Romeo and Juliet: Modified , Lashton

Act 1: A Classroom.

Ashton didn't sign up for this. Well, actually, he did-but that's not the point. The point was that on the Tuesday of October 23rd, Ashton was meant to audition for the role of Romeo along with the rest of the class- Mrs. Hardedge insisting that it would be a good way to express yourself and find diamonds in the rough, plus she gave twenty credit points for it- and then on Wednesday the 24th he would find out if he had gotten the role after the class had voted.

He did land a role, yes, but not the one he was hoping for.

Mrs. Hardedge twisted her face in confusion as she finished reading all the voting cards for Juliet. She placed them down on the desk, sighed deeply and closed her eyes. Her fingers pinched the bridge the of her nose before she mumbled something incoherent. You could hear soft giggles flourishing around the room from the students as they watched their teacher. Like there was some inside secret amongst the class. Except for Michael and Ashton, who were looking at each other with equally confused expressions as Mrs. Hardedge up front.

There was another student left out of this little secret. Luke Hemmings sat at the back of the class, head resting on his hand with disinterest evident in his eyes, until he saw Calum and some other kid murmuring back and forth with large grins splattered on their faces.

"What's goin' on?" Luke questioned the two.

"O-oh nothing, Luke." Calum said while he tried to suppress a giggle.

The blonde boy looked around and saw that most of the class was now looking at him with wide smiles and whispering to each other in excitement. All about to burst into laughter at any second. He began to worry if he had something on his face or his hair looked funny from sleeping.

"Is there something wrong with me or something, Cal?" Luke asked worriedly, running a hand through his hair in nervous habit.

"No, mate, you're fine. Swear. Just wait." The brunette said with a wink then turned back to look at the teacher.

Her once distraught demeanor was now painted with joy. The women looked ready to shoot into the stars with happiness. She went over to the box filled with the Romeo votes and read them eagerly. Once she was done, she came to the front of the class with a wide smile spread over her middle-aged features.

"So, class, I have some very intriguing news for you." Mrs. Hardedge chirped, many students beginning to laugh now.

Ashton and Michael looked at each other and shrugged.

"Hush! Be quiet!" She scolded the children then turned her attention back to the topic at hand.

"Anyways, I have counted up all the votes for the two main character parts in our play-which were astonishingly almost all the same-" -she glared at the class- "And now I can finally announce the two lucky participates for this year's theatre production."

She looked towards Luke, then Ashton, then back to Luke before she grinned and began to speak again.

"So this year our Romeo will be played by..." She said dramatically and Michael sent Ashton a thumbs up which made the boy blush a bit, "It is..." Another pause. Calum looked at Luke who mouthed 'suspension' in a sarcastic manner.

"Mr. Luke Hemmings!" Mrs. Hardedge finally announced.

Luke gave a bewildered look around, everyone beside him giving him a clap on the back or words of encouragement. The teacher waved him up to the front to come stand beside her. He slowly lifted himself out of the seat and walked down the aisle of snickering students. Mrs. Hardedge gripped him by the arms and placed him square in front of the class before going to announce the other role.