War in Broadway High

21. Ready Player Two

Chapter 21: Ready Player Two

Jeremy.

Evan, Rich, Evan, Rich, Evan. That was all everyone was talking about during play practice, they still hadn't tired of the latest scandal.

Jeremy tried to ignore the comments and hunched down on one of the chairs, to focus on writing. As he didn't remotely have any acting skills whatsoever and had embarrassingly proven so at the first tryouts, he'd been assigned to write the script. He was still a little surprised they handed him such a big responsibility, but maybe it meant people considered him smart, at least? Fingers crossed.

The thing was he didn't actually possess particularly good writing skills either, beyond proper use of grammar and punctuation. But Miss Flemming seemed to have extremely positive reactions to each and every idea from all students, so he was pretty much just mixing all of those together and winging it. It seemed to be working so far.

While they had him working silently in a corner, the actresses were going to do auditions to select the female lead. Initially, only Regina and Heather Chandler dared step forward; no one else had a big enough death wish to invoke their shared wrath by even considering stealing their thunder.

Despite the reluctance, Miss Flemming was adamant about everyone participating, so Regina and Heather simply delivered the most subtle form of carnage by directing piercing glares to each and every girl as they were called.

Jeremy didn't really pay it any mind though, and only lifted up his head when it was Christine's turn to show what she'd rehearsed.

Almost instinctively, his hand slipped into the pocket of his jacket, securing the chocolate figurine nestled inside. It was shaped like Shakespeare, and wrapped in Victorian-style foil. He'd gotten it for Christine, with the intention of giving it to her during their break as a way to wish her good luck in the final decision of the lead role.

He would either celebrate with her or be her shoulder to cry on, it was all carefully planned.

But first, her audition. She was going to recite the lines he wrote. It was oddly exhilarating to think she'd probably been in her room all afternoon yesterday, reading his words over and over again, memorizing them. Even if it was about some ridiculous stuff where she was a florist and different flowers represented different feelings she had, and those would eventually sprout into actual characters later on...Thanks to the magic of love, or something.

It was stupid, but Christine's acting made it seem so deep and heartfelt.

She looked so beautiful, right in her element. Her face shined; her eyes glinted with passion; her movements, normally so fidgety and all over the place, were so smooth now; and her voice was potent and melodic all at once as it resounded throughout the theater room.

He could spend forever watching her do what she loved.

Jake wasn't watching her. Jake wasn't noticing any of it, he was chatting with Regina. Jake didn't get her a Shakespeare chocolate, probably didn't even know what she liked. And yet, Jake was the one who had Christine's attention. The one she gave that look to, that hopeful, cautiously dreamy look.

At least... Jeremy could make sure her and Jake's characters in the play didn't have any romantic scenes together. That was something, right?

The chocolate had started to melt in his pocket by the time they were given their break.

He was about to approach Christine, but she immediately went to Jake.

"Hey." She smiled softly at the boy as he turned to her. "I was thinking we could go grab milkshakes?"