Chapter 11: Chapter 11

“What is this?” Ethan asked, scanning through the script we got for the scene we would be enacting and scowled, “It doesn’t even make sense!”

“Exactly,” Michael agreed, browsing through the script as well, “What on earth does this mean? ‘I take thee at thy word. Call me but Love and I’ll be new baptized’”

My shoulders sank, “Come on guys, what did you expect? Romeo using cheesy pick up lines like Ethan? It’s a classic!”

Ethan narrowed his eyes at me while I smiled at him sheepishly, “Those cheesy lines make you blush, Ash.”

“What? No, they don’t,” I denied while Abby snickered.

“But how are we supposed to try and act with emotions when we don’t even understand the dialogues?” Michael asked.

“Just try, trust me. The emotions will come along automatically,” Abby said calmly.

Michael sighed and gave Abby a small smile, “Fine.”

I smiled and walked over to an empty chair in the auditorium to try and remember my lines. I had to agree with them though; the lines were really complicated. But I couldn’t back out now; I was the one who convinced Michael and Ethan to join in the first place.

“It’s official. I don’t understand the English used in the olden days,” Abby said, plopping down next to me.

“Yup,” Ethan agreed.

“I’m going to go get some water,” I excused myself and walked towards the water dispenser stacked with plastic glasses.

Pouring myself a warm glass of water, I looked around; peering over the rim of the glass. I saw a familiar boy staring at me and tried to recollect where I had seen him; those green eyes looked extremely familiar. He noticed me staring back at him and smiled; I blinked and gave him a small closed mouth smile. Why is my memory so bad? He got off his chair and started walking towards me. Oh no, this is going to be embarrassing. Damn.

“Hey,” he said, nearing me.

“Hi, how have you been?” I asked, observing his forest green eyes.

I had seen him before. I’m sure.

“Good, what about you?” he asked politely.

“Great!” I said, forcing my slow brain to remember.

“I didn’t expect to see you here, you know, to audition,” he said with a soft chuckle.

“Well, I am here now, trying out for Juliet out of all the options,” I said, stepping my foot on the dustbin paddle and throwing the glass inside.

“I’m pretty sure you’ll get the part,” he smiled. “Isn’t Erica here?”

“Erica?” I asked and he nodded, “No! Can you imagine Erica standing in a fake balcony, dressed up and saying; O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”

Both of us laughed loudly. Our laughter echoed softly in the huge auditorium causing people to look over.

“Hey! Chris! I didn’t know you were trying out,” Michael walked towards us.

Chris. His name was Chris! Yes, I remember now! I met him on my first day here.

“I wasn’t going to try out but since I’m taking drama I am sort of forced into it. Classics are not my thing,” Chris replied.

Michael nodded, rolling his script.

“The funny thing is that you are here,” Chris said with his eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, well, I was forced into it as well,” Michael responded, giving me a sharp look.

“What? I didn’t force you! I just insisted,” I replied with a cheeky grin.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of difference between insisting and forcing,” Michael muttered while Chris chuckled.

“Well, I’m going to go try these lines out with Abby,” I said, indicating towards Abby with my thumb. “See you around Chris.”

“Good luck,” Chris said.

Giving him one last smile, I walked over to Abby; who seemed to be practicing her lines with Ethan.

*

“How was it?!” I asked eagerly as Michael and Abby stepped out of the auditorium. I was really pissed at Mr. Ambrose for not letting me and Ethan stay. He wanted us to leave since our audition was done.

My audition with Ethan was really intense. Standing there, staring into his mesmerizing eyes and saying those lines out as Juliet seemed easy; I felt like I could express everything with ease. For a moment, I was lost with him. Only me and him; not the people watching us and not Mr. Ambrose. Just me and him. Even though, the dialogues were quite tricky, we managed to do it.

“It was amazing!” Abby said happily. “It actually sounds so much better and deep when you perform it out.”

Michael glanced at her and smiled. I grinned proudly.

“There you guys are!” Erica came towards us with Jared trailing behind her. “It took so long for you guys to do that?” she asked, pointing at the script in Abby’s hands.

“Hey, it’s really hard, just try it once,” I replied.

“Nope, I’m good,” she said with a smug look.

*

“Happy Birthday!”

I groaned loudly; I was sleeping peacefully. Opening my eyes, I sat up groggily. Erica, Abby and Ethan were grinning widely over me with a big brown cake in Abby’s hands. I glanced over to the calendar next to me and realised it was my birthday! Oh my god! I forgot my birthday! How stupid could I get! It was 2nd November! It was 12 am!

I grinned back at them and pulled Erica in for a hug, “Thanks guys! This is really sweet!”

“We know,” Ethan replied, earning three annoyed looks.

“Our bestie is officially 16!” Abby exclaimed.

I grinned at her and noticed that the wax from the candle was melting and falling into the delicious chocolate cake. I blew it and smiled up at them, they smiled back.

“Okay, don’t make much noise, if mom and dad wake up we are screwed,” Erica instructed.

I nodded back with Abby.

“Could you switch the lights on?” I asked.

Ethan got off the bed, walked over to the switch and flipped it on. I squinted and blinked a few times to get my vision back to normal. I noticed all of them were in the pyjamas. Ethan looked quite cute with his shaggy, messed-up hair and sleepy golden brown eyes. Abby skipped to my dressing table, picked up something and then plopped down on the bed. She handed it to me. I ripped it open and there was a very stylish leopard print leather jacket. I glanced up and pulled her in for a hug, “I love it! It’s amazing.”

“See!” she told Erica. “I told you she’ll like it!”

“Whatever,” Erica said and handed me a small gift bag. I looked into it and pulled out a small box.

Silently, I opened it and gasped. There was a beautiful charm bracelet sitting inside it, I always loved charm bracelets, they look elegant and trendy at the same time.

“It’s beautiful,” I said softly. “I love it! Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Erica said with a sweet smile.

Abby and Erica looked at Ethan, who gave them a curios look, “Don’t look at me!” he said. “I didn’t even know it was her birthday till you guys came banging on my door at 11”

I narrowed my eyes at him. I remembered his birthday!

“I still remember your birthday!” I told him.

“Oh, really?” he asked. “When is it?”

“17th April,” I replied confidently.

Erica, who was standing next to me, gasped, “She does remember!”

I smirked at him as he leaned against the wall.

“Let’s do something!” Abby chimed in.

“Like?” Erica asked.

“Truth or Dare?” Abby asked, a bit unsure.

“Nah, that’s boring,” I replied and Ethan nodded in agreement. “Let’s watch something!”

“You guys do know that we have school tomorrow, we should just sleep,” Erica said.

“Oh! Yes!” I replied.

“What about this delicious cake that we baked,” Abby asked, staring at the cake sadly.

I laughed, “We’ll gulp it down tomorrow.”

Abby grinned, “Yep!”

“We should do something tomorrow! Girls night out!” Erica stated.

Ethan shook his head and got up, “I’m going to go sleep. See you guys tomorrow.”

“Okay,” I replied and gave him a small smile. He smiled back and walked out of the room.

“I really don’t get why you guys always do that creepy smile thing at each other,” Erica said with a suspicious look, “It’s like you guys are sharing a private joke or something.”

“Seriously?” I exclaimed. “Are you going to object every time we smile?”

She looked down at me, sighed and sat down on the bed, “Pretty much.”

*

My phone ringed and I smiled when I saw my mom’s name flash, “Mom! How are you?”

“I’m great, sweetie! Happy Birthday! I’m so sorry I’m not there,” she said.

“It’s alright!” I replied, even though it wasn’t, I did miss mom.

“You’re 16, my baby girl has grown up,” she said with a sigh.

I nodded and then realised she couldn’t see me so I said, “Yeah, I guess. Though I don’t feel old, it’s all still the same you know?”

I heard her laugh and after talking for some time, she had to get back to work.

I put on a cute yellow dress, a thin black belt with the charm bracelet Erica gave me the other night. Abby was still in the washroom, bathing. I heard someone knock on my door and after a pause Ethan came in. I smiled at him and he smiled at me. Okay, Erica was right; we always smile at each other. He walked over to me and handed me a wrapped present which was definitely a book. He got me a book! Honestly, this was the present that I loved the most so far. A book; it’s just perfect. I took it and opened it. He waited patiently for me to rip the present off.

“How many tapes did you use?” I exclaimed.

“Ah,” he started, rubbing the back of his with his free hand. “I don’t really know how to wrap stuff.”

“Of course you don’t,” I said with a grin.

After removing many tapes, I finally got to see the book. It was another Nicholas Sparks book-The Wedding, I looked up at him and grinned.

“I’m assuming you liked it?” he asked.

“Of course! It’s Nicholas Sparks after all,” I said while turning to the back of the book to the read the summary.

“Thanks,” I said softly.

“Don’t mention it,” he replied politely.

“No cheeky comment? Just a simple reply? Impressive,” I said, nodding my head.

“Don’t get used to it,” he said.

“Great, you just ruined it,” I said, sticking my tongue out.

“So what are you guys planning to do tonight?”

“Well, Erica and I want to get drunk!” I said with a giggle.

His eyebrows shot up and he smirked at me, “Mom will not let you and Erica in the house.”

“Not if you cover for us,” I said, leaning towards him.

“What if I don’t?” he asked, taking one step closer to me.

We were really close, like really close. Well, the closest I’ve been to him since the incident when I cried, we were practically hugging back then. But that’s a different situation, I could see the fibre from his shirt clearly, we were that close. I realised he was waiting for a reply, looking at down at me with those captivating eyes.

“Then you will ruin my 16th birthday!” I said, pouting.

“I wouldn’t want to do that,” he said, looking at me with those intense eyes.

“I don’t even know if we are going to get drunk or not. If we do, who’s going to drive us back?” I said with a sigh.

“You don’t take precautions and get drunk,” he said. “You just.. get drunk!” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

I just nodded at him.

“By the way,” he started. “I think you look really cute in yellow. It suits you, wear yellow more often.”

I felt my cheeks flame and bit the insides of my mouth to stop myself from smiling. But, I smiled anyway, “Thanks”

We stood there, really close, looking at each other and smiling. That perfect moment, the bathroom door opened and Abby came out wiping her hair with a towel.

She stared at us for a minute and said. “Did I interrupt something?”

“Nah,” I said, moving away from Ethan and walking over the dresser to keep the book he gave me.

“Okay, um, I’ll see you guys downstairs,” he said and walked out of the room.

“You like him,” Abby said as soon as Ethan left the room.

“What?” I said, shocked. “No, he’s just a good friend.”

“I don’t think so,” she said. “For some reason, the way you were looking at him when I came out, it was… different. Besides, you guys look cute together!”

“Trust me, I don’t,” I said every single word clearly.

A/N: Heyyoo! Did you like this chapter? Thanks for reading! Leave some feedbacks and votes? ._.

By the way, did you know that Antarctica is the only continent without any reptiles! (quite obvious, I know but I hate reptiles =/) I wanna move to Antarticaa!