"This is all your fault, director's pet. This is a play. I'm not falling in love with you, and I would never ever go out with you, Jack Garrison."
Jack and Shayna can't get through a rehearsal without fighting.
Cheerleader Shayna loathes perfect Ja...
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I didn't think I was nervous. I'd been playing sports and entering competitions since I was five. Then I stepped in line for the monologue contest, and my stomach lurched. Suddenly, Parker's coffee and hot chocolate weren't sitting too well.
Seven or so girls were in front of me, and another dozen stood behind me. Some of them were muttering under their breath. One or two clutched scripts like lifejackets.
"Nervous?" Rita asked me.
"Does it show?" I whispered.
"Nah," Rita said. "You look like you have your game face on."
Jules looked a particularly putrid shade of green. "It's not too late to quit, right?"
"Take a deep breath," Rita said. "In and out like Jamie showed us. We're all going to do fabulous. Pretend the judge is Anton."
Jules rolled their eyes. "It's bad enough the way this contest is organized."
The three of us were competing in the female character bracket. After we were cast, Anton explained that the contest had a bracket of monologues for female characters' monologues and male characters' monologues. The girl's bracket was mostly for Shakespeare's feminine characters like myself, as Rosalind and Jules playing Phoebe, but since we'd gender-swapped Jaques for our production, Rita was also in the female character bracket.
Jack and Juan were in the male character bracket. I didn't envy them. I'd seen how many guys were headed into the other monologue tent on the way over here. At least Jules and Rita had a higher chance of proceeding into the next round in the female character bracket.
"We're going to do great," I said, hoping if I faked confidence, it would flow naturally.
I muttered Jamie's rhyme under my breath, focusing on the part that reminded us to all have fun. After repeating the rhyme the sixth time, I felt both silly and calm.
"What's so fun about a monologue contest?" The girl in front of me turned around.
She was short with a head of wavy brown hair streaked with red. Her blue shirt had a green lion and the logo for Florin High School.
Florin was about an hour north of Crestview High School. We played them in football once a year. They'd beaten us last year in the regional semifinals.
"It's just a rhyme," I said.
"You're like taking this way too seriously," the girl twirled one of her red streaks around her finger.
"I want to do my best," I said.
The girl flipped her hair. "Well, I guess some people have to try. I'm here to raise my English grade. My teacher said if I went to the contest, she'd make sure I made an A."
"Oh," I said. "What production are you doing?"
"This gender-swapped version of Julius Caesar," she said. "Our director says it's a very bold aim trying to flip genders in Ancient Rome. I'm Hanna Grace, by the way. What show are y'all doing?"
