Soul Search

The Wonderful Julia Woods

    My string of emotions right now can only be explained with one word: asdfghjkl. Who's panicking? I don't know her.

    "I told you I was thinking about it." I repeated to Abby, as we stared across the room at the sign up sheet for the after school play.

    Abby smiled widely. "Dude, if Julia's your soulmate this would be your best, and maybe only chance to get to know her! Plus you love acting."

    It's true. I love acting, and Julia. I internally groaned, she was right. Of course she was.

    "Okay, okay." I quieted her down. "It's not that big of a deal right? It's just the play right? Even then it's just a high school play."

    In truth I thought it was a very big deal, it was just easier if I told myself that it wasn't. It a moment of sheer unfiltered bravery, I walked over and wrote my name down on the list.

    "Micah!" Abby shrieked happily, pulling me into a rough hug. "I'm so proud of you!"

    I stammered, getting flustered. "Y-yeah."

    "You know the first practice is today right?" She continued, as we walked to class.

    I pushed up my glasses apprehensively. "What? Really?"

    She nodded. "Yeah, but you're gonna do great. Everyone I've met there is super nice."

    Her eyes suddenly widened. "You know what play they're doing right?"

    I shook my head and he smile was suddenly cast with a more devious light.

    "Romeo and Juliet, and you know who's going to get Juliet." She pointed out.

    "Julia." I answered for her.

    Abby smirks again and poked me. "You could get the part of Romeo, hot stuff."

    I blushed hard and stammered out a few rough sentences. This is where the asdfghjkl part comes in. Talking to Julia already seemed light years out of my reach, kissing her, even if it was for a play, seemed extraterrestrial.

    Even better, I ended up being late for the first practice. When I opened the door to the auditorium there was already a circle of kids sitting in fold out chairs chatting merrily. They all stared at me as I walked over and I began to wonder if this was really a good idea. Until I spotted Julia, next to the only other open seat. Which is where I sat. Next to Julia. Things started to look up.

    ...Then I saw Arthur was here to.

    I frowned. He had never been into theatre before. That's when the teacher started talking.

    "You must be Micah! We were wondering when you would show up. I'm Mrs. Frieda, it's nice to meet you." She extended a hand and I shook it.

    I liked the drama teacher, she had shiny black hair that was always up in complicated looking buns. Then again everything girls did with their hair looked complicated to me.

    "Uh, it's nice to meet you too." I replied dumbly.

    "Hey don't we have history together?" Julia asked, eyed me curiously.

    I nearly died. I slapped myself mentally and tried to play it cool. "Yeah, I think we do."

    "Nifty." She smiled at me.