Stumbling Over Love | ✓

Chapter 44 (Part 2)

_Chapter 44-2~ Confessions_

          "So your leading actress got sick and can't perform so you want me to take her place?"

          Standing at the threshold of the 3-3 classroom, I took a good look around the students who were currently milling around as if the sky was going to fall at any given second.

           "Nobody else knows the lines and the show starts in a couple hours," Daichi continued, adjusting the red cape he wore. "Everyone's panicking because we don't know what to do."

          "What about the girl's understudy?" I inquired. "Don't you have one?"

          Daichi sheepishly shook his head. "We're a small class so we just settled on one role for each person. That's why with the girl herself gone we have no choice but to rely on somebody else."

          I bit my lip, seeing that what Daichi meant was true. My classroom had been full of life while this one was one of the dimmer rooms of the Cultural Festival. Granted, if they were putting on a play as they said it'd be taking place at the gymnasium and this would just be their prep room to practice their lines before the play began. Still... No matter what Daichi said, standing in front of a large crowd...

          "You're good at memorizing stuff aren't you?" Daichi prodded, noticing my reluctance. "You memorized all your math material for your midterm in a short amount of time."

           "That was just a miracle," I told him. "I was just very determined not to fail—"

          "Please, Reina!" Daichi pleaded, putting on a puppy dog pout. "I need a princess! I can't go out as a prince without a princess with me!"

          I wavered. "But Daichi..."

          "I'll throw in a lunch," he promised. "On me. Whatever you want."

           Free food? I aimed a dirty look at Daichi. "You know it's difficult to pass up free food."

           He grinned. "So you're in?"

           Sucking in a breath, I shrugged in defeat. "I'm in."

           Daichi let out a whoop! and immediately went towards his classmates to relay to them the news. I watched the Class President in him assure them that it was fine and right away, the bumbling students came to a halt and an equilibrium of peace was restored. Daichi gave them permission to go out and enjoy the festival and after all the students departed from the room, Daichi faced me, extending out the script to me.

          "Are there a lot of lines?" I asked, falling into a seat. "Oh, and what about my costume? I can't go out dressed in my maid uniform."

           "Well there's not too many. At least, now. We kind of tweaked them a bit beforehand so that I get majority of the lines since the original girl doing it wasn't very overjoyed to be acting in front of a lot of people."

           "And she surprisingly decided not to show up today?" I finished, eyeing the Sleeping Beauty title. "A fake illness?" I guessed.

            Daichi grabbed a chair and sat across from me, rolling his eyes. "Stop it. She's actually a nice girl. I know she wouldn't ditch on purpose."