Dovie
"Romeo, oh my Romeo. Where art thou, my Romeo?" I called out as I walked on stage, pretending to look for Mr. Willing whereas he was standing right behind Zoe, the tree.
"Juliet, my love," Mr. Willing called out, walking forward then looked behind me, shocked.
"Romeo?" I heard a familiar voice calling out behind me.
Slowly, I turned around to find Niti already in the balcony, looking down at Mr. Willing and I. A smile appeared on my lips and I took a deep breath in.
"Oh Juliet, oh my sweet Juliet," Mr. Willing walked towards the ladder with a smile. "There you are."
"Who are you?" Niti asked me in confusion, completely out of her character.
I slowly turned to the audience and found them all staring at me in confusion, probably wondering the same exact thing.
"I'm uh- I'm—" before I could answer, I find someone walking towards us with another Elizabethan dress only to realize that it was Cassie.
"Now who are you?" Mr. Willing asked in confusion.
She pretended to slap Mr. Willing, shocking Niti and I. "You arrogant fool. You forgot your own mother because of Juliet?"
Everyone in the crowd started laughing slowly. Oh God, what was the play turning into?
"Mom?" Mr. Willing called out in confusion then played along as realization hit him. "Oh mother!"
They laughed a little more when realization hit Mr. Willing.
"Romeo, where are you, Romeo?" Niti called out again, waiting for Romeo's line. "Please come back to me."
"What the hell is going on?" I whispered to Cassie.
"It's Chloe," Cassie whispered back and now we had Zoe's attention. "She messed with Niti and Kol. That's why they were late."
"I will not spare her," Zoe stormed to the backstage with the leaves still covering her face.
"Oh Romeo, look at the weather! The tress are moving and falling!" Niti exclaimed when Zoe stormed out. "Even the weather is getting worse, where are you, my Romeo?"
The audience laughed even more when Zoe rushed backstage with the leaves. Niti took that opportunity and made it seem as if a storm was coming.
"I need you to find the cue cards, I don't know the lines," Mr. Willing whispered to Cassie and she nodded.
"I'll get right on that," Cassie whispered then gestured me to face Chloe who was being dragged by Zoe to the stage. "Until then, do something about Chloe. I'm sure she also hid the cue cards to mess up our play."
"Romeo?" Niti called out dramatically, waiting for Mr. Willing to say something.
"Juliet, here I am," Mr. Willing smiled and pulled out a flower from Travis's leaves.
"What took you so long, my darling?" Niti questioned.
Mr. Willing turned to face at me, waiting for me to say something. I simply shrugged and pointed to Chloe subtly, signaling that she must have the cue cards.
"I'll be back in one minute, my love," he announced and walked towards Chloe and Zoe, across from me and behind the curtain.
"But I—" Niti stopped and stared at the audience in confusion as they chuckled.
I found Zoe pushing Chloe on stage, but she wouldn't budge. Mr. Willing whispered something to her and she shook her head, pretty sure they were talking about the cue cards.
Zoe grabbed Chloe's arm and led her to the stage whereas Mr. Willing grabbed a nearby broom. As they marched on the stage, everyone including Niti and I stared at them in confusion.
Niti turned to me in question and I just shrugged, hell if I knew whatever was going on with the play right now.
"Juliet, look who I got for you," Mr. Willing started as Zoe took her place beside Travis once again. Chloe was handed the broom by Mr. Willing and she stood there, smiling at the crowd. "This is going to be your maid."
Mr. Willing turned to Chloe and gestured her to clean the cake balcony that Niti was sitting in. "Clean my Juliet's balcony, you peasant."
Slowly, Chloe started cleaning the balcony with the broom because she didn't want to be embarrassed in front of an entire crowd.
"Oh my dear son," Cassie returned empty handed and mouthed something.
"Mother, how lovely to see you once again," Mr. Willing walked towards Cassie, waiting for the cue cards. He lowered his voice so only the people on stage heard him. "Where the hell are the cue cards?"
"She hid them somewhere," Cassie looked at Chloe who had a smirk on her face.
Cassie made her way to Chloe and pulled her ear. "Where are the letters?"
"Letters?" Mr. Willing questioned. "What letters?"
"The love letters that you wrote for Juliet," Cassie pulled Chloe's ear a little harder and she winced. She lowered her voice and asked, "where are the cue cards?"
Chloe pointed to the backstage and there was the stack of cue cards, sitting in plain sight. Cassie gasped loudly and turned to the left side towards some of our crew standing. There stood Noah, staring at Cassie in confusion. "Such a grave deceit!"
"What happened?" Noah whispered and Cassie pointed to the table backstage.
"My son's letters are sitting on that table," Cassie pointed towards the table, but Noah didn't understand the hint. He raised a brow and Cassie gritted her teeth. "The letters are sitting on the table. That table... letters are there."
Noah finally understood what Cassie meant and rushed over to the table to retrieve the cue cards. When he rushed back, there was no way he was going to walk on stage and handle the situation.
There stood Andrew, dressed up as Jesus and laughing at us and our play. Noah turned to Andrew for help and extended the letter to him. "Andrew, can you give this to Cassie?"
"Me? Why the hell would I go there? I'm not even in the play anymore. I'm freaking Jesus," Andrew declared, getting on my nerves.
"You little asshole. Jesus, yeah right! Go give these letters to them," Noah have Andrew the letter and pushed him on stage.
Everyone stared at Andrew as he stood behind Cassie in confusion, wondering why Jesus was in Romeo and Juliet's play.
He tapped on Cassie's shoulder as everyone turned to face Andrew, wondering what he was doing on stage. "Jesus Christ? In our play?"
"Yes, that is me," Andrew replied and the audience started laughing uncontrollably. There was someone laughing like a hyena which made me softly a laughter as well.
Jesus has to be the last person expected to make an entry in our play. Whatever, at least we had the real cue cards finally.
"Romeo, I am here to return these love letters back to you," Andrew spoke in a deep voice, apparently mimicking Jesus. He gave the cue cards to Mr. Willing then turned to leave backstage. "Keep them safe."
"I'll keep them safe," Chloe grabbed the cue cards, but Cassie also held onto the cards, not letting Chloe take them. "Give them to me!"
"No!" Cassie refrained from giving up the cards.
Mr. Willing, Cassie, and Chloe kept pulling the cards and some of them fell on the ground, but ultimately Chloe got her hands on them and snatched them. The audience started laughing uncontrollably, as if everything happening in the play was a part of the play. Chloe ran backstage with the cue cards, crushing the last bit of hope that we had.
"I still have no idea who you are," Niti stared at me as the laughter subsided.
"I'm- I'm uh—" before I could answer, I found a fast moving Kol appearing in his clothes with the coffee stain.
"Juliet, my darling, I'm here," Kol rushed and almost fell, but pretended to be on his knees with a flower between his lips.
Suddenly, everyone in the audience started cheering loudly when he came. Kol threw some flying kisses towards the audience, but confusion struck his face when he found me next to Travis, the tree beside the ladder.
"Who are you?" Kol questioned Mr. Willing.
"I'm Romeo," he announced then asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Romeo," Kol gasped in shock and shook his head, turning to the audience. "I am the Romeo."
"My dear son," Cassie turned to Kol and my eyes widened when she called Kol her son. What about Mr. Willing?
"Wow, what a mother!" Mr. Willing called out in shock when Cassie changed her sons. "She changes sons faster than seasons."
"What the hell, Kol? Where were you?" I asked, lowering my voice so nobody but the people on stage could hear me.
"You didn't pick up my calls, there was so much traffic on the way back," he replied back, loudly, and everyone started chuckling. "I called you and left a voicemail."
I glanced at the audience then turned back to Kol and whispered. "You need to leave, Kol."
"Why?" He asked them turned to Niti who stared at all of us in confusion. "Juliet, my darling, I'm here now."
"Mother, you have to accept my Juliet," Mr. Willing turned Cassie to him.
Kol turned Cassie back to him. "No, you have to accept my Juliet for me."
"No," Mr. Willing declared. "She's mine."
"She's mine," Kol debated.
"I—" Cassie started, but couldn't complete her sentence due to the two Romeo's fighting over the Juliet.
"She is mine," Mr. willing said.
"No, she is mine," Kol debated.
"I reject this Juliet," Cassie finally breathed out and my eyes widened.
Niti's eyes widened in shock and she gasped. "You reject me? You know what? I reject both of your Romeo's."
"No mother, I'll die without her," Kol dramatically complained.
"I will kill you long before that," Cassie replies back frustratingly.
Niti made a face and shook her head. "Don't kill my dear lover."
"Oh shut up, that's not your line, okay?" Cassie exclaimed at Niti and my eyes widened.
"Can we all take a deep breath in first please?" I suggested and all eyes turned to me. All of their bum lungs stopped and they stared at me.
Crap!
"Who are you again?" Niti asked me and I looked around to find everyone staring at me and Kol.
"I'm uh- I'm... I'm a con artist..?" I sort of just threw that out there, not knowing what else to say. Then, I hooked my arm into Kol's and smiled. "We are con artists."
He raised a brow at me. "We are?" I nodded softly and he smiled then turned to the audience. "Yes, we are!"
"You can have your Juliet, I got someone better," Kol winked at Mr. Willing.
"Stop!" A familiar voice shouted at us and we all stopped in our places. We turned to find Mr. Street staring at us all in anger. "Stop this nonsense. What the hell is going on?"
"And what's your good name, sir?" Niti questioned and Mr. Street finally realized that he was on stage with us, being watched by hundreds of parents and students.
He cleared his throat as all of us waited for him to say something. Yeah, Mr. Street, now come up with something on the spot. It's not as easy as it looks like.
"I'm uh- I'm the writer of this play..." he quietly announced as some of the audience started whispering with each other. "I'm Shakespeare. William Shakespeare."
"What the fuck?" Kol chuckled, causing me to burst out into laughter as well.
After a moment, everyone on stage started laughing and the audience did as well. It felt as if something was in the air causing us all to die of laughter.
What the actual hell? William Shakespeare himself? Was Mr. Street going insane due to not having a love life that he became the writer of tragic plays?
Mr. Street walked closer to Kol and I, tensing us up a bit. "You both need to go, you don't belong here," he whispered.
Kol scoffed. "We don't belong here? Look at your old self, Shakespeare," Kol said and chuckled.
"You're ruining it," Mr. Street declared as I found Niti and Mr. Willing still in their characters, throwing flying kisses at each other. Travis and Zoe stood against the windows, laughing away at this craziness.
"Kol we should leave," I whispered, pulling on Kol's arm.
"Yeah, listen to your con artist friend," Mr. Street agreed and I faked a smile, trying to drag Kol backstage with me.
"I'm not leaving," Kol announces then turned to Mr. Street. "I've only done half of the play so you will keep me in detention until the next play. Hell if I'm leaving."
"Just because of detention, why are you turning my tragedy play into a comedy one?" Mr. Street exclaimed and he sounded angry.
"Look, this is my play as well. I'll stay as long as the play is running," Kol debated, holding onto my arm with a smile.
Suddenly, everyone started talking all at once. Everyone blaming the other for the play's turnout. How a tragedy play turned comedy because the cast members weren't determined, responsible, and mature.
God, this was awful!
"Shut this thing now," Mr. Street announced. "Cut it now!"
A student went over the rope to pull so the curtain will fall. He walked so slowly, as if he had no care in the world.
"Pull the curtain, now!"
The student pulled the rope but slipped and ended up hanging on the thick rope. The rope went left and right as he swung along with the rope which caused the audience to laugh even more.
"Perfect!" Mr. Street huffed. "All we needed was a Tarzan!"
Suddenly, the curtains fell and the play was finally over.
"God, this was awful," Mr. Street angrily scolded us. "You lot were a bunch of immature people tonight. You put my reputation at risk just because of your egos."
Suddenly, we heard a roar of clapping and cheering from the other side of the curtain. Slowly, Cassie walked over to the curtains and poked her head to see what was happening on the other hand.
"Mr. Street, you should come look at this," She smiles as we all walked towards the fallen curtain, wanting to see the other side.
I poked my head out slowly and found everyone in the audience giving us all a round of applause. The cheering and clapping only got louder and louder.
"They liked our play?" Niti wondered and we shrugged.
"We'll see about that," Mr. Street said as we all went backstage, waiting for the results. "We better have won first place."
Half an hour passed by quickly as some students gathered up the votes for announcing the winner. We were all called up to the stage, every group that participated in the theatre tonight. We were all divided by our plays.
Chloe gave me a dirty look, looking victorious due to the fact that she messed up our play to make hers look better and be the winner.
"Third place goes to Alice in wonderland," the announcer announced.
"Second place goes to Jesus."
We all held each other's hands, impatiently waiting to hear about the first place. I felt Kol leaning in closer to me and he whispered. "I'm sure we won."
"I hope so too," I smiled at him and found Andrew glaring at us.
"The first place goes to," the announcer started as the drumroll played in the background. "Romeo and Juliet!"
"Oh," I shrieked. "We won!"
"We won," Niti smiles and others started jumping around, hugging each other.
Kol pulled me into a hug and swung me around. Awkwardly, I slowly pulled away from him and went to hug the others.
Mr. Willing held the trophy in his hand as we all touched it and held it high. "We're winners!"
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