Hi guys - thanks for comments! Sorry I didn't post this yesterday - I'd pretend it's because I'm a bit badass like Kasey and wanted to keep you hanging but really I'm more a bit dozy like Evan and was actually asleep by the time the requests came in! Anyway I hope you enjoy it just as much today - bit a of a fun one. I am trying really, really, really hard to think of a Fostering Fun by the way - it's been way too long! Anyhow, hope you enjoy! Oh and disclaimer - I've never studied or seen Much Ado About Nothing so for any Shakespearean scholars out there, I apologise if this isn't 100% accurate...
"I can't do it! I can't memorise all this." Jude said frustrated throwing down the print out in his hand.
"Oh come on Jude – you're doing so well!" Mariana reassured him.
"Just feel the character." Callie advised.
"But I don't even know this play." He complained flopping down onto the bed.
"It's classic Shakespeare comedy. It was on the list. I watched the film last year in English. Look, Benedick, the dude who's talking, is in some kind of smartass competition with this kinda feisty girl...his friends decide to try and set them up so they talk really loudly about how she digs him. As he gets his kicks off competition he decides he has to fall in love with her more hardcore than she loves him." Mariana explained.
Jude heard the words but found himself crippled with nerves.
"Just try and do it again – from the top." Mariana pulled him up off the bed and thrust him into the middle of the room before taking her seat on the bed.
Jude sighed and began to read the paper.
"This can be no trick." He began with little emotion. "The conference was sadly borne..."
"You're not even trying!" Mariana chastised him flicking the sheet of paper in his hand.
"OK, you know what? I think we need a new angle." Callie sprung up and stood behind him.
"Close your eyes and take a deep breath." Jude threw her a look before she shook him slightly.
"Just do it!" She said swatting him on the arm.
"OK, OK." He obediently followed the instruction.
"Take a deep breath...in...and out...and another...in...and out." He followed her instructions and she thre a smile to Mariana. "Now...picture this. Our Moms have just met..."
"Callie!" He turned breaking his concentration.
"Stick with me on this!" She said, swatting him again. He reluctantly closed his eyes and began again.
"Stef has just met this beautiful, intelligent, headstrong and sometimes feisty school teacher."
"Right..." Mariana sprung up seeing Callie's angle. "And Stef is sorta cocky and competitive and equally as witty and pretty."
"But imagine if when they first met that Stef didn't want to fully commit to marrying Lena...because...well for whatever reason..."
"Lena grows tired of ther leading her on and instead of admitting her true feelings Stef just responds to everything with smartass quips..."
Jude chuckled slightly. "Well that's not hard to imagine..." He smiled, his resistance waning slightly.
"Exactly!" Callie rubbed his shoulders.
"So Lena, not wanting to be outdone starts doing it back." Callie continued.
"One day, some of the guys who work with Mom at the station are all "Will Stef just quit flirting with this girl and get her focus back cause she's let like 5 bad-guys outrun her this week!"So they decide to set them up cause they realise they're meant to be together...and if they don't they won't one day be able to adopt all of these awesome kids..." Mariana beamed as Jude, still eyes firmly shut, smiled again.
"So they have a really loud conversation at the station so they know she can hear them about how Lena told one of their wives about how she's so totally in love with Stef!"
Jude's eyebrows raised with a smile as if he was finally really grasping the concept. "And because Stef's super competitive... like when she's playing monopoly... she realises that now the only way she can outdo Lena is to try and love her even more than she loves her?" He asked earnestly joining in.
"Exactly!" Both girls cheered "Now imagine Mom reacting...you know if she was like super old and spoke like an English dude."
"OK, OK...I'll try it..." He cleared his throat and began...
"This can be no trick..." he paused dramatically and acted as if he was figuring something out. "The conference was sadly borne..." He briefly looked at the script for the next line and then began to pace around the room continuing."They have the truth of this from Hero. They seem to pity the lady."
Both girls beamed returning back to their seats to watch him flourish as he made his way through, line by line.
"They say too that she will rather die than give any sign of affection..."He paused with a quick chuckle "Hey that is like Mama when Mom keeps teasing her..." The two girls laughed as he continued springing forward, fully absorbing the character.
"I may chance have some odd quirks andrembrants...oops...I mean remnants..." he coughed starting the line again. "I may chance have some odd quirks andremnantsof wit broken on me because I have railed so long against marriage; but doth not the appetite alter?"
Callie bit her lip with pride as Jude bound across the room as if he had parachuted into The Globe Theatre. He sometimes lost his words over some of the older terms but he recovered with a pink flush of his cheeks and a spring in his step to return. It gave her so much joy to see him get so absorbed in a clearly very natural craft.
"... When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married. Here comes Beatrice. By this day, she's a fair lady! I do spy some marks of love in her." He ended mocking jumping behind a door and peeping round and just as he stopped an applause came from outside as well as the two girls watching. He jumped back embarrassed.
"You spy love marks on the who now? Not in this house, young man." Stef said walking over to him and squeezing his shoulders tightly.
"Jude that was awesome! All you need to do is memorise it and you'll walk the audition." Mariana said proudly jumping up.
"What was that from?" Stef asked. "I heard 'doths' and 'troths'...I really am behind the times with the way you kids speak."
"It was Shakespearean times...I thought that was more your generation..." Jude said with a glimmer in his eye.
Stef feigned shock as Callie and Mariana laughed. She overpowered his head and put it in an arm lock rubbing his hair through his giggling, tickling him slightly with her other hand as he tried to wriggle free.
"Oh you want some medieval I'll go medieval on you my friend!"
"Was more Middle Ages, wasn't he?" Callie corrected playfully
"Well middle age could be appropriate too you know..." Mariana added.
"Oh! What is this?" Stef exclaimed with mock offence, grabbing a pillow off Jude's bed and flailing it at the two girls as they dived out the way.
"What's going on up here?" Lena asked coming to the door and seeing Stef playfully attacking their daughters.
"Our children are all auditioning to be shipped off to boarding school I think..." Stef joked finally retreating.
"I was practicing my audition piece..." Jude said proudly. "It's Benedict from Much Ado About Something."
Lena laughed rubbing his head. "I think you mean Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing, Jude. May want to learn the title before the audition..." She teased cupping his ears.
"Oh right..." He giggled with another flush of embarrassment.
"Let me guess..."This can be no trick. The conference was sadly borne..." She began before Stef folded her arms and scoffed.
"Oh, such a show off! Your organisation in college must have been military precision fitting in all the Shakespeare recitals and wine-tasting soirees." She teased as Lena stopped with the interruption.
"Well I'm sorry to bore you Stefanie, but you don't get to this level of cultured without a little Shakespeare." she said with deliberately exaggerated pomp.
"Oh you don't think I know fancy monologues? Well how about this? 'You talk about vengeance. Is vengeance going to bring your son back to you or my boy to me? I forgo the vengeance of my son….'" She began to perform before Lena cut her off with a laugh
"And what's that supposed to be?" Lena laughed.
"That would be from the Godfather." Stef beamed proudly.
"Ah...Shakespeare's finest!" Lena teased as she put her hand on Stef's shoulder
"Oh you're just jealous that I can do it without having studied all your fancy pants plays…" Stef hit back.
"Oh you want a monologue-off? It is on!" Lena responded squinting her eyes with a smile as the two continued to bicker.
"Told you..." Callie whispered as the others giggled.
"What?" Stef asked obliviously as the teens continued to laugh.
Jude looked over at his Moms and then with a cheeky smile to his sisters before springing up and reciting the monologue again, deliberately flamboyant and substituting in Lena's name at the appropriate moments.
Bit of a cliffhanger chapter next so again deciding whether to post it tonight (consciousness dependent) or tomorrow to give it its own glory. Anyhow, keep an eye out!
Chapter 10 Preview: Michelle and Evan both hide a secret
Quietly in the bathroom Michelle sat leaning on the edge of the bath.
"Why are you calling? You know where I am!" She bit her fingernails nervously listening for any sounds of stirring around her.