made a deal about that. Plus, you know Leonhart isn't actually going to have two teenagers make out in front of all the parents. It's just going to be an air kiss or something."

"Not if you make it more…" Sora said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Roxas shoved his brother, and the car swerved.

"Dude, are you trying to kill us both?! But anyway, what was that about a deal?"

"She and I came up with a deal that this won't let us have feelings for each other. Friends and only friends."

"…That is about the stupidest thing you could have agreed to, you know that, right?"

"It's not like I like her like that!"

Sora rolled his eyes. "Oh, of course not."
"Good. You see things my way."

"Whatever you say, bro."

"Don't say anything about any of this to her or Kairi, okay? It's really nothing. We're just acting."

Sora smirked. "Not for long."

Well, guys, look at me. Updating daily. :D Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! I really wanted to do a scene with just the two groups of friends discussing all of this, and I hope I pulled it off.

Guess what I love? Reviews, follows, and favorites! Thanks to the following people who have done any of those things: BeefyLeChunk (Go check out his stuff, it's awesome! Also, your review made me smile so much. :D It's what inspired me to write today!), relena soulheart, and corpernichusthe3rd.

Thanks for reading! Leave any suggestions for the story in reviews, please. :) (Also, if someone is looking for a beta, please PM me!)

~Audrey