Unexpected Love - an intercultural Love Story

The dance between almost lovers and the suggestion of the teacher

Some moments later I saw Jasmeet entering the big hall and something seemed weird about her. She appeared out of breath and a thing bothered her, her cheeks were also red. I was determined to find out what was wrong with her or what has turned her into this state. I greeted her shyly when she came closer to me,  which she returned with a smile and then she rummaged in her purse to retrieve the script to avoid my intensive stare. "Is everything okay?" I asked her softly, surprising the both of us, as we did not talk to each other so openly. We just occasionally shared glances but conversations did not happen often, only yesterday and this did not turn into a conversation more like in an intensive lip-lock situation.

Her eyes fluttered to meet mine and she stammered:"Yes, Enzo. Everything is fine, thank you for asking!" The way she said my name, made my heartbeat faster and I could feel that my cheeks got red. I hoped that she did not notice, however, she did realized that something happened to me the way she pronounced my name.
She came nearer to me, leaned towards me and whispered into my ear, causing me to shiver: "Enzo, is something wrong? You seem so flushed! Did I cause this? Did you not tease me the day before? Now who is blushing? I am not, but you are...!"

Once she completed her sentence, she leaned back and inspected me carefully; seeming content, that she had an effect on me and managed to confuse me. I gazed at the floor and tried to avoid her intense glance, however this was not so easy as she did not refrain from looking at me. I did not know that Jasmeet had a cocky side; it made me even reder and I could not hide the obvious tint on my cheeks.
She chuckled and it melted something in me, the sound was something I never heard before. It was barely audible but the soft sound she awakened something in me and I wondered what was happening to me. Was I falling in love with this girl? I wanted to answer her, yet nothing came out of my mouth. This was truly irritating and annoying. I was never the one who could not talk or speak. I was very confident and the way I was acting at the omment was something I was not habitual to. It did not happen to me before that a girl could make me shy or hindered me from speaking up.

I felt relief when Mrs. Stevenson and the others came to start the rehearsal. The scenes we had to practice today were the dance at the ball and the scene between Mercutio and Romeo. As Jasmeet still needed to memorize some lines, we started with the fight between the Capulets and Montagues. I liked to perform these scenes as they took off my mind of that girl which was confusing me. We rehearsed it nearly half an hour in order to make it look believable and convincing.
Then it was time for Jasmeet and me to stage the first encounter between Juliet and Romeo. Hesitantly Jasmeet stood up and walked on the stage and all of our co-players pretended to be at a ball dancing. Mrs. Stevenson said: "Well, now it is time for you to meet for the frist time! Make it seem convincing!" Both of us nodded and mingled with the others, and suddenly our eyes met, making both of us blush. I did not see Jasmeet in front of me, I just locked eyes with a breath-taking stranger. It was the first time I gazed at her and I felt my insides melt. The girl lowered her gaze in a shy manner only to look up again and meeting my stare. A small smile played around her lips and I returned it timidly, trying to hide what she was doing to me.

"Now I want to see the kiss between you guys!" Mrs Stevenson exclaimed after we rehearsed some of the most important scenes at the ball and it was time for the balcony scene. The set was not here yet as it still needed construction. So we pretended that I stood on a ladder which leaned onto her balcony and we stared intense at each other.
Everyone stared at us in anticipation, as most of my classmates were very curious how this would enfold itself. Almost the whole school knew that there was something going on or was about to happen as I saved Jasmeet numerous times and stood up for her when no one else dared to do so.
Yesterday there had been no time left to rehearse this famous scene, so they were even more curious how it was going to be. The chemistry between us was undeniable and present, making no one question or doubting this. For the whole cast it was evident that the teacher had made the right choice by choosing the two of us.
I noticed that something in Jasmeet's appearance was still different as she was very out of breath when she first arrived in the audition hall. I could not say exactly what was bothering her but it made me curious. I could not sense that she witnessed this fight and was therefore acting strange. It was clear that the fight with my best friend also affected me; however, I had no idea that we had audience while this happened, and I would not find out until much later, where it would be too late to change the course of destiny.