For the rest of the weekend, Owen stewed silently. His parents chalked it up to the general moodiness of the teenage years so they left him alone. He was upset that she was dating someone, who wasn't him. He knew he had no reason for getting peeved because the harsh reality was that she was not his girlfriend. But he couldn't help that he didn't like it.
On Monday morning, he sought her out and found her scribbling her name on a sign-up sheet for the Drama Club.
"Hey," he said, coming up behind her. "You're joining the drama club?"
"Yes, I need to start getting on extra-curricular activities, so I can look good when it is time for college applications. Gotta start early on these things," she said.
"I didn't know you were interested in drama," he said, wondering if he should sign up for the club, too.
"Oh my God, haven't you noticed that I am a drama queen," she said, throwing her hands into the air. "My mom says it will be a natural fit for me."
"You know I have never thought about the drama club in all of my years here. Maybe, seeing that it is my senior year, maybe I should check it out this year," Owen said.
"Yeah, why not, Owen? It would be really cool if you were there. At least I would know someone in the group," she said. "Who knows, we could have fun this year if they cast us in a production."
"Okay, put my name down," he said. He watched as she wrote his name on the sign-up sheet. "Looks like the first meeting will be this afternoon, after school ends."
"Ooh, I would have to tell my dad to come back for me after the meeting is done," Cristina said.
"Don't worry about that. I will take you home," he said. "You can just tell your dad that you have a ride home."
"Okay, thanks," she said. "That would be terrific." The bell rang. "I better get going to my class. I will see you later."
He didn't see her much for the day, except for during the lunchtime session but she was eating with a bunch of other freshman girls, so it didn't seem appropriate to join her. He did join his friends but stole glances at her, now and then.
"Hey, before I forget, I was passing the bulletin board and I could not believe what I saw," Peter remarked, grinning at Owen.
"What?" Tammy said.
"Well, a very popular football hero in the school has joined the drama club," Peter chuckled. Everyone turned to look at Owen.
"So?" Owen answered, indignantly. "What's wrong with that?"
"You and drama club?" John squeaked. "I never thought the day would come."
"I am just trying something new. It's my last year of high school and maybe, I want to explore certain other aspects of high school life. I do well at academics and at sports. Just wanted to see if I am good at the arts," Owen said, hating the fact that he had to defend himself to his friends.
"It's okay, Owen," Shelly said. "If you are in any drama production, I will come and see it."
"Thank you, Shelly. At least I have one friend who is willing to support me," Owen said.
"Yeah, me too," Tricia said. "I think you would do well in the school play. You already look like a star."
"Why, thank you, Tricia," Owen said.
"Oh, come on, Owen, you know we were only joshing with you," Peter said. John nodded.
Only Tammy remained silent. There must be a reason for this sudden change in Owen. He had never expressed any need before to explore the arts at school. She was a bit skeptical of it all. There had to be more to this story, she thought.
After lunch, Owen took another look at the sign-up sheet for the drama club. There was a familiar name, three places down from where Cristina had signed in Owen's name. Bobby Chamberlain had also joined the drama club. Owen groaned.
Cristina hurried to the drama club's meeting room. She didn't want to be late. She was rather excited. When she got there, there were already six people besides the teacher and his assistant, who ran the club.
"Welcome," the teacher said. "Haven't seen you here before. You must be a freshman."
"Yes, I am," Cristina said, breathlessly. "Cristina Yang."
The teacher looked down at the sign-up sheet. "Ah, yes, here you are. I am Mr. Bostwick and this is my assistant, Miss Fairbanks. Just have a seat and let's wait for the others. There should be about 18 more people to join."
"Thank you, sir," Cristina said, as she grabbed a seat near the front.
Three more people came, then Bobby Chamberlain entered the room. Cristina gave him a beaming smile and he smiled back.
"What's your name, young man?" Mr. Bostwick asked.
"Bobby Chamberlain," the brown-haired boy said. The teacher again looked at the sign-up sheet. "Another freshman, I take it."
"Yes," Bobby confirmed. He sat next to Cristina, grinning at her, as he took her hand into his.
Owen was one of the very last to arrive. The teacher was shocked on seeing him. "Oh my, Owen Hunt, as I live and breathe. I never thought the day would come when I would see you in here."
"Well, people can try new things," Owen said. "I am trying something new. It's my last year here and I wanted to do something different. Are you saying that I am not welcome here?"
"Of course not. I just never pictured you as the dramatic arts type, especially since you are the high school quarterback," Mr. Bostwick said. "In fact, your presence here could mean that we could have a little star power for our next production. Welcome, Mr. Hunt to our humble drama club."
Cristina waved at Owen with her free hand. He waved back at her. He didn't want it to look too obvious so he took a seat behind her. She looked back at him and grinned. Bobby, on the other hand, was not so happy. He had seen the sign-up sheet and noticed Cristina's name, followed by Owen's name on the sheet – both names were clearly written by Cristina. That was the only reason he joined the damn drama club. He had to keep an eye on Owen Hunt.
"Well, now that everyone is here. Let me just say again that my name is Harold Bostwick and this is my assistant, Stella Fairbanks. I am so pleased we had a good turnout for today's meeting. Some of you are new members and some of you are veterans of our productions.
"Let me just say that the drama club always produces two plays a year. Once in the fall term and the other in the spring term. This term, we are going to do a modern-day version of Romeo and Juliet. As usual, it won't just be about acting, there would be some singing involved," Mr. Bostwick said.
Good grief, Owen thought. The only singing he had ever done was in the shower and in church. He had never acted before in front of an audience before, now they want him to be singing, too. He wondered what did he get himself into. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
"Naturally, everyone will have to audition. We don't know if we have some stars among us that we don't know about. Those who don't get roles will be placed in stage management and prop-building," Mr. Bostwick said. Ah, Owen thought, that sounds more like it. He could build props; that's what he could do.
"Also, folks, I just want to let you know that whoever gets the role of Romeo and Juliet will probably have to kiss in this production. I hope no one is shy about that," Miss Fairbanks said. There was a murmuring among the students when that statement was made.
Did she say kissing, Owen thought. His first thought was if Cristina won the role of Juliet, then he would have to watch some boy kissing her. He was totally mortified. No, no, that would not do, he thought. If she was auditioning for Juliet, then it was obvious that he had to audition for the role of Romeo. The things he did for this girl, he never imagined he would be doing.
"Well, alright then. Auditions will be held on Wednesday. Everyone can get a copy of the script, when you leave. Please note that everyone can choose a role that they think they would like to do. If you are cast, you may not get that role that you auditioned for but another role which we think might better suit you. Also, choose a song from the songlist to sing," Mr. Bostwick said. "It's going to be a lot of work and I hope everyone realizes that. Okay, that is it for today's meeting. Bye, folks, see you on Wednesday at the same time."
Everyone went and collected their scripts and song lists from Miss Fairbanks. Mr. Bostwick turned to Owen, "Son, I think you have the presence to make a great Romeo. Do you have a singing voice?"
"Honestly, sir, I don't know," Owen said. "We will see. I will try on Wednesday." Bobby was miffed when he heard Mr. Bostwick say that to Owen. Did Bostwick think the rest of them were chopped liver? He was going to show them that he had the talents to be a fantastic Romeo.
He turned to Cristina, "What are you going to try out for?"
"I guess I will just read for Juliet. It doesn't matter, anyway. There is no guarantee you will get the role you read for. For all I know, they will give me the role of the old nurse," Cristina said.
"No, you're too pretty to be the nurse," Bobby said.
"Well, thank you for your vote of confidence, Bobby but you haven't heard my singing voice. I may sound like a croaking frog," Cristina said, laughing.
"Never," Owen and Bobby said at the same time. They both looked at each other and gave each other a glare.
"Well, okay, " Cristina said. "Owen, are you ready to take me home?" Bobby was horrified. Cristina was getting a ride home with Owen Hunt. If she needed a ride, she could have told him, he thought. He wished he was old enough to get his own car. He sighed. He had to wait another year for that to happen.
"Yeah, I am ready," Owen said. He picked up Cristina's knapsack, as well as his own and headed out to the door.
"Bye, Bobby," Cristina said, as she followed Owen out of the room.
On Wednesday afternoon at the next drama club meeting, there was an air of excitement. Today was audition day.
"Is everyone ready?" Mr. Bostwick said. "First, we will do the girls and we will do it in alphabetical order." Cristina sighed. Alphabetical order meant that she would be the last to audition, given that her surname started with Y. Plus she had to listen to all of the girls ahead of her and suppose they were so much better than her that she would pale in comparison. She was getting more and more nervous. It didn't matter to her if she did not get the role of Juliet. She just wanted any role, as long as she didn't have to build props. She was not very handy with the hammer.
When it was her turn, she prayed she would not bomb. She started tentatively with her speech. She stumbled on a few words and was embarrassed.
"It's okay, Cristina. Don't be nervous, let's take it from the top. You can do it," Mr. Bostwick said. "Just focus on one person and just forget the rest of us are here." Owen smiled at her, encouragingly. She focused on him and started her monologue again. She started slowly but got stronger with each word. Her eyes were shining by the time she finished.
"That was terrific, Cristina. Let's hear you sing," Bostwick said. "What are you going to sing?"
"If I Die Young," Cristina said and then proceeded with a sweet, soaring version of the country song by the Band Perry. Her voice was angelic, Owen thought. When she was finished, everyone, especially Owen applauded, wildly. It was apparent that she was going to be cast as Juliet.
When she came back to her seat, Owen whispered to her, "I didn't know you had a voice like that."
"Me neither," she said.
Bostwick stood up. "Okay, it is now the boys' turn. Alphabetical order again."
Alphabetical order meant that Bobby Chamberlain would sing before Owen Hunt. After Bobby's audition, Owen grudgingly had to admit that Bobby was not half-bad. He just had to be better.
"Okay, Owen, let's see what you can do," Bostwick said. Owen started strongly with his audition. It turned out that he was pretty good. Then he started his song, "Somebody I used to Know" by Gotye. It was revealed that Owen had a rather awesome rock voice. Bobby gritted his teeth.
As Owen went back to his seat, Cristina whispered to him, "I didn't know you had a voice like that."
"Me neither," he whispered back. Owen thought he had it in the bag. He was far better than any boy who had auditioned before him. That is, until sophomore Darren Longden performed. Owen remembered Darren from grade school but had not paid much attention to him when he entered high school last year. Maybe, he should have. Darren possessed an almost operatic voice that filled the room to its rafters.
"Wow, oh, wow," Mr. Bostwick said. "Your voice is amazing." It was Owen's turn to grit his teeth. He now remembered that Darren, along with Bobby, used to hang around Cristina when she was in grade school.
When Darren went back to his seat, Cristina said, "That was fantastic, Darren." The boy gave her a shy smile. Owen's only consolation was that he felt he was better at the acting part of the audition.
When the audition ended, Mr. Bostwick said, "Tomorrow we will put up the cast for the production on the bulletin board. You all did wonderful today. Thank you for your enthusiasm."
When Owen got to school the next day, there was a crowd around the bulletin board. It was clear the casting for the production had already been put up. His heart beat faster. Did he get the role of Romeo or would he have to watch another boy kiss Cristina? He stepped up to the bulletin board and looked for his name.
A/N: Please leave your comments. I really appreciate your reviews.
