Tori was one of the first students to come into Sikowitz's class. For all the other classes, she had walked with Jade. Now she wanted to surprise her. Carefully moving around the other students, she slid into the seat Jade normally took.
Tori wasn't sure why she wanted to do this, beyond the fact that it seemed fun. She had pulled this trick once before, and Jade's reaction hadn't been what she expected. Instead of pushing or yelling at her, Jade had worked with her, yelling at Tori's butt to get out of her chair. Maybe that was why she wanted to do it again: to tease her new girlfriend. She hoped she would get a similar reaction to last time.
Other students began to take their seats. She saw Beck and Cat come in together, holding hands. Cat moved two chairs so they could sit by each other. Robbie came in soon after, with Rex in his arms. He froze, staring at Beck and Cat's joined hands.
"Come on!" Rex's voice was even more pretentious than usual. "Step on it, meatbag!"
Robbie nodded, but didn't say a word. He moved to the front of the class and sat in the first row. The rest of the class poured in, in groups of two or three, taking their seats and keeping their voices down.
Jade was one of the last people to come into Sikowitz's class. She didn't bother with sneaking through the door; she just burst in. She marched up to Tori.
"Tori! Why is your butt in my chair?" Jade cast a disdainful look on Tori.
Tori smirked. "I don't know. You're going to have to talk to my butt about that."
Tori leaned over, bringing her butt up to Jade's face. Jade rolled her eyes, grabbed Tori by the waist, pulled her over to a different chair, and shoved her back down. Tori's eyes went wide as Jade pushed her down.
"Jade, handle your friends on your own time."
Jade looked up to see Sikowitz standing on the stage, holding a coconut in his hand and wearing a slightly impatient frown.
Jade took her own seat. "She's not my friend. Not that you'd have any experience with friends..."
The class burst into laughter, and Sikowitz drowned his embarrassment in coconut milk.
When they were done laughing, Sikowitz put his empty coconut shell on his shelf. "Alright, alright, alright. Settle down. We're going to start a new unit. A unit of emotion, passion, and gripping storytelling. A unit that will cause you to cry tears of joy or tears of sorrow. A unit that covers material used by the greatest playwrights of our generation. Yes. We will be studying the great romance (drumroll please): Romeo and Juliet!"
Andre raised his hand. "I think we did that play already."
Beck nodded in agreement. "We have. Five times!"
Sikowitz frowned as he turned his back to the class. Once he had composed himself, he turned back around as if nothing had happened. "Yes! We will be studying the great romantic play, drumroll..."
The students stomped their feet.
"The Taming of the Shrew!"
There were murmurs of approval for the students. While the Taming of the Shrew was not one of the most well known Shakespearian plays, they had gone through it enough times to know the plot well.
Sikowitz paced back and forth before continuing. "Now, before we even begin to look at this treasure trove of plot devices, before we dissect this carcass of characters, before anybody so much as utters the phrase, 'There's small choice in rotten apples,' I have an announcement I need to make. In three days, there will be an open audition after school in this very room. Some very important people will be here, casting for the new season at the Broadview Theatre. There will be a sign up sheet in the hall."
Tori raised her hand. "What's an open audition?"
The entire class shook their heads at her remark.
Andre turned in his chair to face Tori. "An open audition is an audition anybody can go to. For most auditions, you need to have an agent."
"Oh. Thanks, Andre."
"Now, of course, when you have a romance, emotions are through the roof. Hearts are beating, cheeks are blushing, legs are-"
"Wide open!" Rex shouted.
The class burst into laughter again, with Andre and Robbie the only ones not overtaken by a crude giggling fit. Robbie tried to scold Rex, but he was drowned out by laughter.
Sikowitz took a deep breath. "Shaking and buckling! I was going to say shaking and buckling, and you teenagers go in with your dirty little minds and made it about sex. You kids will take anything and make it into a sex joke."
Rex's expression couldn't change, but from his voice it was clear if he could, he would be grinning from ear to ear. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
Sikowitz grumbled to himself before continuing the lesson. "Anyway, we are going to start off with an expression of romance. It is something simple. It is something sweet, and makes all fairytale dreams come true."
Cat squealed with excitement. "Wishes!"
"Not quite." Sikowitz shook his head, chuckling."While wishing is in a lot of fairytales, that's not what I want to talk about. I want to teach you all about kissing."
A retching noise came from somewhere in the back of the room.
"A good kiss scene can turn an okay scene into a great one, while a bad kiss can turn an excellent scene into a great big steaming pile of botched chemistry. With this in mind, today we will be practicing stage kissing. The trick with a stage kiss is to make it look real, so I need you to do a real kiss first."
Sikowitz walked to the back of his stage to pick up a shoebox filled with slips of white paper. He turned to face the class. Holding the box above his head, he pulled out two of the slips. He set the shoebox on the stage before reading out the names.
"Jade West!" Sikowitz held out the first slip for the students to see.
Jade stood up as Sikowitz opened the second slip, holding it out for the students without even glancing at it. "Tori Vega!"
Everybody stared at the slip of paper. The handwriting was so unclear it was hard to tell what it said. Still, Tori slowly stood up. She locked eyes with Jade, who was moving even slower than she was. Jade flashed a nervous smile. Tori shrugged and tried to pick up her pace. Jade continued to move at the same sluggish speed.
"Come on, you two. Get up here and get kissy!" Sikowitz tapped his foot.
Tori reached the edge of the stage and turned back, waiting for her girlfriend to reach the same point. Jade was moving even more slowly, her head down. She was staring up in a way that only Tori could see her eyes. They were nervous, panicky, pleading to be let go. Tori felt like she'd just been punched in the stomach. There was no way she could let Jade feel this pain.
"We don't have all day, Jade." Sikowitz's voice was condescending. "I'd take care of this demonstration myself if it wouldn't get me in trouble. Get up here or you're failing."
Jade broke into a run, startled by Sikowitz's remark. As she ran up to the stage, Tori moved up a step. Jade bumped into Tori, and Tori fell.
"Ow. My leg... I think I sprained it." Tori winced as she tried to move her leg.
Sikowitz, Andre, and Jade ran up to Tori. Andre and Jade helped her up. Tori winced, her eyes watering as she tried to stand on her hurt leg, and fell again. Jade caught her, and Tori steadied herself on Jade's shoulder.
Sikowitz sighed. "Better go to the nurse's office, Tori. Jade can go with you."
As Jade helped a limping Tori out of the classroom, Sikowitz got Andre to go back to his seat. Tori opened the door. Moments before the door closed shut behind them, Sikowitz announced a new couple. "Cat and Beck!"
Author's Notes: I hope you guys are excited for this new chapters. Don't forget to review and check out my other stories.
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