This chapter was sort of fun but it's really slow. It's more of a filler chapter, because the actual stuff that happens will come in later chapters. So- please enjoy it! Thanks to all you guys for the favs, follows and reviews!
"All of you who signed up for sets, lighting and music, I have your names here on the list. When you hear your name, please come sign your name on the permission slip for the theater performance," Ms. Tara said. "When you hear your name. Now, Hiccup... Merida... Felix... Guy.. Nod.. Calhoun..." Hearing Calhoun's name, Merida turned to look at the scowling blond girl in surprise. She had said she wasn't going to participate, after all. Ms. Tara continued. "Ruffnut.. Tuffnut... Ralph... Raoul... Once-ler... Rapunzel... Mavis..." Merida followed Hiccup towards the permission sheet signing, lining up next to all the students.
"Get your hands of my pen!" Tuffnut grabbed a black pen from his twin sister Ruffnut's hands.
"There's like a million pens!" Ruffnut tried to snatch it back from her brother, but Tuffnut stubbornly signed his name, holding onto it.
"Take that one. It has red on it. Girls like red," Tuffnut tilted his head to indicate a red pen next to the clipboard. Fuming, Ruffnut grabbed the black pen out of Tuffnut's hand after he signed and shoved it up his nose.
"Oops," she said sarcastically. "Now this one's got blood on it." Merida decided to sign her name with the red pen after the twin's little escapade, Hiccup and the rest of the kids following suit.
"And now for the auditioning people!" Ms. Tara said, flipping to a new page. "Please, come up and join me when you hear your name so I may pair you up for auditions. For the role of Juliet, please come up here Rapunzel... Mavis... Lucille... Merida..."
"Merida?!" Guy turned to his redheaded friend. "You signed up for Juliet?"
"No!" Merida insisted, her face bright red. "Someone must've signed me up for a joke, that's all!" Hiccup could see his best friend was embarrassed, and wanted to help her out. Guy was jeering to Merida, who looked very, very ashamed.
"That was me," Hiccup interjected, and Guy and Merida turned to look at him in surprise. "I signed you up because I thought it'd be funny. I'm sorry Merida." Merida gaped openly at Hiccup, since she knew that he was lying. Guy elbowed Hiccup, crowing what a great prank it was.
"Dude, that was so epic of you!" Guy laughed. "I can see her now, playing the role in a huge puffy dress..."
"Shut up!" Merida barked. "I'm just goin'- to- uh- tell Ms. Tara I don' want to do it." Her hesitant yet anxious face told Hiccup otherwise, so he decided to charge in and help her out again.
"I'll do it with you," Hiccup offered. Merida blinked.
"What?" she asked.
"I dragged you into the mess, I'll help you out," Hiccup said. "Come on, I'll ask Ms. Tara if it's not too late to sign up for a role." Merida gave Hiccup a grateful look, even if Guy hadn't the slightest idea what was going on.
"Thanks, I guess," Merida said, her voice softening. Remembering Guy was there, she hardened and punched Hiccup in the arm lightly. "But don' sign me up anything ever again!"
"Alright, I won't," Hiccup played along. "Let's go." The two best friends went up to the various kids arranging by Ms. Tara, all ready to audition.
"Weird," Guy commented.
"Alright, I'm going to be pairing up everyone and having them read lines from the play," Ms. Tara said. "I've prepared the pairs randomly, and no switching of partners. I want to see how well you adapt to each other in the theatre."
"This is stupid," Merida crossed her arms. "I thought I was goin' to just read a line or somethin'..."
"Here are my pairs," Ms. Tara continued. "Felix and Lucille. Rapunzel and Hiccup. Jack and Merida..."
"Too bad we couldn't do it together," Hiccup lamented to Merida, but Merida had an odd blush staining her cheeks.
"Umm, yeah. Sure," Merida said, but she really didn't care. She had her eyes on Jack, who was smiling at Merida as he approached.
"Well, I should go find my partner," Hiccup said.
"Yeah, yeh do that," Merida said, as Jack joined them.
"I guess you're the Juliet to my Romeo," Jack said. The words he said made Merida blush wildly. "Want to go get our line from Ms. Tara, or should I?"
"Erm, we could go do it together," Merida blurted. "If that's okay, I mean.."
"Sure Red," Jack smirked. "Let's go?"
"Yeah, see yeh Hiccup..." Merida said. Jack and Merida walked away from Hiccup, leaving him seeking Rapunzel alone.
"See you," Hiccup offered weakly, but Merida had already gone out of earshot with Jack. Rapunzel, meanwhile, had found Hiccup from across the room.
"Hi, partner!" Rapunzel said with a bright smile as she bounded over to the brunette boy. "I have our lines. You'll play Romeo, and I'll play Juliet. Okay with you?"
"Yeah, it's okay with me," Hiccup said, his eyes still on Jack and Merida, who seemed to be having a great time together.
"Great, we're almost up!" Rapunzel beamed, as Felix and Lucille finished their lines.
"Wonderful!" Ms. Tara smiled at those two. "Jack and Merida, you're up." Rapunzel and Hiccup turned to watch their friends up by Ms. Tara, as did most everyone in the classroom. It wasn't everyday that Merida participated in drama. Plus Jack being an object of desire of many students in the classroom only added to the interest.
"Oh then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do," Jack read aloud from the paper, his hand gestures adequate and such for the role. "They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair." He took Merida's hand in his, making the redhead flush. A girl's dreamy sigh was audibly heard from their audience of peers.
"Umm.." Merida stammered, then tried to hide her red cheeks and read her line. "Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake." She tried to pretend that Jack's hand on hers didn't affect her at all, but it wasn't working. Hiccup's suspicion of his best friend's crush was confirmed.
"Then move not while my prayer's effect I take," Jack said, clutching Merida's hand tighter. "Thus from my lips, by thine my sin is purged." This was the part of the scene where Romeo and Juliet kiss for the first time, but instead, Jack brought Merida's hand to his mouth and pressed his lips to her fingers.
"Wonderful!" Ms. Tara said to them, as Jack let go of Merida's hand and Merida looked like a tomato, her face was that red. Hiccup couldn't help but smile at his best friend's discomfort, she was never this off guard.
"They were good," Rapunzel said in awe. "Weren't they?"
"Hmm?" Hiccup said, catching Rapunzel's sentence at the last moment. "Oh, yeah, they were great."
"Ready?" Rapunzel asked her partner, smiling widely at Hiccup.
"Ready as I'll ever be," Hiccup sighed.
"Rapunzel and Hiccup, you're up," Ms. Tara said. "If you please?" Rapunzel grabbed Hiccup's hand, pulling him after her to the front of the classroom. Hiccup felt his own face aflame, because Rapunzel was also a person of interest of the classroom. His classmates waited expectantly for both of them to start.
"If they do see thee, they will murther thee," Rapunzel began passionately, looking at Hiccup with the greatest act of affection he'd ever seen someone pull off.
"Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye than twenty of their swords," Hiccup read his line, but not as well as Rapunzel did. He said it a lot lamer. "Look thou but sweet, and I am proof against their enmity."
"I would not for the world they saw thee here," Rapunzel said sweetly, reaching over to touch Hiccup on the shoulder. Hiccup smiled at Rapunzel, as Ms. Tara told them how wonderful they were.
"Okay, Rick and Fiona, you two are up," Ms. Tara said. Rapunzel and Hiccup retreated back to where their friends were, setting the paper with the lines there on Ms. Tara's desk.
"You were great Rapunzel," Mavis told Rapunzel, giving her a hug.
"You're so getting that role," Eep agreed with Mavis. Rapunzel smiled at her friends.
"You guys are so great!" she giggled, tossing her arms around her two friends.
Hiccup approached Jack and Merida, who were waiting for Hiccup to come to where they were standing.
"You did good Haddock," Jack smiled teasingly at his friend.
"No, I didn't," Hiccup sighed, standing by them to watch the other auditions.
"I know but I'm obligated to say so about you," Jack smiled. Hiccup frowned. Merida laughed at Hiccup's facial expression.
"You and Merida were pretty good though," Hiccup offered, but his voice had a bitter edge to it. Merida turned beet red at his mention of their audition, but Jack just gave Hiccup a confident smile.
"Well, let's just call it payback for Guy and Nod trying to set me up for failure," he said. "Like you did with Merida?"
"Oh, yeah," Hiccup said awkwardly. "Like I did to Merida. But she was great, you know, so to speak..."
"I was not Haddock," Merida elbowed her best friend in mock annoyance. Hiccup was thrown slightly off balance by her bump, but just smiled slightly at her shove.
"Didn't expect you to be the prankster type," Jack raised his eyebrows.
"I've been hanging out with you too long," Hiccup said teasingly. Jack shrugged with his usual crooked yet smug smile.
"The auditions were great!" Ms. Tara said with a wide smile, bringing all the student's attentions back on her. "The cast list will be determined soon, all of you were so wonderful at your line reading!"
"Great," Hiccup muttered to himself. From across the room, Rapunzel gave Hiccup an enthusiastic thumbs up.
"I got two presents for Flynn for our anniversary," Rapunzel told Eep and Mavis as the three of them walked outside of the drama classroom. "A CD and a painting. Before I give them to him, though, I really want to run them past Merida."
"Why?" Eep asked.
"She's more knowledgeable when it comes to boys," Rapunzel said. "I mean, she's friends with a lot of them."
"Like that cute boy Jack Frost," Eep winked at Rapunzel. "Weren't both of you dancing at Rick's party?"
"Yeah," Rapunzel said, in a happy-go-lucky manner like it didn't even faze her.
"He might have a thing for you," Mavis smiled. "You should go out with him."
"I don't even know him!" Rapunzel laughed at her friends. "Besides, I'm dating Flynn." At the mention of Flynn, both Eep and Mavis made faces like they had tastes something sour.
"And you guys should break up already," Eep said, a hostile tone creeping into her voice. "Two years? Unless you want to marry him, I'd say it's time to break it off."
"Well..." Rapunzel blushed. Mavis and Eep caught on, seeing Rapunzel's shy look.
"No. Way. You're still a sophomore!" Mavis scolded. "You can't be thinking of marrying Flynn!"
"He's the first guy to ever get me, you know?" Rapunzel ignored Mavis's warnings. "I love him. And if I have to, I'll wait for him. As long as it takes."
"Rapunzel..." Eep looked towards Mavis. "We can't let you do this. You have your whole life ahead of you, plus Flynn is your first boyfriend. How many times does that ever work out?"
"I know, but..." Rapunzel sighed, hugging her arms to her sides. "I really think he's the one." Mavis opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but Eep sensed that Mavis was going to bring up a sore subject with Rapunzel and clamped a hand over Mavis's mouth.
"Hey!" Mavis exclaimed, her yell muffled by Eep's fingers.
"You should go find Merida then, run your gifts past her for that special guy," Eep said. "Me and Mavis will see you at lunch."
"Okay!" Rapunzel beamed happily, glad her friends approved. "I'll see you two later." Mavis and Eep watched Rapunzel bound away with a spring in her step, almost skipping through the hallways towards where Merida was conversing with her friend Violet.
"We can't tell her, not now," Eep told Mavis glumly. "You'd break her heart."
"And when she finds out on her own, she's also going to find out that we knew and didn't tell her anything," Mavis said, the scowl in her voice evident. "Eep, we've got to get this delusional image of the perfect boyfriend out of her head! She thinks her soulmate is Flynn of all people!"
"She wants to marry him when she gets out of high school, and you want to just shove it in her faces that the boy she loves has been cheating on her for years?" Eep said, her voice raising. "You know we shouldn't do that, Mavis!"
"It's called reality, and her mother has done a good enough job keeping her out of it as it is," Mavis said. "We need to help her!"
"She doesn't need help, she just needs to break up with Flynn!" Eep said. "We just have to convince her that breaking up with Flynn is something she wants, not because he's been sneaking around behind her back." Mavis sighed, rubbing her forehead in thought.
"Alright, we can try that, but I doubt it'll work," she finally said. "She sure ranks Flynn up high in her book."
"So operation break up the happy couple is a go?" Eep beamed.
"Somehow it sounds like you've planned that or something," Mavis said.
"What can I say?" Eep shrugged her shoulders. "I've got a thing for breaking people up." Mavis couldn't help it, she let a laugh out in that part.
"Merida!" Rapunzel said, leaping towards the redheaded girl and Violet. "I need your help."
"Yeh do," Merida agreed. "Let's start with your music taste." Violet snickered, elbowing Merida in her side.
"Not that," Rapunzel smiled at Merida's playful jab. "I need your help with figuring out which present to give Flynn. I have-" Rapunzel rummaged around in her pink messenger bag, and fished out two wrapped presents. "- a One Direction CD and a painting I made of us." Violet pursed her lips, knowing exactly what Merida was about to say.
"You got a One Direction CD?" Merida said, a disgusted look on her face. Violet chuckled, shaking her straight black hair out of her eyes.
"Yeah. Is that... is that bad?" Rapunzel asked fearfully.
"Bad!" Merida exclaimed. Violet laughed, shaking her head again. "One Direction is not somethin' yeh give a guy, unless you hate him!"
"So, I should return the CD and give him the painting?" Rapunzel asked, setting the CD back in her bag and zipping it up. Violet gave another guffaw, all too familiar with what Merida would say next.
"No. You should burn the CD and then give him the painting," Merida said. Rapunzel laughed ruefully, shaking her head in mock despair.
"Alright. Thanks Merida!" Rapunzel said. "I'm going to go find him now."
"Yeh do that," Merida said, smiling as her blond friend ran off in search of her boyfriend. Violet watched Rapunzel leave with a sad look on her face. Merida noticed Violet looked down. "Is- somethin' the matter Vi?" she asked.
"Nothing, it's just-" Violet shook her head. "Rapunzel's so naive when it comes to Flynn, poor girl."
"What about 'im?" Merida asked. Violet looked at her friend in surprise, but Merida just gave her a blank look.
"Wow. You really don't know, do you?" Violet stuck her hand in her jeans pocket.
"Don' know what?" Merida asked, impatience seeping into her words. If there was something the fiery Scot hated, it was being out of things. Violet glanced at Rapunzel to make sure the cheerful blond was out of earshot before leaning closer to Merida.
"You know, the fact that Flynn's been dating other girls during the whole time he's been dating Rapunzel?" Violet said in a low voice. Merida's eyebrows raised up in anger.
"Why, that little-!" Merida said loudly, angrily tossing her backpack more comfortably on her shoulders and preparing to walk down the hallway. "When I find him, he's a dead man..."
"You can't!" Violet jumped in front of Merida's way, splaying her hands out to stop her. Merida stopped short, glaring at the shorter raven-haired girl with a surprised demeanor.
"Why can't I?" Merida asked, crossing her arms. Violet glanced around again to make sure no one could hear her, then turned back to Merida.
"Everyone's agreed to hide this from Rapunzel," she said. Merida inhaled sharply, nostrils flaring like an angry bull.
"Who is this everyone?" she asked fiercely.
"Umm... a lot of people..." Violet stammered. Merida looked like she didn't quite believe her. Violet looked away from Merida guiltily.
"That is so stupidly ridiculous that yeh should know that I'm going to find that guy and mess him up!" Merida said loudly. "I'll castrate him if I have to, but he's goin' to pay for makin' my friend feel horrible!"
"She doesn't know!" Violet said. "You can't put her through this, Merida, do you want to see her broken?" Merida stopped, knowing Violet was right. Violet's eyes pleaded with the redhead, and in them, Merida could see that Rapunzel would be as helpless as a deer in headlights if she told her.
"Argh!" Merida snapped. "Fine. I won't tell her. But I will 'accidentally' hit Flynn with the volleyball in PE."
"That's a start," Violet let a relieved sigh slip. Merida really wanted to punch something at the moment, Flynn most ideally. But instead she settled for a nearby locker.
"Hey!" Penny, a girl Merida vaguely knew from math class, said. "You just dented my locker!" Merida just shook it off and continued walking with Violet, ignoring Penny's outburst.
"You've got issues," Violet muttered.
Not my best chapter, just because. Why is it that my stories have no plot...? I liked the Jack and Merida part, because Jarida is cute. :) I ship it, yes, but eh, I like other ships better. *CoughlikeJackunzelcough* There were some new characters mentioned/used in here! Let's name 'em!
Raoul from A Monster in Paris
Ralph from Wreck it Ralph
Ruffnut and Tuffnut from How to Train your Dragon
Fiona from Shrek
Penny from Bolt
Aaaand that's it. If you'd like to leave some reviews, feel free to! They keep me motivated. :)