Romeo and Julie - Chapter 23

Disclaimer - Never claimed to own them, so I am not going to start now.

Notes - Ok, so I hope this chapter is ok, because I will not be able to update it tomorrow. I have to go visit family. It is Sunday now, and I wont get home till Tuesday morning, so, look forward to a new chapter Tuesday afternoon. But review so that I get a nice surprise when I check my mail.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Connie held her arms out and spun around so that the boys in the room could give an honest opinion. "How do I look?"

Everyone looked at her, not sure what to say really. Averman was the first one to risk telling her the truth. "Like a nun"

Connie rolled her eyes and smoothed out the skirt of the simple dress she wore. She was in costume for the play, which consisted of a simple black dress and a grey overcoat. "I am the nurse, I am suppose to"

"Nurse" Guy asked, walking up to where Connie was standing. "Cant you be one of those naughty nurses with skirts that come to here" he asked, indicating to a spot about mid thigh. "And neck lines that come to here" he asked, pointing to her chest.

"Guy, you are so disgusting!" Connie hit him on the shoulder and then paused, interested. "But that would be a turn on for you?"

Guy grinned. "Oh yeah, major turn on"

"Well, you do have a birthday coming up" Connie mused.

Averman put his hands over his ears and loudly said. "La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, We cant hear you" Connie just gave him the finger and disappeared back into the curtained off section to change back into her street clothes.

"Yeah Germaine" Luis added, shaking his head at the other boy. "What the two of you do in the bedroom is your business"

Guy smirked and mumbled. "Bedroom, bathroom, dorm room, dining hall, classroom…"

"Shut up already!" Goldberg yelled. Guy chuckled as he watched Goldberg think. It didn't take as long as he had expected before the Goldberg said. "Dorm room. Neither of you live here, who's dorm room is it?"

"Don't answer, there is a one in four chance that it is my room, and what I don't know, wont hurt me." Portman interrupted. "But the knowledge that they did something in my room would be enough to make me want to throw myself off of a building"

Guy smirked again. "How do you know it wasn't all of them?"

"Kill me now" Russ moaned. "Please, kill me now"

"Is Guy still talking out there?" Connie yelled from the other side of the curtain.

"Unfortunately" Fulton sighed.

"Who ever is closest, slap him" Connie yelled back.

"Sure you don't want to come out here and…" Guy began, but was cut off when Portman wrapped his arm around his neck and placed his hand over his mouth.

"Finish that thought, and I will snap your neck"

Charlie, who was sitting on a box in the corner, spoke up. "Do you guys remember when Germaine used to be the sweet and innocent one?"

Connie's voice floated back into the room. "He may have been sweet, but Guy Germaine has never been innocent"

"Overshare" Russ yelled. "I move a motion that Connie and Guy cant talk for the next hour?"

"Motion seconded" Adam replied.

"Third" Dwayne added.

"Motion passed." Charlie laughed. "Open your mouth in the next hour and we will shove socks in your mouth. Dwayne's socks. And it is up to you which one of you gets his boot socks, and which ones get his skate socks, which we are sure he has not changed since the beginning of the season"

Meredith entered the room and handed Ken a bundle of clothes, his costume. "I have heard of cruel and unusual punishment, but you Ducks take the cake"

"You haven't smelt his socks Meredith" Russ told her. "I share a room with him and, oh god, they are almost as bad as Portman's feet"

Dwayne stepped forward to defend himself. "Nothing is as bad a Portman's feet, y'all"

"My feet don't smell" Dean exclaimed, everyone looked at him.

"They do" Luis told him. "Man, how come you are the only ones who cant smell them"

Julie turned to Dean, who was looking at her for assurance. "Dean, your feet do smell."

"Well, we all have faults. I mean…" Dean began, looking around the room at the others. "Averman is scared of ants, Fulton cant stop blushing, Charlie is allergic to nuts, Luis's favourite movie is Pretty Woman, Ken has that whole figure skating thing going on, Adam is a prep"

"Would you stop saying that like it is a crime" Adam interrupted. He was sick of the teams attitudes towards preps. Adam didn't even consider himself to be a prep compared to some of the other snot nosed brats that attended Eden Hall. "It is not my fault that I have manners, class and charm."

Ken spoke up, defending himself also. "And for the love of god, there is nothing wrong with Figure Skating"

Dean just shrugged. "Any man who can be so comfortable in tights has to have something wrong"

Connie exited the curtained dressing room and dumped her costume onto the pile of other costumes. "Says Romeo, who is about to change into a pair of tights."

"Yeah, Meredith, why are we wearing tights" Fulton asked. Every male duck had had a heart attack when she had informed them that they would all be wearing tights.

Meredith shrugged and pushed Dean and Fulton into the two curtained dressing areas. "Tradition"

Julie laughed and turned to their teacher. "Don't worry about them Meredith, they are all just scared about the size of their package"

"As a teacher, I am not allowed to be involved in this conversation, but please, continue while I go to the other room." Meredith grinned and left the back stage dressing area to go back out the front where she was helping a few art students with set designs.

Dean pulled back the curtain and smiled across the room at Julie. "Just so you know Julie, I am not worried about the size of my… package"

"I don't need to know" She stood and closed the curtain on him again. "I guess I will find out on Opening night"

"Maybe before, hey Julie?" Connie asked from her side. Julie glared at her.

"What is that meant to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing at all" Connie smirked and went back to what she was saying to Guy. Sometimes Julie just wished that the other Ducks would mind their own business.

"Ok, I am back, all conversations about body parts must end." Meredith called as she entered the backstage section again. She stopped when she saw Ken in his costume of tights and a relatively baggy shirt. He had not shame of standing in the same room as his hockey team in it. "Looking good Ken"

"Yeah Ken, looking good" Dean called from behind the curtain.

Ken gave the curtain the finger and said. "Real men wear tights"

"Figure skaters wear tights" was Dean's reply.

"Cant we just wear our own clothes on stage." Dean asked a few minutes later when he came out of the sectioned off area, pulling his shirt down over himself. He hated tights. He was a hockey player, not a bloody ballerina. "I mean, the only one of us who would have to change the way we dress is Banksie…wait, he already dresses like a Prep."

Banks glared at the enforcer. "Portman, you are lucky I am not…"

"What, my size so that you can pick on me" Dean laughed. Adam couldn't help but laugh either.

"Boys." Meredith rolled her eyes at them. There was a strange friendship between those two. "I so don't know if you are joking any more."

"Meredith, I hate this" Julie announced as she came out in a dress. Dean had not even realised that she had gone into the changing area after he had come out of it, but he had to say that in the dress, she looked amazing. He had never seen her in a dress before.

"Why?" Meredith asked her.

Julie rolled her eyes. "I don't do dresses"

"I don't know, you look hot"

"Meredith, seriously, why cant we just wear our own clothing" Luis asked her.

Meredith's explanation was rather simple. "Because I don't want Charlie up there in his old green Ducks jersey. And I don't want a Juliet who wears pants, and I do not want Romeo in a leather jacket looking like he just got back from some concert. And as much as it looks good on him, Dwayne will not be wearing his cowboy hat on stage."

"So, lets modernise it, like that director who did the Leonardo DiCaprio version." Charlie whined. "Lets wear Jeans and Ducks Jerseys"

"I second that vote" Fulton replied, coming out of his half of the change area, also pulling the shirt down around him. "Meredith, I don't like this, these are seriously uncomfortable"

Dwayne looked up at Meredith sadly. "I cant wear my hat?"

"Fine, we will put it to a vote" Meredith sighed, looking amongst the Ducks. She would have to, or she would never hear the end of this. "All for going traditional and wearing tights, raise their hands" there was no surprise that none of the ducks raised their hands. "All opposed"

"I love democracy" Goldberg smiled.

"Fine, but before we go on stage, we are doing a dress rehearsal and I am approving what you are going to wear. No exceptions." Meredith informed them. None of them cared, all they cared about was the fact that they didn't have to wear tights in front of the student body.

"Change back into your street clothes and come back out to the auditorium" Meredith sighed, turning to leave. At the door she stopped, and turned back. "Wait, Luis, your favourite movie is Pretty Woman?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Hey Meredith" Rebecca smiled as she entered the auditorium. Meredith, who had been making notes on something on the notepad in front of her, looked up and smiled at the young girl as she approached. "I thought this place would be packed with Ducks"

Meredith smirked. "They are all backstage, taking away my directorial duties."

"Oh" Rebecca bit her lip and looked at her feet. "Then I am not so sure you will want to hear what I have to say. I kind of made a directorial decision"

"Hit me with it" Meredith sighed.

"Instead of just a violin, I have enlisted the help of the whole quartet." Rebecca began softly. She was unsure of how Meredith would react, especially after what she had said about directorial duties. Rebecca realised that she really should have asked before got the others involved. "I wrote the music for a four piece ensemble and well, we have been practicing it…its really good."

"Wow. That is great" Meredith was amazed that the who quartet would want to be involved in this project. She was also Amazed that Rebecca had written the music for a four piece ensemble. She surely was a talented girl. "Sure, I like the idea of all of you, if it is ok with the others"

"They love the idea" Rebecca shrugged. "We are going to use this as practice, there is a interschool competition coming up, and we are going to do a section of the piece"

"Well, whatever you need to do" Meredith smiled. It seemed that although the Duck's would be on stage in who knows what, at least the music will be of quality. "Believe me Rebecca, when I asked you to do this, I never expected you would put this much into it"

"It is nothing" Rebecca dismissed, and really, it was nothing, She had enjoyed working on the music for this production. Meredith went back to taking her notes, and Rebecca took a breath. It was now or never. "Meredith?"

"Yes" Meredith looked up at the girl. "There was something else?"

"Could you write me a recommendation? I mean, if you like my music and stuff" Rebecca began. "I want to apply to Julliard school next year, I mean, they have an extraordinary music programme, and I know, the chances of me getting in are really slim, only 8 percent of applicants are accepted, but I would really like to give it a try."

Meredith was amazed. Here was a girl at age 16 who know what she wanted to do, and she knew which college she wanted to get into, and she knew how to go about getting in. Meredith herself didn't even know what she wanted to do till she had been accepted into college. She had transferred courses after six months of accounting. "Rebecca, of course I will write you a recommendation. You are one of the most gifted young musicians I know."

"Thank you" Rebecca sighed in relief. "Can I go hang out with the Ducks?"

"Sure, have fun" Meredith dismissed her, turning back to her work. "I have to approve the programs anyway"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"So, do you like, cry when the mean Beverly Hills sales ladies wont let Vivian shop on Rodeo drive?"

"Shut up" Luis snapped as the other Duck's laughed. "I said it was a good movie, I never said it was my favourite"

From the corner of the room, Ken said. "You sing the theme song in the shower"

"I thought you were on my side!" Luis yelled at him. Ken just laughed. "Can we get over this please"

"Get over what?" Beck asked as she came into the backstage area and sat on Fulton's lap. Fulton smiled at her. The others smiled to, the general consensus was that they were the cutest couple (or, almost-couple) that Eden Hall had ever seen.

Fulton shrugged. "We are teasing the pretty woman over there"

"Ok, since I joined in the middle, I have no idea what you are talking about." Beck replied. She looked at a few of the others, including Adam and Charlie, who were waiting to go change out of their tights. "What are you doing out here?"

"Getting dressed" Adam replied.

Beck laughed at how suspect that sounded. "Once again I joined in the middle, I have no idea what you are on about, and this time, I don't think I really want to know"

"We were trying on costumes." Dean explained to her.

"Damn, and I missed it" Beck smiled, disappointedly hitting her knee with her fist. "Truthfully, how sexy does Fulton look in tights?"

With the straightest face possible, Russ looked from a blushing Fulton to a smiling Rebecca and replied. "Oh, he is a burning hunk of man meat, that's for sure"

The bell rang, and Goldberg stood. "Good, lunch, I am starving"

"When are you not?" Averman asked. "Lets go" The team began to leave, all except Julie, who was still tucked into her corner.

"Jules, you coming?" Beck called back over Fulton's shoulder as her threw her over it and carried her out of the room.

"Be there in a sec" Julie replied.

Fulton turned to his friend. "Portman?"

"I'll hang around here with Julie" Dean replied, not taking his eyes off of her. He had been hoping that they could spend some time alone together today, have a chance to talk. Maybe then she would tell him the truth, and then he could kiss her without feeling guilty. "Are you ok?"

Julie looked at him. He had asked if she was ok. Julie had thought that she had hid the fact that there was something wrong with her rather well. But as always, Dean was full of surprises and had worked it out. "I am fine, lets go"

"You are not fine, what's going on?" Dean took her hand and the pulled her to sit on the floor with him, their backs resting against the brick wall, their shoulders resting comfortably against each other.

"I just, well" Julie stopped. She wanted to tell him that she was not dating Matt. She should have told him the other night when they were trapped in the shower. She should have told him the other night when she had told him that she had not slept with Matt. Maybe if she felt brave enough to tell him that she was not dating Matt, she could work herself up to telling him everything, that she loved him. "I need to tell you something"

"What?" Dean asked. He hoped that she would tell him that she wanted him. Because then this day would replace yesterday as the best day of his life.

"I am not dating Matt" Julie told him, looking away from him quickly. This was surprising, she could sneak in and out of other people's bathrooms in the middle of the night, but she was running scared about having a conversation with Dean about her feelings. "I know, I am sorry, I should have told you earlier"

"I know" Dean informed her. "Not I know as in you should have told me. I know as in I knew. Matt told me yesterday"

The was a shock. "Matt told you?"

"Then Fulton told me" Dean replied.

"Fulton told you" Julie exclaimed. Gee, the Duck's grapevine was quick. "How on earth did Fulton find out?"

"How on earth does Fulton find out about anything?" Dean asked her. It was a good question. "He is just a trustworthy guy. You look at him and start spilling secrets, it is just the way it is"

Julie sighed. "Beck tells him everything, so I think we should stop telling Beck things"

"Seems like a good idea" Dean agreed, wondering if she would hate him for putting an arm around her shoulders. He decided against it, it was two forward. "Can we live without Beck, that is the question"

"Fulton cant" Julie smiled, resting her head on Dean's shoulder. Ok, so maybe the arm wouldn't have been two forward. "That is so cute"

Dean chuckled. "I know. I have already been told I am best man"

"When did that happen?" Julie asked. How come he was best man before she had been told that she would be maid of honour?

"The other night…" Dean began softly, and Julie already knew which night he was talking about. "When I cut my hand"

Julie held him by the wrist and looked at his hands. He didn't wear bandages on them anymore, but the worse cut still had a bandaid on it, keeping it together. "How are your hands?"

"Still a bit sore, but healing, thankfully" He smiled, and softly winced as she ran a finger across one of the cuts. "And people are not looking at me like I am some homicidal maniac anymore, so that is good"

A question popped into her head, and she asked it before really thinking about it. "Who did you talk to?"

"What?"

"You told me that you spoke to some one who made you feel better" Julie began "I was just wondering who you called.

Dean smiled weakly. "I called my little sister"

"Dean?"

"Deanie." Dean replied. "Didn't realise how relaxing she could be"

"You know, you have never told me the story, why do they call her Dean?" Julie informed him. She had tried to get it out of him a few times, but there was always someone there to interrupt them before she found out. Now that she only knew half the story, she wanted to know the rest.

"Because she loves me" Dean replied, Julie laughed. "What, I am serious. My name wasn't being used, so she took it as hers."

Julie linked her fingers through his on the hand that she was still holding. "See, I don't get that. Why don't your parents call you Dean?"

"Because to them I have always been Jake." he told her. Not many people knew this story. His family knew, and Fulton knew, he had been told on his first visit to Chicago, but no girl had ever been told the story, and he feared that she would the story is lame.

"Jake?"

Dean sighed. "Cheeky Jake Paddington-Richards"

"Where did they come up with that?" Julie asked.

"I made it up actually" Dean returned, he tried to stand, but Julie pulled him beck down so that they were sitting again. Dean tried to leave again. "Lets go to lunch"

Julie laughed. "No, I am sorry, you have started the story, now you have to finish it. Who is Cheeky Jake Paddington-Richards?"

"He was my imaginary friend" Dean sighed. He guess it wouldn't be that bad to tell her. As long as she didn't tell Beck, who in turn would tell all. "When I was little, I used to hate the fact that there were only two kids in the family. Me and Joanna. I didn't want a sister. Girls were icky. All I wanted was a brother, so, I created one."

"Jake Paddington-Richards?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, he was my best friend. But he had a cheeky streak" Dean smiled at the memory. "Liked to throw things around the room, make holes in the walls, say rude words. But mom, she always thought it was me."

"I get it" Julie grinned, humouring him a little. "She blamed you for what Jake was doing"

"Yes" Dean laughed and went on with the story. "One day Jake cut Joanna's hair, and when Mom yelled at me, I yelled back 'Mom, it wasn't me, it was Jake' " Dean paused and smiled a little. "From that day on, she called me Jake. Soon Dad started doing it, and then Joanna did it to…soon I was Jake to everyone, the school called me Jake, my team mates called me Jake."

"Then, when I was 8 and Joanna was just about to turn 7, we were out playing baseball with some neighbourhood kids. They were all calling me Jake, like they normally did, but they said that Joanna couldn't play because she had a girls name. So she replied with 'Just call me Dean' and it sort of stuck."

"Up until that stupid Don Tibbles guy came to recruit me for the games, I was Jake Portman, and she was Dean Portman." Dean sighed "Then I had to use my own name for the games, and we both sort of went back to being Dean an Joanna. But I think for the rest of my life I am going to be Jake to them, and I will always call her Dean"

"Wow" Julie whispered.

"Wow, that's really lame?" he asked, because that was what he was expecting her to tell him.

"Wow, that's a great story" Julie replied sincerely "Wish I had those sort of stories about my brothers."

"How many do you have?"

"Five" Julie replied, and Dean smiled, thanking who ever responsible (his parents, really) for not having any more children after Joanna. "David, Christopher, Bradley, Eddie and Nick…I think that you met Nick. He was with my mom at the games"

"Yeah, he was a good guy" Dean smiled. He looked at his watch, they had just wasted the first 20 minutes of their lunch, they should really get going. "We really should get to lunch"

Julie tightened her grip on his hand , stopping him from leaving. "There was something else I wanted to tell you"

"What's that?"

Come on Julie, you can do it. Three little words, just three little words, you can do it. "I…Well, I …"

"Hey, Julie, Dean, what are you two doing back here?" A voice interrupted, and they both looked up to see Meredith entering backstage. It seemed the story of their lives that they were always interrupted just before the good stuff happened. Dean glared at his teacher, she had no idea what she had just walked into. "Off to lunch, I have to lock up. Go, Go"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ah, dang it Meredith.

Kayla - Julie is really brave, braver then me. I am glad that you liked the bathroom conclusion. Two weeks is not a lot of time, but they can do it, of course they can do it. They are the Ducks. Well, Dean still hasn't heard it first hand, but he may soon, I don't know, I haven't planned that bit yet. He almost found out this chapter, but Meredith came in. Shy girl may come back… (I really need to give her a name, don't I?)

Amy77 - Nice wig. It suits you, really brings out the craziness in your eyes. You wait on the Beck and Fulton stuff? that's cool, cos I like writing it. It is a lot of fun. Hi Amy's nurse, you are really nice. My nurse is mean, she only lets me away to type.

Cake Eaters Girly 99 - more scenes like them in the shower? I will see what I can do. I had fun writing that, so I think I might try to add it in or something. Sappy love stories on Valentines day. I know that. I watched Pretty Woman, so that is why I made it Luis's fave film, because I was watching it as I wrote.

Pixie13 - You review small, I reply small. Lol. Anyway, hope you like this chapter.

HighOnLife - Did Old Man Walsh go to jail? Good question, I have no idea, I didn't think of it, I just wrote him out. Lets just for the sake of it say he did. Thanks for your review.