Romeo & The Dork

Chapter Four

Of course Mrs. Aguilar made sure the actors would remember to memorize their lines each night. She told them if they skipped even just one night without going over them, they wouldn't memorize them as quickly as they should. They had around a month and a half until the premiere night with still much to do. She wanted the students to get the memorization part done and over with by the end of the next week, and seeing how passionate most of them were about the play, Mrs. Aguilar didn't quite worry about it.

Except for Kevin.

Kevin didn't exactly fret out loud over the fact that he didn't want to be at the practices, but it was pretty evident from the way his nose wrinkled and his eyes would roll every time he entered the theater room.

No one commented on it, though. At least he went everyday and did do what he was told to. And because of this, everyone ignored any small groan the redhead would make from having to being there.

On nights when he would practice alone, Kevin would wander around his room, mumbling the lines to himself, and then seeing if he could say them without looking.

"I do protest, I never injured thee," he said as he looked at the script. "Okay, now let's try this." He sighed as he hid the script behind him. "I do protest. I never injured thee." And nodded. "Damn, that was too easy. Alright, two at a time." The redhead read over the next two lines before hiding the script again and clearing his throat. "But love thee better than thou cast... wait." Kevin furrowed his eyebrows. "Cast? No, that's not it."

He checked the script and rolled his eyes. "Canst. Canst, canst, canst. Canst devise, till thou shalt know the reason... the reason... of... my love." Quickly seeing if he got it right, a grin spread across his face as he saw that he did, but that grin slowly faded. "So memorizing is easy... acting as if you actually mean what you're freaking saying is the hard part." He huffed as he rubbed his eyes. "Acting is hard."

"How does Nazz even do it?" He asked himself. "She says it and it's like she's actually Juliet. What the hell?"

Not wanting to get himself into a bad mood, Kevin licked his lips and took a deep breath. "Alright, let's try this again." He picked up his script and tried to say the next lines with some emotion. "And so, good Capulet, which name I tender as dearly as my- You know what, I'm done for tonight." Kevin shook his head and tossed the papers aside as he allowed himself to fall back on his bed and stare up at his ceiling.

Everyone could keep repeating how well Kevin acted out the scenes, but the redhead himself still couldn't feel as though it were true. He felt something was off, something wasn't right, but he didn't know what.

Perhaps it was that he was the only one in that play who didn't want to be in the play.

He was missing the passion.

And truthfully, he kind of knew that's what it was, and a part of him wanted to find that passion.

Though the other part knew it would be a challenge.

And in all, he wasn't quite sure if he was up for it.

"Nazz-girl will not shut her pie hole about this play, hmm?" Rolf asked as he and Kevin reached the redhead's locker.

"Yeah." Kevin shrugged as he began to put in his locker combination. "And she's kinda stressing me out about it. I know she wants everything to be perfect, but dude, it's the first play we've been in." He pulled open the metal door and took out his math book before closing it shut.

"Is the Casanova trying?"

"I am trying," Kevin said as he leaned against his locker. "You believe me, right?" He squinted his eyes a bit as he stared at Rolf, waiting for a response.