Back! Here's a longer chapter for your patience. Hope you like it.

CHAPTER THREE

Things were back to normal the next morning. Ritsu was her usual self and the cover wasn't mentioned at all on the walk to school. In fact, Mio had almost forgotten it was happening by lunchtime.

She had to take a quick detour - Nodoka had just recovered from a virus, and Mio had promised to give her a copy of her notes - so she arrived late to the club room. She opened the door to find only Ritsu, who looked up at her with a bored expression. She was sitting at her drum kit, tapping the snare arrhythmically. Sometimes it amused Mio how often Ritsu behaved when she didn't have an audience.

"Where is everyone?" asked Mio.

Ritsu shrugged. "Talking to Sawa-chan."

"How come?"

"Some favour."

"Oh, okay. So, what are you doing?"

Ritsu did a brief solo, finished on the snare and frowned thoughtfully. "Oi, Mio, do you think I need a different snare? I think a dry sound would mix things up a little."

"Can you afford one?"

Ritsu gave her the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster. Mio sighed. "No."

"Mio! Where's you're team spirit? We're a band aren't we?"

"Then pay for my bass string replacements."

Ritsu gasped. "Ravage Elizabeth?! What kind of monster do you think I am?! She needs you to caress her neck and whisper that she'll be alright..."

"So buy your own snare drum."

"Mio is testing our friendship again..." Ritsu huffed. Then she smiled awkwardly. "Wanna practise?"

Mio felt herself blush. "You mean..."

"Straits. Yeah. I think I got it now."

Mio was still uneasy about the song. However, it was rare for Ritsu to want to practise so she seized the opportunity. "Me too."

She unzipped Elizabeth and plugged into an amp. Mio knew the lyrics - the English version, anyway - but had no intention of singing them. Ritsu apparently had no objection to this. She booted her kick drum restlessly. "The guitars start, so I'll just count from when we come in, okay?"

"That's fine," said Mio. She heard Ritsu's drumsticks and immediately felt the hairs on her neck stand up.

"Too fast!"

Ritsu faltered. "Huh?!"

"You're going too... I mean, I think the tempo is slower."

"Oops. I'm too used to our stuff!" Ritsu said, rubbing the back of her neck. "This time! Ready?"

Ritsu tapped her drumsticks, slower this time, and they began. It was nice, just her and Ritsu playing together. Out of their usual band formation, it seemed stranger to not face each other, so Mio turned toward the drum kit. There was some cymbal smashing to keep Ritsu interested, but aside from that it was a very different, very calm way to play; less power, more intricacy. Mio thought back on Ritsu's problem with rushing and wondered whether Ritsu would have been capable of playing this song two years ago. She smiled. Ritsu had grown up.

"One more time!"

The longer they played the more Mio found herself stealing glances at Ritsu. She looked different, too, in her own way. Ritsu always talked about Mio being cute, but Ritsu was cute herself. Now her tomboyish style and choppy hair made her look the epitome of the loveable rogue. Any remaining puppy fat from childhood had dropped from her face to leave defined cheekbones, and her limbs were toned from drumming.

"What?"

Ritsu was looking at her. She had stopped playing. They both had, in fact; Mio must have finished the song on autopilot. She said it without the words crossing her brain. "Mugi's right. You would be popular as a boy."

Somehow Mio didn't blush, but Ritsu did. She folded her arms. "I hit Mugi for that, you know."

No sooner had she spoken than the other girls burst into the room. Tea was poured, lunch and cake eaten, and before any group practice could start lunchtime was over.

Thanks to the tyrade of distractions that regularly dogged the Light Music Club, Mio did not find out what kind of favour had been asked of Sawa-chan - at least, not until they left the music room, at which point the colour quite suitably drained from Mio's face.

On the school noticeboard, and what appeared to be every classroom door, was a photocopied poster. On it were chibi doodles of Mio as Romeo and Ritsu as Juliet surrounded by love hearts (most probably Mugi's doing) with Light Music Club perform 'Romeo and Juliet!' above them in neat bubble writing (Mio attributed this to Azusa). There were also far messier drawings of various desserts around the outside and Giita in a tuxedo in the lower righthand corner. About that particular artist Mio had no doubts.

On reflex Mio hit Ritsu, who understandably objected that she had had absolutely nothing to do with it, and returned to class without another word. Just as she began to regain her concentration, Mugi passed her a neatly folded note which turned out to be the translated lyrics. After that Mio gave up, spending the rest of her classes stricken with dread.

She trudged up the stairs to the music room after school and was greeted immediately with a cup of tea and a wink from Mugi: bribery. The girls played through the song several times as an instrumental (perhaps the others could sense they were pushing their luck with Mio) and only Yui seemed to have trouble adjusting. Thanks to her songbook Mugi's playing was already perfect, and Azusa was familiar enough with the song and skilled enough to pick it up rapidly.

Given Yui's limited memory skills and impending exams, it was decided that Azusa should play lead instead so Yui would have less to rehearse and more time to study. Azusa had apparently rehearsed both lead and rhythm in anticipation of this eventuality, and stepped in graciously. Then a tension fell over the room. Mio knew precisely what was coming.

"So, Mio-chan," Yui began, "shall we try it with lyrics now?"

Azusa smiled reassuringly. "We understand if you need more time before you sing the part about... lovemaking."

"Kawaii."

"Please stop that," Azusa said, blushing and looking away.

Mio was blushing even more. She steeled herself and picked up the lyrics sheet from the table. It would be weird to just sing; she needed accompaniment. She looked to Azusa. "Would you mind...?"

"Of course," said Azusa dutifully. She took hold of her neck and began playing the introduction. Mio waited for her cue and took a deep, calming breath:

A lovestruck Romeo sings the streets a serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Finds a streetlight, steps out of the shade,
Says something like, "You and me, babe - how about it?"

Azusa stopped and covered her fingerboard. "That was great, Mio-sempai."

"Now it's Ricchan's turn!" announced Yui.

Ritsu stared at her. Her eyes narrowed. "What's that, now?"

Yui took the lyrics from Mio and pointed at them. "This is where Juliet talks back to him, Ricchan! Look, look!"

Mio remained unimpressed with her own lot, but the expression on Ritsu's face as Yui tried to educate her about a classic rock song she had only heard about twenty-four hours ago was something to behold.

"We can fit you a mic, Ritsu-sempai," put in Azusa.

Ritsu held up a hand. "Wait, wait, wait, wait. I can't do all that. I'm not a good singer!"

"It's four lines," said Azusa.

"It's spoken word," said Mio.

Ritsu pouted at Mio. "Whose side are you on?"

Mugi appeared before Ritsu, hands bunched into fists in front of her, thick eyebrows furrowed in determination. "Ricchan, if Juliet is onstage, it just isn't right for her not to say her own lines!"

"Oi, oi. You're not directing now."

"You'll be fine, Ritsu-sempai," said Azusa. "This Juliet's more like you than the Juliet in the play,"

"How so?"

Azusa hesitated. "Erm, well... that is..."

"Crass," said Mio simply. She sipped from her teacup. Ritsu shot her a look.

"Oi."

Mio returned it. "Just do it, Ritsu."

"Okay, okay," Ritsu grumbled. She took the piece of paper from Yui and eyed it doubtfully.

Juliet says, "Hey, it's Romeo. You nearly gimme a heart attack!"
He's underneath the window; she's singing, "Hey la, my boyfriend's back.
"You shouldn't come around here, singing up at people like that!
"Anyway whatcha gonna do about it?"

"Ho!" Yui and Mugi clapped. Azusa smiled. "That was good, Ritsu-sempai."

Ritsu's eyebrows quirked in confusion. "Huh? I wasn't even trying."

"Exactly," said Mio, though she was smiling too.

"Perhaps you could soften it a little, but overall it's good," put in Sawa-chan, slicing her cake with her fork. Mio shrieked. The others stared in disbelief.

"She did it again!"

Sawa-chan set her plate down. She looked up through her bangs, eyes glinting with madness. "And now for your cos-"

"No!" the girls yelled in unison.

"You haven't even seen them yet!" Sawa-chan puffed out her cheeks. Mio gripped her teacup tighter.

"We don't have to see them to kn-"

"Introducing... Romeo and Juliet: punk edition!"

Sawa-chan held up an outfit in each hand. In one was a new Romeo outfit. The colour scheme of the original costume was there, but the tunic had been traded for a sleeveless halter-neck dress with a white belt separating it at the waist. Meanwhile, the tights were laddered and the boots were fashionable with a two-inch heel. Two wristbands hung beside the outfit, pale blue like the old outfit's sleeves.

Juliet's costume, by contrast, was completely transformed. A long-sleeved orange t-shirt was covered by a cropped red waistcoat. The lower half was now a slant skirt which fell just above the knee, patterned red tartan with thick white frills along the seam. Her heels had been swapped out for red high tops, the necklace for a choker and the hairnet for a yellow fascinator.

The girls gawped at them.

"You're kidding," murmured Azusa. "They actually look..."

"Good," finished Mio.

Sawa-chan glared at them. "Don't sound surprised! I also have this..."

She pulled out a new clip-on hair extension for Ritsu, which turned out to be a rather severe mullet.

Ritsu sighed wistfully. "She was doing so well..."

"She was," muttered the others.

"Hey!" said Sawa-chan.

"I'll wear everything but the dead animal," declared Ritsu, dismissing her with a wave of her hand. "What time is it?"

Azusa checked her watch. The kitty paw was pointing to the five and the kitty tail was on the six. "Half past five."

"Right! Time to go!"

"Wait. Let's listen to Mio sing the chorus first," said Mugi.

"Oh, okay," said Mio. Ritsu handed her the lyrics sheet and Azusa began to play once more. This bit wasn't too bad. This bit she could do.

"Juliet, the dice were loaded from the start
And I bet, then you exploded into my heart
And I forget, I forget the movie song
When you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?"

Opinions? I'll write the next one as soon as I can. Thanks for reading. :-)