Beauty & A Beat • Jelena

Three

A week later, me and my classmates returned to the chair circle in the presence of Miss Stein, our Performing Arts teacher. She sat, waiting tirelessly for us to settle, gripping a scarlet clipboard.
"Calm yourselves," She instructed, rolling her eyes discretely. "Here, I have your casting results. Unfortunately, a lot of you didn't manage to get a part in this play."
A few students silently fist-pumped at this.
"However, I'm happy to announce that the unlikely couple who will play the two main roles - Belle and Adam - are in this room." She said joyfully. "But let me just work through the list from minor to major."
The restless teacher hitched up the reading glasses on the tip of her nose and glanced down at the clipboard with her eyebrows raised.
"Jordan, you will be playing Lumiere (who will now be known as Liam, in this version)... Uh, Catherine, you will be Fifi, (also known as Fiona)... Kimberly, you will play Mrs Potts..." She paused, grinning. "And now time for the leading roles. Justin will play Adam, and Selena will play Belle!"

My heart froze solid in my chest, waiting for her to laugh and turn it into a joke. I flicked my eyes up at Justin. His jaw was dropped in stun, his eyes wide. Mrs Stein's smile began to fade as she noticed our reactions and then she continued.

"I know it's not exactly what you were both hoping for. Especially you, Justin, but I feel like you will both make excellent characters for this production." She said. She looked around, displeased by the silence and rose her voice. "So, class, I'll mail each performer a script so you can get practising. Rehearsals will start in two weeks time, people. Two weeks."

As soon as the bell sounded I slid out of class and raced to the canteen. I frantically scanned the room for Maria. When I found her sitting beside on a table by a window, I sat opposite her and shoved my bag to the right of me.
"What's up with you?" She asked, taking a loud bite of the apple she was devouring.
"A lot, okay, a lot is up with me." I answered almost aggressively. She raised an eyebrow quizzically at me. "I got the role of Belle for this new Beauty and The Beast production shit." I exclaimed.
"Really? Who got the Beast?" She asked, casually diverting her gaze to the side.
"Speak of the devil," I muttered, realising Justin was striding towards us.
"Hey." He said whilst placing his hands flat down on the table and leaning forward to level our height.
"I heard you got the role of the Beast in this new play." Maria gathered.
"Adam. He's not playing a beast, he's playing Adam. It's like a revved up version of the original." I cut in.
"I don't care what it is I'm playing. It's so messed up." He said. "I don't have to sing, do I?"
"Probably. You know, I never thought I'd say this but you have a really good voice." I answered, surprising myself. It must have been the first compliment I'd ever given him.
His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he groaned. "Don't. Just don't."
"Don't what?" I asked.
"Don't talk like that... It's weird. You're supposed to hate me, I like it that way." He replied, straightening up.
"Yeah, well, you're gonna have to get used to me. We'll be working together for the next few months so..."
"Come to my house tonight." He said out of nowhere. I rose my gaze to his haunting brown eyes and furrowed my brow.
"What?"
"We need to rehearse or whatever." He said.
"But we haven't even got the scripts yet..." I murmured.
"Then come round tomorrow night. Six?" He asked.
"Uh, sure." I answered unsurely.
He nodded and disappeared into the hallway.

"What just happened?" Maria asked, her mouth hung open, exposing the pieces of chewed-up apple inside.
"I'm not entirely sure." I answered truthfully. I scraped my fingers through my hair and stared at the black marble table. "But I guess I have no choice. There's a lot of pressure on this play."
"Surprisingly."