Romeo & The Dork

Chapter One

Nazz stared at the bulletin board. There seemed to be the usual updates: try-outs for the basketball team, after school tutoring, art club, and even chess club. Nazz sighed through her nose but just as she was going to turn away, the theater arts teacher walked up and pinned a paper onto the board. She gave the blonde a warm smile and left. Nazz looked back at the board to see an announcement of an upcoming play.

Fall play:

Romeo & Juliet

Come by the theater room for auditions today and tomorrow after school.

I hope to see you there.

A play.

The corners of Nazz's lips slowly rose. Now that sounded interesting. It was different. Theater never caught her attention, but seeing that it was her last year in middle school, she figured she could do a little more before having to enter high school. And therefore, it was settled. She would try out for Juliet, but she knew she couldn't keep her hopes up high. Any other girl could swoop in and win the part.

"Hey, Nazz," a familiar said from behind.

The girl turned to see Kevin smiling at her. "Hey, Kev. What's up?"

"Just heading to my locker. Wanna come?"

"Sure." Nazz took one last glance at the announcement sheet and smiled to herself before facing Kevin again. "So, I was thinking about signing up for the Romeo and Juliet play."

Kevin raised his eyebrows. "Seriously?"

"Yeah." Nazz nodded. "It'll be fun. I mean, I probably won't get the role, but it'll still be fun to try. And maybe you should, too, ya know?"

Kevin halted in his tracks. The blonde had taken a few more steps before noticing he was no longer next to her. She turned around and held her hands up, though the look of disgust on his face was enough to tell her what he was thinking.

"Aw, Kev, come on," she said. "It won't be so bad."

The redhead rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I'm not going to try out for some stupid play. That's not my thing, Nazz."

"It's not my thing, either, but I'm giving it a try."

"Yeah, well you have a more open mind." He crossed his arms. "Man, can you imagine what everyone'll say if I even thought about signing up?"

"Is this really about your reputation?" Nazz furrowed her eyebrows. "Dude, there are other more important things than your image."

"Says the girl who practically had a heart attack when half her hair was shaved off."

Nazz stomped her foot. "Because that wasn't fair!" She blinked and sighed. "Besides, I already forgave Eddy for that, but that's not the point, Kev. The point is, you know, this will be cool."

"For you, maybe." Kevin shook his head. "Sorry Nazz, but you can't convince me." He stopped at his locker and began opening it but stopped when he couldn't ignore the stare Nazz was giving him. "Dude," he mumbled. "Stop."

"I'm not going to stop until I do convince you," she said. "Because I know I will." The corners of her lips rose. "Eventually."

"Eventually." Kevin snickered. "Good luck with that." He grabbed his textbook and they headed off to class together.

"So what's with you, Sockhead?" Eddy said as he and the other two Eds made their way to their homeroom. "You have that creepy smile on your face again."

That same smile faded immediately from Double D's face once Eddy mentioned it.

"Double D is always happy, Eddy," Ed stated. "He's a ray of sunshine, the little dickens." He reached his hand up and pinched Double D's cheek playfully.