Chapter 11 - Practice Makes Perfect
(4:40pm, Middleton High Auditorium)
Kim, Ron, and Zita all entered into the auditorium for their very first rehearsal of Romeo and Juliet. The other students from Miss Tudor's class (now taught by Barkin) were all present as well.
"Okay people! Since you are all present with no unexcused absences, the Glee Three will happy cut off the time of your practice! But if you screw up on the lines that are assigned to your scripts below, we will make it longer!" Barkin announced, "The scripts are located just right backstage to the left of the double-doors!"
"And..." he continued, "...the Glee Three will be watching your every move on stage. So make sure to follow their instructions! The perfomance will be a 25% weighted test to your final grade for this semester."
The other 28 students that were on stage looked at the trio of drama students with wary anxiety. The cold dead eyes of Vance Ment, Cara Van, and Laramaie Tara were all looking at them, waiting to purge any concepts of individualism from their bodies.
"We demand that you act as one! " Vance proclaimed.
"Or you will receive a failing grade from Barkin!" Laramaie hissed.
Barkin also gave the scripts of the Romeo and Juliet play to the Glee Three.
Those three all opened it for the first itme and they were stunned to learn that something odd has happened to their play.
"Mr. Barkin..." Cara asked.
"Yes, Van?" Barkin sighed. He wanted to get this overwith as much as the other kids were.
"Certain parts have been blackened out from the play!" Cara exclaimed, "Why is this?"
"A few aspects of the play have...what do you call it...objectionable material in it." Barkin explained, "The arts division board of the school district screened through the script and made the changes in order to meet approval from the school board so that it can be viewed by your mamas and papas."
"This is obscene! This is an insult to the work of Shakespeare!" Vance yelled.
"We are not going to perform your so-called play!" Cara chanted.
Barkin furrowed his glare at the three, for he had a weapon up his sleeve.
"Maybe you can take your protest in front of Mrs. Veronica Rockwaller and her Swatter!"
The mere mention of the head disciplinarian of the school district and the infamous wooden paddle that she owned sent a shock of fear through the Glee Three.
"No! Please!" Vance pleaded, his resistance breaking down very quickly.
"We don't want to be paddled!" Cara whined.
Laramie cried, "I don't want my buttocks to be red!"
Barkin smiled, now that he had utilized fear to its most potent through the MUSD.
"Now...you three will be using the school-approved version of the play and have the students perform to it!" he demanded.
The three of them acknowledged with a mere whimper, "Understood!"
"Hi, Dad!" Kim said while using her very first cell phone her parents gave her. "Oh not much...I'm practicing for a school play right now...Tara's mom is going to pick me up at 7:30...Dinner's going to be in the microwave? OK, I'll heat it up when I get home!...TTYL, Dad!...You should know what that means, and can you please not call me Kimmie-Cub?"
The redhead got her copy of the script and, as with the other students that have a role in for the play, her parts as Juliet were marked with a yellow highlighter.
"Okay...Kim, you can do this! If you can handle supervillains from taking over the world, taking on a silly Shakespeare play as the lead role is so not the drama!"
She took a deep breath and came out on stage...only to look at Steve Jackson just about 15 feet from her.
Kim's cheeks began to blush at his looks and clothes. Her hands started to tremble, clenching the script.
Zita, as the Nurse, looked at her crushing moment and asked, "Kim? What's wrong with you?"
"Zita...I'm on my crushing sheep alert again!" Kim sighed, not looking at Zita in the eyes, "If all else fails with Josh, then Steve's totally going to be the one that will go to the Homecoming Dance with me!"
"Head out the clouds, Kim! The performance is going to be 25% of your semester grade AND you still have the whole stage fright thing!" Zita insisted, repeatingly pointed to the script.
Ron, dressed in a tree costume, added, "You got it bad? I don't have any lines, but I have to stand around for two hours holding out the branches all the while missing the Pain King GWA match!
"Wha...oh! My bad! I can do it, Zita! I can do anything!" Kim exclaimed, snapping out her daydreaming.
The Glee Three sat at the front row, muttering at the fact that their play has been censored by the board.
"Now, you spoiled little brats! We are going to be here for the next two and a half hours!" Vance shouted through the megaphone. "The sooner we can get everything perfect, the sooner we can all leave!"
Kim sneered at the trio that was going to make the next week for her, Zita, and Ron a living hell.
Vance then explained how the practice of Romeo and Juliet was going to work.
"We're going to begin from the prologue to the final scene when the Montagues and Capulets reconcile with the use of the lines for tonight's and Sunday's practices."
Cara then continued where her partner left off, once again using the megaphone, "However, next week, we are NOT going to use those scripts because you are going to memorize every single one of your lines that are highlighted in yellow! And by the time the performance ends next Thurday, there will be a standing ovation that will last for 10 minutes! So I expect that from every single one of you!"
_
And so, they began with the prologue, led by Linda, whom was better known as the Blue-Sweater Girl.
"In the beautiful city of Verona, where our story takes place, a long-standing hatred between two families erupts into new violence, and citizens stain their hands with the blood of their fellow citizens. Two unlucky children of these enemy families become lovers and commit suicide. Their unfortunate deaths put an end to their parents' fe..."
"Cut...cut...CUT! Why aren't we using Shakespeare's Olde English version?" Cara complained, interrupting the practice. "Why are we using this...this...present-day English?!"
"School board's decision, Van! No further complaining unless you want a date with Mrs. Rockwaller's paddle!" Barkin proclaimed.
"Fine...thou art very much becoming a teen in the behind, Mr. Barkin." Cara muttered an Old English phrase under her breath.
Cara then yelled to those that are on stage, primarily on Linda, "Now...take it from the top...and action!"
"In the beautiful city of Verona, where our story takes place, a long-standing hatred between two families erupts into new violence, and citizens stain their hands with the blood of their fellow citizens. Two unlucky children of these enemy families become lovers and commit suicide. Their unfortunate deaths put an end to their parents' feud! For the next two hours, we will watch the story of their doomed love and their parents' anger, which nothing but the children's deaths could stop. If you listen to us patiently, we'll make up for everything we've left out in this prologue onstage."
(Act I, Scene III...25 minutes later)
Kim was leaning against the double doors of backstage, staring at Steve, the one whom was playing the lead male role of Romeo throughout the first two scenes of the first act.
"He's totally dreamy...but I can't ask him to the homecoming dance if my chance with Josh is shot. And then there's the stage fright and..."
Cara then yelled from the front row, "Juliet, aka Miss Possible, goes on next. This is Act 1, Scene 3!"
Zita was playing the Nurse and Amy (AN: whom was the girl with the short black hair in the background in the show) was taking the role of Lady Capulet.
Amy, as Lady Capulet, said from her lines to begin the scene, "Nurse, where's my daughter? Tell her to come to me."
Zita, as the Nurse, said hers: "I swear to you by my virginity at age twelve, I already told her to come. Come on! Where is she? What is she doing? What, Juliet!"
Zita whispered the words...'You're on'...to a nervous Kim. Ron, meanwhile, just stood there as a tree.
Kim, reading from the script, recited her first words of the play: What is it? Who's calling me?
Zita then added from the script: Your mother.
Kim then recited her next line: Madam, I'm here. What do you want?
Amy then recited hers in return:
"I'll tell you what's the matter—Nurse, leave us alone for a little while. We must talk privately—Nurse, come back here. I just remembered, you can listen to our secrets. You know how young my daughter is."
Zita then recited back: Yes, I know her age down to the hour.
Kim thought to herself, Yes, I can do this! If I can wrestle a lion with my bare hands, I can conquer my fear of having stage fright!
(Act I, Scene V...15 more minutes later)
They were now at the party scene of the play, one of the more crucial scenes.
In between Scenes 4 and 5, Kim then asked a question. The only time the students are permitted to ask questions was inbetween scenes. "Cara, are we going to wear masks along with our costumes for the party scene."
Cara rolled her eyes and replied sarcastically, "Does MacBeth ever dream of three witches that will make him King of Scotland, Miss Possible?"
"I...don't know what that's supposed to mean..." Kim said, a bit confused.
"Yes, Miss Possible. Everyone in that scene is going to wear masks! Now enough questions, let's continue!"
Two large picnic tables were removed so that everyone had room for the dancing scene.
As everyone continued reciting their lines, Steve continued to look at Kim with quite some interest.
Alan Platt and Danny, playing both Capulet and Tibalt respectively, did well with their lines.
Then came the scene where Steve took Kim's hand, as the play instructed them to do.
Steve then said his lines for his first interaction, still keeping in character
"Your hand is like a holy place that my hand is unworthy to visit. If you're offended by the touch of my hand, my two lips are standing here like blushing pilgrims, ready to make things better with a kiss."
Kim was in the middle of saying her lines before looking into his eyes.
"Good pilgrim, you don't give your hand eno...eno...eno...oooohh! You're so cute, Steve!"
She daydreamed about him, trying to think what would be the perfect plan to get his attention for the upcoming Freshman-Sophomore Homecoming dance. Steve was admiring the view of nature as Kim was creeping up to him. She held in something she wanted to say, but as she walked, she slipped on a banana peel and fell on her behind on the sidewalk and then got a zit under her nose. First, Steve started to laugh at Kim...and then Bonnie and her girls...and then the whole people in the park...and then all of Middleton...the US...and the world...and the entire universe before it all blows up!
"Enuuuu...emu...emu..." Kim stuttered, looking at Steve's looks and then at the script. She realized how much flowery language was in the script.
The Glee Three members all covered their faces in their hands in disgrace.
Even Barkin moaned, "This is going to be a loooooong day."
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