bardolatry

~ one

"Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."

- William Shakespeare

CHAPTER ONE

PRINCIPAL WHITNEY LOOKS at Jase down her nose. He swallows nervously, tapping his fingers against the faux wood of the uncomfortable In Trouble chair.

He'd never had to sit in it before, and even though it seemed like a childish trepidation, he was sort of scared.

"So..." The principal shuffles a stack of disorganized papers, stationing them on the corner of her desk. "You were the one who duct-taped the drama room door shut...and slicked it with butter?"

No, he wants to say, I'm just taking the blame for my coward of a best friend.

"Yes," He mumbles.

She makes a vaguely disapproving noise in the back of her throat. "Alright," Principal Whitney says, her voice conveying future doom. "Since it was her door you -" She fumbles for words - "Ambushed, for punishment I'll allow Mrs. Lancaster to lay it down." Licking her thumb and leafing through his personal record, she hums. "Besides this incident, you seem like a fine student. Why now?"

"Isn't that what we all ask," Jase murmurs under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

The principal pats her tightly-coiled, graying bun. "Dismissed."

Emitting a breath of quiet relief, he scrambles from the notorious piece of furniture and shoots out of the office. It wasn't a place for him. He wasn't a troublemaker, didn't pull pranks on teachers or smoke joints behind the school. That was Ethan.

Walking down the hall to the drama classroom, Jase decided the circumstance could be worse. Mrs. Lancaster was a softie, not cliche-crazy with peacock feather robes and pentagonal glasses like the ones often portrayed in movies. His punishment wouldn't be too severe.

Turning the slippery handle, he entered the small room quietly. An ancient-looking piano was shoved into one corner, with a boa, fedora, and various instruments strewn across. The desks were formed in a circle, and in the center was the teacher herself, clad in flowery slacks and a grandma sweater. (Even though he was pretty sure she was, like, thirty-something).

"Uh," Jase says, "I'm - the one who buttered your door?"

Mrs. Lancaster's eyes narrow with chary. "Ah, yes. Well, come in, must prepare a punishment for you, I suppose."

Toeing his sneaker against the carpet, he crosses the floor, slowly easing into the chair adjacent from hers.

Fiddling with the string of fake pearls around her neck, Mrs. Lancaster says, "You don't look much like the trouble-brewing type, do you now?"

"...No ma'am."

"No problems, then. Well, besides that you duct-tape buttered my door."

"...Yes ma'am."

The drama teacher smiles. Her teeth are unbelievably white. Bleached white. "Well, I'm not very prepared to give out a penance. But..." She taps her bottom lip, painted crimson. "We do have a spot open for the play. A Midsummer's Night Dream."

Jase blanches. "Uh...well, you see -"

"Nope."

"But, Mrs. Lancaster, let me try to reason with yo-"

"No."

"Please, ma'am, really it is not a wise decision to put me in your production-"

"You decided to rebel, you are punished. This is your punishment." Nearly blinds him with her smile.

"..Alright."

≫∙−≫

Harley was having a dangerous day.

She almost broke her ankle falling down the stairs, then when her best friend, Enna, pulled her back up, she rammed into the school's quarterback (He almost crushed her - most likely, he's double her weight). After that, she attempted to have an injury-free walk to calculus, but then she tripped over the dragging lace of her maroon Vans and her face met the floor - again.

Countless other blows were taken, in various different environments (English Lit, Chemistry, and Chinese) , before she managed to limp / cradle / drag / hop / piggyback to the first play practice.

"Sweet baby Jesus," Harley wheezes upon passing the threshold of the class, instantaneously collapsing into a chair. A one-class friend of hers (you know, the ones you only handle during a single lesson, simply because they're there), Elizabeth, glances over at her.

"You breathing?"

"I suppose you could say that."

"And I suppose I'll take your drama - this is a rather suiting domain."

"Mm."

The two twist in their seats when they hear the hesitant, edging footsteps rubbing against the carpeted floor - laying eyes upon a boy that, under intense pondering, finally recalls, "Oh, that's my neighbor. Jase."

Elizabeth's - rather bushy - eyebrows raise. "Is he in the play? He's not in the play. No. Why is he here? Probably for Mrs. Lancaster."

Harley's one-class friend had a dreadful habit of answering her own questions in swift succession.

Jase treads carefully across the room, tentatively poking Mrs. Lancaster's shoulder. She watches as they discuss something, the loud talking of her classmates making their conversation inaudible.

"Hey," Elizabeth tugs a lock of Harley's hair. She manages to spare the girl a glance. It's not that Harley doesn't like her, exactly, but sometimes every little thing someone does just kind of builds into this colossal annoyance and then she just wants to yell for them to go away every time they speak.

Of course, this may be result of the several head impacts with which she was inflicted.

"Yeah?" Harley slides the word from the corner of her mouth as she watches Jase settle into a desk chair. His long legs stick out from under it, and his arms stretch all the way across its surface. Briefly, he glances over to her, but is quickly engaged in a conversion with Walter Case (who can barely squeeze out a line without bursting into incredibly socially-awkward laughter, and was really just there for his girlfriend).

"I think...isn't that Mackenzie Stellar's ex, or something?"

Harley shrugs, "I dunno."

"Alright, people!" Mrs. Lancaster hollers, clapping her hands a few beats until the students halted their antics.

Lifting up her clipboard, the teacher says, "I know we haven't reviewed this in a while, so, here it is:

Oberon- Gavin Letter
Titania- Grace Northing
Lysander- Alec Hemingway
Demetrius- Walter Case
Hermia- Harley Monroe
Helena- Elizabeth McMorrow
Egeus- Hayden Huntington
Theseus- Sebastian Locke
Hippolyta- Libby Farrow
Nick Bottom-
Peter Quince- Marshall Lively
Francis Flute- Gus Kingsley
Robin Starveling- Eric Quentin
Tom Snout- Anton Flores
Snug- Jose Ramirez
Philostrate- Tucker Donnelly
Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, and Mustardseed-
Alexia Goode
Philip Gherkins
Mara Della-Rosa
Liam Kenn

"And..." Mrs. Lancaster grinned, looping a loose red pen circle around a name.

"Jase Ryker as Nick Bottom."

Under his breath, Harley thinks she hears him swear.

≫∙−≫

{ a / n } *smiles* ahahahahahahaha jase