Disclaimer: As of the other chapters.
Author's Message: Pardon me for the hiatus. I had a deadline to meet for a 5500-word giganta of an essay project, and I have had something of a meltdown recently. A short chapter, too short for the wait that you guys had to go through, but a necessary interlude to the next one. Do enjoy! And thank you for keeping with me!
Chapter 13: Wherefore art thou, Romeo?
Anything that could go wrong would go wrong. Was that not Murphy's Law?
Tyson's dress was found to be missing and it sent the whole dressing room into a flurry. Julia was screaming and some of the other actors went around searching for it, clad only in their breeches or corsets. Strangely, Tyson himself was not too fazed by it, seeming a little preoccupied with something. Besides, Julia had bade him, very fiercely, to not move from his spot. So, he only looked around the room at everyone as they peeked under tables, under perfume bottles, and into other impossible places, before turning back to the mirror and staring at his reflection.
This was the last night of his performance as Juliet and he ought to be feeling a bittersweet sort of excitement since it was all going to end—the time he spent with the cast and crew, all of them having been through a thick experience, and those few magical hours on stage when he was someone else, someone who was a young woman. However, something weighed heavy on his mind and he could not find it in himself to feel the least bit excited.
"Ah!" Julia's cry was the cue for him to focus on the situation at hand. To his quiet relief, Julia came to his side with the dress. Apparently someone had packed it wrongly, putting the dress where the maids' dresses were and not in its usual place of honour, in its own special box.
"Now, let's get back to transforming you shall we?" Julia asked cheerily.
In the midst of all the powdering, breeching and corseting, all the fluff and feathers, Tyson saw himself transform and set his mind to being Juliet for one last night.
Brooklyn had a dressing room all to himself. He particularly requested it. Surely the lead actor and the president of the club could not be sharing a room with all those other actors, exposing his sacred body to their admiring scrutiny. He never heard of such a thing! So a room for himself it was and in it, right when the common dressing room was in panic, he was being costumed in his Romeo garb by his very own dresser, (someone who helped him dress, and not the furniture).
He was only about to put on the shirt when the door to the room rattled and burst open to reveal the hulking figure of Spencer in the doorway, holding on to the doorknob. He stepped into the room and behind him followed a few others: Tala, Bryan, Ray and finally, calmly walking in with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes fixed with the glare that he was famous for, Kai.
"What is the meaning of this?" Brooklyn demanded, quickly closing his open shirt to protect his modesty.
Kai turned around and closed the door with little hurry.
Tala spoke up as he took a step towards the suddenly vulnerable Brooklyn, grinning impishly as he spoke, "Take off your shirt and step out of your drawers."
The boy who was helping Brooklyn with his costume took in the four rather menacing-looking boys barring the way to the door and stepped away from Brooklyn before trying his best to blend into the wall as far away from the boys as the room would allow. Brooklyn, however, remained rooted where he stood, staring at Kai and gang with growing fear.
"W…what?" he exclaimed, holding his shirt close even tighter. "Y…you're not serious, right? Y…y…you're all going to do that t…to me? Y…you'll be—"
No one had seen Brooklyn anything but serene. However, right then, Brooklyn actually sounded hysterical. Tala and Bryan rolled their eyes and stepped up to him.
"We're not going to gang-bang you or anything. Trust me, none of us would be tempted even if you're the last man on earth and there are no goats. Now, take off your clothes!" said Tala.
"No! I protest! I—"
Brooklyn couldn't have said anything else. Not with all of them, Tala, Bryan, Ray, Spencer and Kai, surrounding him like that. The next thing he knew was the door to the small janitor's cupboard slamming shut in his face and that he was standing in his boxers in that dark, claustrophobic space. His hands were bound behind his back and he was gagged for good measure. He could kick but that would mean having to fall gracelessly onto the hard, dirty floor. Oh, what was a prima donna to do?
Tala wiped his hands against each other and said cheerfully to Spencer, who had helped him drag the Drama Club president to the closet, "Well, that takes care of him. I've wanted to do that my whole life."
Back in the dressing room, Kai was contemplating the costume because honestly, he did not have any idea as to how he was to go about putting them on…and in what order. A slight movement in the corner made him look and he perceived, for the first time, the boy who had somehow become Brooklyn's personal dresser. The poor boy visibly flinched when he saw Kai turn to him. The dual-haired young man had quite a reputation in the school and from what the boy heard, he was not someone to be displeased.
"Hey," Kai called. The boy flinched even more visibly. Kai stared at the boy, thinking for the first time how he had such a negative effect on others who did not know him. He took a deep breath and attempted to make his voice gentler. He thought of the play and why he was there. It all came out easier than he thought.
"There is someone out there in the play, okay? I need to play Romeo tonight," he told the boy. He saw the boy straighten up, the initial expression of fear slowly being replaced by a quiet understanding. The boy took a step up to Kai and nodded. Then he got to work.
As it turned out Brooklyn and Kai weren't all that much different in terms of size. Brooklyn was taller but a few quick stitches by the boy and Kai was wearing the costume as if he had been wearing it all his life.
There was a round of applause from behind him. Kai looked in the mirror at his friends behind him.
"Looking good, Kai!" Tala drawled, having returned with Spencer while Kai was being dressed. "Tyson cannot refuse!"
Kai was about to return Tala's comment with a cutting remark but a knock on the door interrupted him. The door opened and a head poked through. Romero was about to speak but when he saw who was in the Romeo costume, words died in his throat for a moment. Everyone thought he was going to protest, create a scene and demand for Brooklyn. They were all ready to say something in Kai's defense. However, Romero's eyes narrowed and with that sly, knowing smile, he looked almost sleazy.
"Ah! Mister Hiwatari," he said. "I didn't know you act!"
Kai would direly love to be rude but this man had the authority to bar him from going onstage and right then he needed to be onstage. Romero probably knew this, along with some other things too, being the perceptive literature and drama teacher that he was.
When Kai chose not to speak, Romero stepped into the room and his demeanour changed to a seriousness no one had seen before. Even Tala could not find anything to say to it.
"Do you know the script, Mister Hiwatari?" Romero asked.
This was no time to want to seem tough. Kai returned Romero's gaze with equal sobriety and replied, "Every word."
Satisfied with the answer, Romero smiled his usual smile and opened the door wider as an invitation for Kai to step out.
"The cast are all waiting backstage. You need to get going," he told Kai before adding, "break a leg."
Kai started to walk to the door but Romero interjected, leaning in and added, "Oh! Act 1, Scene 5."
The dual-haired young man understood immediately and started to walk again. Only this time, an uncertain voice called out to him. He stopped once more and turned to look at the boy who had helped him with the costume.
"Uh…Mister…" the boy began.
"It's Kai," Kai said.
"Yeah…break a leg."
The slight curve of Kai's lips could have been a smile, a mere contemplation on his part, or an attempt to quell the butterflies in his stomach. Actions could be hard to decipher, so Kai only said curtly, "Thank you" with an affirmative nod before stepping out of the room.
Backstage all the actors were waiting, rolling their shoulders and generally getting into gear to perform. Kai craned his neck to spot a certain bluenette in a gown of gold but could not spot him anywhere. He tried not to let it get to him. All he needed to do was focus on becoming Romeo. He could feel the odd fluttering in his stomach. He had never felt like this before for certainly he had never been in a situation where he had to appear on stage and act...in front of so many people.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Kai whipped his head to look at the speaker. It turned out to be Garland, playing Tybalt.
"Where's Brooklyn?" Garland demanded, staring down sharply at Kai. "Don't tell me you are going to act?"
"Brooklyn's busy. I'm Romeo for tonight," Kai said simply.
Garland opened his mouth to say something but the announcement for everyone to switch off their cell phones from beyond the stage curtains indicated that the play was about to begin. The actors hissed out last minutes 'break-a-legs' and even Garland patted Kai on the back with the whispered reply: "Whatever. Break legs and don't screw up."
So began Act 1, Scene 1 with the servants of the house of Capulet kicking start:
"Gregory, on my word, we'll not carry coals…."
Brooklyn arrived backstage in a state of fury and clad only in his boxers. He swore that his family would hear of what that Hiwatari had done to him. He intended fully to retrieve his costume and play the part of Romeo but with all the time he took to get someone to hear the racket he was making in the janitor's closet and let him out, he had arrived to hear Kai's voice saying Romeo's lines with perfect ease:
"Why, such is love's transgression.
Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,"
He turned to Romero to try to elicit some sort of sympathy for his plight, or teacher-ly anger at the blatant demonstration of rebellion on the part of Kai and his gang. But all he got out of Romero was a finger held up to lips, desiring him to be quiet.
This was not to be borne! He, BROOKLYN, the President of the Drama Club and their best actor at that, stuck backstage with no role to play? He cast his eyes about the backstage area. He spotted the boy, Kane Yamashita, in his Paris costume and his rapier. A thought crossed his mind and he had to smile at his own brilliance.
He strode up to the boy, who turned to him even before he was close.
"You are on backstage duty today," Brooklyn informed the boy.
Next Chapter: "Romeo" and "Juliet"