Just A Stage Kiss

Chapter 1

Sikowitz padded barefoot across the small stage in his classroom, absentmindedly sipping on his coconut. He seemed to have totally forgotten that he was half way through teaching a class, a class who were waiting impatiently for their teacher to come down from what ever planet he currently inhabited and assign them the project they were supposed to be working on. A couple of students coughed awkwardly in hope of getting the odd acting teachers attention, but he just continued to hum merrily to himself.

"SIKOWITZ!"

Jades yell made Sikowitz jump, his coconut flung into the air in surprise and landed on top of Robbie's head, much to the poor boys annoyance and Rex's amusement.

"Oh yes, I was teaching a class!"

This comment earned many eye rolls from students and a groan from Jade.

"So! Your assignment!" Sikowitz made a drum roll sound with his feet, copied immediately by the class, then stopped suddenly, grinning. "Your assignment is to create a scene involving a believable kiss. Not some namby-pamby peck-on-the-cheek type kiss, I want romance! Passion! Love!"

Sikowitz twirled on the spot and the class exchanged looks before he turned back to them, putting on a serious face.

"Stage kissing is very much like real kissing" He explained, pacing before them once more. "Except, it's on a stage, in front of a crowd of people and usually with someone you have no real feelings for and maybe no attraction to at all... okay, so maybe it's not like real kissing, but the point is: you have to make it believable!"

He walked to the back of the stage and picked up a top hat. "I have placed all of your names into this hat and shall pull them out one at a time to relieve who your partner is for this project. I want you all to remember that stage kissing is a very big part of acting and just as big a part of your final grade."

"Um" A boy from the back of the class raised his hand. "Shouldn't you have two hats? One for boys and one for girls?"

Sikowitz looked at the top hat, bewildered, as if he had only just noticed it, then he chuckled. "I knew there was something I was supposed to do! No matter! All part of the fun!"

He stuck his hand into the hat and rummaged around for a moment before pulling out a slip of paper. "Okay, first: Cat and" He took another slip "Eli!"

Cat giggled and grinned over at Eli, who was trying not to blush.

Sikowitz continued to pull names from the hat, resulting in some very odd pairings including Andre and a girl who had left Hollywood Arts the previous year and, most disturbingly, Robbie got paired with:

"Sinjin!"

The two boys looked over at each other in a mixture of horror and humiliation, while the class sniggered behind them.

"That only leaves four names!" Sikowitz called, glancing into the hat then back at the class before pulling out two more slips of paper. "Beck and Trina!"

"Trina?" Beck half laughed. "She's not even in this class."

"Oh yes. But she skipped this lesson last year due to some weird mouth disease or something, so she has to retake" Sikowitz waved a hand dismissively then reached back into the hat. "This leaves only two people"

The class held its breath, already knowing the pairing, but hoping their teacher had made a mistake. Unfortunately, the final two names read out were exactly those they were expecting:

"Tori and Jade!"