“Wait ’til you see what I know tomorrow. I read up on thisRomeo and Julietthing, and I think I’ve got what it takes to take on the Romeo role.”
“In your dreams.”
“That’s the thing about my dreams, buttercup—they always come true.” I winked her way, and she made gagging sounds. God, I missed annoying her. It’d been a long summer. This audition thing better pay off.
“Buttercup is a no-go. I’m not a Powerpuff Girl.”
“Fair enough.”
“Whatever. I know you’re just trying to get under my skinby showing up here, but it doesn’t matter. You’d actually have to get a part in the show to be around me, and I doubt that’s going to happen. You couldn’t act your way out of a plastic bag if you had to.”
“Why would I ever have to act my way out of a plastic bag?”
She clenched her audition piece in her hand. “Can you just go away? I’m trying to get in my zone before my audition, and you’re really making me slip out of character.”
“Right, right—method actor. You’re in character. Good, me too. Don’t mind me. I’ll be sitting right here, a row behind you, practicing my lines.”
I could see the tension in her shoulders as I sat behind her. I affected her. I didn’t know if it was in a good way or a bad way, but she physically responded to me being nearby. I could almost feel the heat radiating from her body.
Mr.Thymes, the head of the theater department, was calling people up to the stage one by one. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d ever set foot in the theater, and everyone was looking at me as if I was some strange alien.
I didn’t blame them.
Landon Harrison in the theater? Hell must’ve frozen over.
“Shay, you’re up,” Mr.Thymes called out, and she hopped up from her seat. Before walking to the stage, she closed her eyes and muttered something, holding on to the cross necklace around her neck. Maria had the same kind around hers. I wondered if believing in God came easy to Shay.
I wished it was easy for me. I wanted to believe in God, but he’d given me so many reasons not to.
When Shay made it to the stage, the whole room went quiet. The second she began her audition, it was as if she became something completely new. She immersed herself in the character, in being Juliet, from head to toe. She moved across thestage with such grace. She talked with such powerful softness in her words. I didn’t have a damn clue what she was saying exactly, but I believed it.
She was beautiful, and anyone else who was auditioning for Juliet should’ve packed their bags and left, because she was easily the right one for the role, and I was determined to be her star-crossed lover.
Everyone clapped for her, and she deserved the applause. I probably clapped the loudest, and when she walked over to sit back down, I leaned forward and whispered against her ear with my hot breath, “You’re meant to be Juliet.”
She shivered from my heat and took a deep breath. “But you’re not my Romeo. You’llneverbe my Romeo.”
“Landon,” Mr.Thymes called out. “You’re up.”
I stood and looked toward Shay. “Aren’t you going to tell me to break a leg?” I asked.
“Go ahead.” She nodded. “Break two.”
Cold, Chick.
I liked it.
9Shay
Oh no.
He was going to be my Romeo.
Landon got on stage and blew his audition piece out of the water. He was exponentially more engaging than the other guys who auditioned for the role. He made it look easy, effortless. It was as if he’d been acting his whole life.
Even Mr.Thymes jumped to his feet and started clapping.
“Bravo, Mr.Harrison, bravo!” he shouted. “I think we just found our Romeo!”