Finding My Way
Chapter 4 Part 2

“I’m so sorry Valerie, I didn’t mean it li--”
“Ben, stop! I know you didn’t okay? Drop. It. God, you’re such a jerk. Seriously, just leave me alone. Don’t try and talk to me unless you’re Romeo and I’m Juliet, got it?” I snapped before turning on my heel and going down the hallway. Tears threatened to spill and I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. When I turned the corner I stopped and leaned back against the wall, closing my eyes. I needed to recollect my thoughts.
It felt so good to tell Ben off. For the most part I had stood up for myself when he said something to me, but I had never yelled at him like that. It felt relieving to let it off my chest. I didn’t understand him. I knew I overreacted a little, but he knew how much it hurt me when he criticized my acting. He knew how important it was to Loretta and I. He and Loretta had actually been really close. He was really sweet to her, and I secretly always thought it was adorable, the way he got along with her and Jamie. I think that’s one of the things that bothered me the most. We had been best friends, and he was like a brother to my sister even after that because of Jamie, but he had never once said anything about it to me.
He never asked me how I was or offered to comfort me, not that I expected him to. No, instead he insulted and teased me about the most pointless and ridiculous things that no one else made fun of me for. I was fairly popular; most people liked me, except Ben. I had no idea why, and I didn’t really care to be honest. I hated Ben Jackson. It was going to be a long semester.
 
I slumped down in a seat in the auditorium, dreading seeing that jerk but excited for our first meeting. I had told Brooke about it and she offered to beat him up for me. I had laughed and told her I could handle it. She told me to just ignore him, but that would be difficult considering we were supposed to be a pair of star-crossed lovers.
“Welcome everyone! I can’t wait to get this show on the road!”  I smiled at Mrs. Flannigan’s enthusiasm. “I would like to congratulate Valerie and Ben on getting the leads. You were all wonderful and it was a very difficult decision. Ms. Lawrence and I were here for hours last night trying to decide.”
The rest of the meeting was spent by Mrs. Flannigan telling us the schedule and background information on the play. “Valerie and Ben, can I see you for a moment?” She asked as she dismissed the rest of the crew.  Great, I thought, getting up to go to Mrs. Flannigan.
“First off, your auditions were just lovely, and Ms. Lawrence and I have a great feeling about you two.” She smiled. “But I would like you two to try and get together outside of school and get to know each other better. It’s important you two have good chemistry off-stage so it translates to be believable on-stage. You should also think about running lines together at least once a week, since the first few weeks we’ll only be meeting once a week since Ms. Lawrence and I are busy with the start of school and everything, so it’s especially important for our two leads to know their lines once we start getting into the nitty-gritty.”
This would happen to me, I thought. “Yeah, that sounds great! Right, Ben?” I asked, nudging Ben in the arm and trying to mask my displeasure.
“Yeah, definitely.” He replied.
“Great! Two more things: One, I have a stage combat teacher arranged to come for help with the fight scene in the beginning and when Romeo kills Tybalt, and to make Juliet’s stab look realistic. Two: there’s a Saturday dance class I want you two to go to every Saturday for a month. It’s $40. It’s because we want to change the ballroom dance scene where they first meet into a full out, choreographed dance.”
“Aw that’s sick!” I was so excited, not even Ben could ruin this. “We’re really going all out for this, huh Mrs. F.?” I laughed.
“If you’re going to do Shakespeare, you have to go all out!”
“Go big or go home, right?” Ben joined in.
“That’s right Ben! I have to tell you kids something very soon, regarding the play and why we’re going so big, but I have to run, I’ll tell you kids tomorrow!” She smiled.
“I can’t wait! It’s going to be a blast.” I smiled. The only thing that could make this better was if someone else had gotten the part of Romeo. But I had to deal with it and enjoy the role I had wanted to play my entire life. 

I'm notifying around 50 people at the moment, so I'm still willing to
add more to the list. If you want me to add you then just ask and you will be on it for the duration of the story! Let me know how you feel about this chapter (: