The night of the play…

"How's the set working out?" I interrogated Autumn.

"It's perfect!" Autumn jumped up and down. "And not a moment too soon. Mr. Kernsprickle just arrived, and he's in the front row! It's time for the show!" No shit, Sherlock.

Autumn peeked out through the curtains, even though you weren't supposed to do that. "Every seat in the house is filled!" she screeched.

I rolled my eyes. "Are we ready for the curtain to go up?"

"Just about!" Autumn replied. Then her eyes narrowed at me as she continued, in a fake cheery tone, "We only need to make sure Romeo and Juliet are in their places!"

Autumn was enraged because she expected to be given the role of Juliet, since her crush Julian had been cast as Romeo. But that role had went to me, clearly, as I had always been the female lead in every school play. She wouldn't have gotten it anyhow as her acting skills were subpar.

The lights dimmed, and Julian and I took our places behind the stage. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Autumn. I bit back a smirk. I had an idea…

"I'm so nervous! I can't believe it's time!" I cried, holding close to Julian. Behind me, Autumn fumed.

"We'll be fine..." Julian replied. "All right, the curtain's coming up! Let's go!"

Thirty minutes later…

"But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun." Julian proclaimed.

"O Romeo, Romeo!" I cried. "Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or, if thou will not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet."

"I take thee at thy word: call me but love, and I'll be new baptized; henceforth I never will be Romeo," Julian replied.

Then Julian-as-Romeo passionately kissed me-as-Juliet while the audience applauded. Even though it was horrendous stage etiquette, Autumn peeked out of the curtain. I knew since I could feel her icy glare on the back of my head. Well, she wanted her crush to be recruited to this school, didn't she? And she got her wish.

Later, at intermission...

"Well, we made it to intermission... and everything's going great!" I announced.

"Actually..." Autumn smirked, delighted to be the purveyor of bad news, "we've got a crisis! Some people were sitting next to Kernsprickle, and he was complaining about how much he prefers musicals!"

"What?!" I snapped. Autumn had deliberately neglected to tell me this piece of information.

"We've got to add some music in, fast!" Payton cried.

I kept calm. "We can do this. They do it every week on Glee, don't they? Go find some music. I'll get some dancers to help choreograph a new finale."

"Okay, the dancers are here!" Autumn squealed. "I explained that we need an exciting new musical finale, fast." Her tone was still slightly snippy as she was still upset about Julian and I's stage kiss.

"And they can do it?" I queried.

"They're going to try!" she screeched. "But we're all going to have to help out and join in." Autumn glared at me, even though I had always helped out with my school. In actuality, I helped out more than she ever had or did.

After intermission…

"Well, intermission's over..." Autumn loudly snapped her gum.

"Time to see if we can pull off this big musical number," Payton proclaimed.

"With no rehearsal time and a packed house? What could possibly go wrong?" I sarcastically remarked.

The curtain parted, revealing the bodies of Romeo and Juliet, lying tenderly side by side... when a resounding, big band orchestra kicked in, playing a jaunty musical tune. The actors burst into song, while a chorus of dancers emerged from behind the curtains.

"Romeo drank poison, and now he's dead!"

"And next to him, Juliet's blood's shed!"

"So much for that guy's cocky swagger!"

"Who gave that crazy girl a dagger?!"

"You've never heard more a tale of woe..."

"Good thing it happened long ago!"

The dancers twirled onto the stage with a series of epic flips as everyone on stage lunged into their final poses, and the crowd burst into applause.

"So I know this last-minute finale was stressful... but it paid off! I heard from someone sitting next to Kernsprickle that he loved it!" Autumn shrilled. "He said he wished more schools would follow our example and create new interpretations of the classics!"

"That's the best news ever! Let's celebrate at the after-party!" Payton exclaimed.

"Well, that's at least one member of the board that we've impressed." Autumn sniffed.

"One down, two to go," I commented.