(A/N: I'm really sorry for taking such a long time to update… Guess I was busy about exams and jobs… But finally, found some time to settle down… Okay then, on with chapter 3, Dream V.S Reality.)

I almost died from reading the script.

Gosh. I wished I did not silently prayed to be the princess. Am I really going to memorize all those lines? Hell.

I dropped dead on my bed and stared at the ceiling, hugging the script in my arms.

I giggled.

' Romeo and Juliet'. I knew the story. It was a tragedy that made me cried. Yet, the idea of Ryoma-kun acting as ' Romeo' made me laughed. Snotty version of the romantic ' Romeo'.

My heart started beating real fast. I felt my face all flushed up. I stared at the ceiling as I wondered off into a daydream despite the bright crescent moon above the roofs.

I saw Ryoma-kun reaching out for my hand. I accepted it and danced with him. We were dancing. Dancing, dancing-

" I love you, Juliet, and this love shall never fade away!"

I giggled. I could not imagine how Ryoma-kun would say that. Gosh. He would probably feel humiliated.

Wait a minute.

We would be acting in front of the whole school.

Whole. Entire. School.

Gosh.

I slammed the script against my face.

" No, no, no! No good, Sakuno-chan! You're just reading the lines! Feel it! Say the lines with emotion, like you are Juliet herself! All right, let's start from the scene again!" Tomoka-chan cried as I sighed. This was bad. It was only the second scene and I was losing it. I could not act.

Hyorio-kun sighed and went back to his starting position.

" All right, action!" Tomoka-chan cried.

Hyorio-ku stepped forward, raised his arms and said his lines- a little way too dramatic.

" Oh Juliet, your magnificent elegance caught my heart, and I can't help but to fall in love with you!"

" Tomoka chan, is Hyorio-kun's acting really all right?" A classmate asked Tomoka-chan

" Hell no. He's just a replacement for Ryoma-sama since he is having his tennis practice. Let's just ignore his melodramatic-ness and concentrate in Sakuno chan's acting instead." Tomoka-chan replied in a professional tone.

" Sakuno chan, your line!" Tomoka cried.

" Ha, hai!" I search for the lines in my head and finally found what I was supposed to say. " Me, me too. I thought it was once-sided love." I read and expected Tomoka-chan to speak.

" Sakuno-chan, don't read! Feel it!" There. I knew it.

" Though you said so, but..." I muttered and sighed deeply. I guess this role was a little way too big for me.

" Mada mada dane."

My eyes went wide open. I blushed. Did I just hear Ryoma-kun's voice?

I sighed and closed my eyes. Ryoma-kun was having practice. It could not be him. Ryuzaki Sakuno! There was no help thinking about Ryoma-kun when you were having a drama practice!

" Ryoma-sama!" Did I just heard Tomoka-chan calling out for Ryoma-kun?

I looked up immediately and stared at the doorway.

Gosh.

Ryoma-kun.

' Romeo'.

My heart was beating so fast I almost could not breathe. My cheeks were hot.

Oh no.

Does that mean-

I had to act with him?

Oh God, let me die!

" Great! Ryoma-sama, you're finally here! Now we can finally see you in action!" Cried Tomoka-chan as the people around us cheered, except for Hyorio-kun, who was boasting that he should be ' Romeo'.

" Eh?" Ryoma-kun cried softly when he heard the news. " Act?" Ryoma-kun asked as Tomoka-chan nodded her head. " Why should I be acting?" Ryoma-kun showed a sign of irritation.

" Mou, Ryoma-sama! You don't have to shy! Come on! Show your talents to everyone here!"

" Eh?" Ryoma-kun cried, pretty loudly this time as Tomoka-chan started pulling him by his arm. "Wa, wait! I can't do it! Look for someone else!" Ryoma cried, almost pleadingly. " Ah!" He cried and looked at Hyorio-kun. " Hyorio! Look for Hyorio! He must have got at least two years of experiences in acting! Nah, Hyorio?"

" Our play will fall to pieces if Hyorio-kun's ' Romeo'." Tomoka replied immediately.

" It's okay, Tomoka-chan! You don't have to deny the fact that I'm good at-! Eck!" Hyorio stopped immediately when Tomoka-chan shot him a deadly glare.

Finally, Tomoka-chan pulled Ryoma kun to the center of the room beside me.

I could feel butterflies fluttering.

" Here's your script!" Said Tomoka-chan as she handed Ryoma-kun a stack of papers. " Ganbatte neh, Ryoma-sama?" (Translation, " Do your best 'kay, Ryoma?".) Tomoka-chan said it almost evilly and skipped back to her director seat.

Ryoma-kun stared at the script.

" Why should I be doing this?" He asked himself and looked pretty irritated.

Then, surprisingly, he flipped the scripts open.

" Very good, Ryoma-sama! Let's start from the beginning then, where Romeo does a small reflection about his love for Rosaline alone just before he entered the ball. Narrator, get ready to read! Sakuno-chan, get ready at your position! Benvolio and Mercutio! Dancers!" Tomoka-chan commanded with her director's tone.

All of the actors went into their places. I sighed. Must I really do this?

Everyone positioned themselves and prepared themselves as Tomoka-chan started counting down.

" 3, 2, 1! Action!" Tomoka-chan cried.

" Once upon a time, there were two kingdoms. These two Kingdoms were against each other and hated each other very much. There was this young Prince, Romeo, who was in love with a lady of beauty named Rosaline who was engaged. He was encouraged to go to a ball, dance with the ladies, so as to look for a beauty that would make him forget about Rosaline. There and then, Romeo met Juliet and the tragedy begun." The narrator finished reading and people entered the 'stage', dancing.

Ryoma-kun, Benvolio and Mercutio entered the stage, standing at the left corner of the 'stage'.

" Can't I go back now?" Ryoma-kun said coldly, as how he usually would.

Benvolio put his arm around Romeo and smirked. " No. Since you're here, why not dance with the ladies? There would definitely be a beauty that you might fall in love with." Benvolio encouraged.

Mercutio patted Benvolio on his shoulder. " Let's leave him alone. Romeo, try to forget about Rosaline and enjoy yourself."

Benvolio and Mercutio exit. Romeo sighed and looked away.

" I'll never be able to look for another love, so lovely as dear Rosaline." Romeo said coldly, as if his heart felt cold from all the hurt.

I looked around and found my cue. It was my turn to enter to the middle.

I was shocked. So shocked. Was that really Ryoma-kun?

I stared at the other actors. How? How did they act? I could never do so.

I-

I could not be Juliet.

I sighed. It was the forth day already and I was not making any progress. My retarded-ness had failed Ryoma-kun.

I recalled on all the rehearsals I had with Ryoma-kun. Gosh! I felt so embarrassed! I felt like I was stripped stark naked before everyone, especially Ryoma-kun. I just stood there and did nothing! Gosh! I underestimated my stupidity.

I sighed. Why did God choose me to be the female lead? Why? Just why?

I walked along the school corridor, with my script in my hands, and read it line by line as I walked. It had been four hours since I had started memorizing my lines. I guess I had somehow got them memorized but oh, to act them out? Plus I was a klutz! I was so going to ruin the whole play.

My eyes stuck onto the script as I entered my classroom. God, would you kindly send someone to teach me how to act? I was dying!

" I can't do it!" I cried and put down my script. I was so going to humiliate myself on the performance.

I suddenly realized someone else was in the classroom and was staring at me.

God, ' Romeo'. Ryoma-kun!

I blushed. When did he appear?

" Good, good evening, Ryoma kun." I greeted shyly. Why among everyone I had to see him? Gosh, I could feel butterflies fluttering.

" Un." Ryoma-kun replied coolly and continued packing his bag. Feeling anxious, I rushed to my seat and started packing my bag.

I was so conscience about his existence in the classroom. There was no one else other than us. His presence alone made me breathless. I had to pretend that nothing happened, that he was not affecting me.

Hey, wait a minute.

I could act.

I mean, I was always acting cool when he was around but deep inside of me, I was very nervous. I guessed I could actually act.

I jumped in my seat when Ryoma-kun stood up abruptly. I looked down, blushing away. I must not let him see me blush. I continued packing my bag, until he suddenly spoke to me.

" Want to go through the lines?" He suggested. My heart skipped a beat.

" Um." I hoped he would not realize I was blushing.

" Let's go then." He said and started walking out of the classroom. I hurriedly stuffed everything into my bag, grabbed it and ran towards Ryoma-kun.

" Where are we going?" I asked Ryoma-kun, feeling a tint of excitement in me, my face hot.

" Basketball court." He replied, not looking back. I followed closely behind him. While we walked, I dared not look up and kept staring at the ground. This felt like a dream. Thank God it was not.

It seemed like eternity before we reached the court. We put down out bags on the ground and took out our scripts. We walked towards the middle of the court, my heart was pumping at the rate of a million and I continued flushing. " Where, where shall we start?" I asked shyly while Ryoma-kun looked through the pages.

" How about the part where Romeo was talking to the masked Juliet?" Ryoma-kun suggested. I simply nodded my head.

Ryoma-kun moved one step away from me and put down his script. I immediately did that too. He took out his hand and bowed. " May I?" He asked.

I felt like Juliet and I liked it. I blushed shyly and took his hand. " My pleasure." I replied. He led us to the middle of the 'stage' and we started dancing.

The moment we danced, I felt like I was flying. Oh! If only time could stop. My heart raced excitedly when our eyes met. We danced for what seemed like hours to me and Ryoma-kun spoke. " May I have the honor to know who you are?" Ryoma-kun asked calmly.

" Ah. Eto, it's a masked dance. We should not reveal our identity." I replied, stumbling at my lines. Ryoma-kun seemed unaffected by my stupidity and continued.

" Ah, I see. But I know your lady must have an interest to know my name as well, don't you?" Ryoma kun asked.

I blushed. Ryoma-kun would never flirt with me like this. I feel shy. Embarrassed.

" I'm Romeo."

" Juliet."

Oh my gosh. I could not believe myself. We just finished going through the acting together! Gosh! I must be very red now.

Now, we were on the bus, on our way home. Ryoma-kun looked out at the window. I stared at my fingers while I played with them. Ryoma-kun was a really good actor. And I, gosh, I felt like a joker.

I peeped at Ryoma-kun and looked at my fingers again. Am I really going to act with him? Is this real? I asked myself and smiled to myself. I could feel my face hotter than usual.

Wait a minute.

I remember Romeo and Juliet's got a kissing scene.

" EH?" I screamed, totally forgotten the fact that we were on bus. Ryoma-kun jumped immediately and stared at me. Everyone else stared at me too. I blushed. " I, I, I'm sorry!" I apologized softly as I blushed in embarrassment.

I continued looking at my fingers while having the insane thought of us kissing together. Gosh! Since when have I become so desperate?

I took a glance at Ryoma-kun and spoke. " Ryoma-kun, I'm really sorry. I know I'm a bad actor and I probably gave you loads of problems. I'm sorry-"

" Acting skills can be improved." Ryoma-kun said calmly, his eyes still staring at the sceneries.

I was stunned for a moment at Ryoma-kun's reply. Was he actually encouraging me? I smiled. " Ah, arigatou." I continued smiling for the next two minutes and felt like I was dreaming. Being able to act with Ryoma-kun, to sit beside him and talk to him was a wonderful dream came true.

" Are you free tomorrow?" Ryoma-kun asked and broke my chain of thoughts. I tried recall if there was any program I had tomorrow after school.

" Hai." I replied. Ryoma-kun continued staring out of the window.

" Maybe you could come over and practice." Ryoma-kun suggested.

" Hai." I replied.

Wait.

WHAT?

Gosh! Did I just agreed? GOSH!

Ryoma-kun stood up and alighted the bus with his short goodbye while I stared into space.

Oh-my-goodness.

Was that reality?

(A/N: All right! Done! Hope you've enjoyed this chapter ya? Sorry for the late update. Please do drop a comment before you go. RyoSaku rawk! Xd Thanks people!)