Without a reason, I felt nervous as she walked towards me. She casually dropped into the seat next to me. She crossed her arms, waiting for our teacher to arrive. There were a few reason's I had chosen theater for an elective. One of them being that I could barely draw a happy face, and another one was that I was musically challenged. This was my last choice.
"So…" Lizette said, still not looking at me.
"So…" I repeated. She smirked a little, I had seen that smirk before…but I couldn't tell where. "How's your first day been?" I asked, trying to sound bored; but really, I wanted to know what she'd been up to.
"Interesting." She nodded, and then laughed.
"What's funny?" I asked, smiling.
"It's just…you've been…weird." She said, smiling.
"I know, and I'm sorry." I said, trying to sound as honest as possible.
"I believe you." She said, flashing me one of her dazzling smiles.
"Is there anyway we could start over?" I didn't want to sound as desperate as I was, but I genuinely wanted to get to know her.
"Maybe…" She said. I looked at her curiously.
"Hey, I'm Drew Torres." I said holding out my hand. After a second, she took it.
"Lizette Goldsworthy." I was taken aback. I now knew where I had seen her smirk. I had seen it on Eli's face.
"As in, Eli Goldsworthy, as in Eli's sister?" I asked.
"Yeah, we're twins." She shrugged. I'd never known Eli very well. But I was sure he wouldn't be the biggest fan of me. From what I'd seen, Eli would do anything Clare asked of him and she was loyal to Alli. This could have complicated things, but I decided to think nothing of it.
"Cool." I responded. "So…we're good."
"Yup." It was awkward for a few minutes. I had nothing to say and no pick up lines to use. It felt weird, not having my usual Drew script to use. Plus she wasn't giving me the usual signs that she wanted to go out, that kind of hurt a little bit.
"So what brings you to theater?" I asked, trying to make small talk. It was the only thing I could do, seeing as my usual phrases reserved for girls weren't getting me anywhere.
"I don't know actually. I guess it's easier to be someone else than to be me." She said, her brow furrowing.
"Well you seem fine the way you are." I said awkwardly. She laughed, which eased the tension that had settled in.
"Maybe. But then again, you are guy." She said, not looking at me.
"Oh yeah? And what's that supposed to mean?" I said, a playful grin leaking onto my face.
"Every guy I've ever met will tell a girl that they are perfect the way they are just so they can make out with them later." She said, looking me up and down. "With one exception."
"Which would be?"
"My brother." She said, chuckling.
"All of them?" I asked. Even though I knew the information was probably true, I still wanted to believe that some guys had a sense of decency.
"Well…there was Matthew Brown in the summer going into ninth grade." She said, still smiling.
"And what was his problem?" I asked.
"I will never tell." She whispered.
"Hello my thespians. Today we will start a new project." Said the teacher, walking in dramatically.
"Yay!" I whispered sarcastically. Lizette giggled.
"You will split into boy and girl pairs." Said the teacher. Lizette and I glanced at each other. I raised my eyebrows and she nodded.
"I have in this hat," She said, holding out a brown hat with little pieces of paper in it. "Names and scenes of romantic Shakespeare plays, two characters, and the scenes." You could immediately tell what was on every girl in the room's minds: Romeo and Juliet. "Will every young man please come up and choose their play?" She said, spinning around in the middle of the circle.
I stood up and took a deep breath. Did I want Romeo and Juliet? Well…I didn't know. If I had to do a kissing scene with her…it would ruin this newfound familiarity between us. It would make things much more awkward, but…it wouldn't exactly be unpleasant.
I walked up slowly, and then stuck my hand into the little brown hat. I pulled out a little paper. Its words both relieved and disappointed me.
Much Ado About Nothing
Benedick and Beatrice
Act: 5
Scene: 4
I looked at the black inked words on the crisp white paper: Much Ado About Nothing. I had never heard of the play.
"What'd we get?" Asked Lizette, curiously looking over my shoulder.
"Much Ado About Nothing." I said.
"Oh my God, I love that play!" She said excitedly.
"Never heard of it." I said. She laughed, showing all of her perfectly white teeth. We collected our scripts at the front of the classroom.
"Do we have any questions?" Asked the teacher.
"There are more than two people in our script." Said a tall boy whose name I did not know.
"I will read those extra parts during your final presentation." Said the teacher.
"What do we do about the…intimate scenes?" Asked Bianca, looking directly at me with a taunting smile. Once upon a time, I would have found it alluring. Now I knew it to be a façade and her true intentions were to ruin people's lives.
"You may hug if you are uncomfortable. None of you go much farther than kissing, I'm afraid." Many of the girls giggled.
Lizette and I spent the rest of the class practicing. She was an expert in all things Shakespeare so she spent the entire time helping me understand what the hell it was they were talking about. She was so incredibly smart and I was fascinated by how into what she was talking about she was. I hated the bell because it ended the time I had with Lizette.
I wasn't supposed to miss her but I did. I spent the rest of the night beating myself up about how confused I was. I was supposed to be a monk now. No Alli, no anyone. Here Lizette was, making me rethink my new lease on life. I hated it, but I also wanted to see how far it would go.
