On Monday Patrick walked into his English class, hoping not to be noticed. All day long he had been razzed by classmates about his dance fever at Bogey's party. By the time English rolled around he was in no mood to hear about it again.

One of the stoner girls grinned lasciviously at him and held out a dollar bill, saying, "Another lap dance, Patrick?"

Patrick merely snarled in response and sat at his desk, trying to hold his head up high. From behind him in another row he heard Chastity Donner's voice. "Nice moves this weekend, Stratford. You were on fire."

Choosing to ignore her, he flipped open his textbook as the bell rang and Mr. Morgan approached his podium at the front of class. Mr. Morgan was one of the younger teachers at Padua High, a hip African-American who didn't take crap from his students, thus gaining their respect and admiration for his straight-forward, progressive manner of teaching.

"How was everybody's weekend?" he asked.

"Maybe you should be asking Stratford," Chastity called out, giggling with one of her friends nearby. "Or maybe Kat - ask her."

Mr. Morgan cast an evil eye on Kat Verona as she walked in late for class and slipped into her seat near the door. He had noticed Patrick stiffen up at Kat's name and decided it was best to move on to the lesson plan.

"In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes/For they in thee a thousand errors note/But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise/Who in despite of view is pleas 'd to dote." He paused, watching his students as they attempted to process the words he had just said in a quick rapping sequence. Seeing no comprehension, he sighed heavily and said, "All right, folks, listen up, I have an assignment for you. I'd like you all to write your own version of Shakespeare's Sonnet 141."

The class as a whole groaned and began to protest.

"Come on, this is an easy one. Any form you'd like. Rhyme, no rhyme, whatever. I'd just like to see you elaborate on his theme."

Patrick raised his hand, which caused Mr. Morgan to call on him reluctantly. "Yes, Mr. I Always Make My Teacher Go Crazy With My Questions?"

"Do you want this in Iambic Pentameter?"

Mr. Morgan's mouth dropped open momentarily before he recovered and said, "You mean you aren't going to fight me on this one?"

Patrick shook his head. "No, I think this is a really good assignment. I'm looking forward to it."

Mr. Morgan pointed to the classroom door and yelled "Out! You're out of here! Go to Miss Perky's office right now."

"But I didn't do anything wrong!" Patrick protested.

"I don't care - I know you want to, so get out and go!"

Patrick angrily gathered his books and stormed from the classroom.

* * *

Michael stood at his locker, contemplating whether or not to grow a beard like the one Shakespeare had. He gazed at a picture of the Bard he had posted up at eye level on the locker door.

"Nice picture. You a fan?"

Michael turned and saw a tall slender girl standing at his side. He recognized her as the girl that had been hanging out with Kat Verona recently. Patrick had told him only sketchy details about his experience with Kat during and after Bogey's party, but Michael could tell that although Patrick was upset with Kat for some reason, there was also a hint of obvious attraction that he felt for her. Perhaps this girl would be able to fill in the blanks in Patrick's story.

"I guess I'm a fan, yes," he finally said in response to her question.

"Very cool," she continued. "You should grow a goatee like him. I think it would look good."

Michael was taken aback at her psychic ability to know what he was thinking a moment ago.

Mandella smiled and recited, "Who could refrain that had a heart to love and in that heart, courage to make love known?"

"You know Macbeth?" he asked incredulously.

Mandella's smile turned into a grin and she said, "So listen, I have this friend..."

* * *

"Okay, I got the scoop," Mandella said as she found Bianca and Kat sat on the bleachers during Patrick's afternoon soccer practice.

"What did he say?" Bianca asked hopefully.

"Hates her with the fire of a thousand suns. That's a direct quote."

Kat sighed softly.

"What happened?" Bianca asked Kat. "What did you do to him?"

Dejectedly, Kat played with the fringe at the bottom of her pant leg. "I don't know...well, I decided not to hook up with him when he'd be too drunk to remember it."

Mandella and Bianca passed a look of surprise between them. Could it be that Kat had feelings for Patrick?

Mandella coughed delicately. "You realize this puts the entire project in jeopardy?"

"Yeah, I got that figured out, Eckman. Thanks." Kat violently ripped out the thread she had been playing with on her jeans. "He won't even look at me."

"Can't you just tell him you're sorry?" Bianca asked helpfully.

Kat looked at Bianca, not bothering to answer. "I think he needs one more day to cool off." Just then a soccer ball whizzed between Kat and Bianca, a mere few inches from either of them. Kat turned and saw Patrick walking away from a stack of soccer balls. "Maybe two."

They all sat watching practice for a few moments before Kat finally asked Bianca about Bogey's party. "Did you make any headway?"

"He kissed me!" she gushed, a pretty blush cropping up on her cheeks.

"Where?" Kat asked.

"In my car."

Confused by the answer, Kat just shook her head and turned back to watch Patrick run across the field and needlessly tackle one of his soccer teammates.