star-crossed

ii. the auditions

"Hello, everyone!" Mrs. Duncan's voice echoed through the auditorium. The roar of noise quieted to silence as everyone turned to face her. "Welcome to auditions for our class production of Romeo and Juliet!" A few cheers went up. "Thank you. I hope you all know who you want to audition for, and I wish you all good luck as you face the judges. I'm rooting for all of you, but as you know, not all of you can be Juliet." A few girls sighed, and Viola craned her neck to find the source of the sounds, praying none of came from experienced Shakespeare actors. "Also, I'm happy to announce that Miss Miranda Wilson will be stage managing this production and making a few cameos as Rosaline!" Miranda gave a tiny wave, smiling at her classmates from her seat on the stage.

One of the girls in the crowd groaned. "Is there a problem, Regan?" Mrs. Duncan asked.

"I wanted to be Rosaline," she said, sticking her bottom lip out. Cory and Viola stifled laughter.

"Uh, you do know it's a silent role, right?" Mrs. Duncan said, raising one eyebrow.

"Yeah, but she's the prettiest girl in the show, and I'm the prettiest girl in our English class, so it's only fitting that I play her," Regan answered, crossing her arms.

Mrs. Duncan sighed. "Moving on, then. Regan, if you have complaints, please come to me after the audition and I'll be happy to address any of your concerns." She cleared her throat. "Without further ado about nothing..." She winked. Viola laughed. Nobody else did. "Alright, I see Shakespeare jokes are lost on you." Everyone nodded. "Let's get started with the auditions!" She looked at her clipboard. "Okay, Julia? You're first. If you'd grab a script page and come with me, we'll get this over with." A girl fought her way through the crowd, grabbed a piece of paper from the edge of the stage, and strode back with Mrs. Duncan.

The second the door closed, the room exploded into chatter. Miranda jumped off the stage, two cold read sheets in her hand, and made a beeline for Viola and Cory. The trio bolted to a corner of the room, hoping it was quiet enough that they'd be able to practice without too many disturbances.

"Alright!" Miranda said. "What scenes are they? I just saw 'Nurse' and 'Juliet' and snatched them."

"I've got a giant Nurse monologue," Cory said, sounding a bit defeated. "I just wish I could audition for Tybalt."

"Who says you can't?" Viola said. "We don't have enough guys to fill all the male roles. I mean, look around." True to what Viola said, Cory looked around the room, mouthing numbers to herself, furrowing her brow as she traced each boy's movement. "There's not enough." Viola cut her off. "Sorry. You were taking too long. It was getting kind of painful."

Cory pressed one hand to her chest. "Excuse you! It was not. Tell her, Miranda."

Miranda giggled. "Hate to tell you this, C, but my head hurt just trying to watch you count all those people. Plus, I'm pretty sure you counted Nick twice."

"I did?" Cory bit her lower lip.

"Yeah. Maybe thrice," Viola added. Cleo glared at her.