Somebody to Love ~ Joe Mazzello High School AU

Casting

          We did auditions right away, which was pretty nerve wracking but whatever. I did audition for Juliet like 'the gang' wanted me to, but so did almost every female in the room, so I read some of her lines with Gwil which went smoothly. We were now currently sitting on the stage chilling, most of the kids were sitting in the audience. Our group was sitting in a circle and talking while we were waiting for the results of the cast. Usually, Mrs. Thomas wouldn't do casting so soon after auditions but we were kind of behind so we needed to get a jump on the script. 

          "I was shocked, but not at the same time, with how many people auditioned for Juliet." I said, kicking my feet seeing as I was lying on my stomach. 

          "Yeah I was kind of expecting that because a lot of the girls here have been in plays since elementary so they always audition for the lead roles." Rami informed me, I nodded in acknowledgement. 

          "Don't you think we should be doing something productive?" I rolled onto my back, letting my hands rest on my stomach. My head was next to Joe's legs so I scooched up and put my head on his leg. He stretched his leg out so my neck wasn't bent at an awkward angle and he placed his hands in my hair.

          "Well I mean, the only thing we could be doing right now is building the set but we aren't those people so." Joe shrugged his shoulders as his fingers ran through my hair, making me smile. 

          "Okay kids," Mrs. Thomas walked out of the back room with a paper in her hand, "I have the cast ready." She began reading through the small roles, kids chatting a little in between of each character, saving the leads for last. "Joe is going to play Mercutio for the red cast, and Rami will be the same for the blue cast." I looked up to Joe and smiled at him and threw him a thumbs up.

          "Solid casting if I do say so myself." I whispered up to Joe.

          "Okay so, the big moment." Everyone's ears perked up and the room fell silent, man these people were serious about the lead roles. "For the blue cast, Romeo and Juliet will be Gwilym and Lucy." A huge smile grew on my face as I looked over to them, Lucy meeting my eyes." And for the red cast, it will be Ben," 

          "It's because you guys are all British." I whispered to the group who chuckled.

          "And Juliet will be Cas." Oh. I felt hands on my back, patting me, and I looked up to five smiling faces.

          "That's awesome." Lucy said, grabbing my arm. 

          "I guess they ran out of British people." I joked as I looked around the room. A couple people were looking at me, maybe some were glaring but who cares? 

          "I need to make copies, in the meantime you guys stay put." Thomas walked off the stage and headed to exit the auditorium. I sat up and leaned against Joe's arm.

          "So, you and Ben huh?" Joe whispered into my ear. I pushed him jokingly and shook my head, smiling at him. 

          "I'm still surprised she picked me." I said as I crossed my legs.

         "I'm not, your audition was really good." Lucy told me.

         "Thank you." I tapped my foot on the ground as I hummed a song to myself. "Hey Joe, this is like super random, but one day we should go look at bass guitars. I've been having a musical urge my viola can't satisfy." Joe laughed and leaned back on his arms.

         "Yeah, why not? There's a music shop in town that has a pretty decent selection. Why are you having these musical urges all of a sudden?" I smiled in excitement. 

        "Have you ever just listened to music and just felt like you have to play it yourself with your hands. I can't explain it right but," I opened my hands and looked at them, "I just feel like I gotta lay down some sick bass lines." Everyone in the group broke into laughter, what can I say, I'm just hilarious. Mrs. Thomas walked back into the room with a huge stack of papers, which I assume is the scripts.

         "Okay, I think I made enough for everyone in here." She placed the stack on the stage and kids started to get up and walk over. I lied onto my stomach, reached out, and grabbed the top script from the pile. The script was actually pretty large, not that I'm complaining, but I'm always a little worried I'll forget some of my lines; especially because I'm the lead but whatever.

         "Oh it's still warm." I pushed the script against my cheek, which is a habit when I hold freshly printed paper. Joe looked at me with a look I didn't fully recognise before he started laughing. "Don't judge me it's nice." I pouted into the paper.

          "I'm going to let you guys read over the script a little before we start working on costumes and set design so, have at it." 

          "I'm going to go to my locker to get my pencil bag, I need a highlighter. Anyone want to venture with me?" I stood up and left my script on the ground.

          "Sure," Joe started to get up and I offered my hand.

          "Wait, I wanna show you how my friends and I always helped each other up. Put your feet on the ground." Joe placed his feet in front of him and I stepped onto each of his feet with mine, keeping my heels on the ground. "Okay, now I'm gonna take your hands and then just pull hard." I chuckled a little. I grabbed his outstretched hands and I yanked really hard, but so did he, so he came launching up and ran into me. "Joe!" I said laughing, pushing him off me.

          "Doesn't seem very effective." He chuckled at me.

          "First of all, you're off the ground aren't you? Second of all, I said I was going to pull! You didn't have to try and pull me into another dimension!" I pushed the hair out of my face and hopped off the stage, carefully of course.

          "I thought you couldn't do that with your shoes." Joe jumped after me.

         "I can take little jumps cautiously, not full on sprint and leap up to a higher elevation, Joe." I walked up the stairs and to the exit. 

          "You're such a smarty." Joe teased, hooking his arm around shoulders, pulling me into him. 

         "I try." I said, muffled.