Winthrope Abbey

Harry breathed in deeply before he pushed open the doors to the auditorium.He was dreading this. All week he was dreading this.His extra circular activity, which of course his father assured him he must choose.

“Why Drama?”

“Because son, it will better your public speaking and help you to gain confidence.”

“I have confidence Father. And when exactly will I be indulging in public speaking?”

“For your political career, of course.”

Of course, why would Harry ever be allowed to decide his future himself. Or even what he was doing presently.Not one class was chosen by him this year, so why would the non academic stuff be either. He thought perhaps he was old enough, old enough to choose the little extras required by Winthrope Abbey; but Prime Minister Styles knew better than his son, at the very least that is what Harry was told.

After waiting there for far longer than he should, Harry opened the door and made his way where the other students sat. Absentmindedly he sat down in a random row of seats.

“Seriously.” Harry heard a very annoyed almost sarcastic voice, making him smile instantly when he recognized it.

“Ah, Sophia! My favorite classmate.” He said with an exaggerated tone.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?”

“Why are you in every aspect of my time here in Winthrope? Is it not enough that we have nearly every class together, live in the same house together, and now this? Can’t you be interested in another extra circular?”

“Firstly, my dear Sophia, this was my school first and therefore I had my classes enrolled before yours. Secondly, seeing you every moment just…well it just warms be right up.” He said while wiping away fake happy tears.

Sophia rolled her eyes and turned straight ahead again. Stupid Styles, with his stupid curly hair always bothering me. All week she had to put up with this. Every class Harry sat next to her. Every step she took on campus was followed by his. And every move she made in Winter House somehow always managed to involve Mr. Styles himself. Forget the fact they had to do that silly project in Science together, which would only mean more time with him. She hated it. Absolutely hated it. She felt like she was being punished. As though the world is against me, she thought a bit over dramatically.

“Good afternoon my thespians.” Their drama director said followed by immature laughter from some of the boys, and perhaps a small smile from Sophia herself.

“Now, now. Every Actor and Actress should know thespians are in no relation to ones sexuality…usually,” he paused, “Moving on now. My name is Mr. Doris and I have been an experienced actor on both stage and screen. All long before your time I’m afraid, but an experienced actor none the less.”

“I am excited you have all chosen the field of acting to occupy your free time. Even if you are required to do so and even if this is the last choice on your list for extra circular. I assure you it will be an experience to remember and one which I truly believe you will enjoy. I have already chosen the play we will be performing this year. One you’ll be excited about since we have not one but two actresses in our presence.” Mr. Doris said pointing to Sophia then Cora.

Sophia hadn’t realized Cora was in here until now. When she turned to look at her, Sophia received quite the threatening death stare from Cora. More than likely a message given to her from Penelope to give to Sophia. After all Sophia had learned she was no friend of Penelope and her mean girl clique, especially once Penelope found out Harry was in every class with Sophia and not her.

“We will be performing…Romeo and Juliet.” Mr. Doris said with great enthusiasm but was met with collective groans from his students.

“Alright. Alright. I know it is overdone but it is a classic and it will be respected by all of you. Come Monday I expect everyone to audition, even if you only plan on working as tech I still want to see everyone’s talent.” Mr. Doris grabbed some papers behind him, “These here are the monologues you will use for your audition.One for the boys and one for the girls. You may leave after you take one of these. I will see you all Monday afternoon. Please be prepared.”

All at once the students jumped out of their seats to retrieve their monologue and leave as soon as possible. Harry walked up to the stage and looked over the paper.

“I hate this play.” Sophia said as she looked at her own monologue.

“It could be worse.” Harry informed her.

“How?”

“For starters, before you lovely girls graced our presence, pre-pubescent boys often played the role of Juliet.”

“No! Your lying.”

“Unfortunately I most certainly am not. Just ask non-play Juliet about it.”

“My roommate? Why?”

“Her father may or may not have overly enjoyed playing that role twenty years ago.”

“Are you saying he was Juliet and liked it?”

“Why else would his daughter have the very same name?”

They both stared at one another and began laughing.

“There’s no way that story is true?” Sophia said still laughing.

“According to my father it is. And that man is all too serious to make it up.” Replied Harry.

“Oh poor Juliet.You think she knows?”

“That her father once cross dressed and she now bares his drag name? I really hope not.”

They both broke into laughter again. This time harder than before causing them both to hunch over and Sophia reaching out to steady herself on Harry’s arm. Not having immediately noticed she was touching him, she continued joking.

“And to think you don’t like that there are girls here. Imagine if you had to do Drama with all boys. You’d have to kiss a boy instead of me—“ She stopped suddenly realizing what she had said. She immediately dropped her hand that was on Harry and stood up straight.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing! Nothing at all!”

“No I’m pretty sure you said I was going to kiss you.” Harry said with a big smile.

“No I said that maybe you would kiss me—I mean whoever plays Juliet. There is no guarantee either one of us will get the part.”

“True, but you didn’t say maybe…no you definitely said I would be kissing you.” He said taking a step closer to her.

“I did not say you would be kissing me.” Sophia took one step back.

“Except you did.” He said stepping toward her once again.

“I said, as a joke, that you could be kissing a boy instead of a girl. IF you were to be Romeo and I, by I meaning all the girls at this school, were not here.” She stepped back.

“Oh so ‘me’ was a generalization for girls, as in all the girls at this school.” He stepped forward.

“Exactly, because it could be Cora.” She rationalized and stepped back. Stop moving forward you curly haired idiot.

“It could be, but it won’t. You see I’ve seen Cora lie. She isn’t any good at it.” Harry moved forward.

“What does lying have to do with acting?” Sophia moved back hitting the wall. Damn it!

“Everything. And you are better at it than her.”

Please don’t move forward, Sophia secretly pleaded. But he moved forward anyway, and then made it worse by placing his hand beside her on the wall.

“I’m better? How? When I have I lied to you?” She seriously wondered.

“Just now. With the ‘me kissing you’ comment. Clearly you want me to kiss you which you have stated out loud just now, and are now pretending didn’t happen.”

“Because that didn’t happen!” She yelled getting even closer to him by her action.

“Whatever you say. But we’ll see what happens Monday.” Harry told her and pushed himself off the wall and began to walk away.

“What happens Monday?” Sophia yelled after him.

“You become Juliet and I become your Romeo.”

And with that sentence she knew officially the world was in fact against her.

Notes

Alright another chapter done!