"It was weird, now that people thought Katie had cancer after she took the fall for both me and Y/n. It's not like I wanted to take advantage of it, but what's the point in them thinking all three of us had cancer, right?"
"Here, Katie. I got you a candle," A classmate said as she walked up the the lunch table that seated us. "It smells like birthday cake."
"Oh. Uh...Um...Thanks," Katie chuckled awkwardly.
"Thanks for not ratting me out. I couldn't handle those pitying looks," Alexa said.
"I-Its not that bad," Katie said.
"Really? Not even the concerned head tilts?" I asked. "'How are you, Katie?'"
"How are you, Katie?" Hannah asked, doing the exact same head tilt.
"Hannah, you know I don't have cancer," Katie reminded her.
"I know. But I don't want people to think I don't care," Hannah explained. She placed her hand on Katie's shoulder before loudly proclaiming, "You're my hero!"
"Doesn't it drive you nuts that people treat you differently?" Alexa asked.
"Not that differently," Katie said as a girl came up and hugged her. "Ok, who cares? In the meantime, I'm getting my holiday shopping done early. Merry Christmas, Grandma." I just chuckled at her as she tossed the candle into her bag.
Suddenly, fanfare started playing as the drama teacher entered the cafeteria.
"Attention, students. For those who don't know me, I'm Ms. Rogers," She introduced. "And I'm excited to announce auditions are tomorrow for the fall play. Have you noticed? Love is in the air. For me, anyway. His name is Scott. Not that it's anyone's business. And it's inspired me to choose Romeo and Juliet." Katie looked over to Alexa and I with an excited look on her face. "That's right. We are going to William shake it up a bit. Until then, good morrow, my lords and ladies."
"Aw! Do you remember the last play we were in?" Alexa asked Katie.
"Oh, yeah. Beauty and the Beast," I answered, remembering the play vividly.
"You were Belle and I was a dancing fork," Katie said.
"You were an awesome fork," Alexa laughed.
"I've always wanted to play Juliet."
"Well, it's natural progression from fork to Juliet," I told her. "You should totally sign up."
"Yeah, I-I'm going to," Katie said, standing up. "And this time I won't have to dance around with a meatball on my head."
"I don't know. It's Ms. Rogers," Alexa told her. "Last year she made everyone in The Sound of Music a vampire."
"The hills were alive, but everyone else was dead," I remembered.
"Hey, Mom," Katie greeted as we walked downstairs.
"Hey, guys. How was school?" Mom asked as she cleaned up dirty dishes.
"Great! I signed up to audition for the fall play," Katie told her.
"That's fantastic! Did I ever tell you I was once in a production of My Fair Lady?" She put on a horrible accent and said, "Had a bit of a Cockney accent, I did."
"Yeah, she's not doing that," I laughed. "We're going to Alexa's to work on Katie's audition."
"Sorry, guv'nor, you're supposed to watch--"
"Mom, mom," Katie interrupted, putting a stop to the accent.
"You're supposed to watch Jack. I have to go to school."
"But, no, I can't concentrate with him around."
"He's quiet as a mouse," Mom said. Of course, at that exact moment a loud clattering sound came from upstairs. It stopped for a moment before resuming again. "Well, that was unfortunate timing. All right, you just focus on what you need to get done and I will figure it out, because that is what moms do."
"Mom, I could babysit Jack," I shrugged, biting into an apple.
"Honey, last time you caught a pan on fire. I don't trust you to be alone anymore."
"That's fair."
Katie and I climbed through Alexa's window to find Lori folding laundry on her bed.
Lori gasped when she saw Katie and recited, "'But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? Tis the east, and Juliet is the sun.' It's so exciting!"
"Well, yeah, I have to get cast first," Katie told her.
"Oh, I saw your fork, you're getting the part," Lori assured her. She walked out of the room as Alexa walked in. "Hi, honey!"
"That was close," Alexa said. "When she gets like that, she starts singing Katy Perry songs."
"I'm not afraid to roar," Lori said, popping her head back into the room.
"Let's get started," I said with a chuckle.
"I'll be Romeo," Alexa said.
"Oh, but I'm not ready to just--" Katie tried saying.
"I'm already in character. 'Shall I speak more or shall I speak at this?'"
"I always get nervous before auditions. And uh...This is going to sound silly, but remember when we used to do plays in front of your stuffed animals?" Katie asked.
"Yeah."
"They were just always so supportive. Oh, except for that big bunny with the judgemental eye."
"Mm. Bernard," I said from the background.
"What happend to our little buddies, anyway?"
"Well, you know, obviously I outgrew them," Alexa scoffed, blocking her closet door. "You know at a certain point you say, 'What am I doing with a bunch of stuffed animals at my age?'" Katie walked past her and opened the closet door, stuffed animals falling out all over the floor. "They came home!"
"'That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet; so Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title,'" Katie recited her lines to an audience of stuffed animals.
"Woah, Katie! That was really good," I applauded her.
"Was it?" Katie chuckled.
"Well, don't take my word for it. Listen to them." I gestured towards the stuffed animals as Alexa picked one up.
"Go, Katie! Yes!" Alexa said, pretending to be the stuffed animal she was holding.
"I could get this!" Katie smiled, hopeful.
"Oh, my gosh! They're rushing the stage!" Alexa pushed the stuffed animals towards her.
Katie and I were surprised that night when we got home and saw Lucas sitting on our couch.
"Hey," Lucas greeted, without looking up from his phone.
"Oh. Lucas? Uh...W-What are you doing here?" Katie asked, being her usual weird self.
"I'm watching Jack," Lucas said.
"And he is where?" I asked.
"Hard to say." I rolled my eyes as I took my shoes off and made my way upstairs to my room.
At the auditions, Alexa and I stood backstage in the wings with Katie as she did her warmups.
"Here we go!" Katie said, trying to hype herself up. "See Juliet; be Juliet."
"Hey, you're gonna go out there and do great," I told her.
"I hope so. Gosh, I really want this."
"Ok, next up we have Katie Cooper reading for Juliet," Ms. Rogers annouced.
"Oh, cancer girls reading for Juliet?" Vanessa, a theatre girl, asked. "Why did we even show up? She's totally going to get it."
"Katie Cooper?"
"I-I'm Coopie Kater," Katie stuttered. "Uh...Uh...Juliet. Uh... 'What is Montague? It is not hand, nor foot...nor...'" Katie looked nervously to Alexa and I. "Come on! Um... Ok. 'That which we call a flower by any other word would smell sweet, right? So Romeo would still totally, totally be Romeo, you know, even if... You know, I don't care what my family says. I love Romeo!'"
"Huzzah!" Ms. Rogers shouted. "Everyone, I think we found our Juliet! You are Juliet. Coopie, your raw potential...and my minor in drama..."
"Wow. Wow. Thank you so much! I will not let you down."
"Oh, my god! Juliet!" Alexa cheered as we walked Katie off the stage.
"How did that happen?" Katie asked us.
"I don't know. Just keep walking," I told her.
Alexa and I walked into the auditorium, looking for Katie.
"Oh, hey," Katie greeted.
"Hey. I know you had a rough day yesterday, but just don't forget, before all the whispering started, us three saw how great you were," Alexa told her.
"Three?"
Alexa pulled Bernard out of her backpack and handed him to Katie.
"Oh, Bernard came! Oh, and he hates riding in cars. Hey, thanks."
I took Bernard back from her and Alexa and I walked to our seats, excited to watch Katie's rehearsal. As soon as Katie walked on stage, people started clapping.
"Uh... Oh, what? No, I didn't even do anything. Please stop it. Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! I quit!" Katie shouted, running off stage.
"Katie, wait!" Alexa tried as we ran after her.
"Katie, wait! Don't quit," I told her.
"Now I know why Alexa doesn't want anyone to know," She said. "It is hard to believe in yourself when nobody's being real. I-I thought I was good, but I guess I was wrong."
"No," Alexa said, grabbing her wrist. "You were great. We know what's real, and they need to know, too." She turned around and walked back to the auditorium.
"Is everything all right?" Ms. Rogers asked as Alexa walked onto the stage.
"No," She said. "Ok. We all know about this rumor that a girl in our class is sick. I know some of you think that girl's Katie or Y/n. And I know some of you think she got the part because she has cancer."
"You have cancer?" Ms. Rogers gaped at Katie. "I had no idea. I've been kind of focused on Scott. He's my boyfriend--"
"Katie doesn't have cancer! She and Y/n shaved their heads for me. I'm the girl with cancer."
"The secret was out. I was offically Cancer girl. Bring on the scented candles."