After a conference with Ms. Santoochi, the assistant principal, Juliette gave in and allowed Mr. Higgins back in the drama classroom. He was, as Ms. Satnoochi pointed out, an expert on teaching Shakespeare to children. Even if he did have bad manners and a humongous ego!

“I’d like to welcome back Mr. Higgins,” she told the class through gritted teeth.

Mr. Higgins took over the Smart Board and began laying out the plot and characters of Romeo and Juliet. Lexi’s head was spinning from all the diagrams.

“There are so many names! Mercutio, Benvolio, Capulets, Montagues…how are we supposed to keep them all straight?” she asked Kylie.

But Kylie was most interested in the scheming Friar Lawrence character. “I totally want to play him,” she told Lexi. “He gives Juliet a potion that makes her appear dead when she’s really sleeping. That is so cool. Do you think something like that really exists?”

Lexi shook her head. “The only thing I can figure out is that Romeo and Juliet love each other, but their families are fighting.” She looked over again at Jeremy. “I don’t know what I’d do if I loved someone and my parents forbid me to see him.” She remembered her dad’s reaction to her staying with Aunt Dee—he freaked out and tried to convince her mom it was the worst idea in the world. He really didn’t like her, and she was a member of the family! What if he hated Jeremy? What if, like Romeo and Juliet, their stars were crossed?

“We’ll be announcing the casting at the end of the week,” said Juliette.

“What? No auditions?” Meredith protested. “I’ve been memorizing Juliet’s lines already!”

“No, no auditions. We’ll go around the room, taking turns reading the different parts aloud. Then Mr. Higgins and I will decide who plays what character and who will be helping with the important work behind the scenes.”

“So not fair!” Meredith grumped.

• • •

The first reading didn’t go very well. Jack Yu and Meredith acted the parts of Capulet and Lady Capulet—husband and wife, and Juliet’s parents.

Jack could barely get out a line with a straight face. “How now, kinsman!” he bellowed, slamming his fist on the desk.

“He’s yelling in my ear!” complained Meredith. “I refuse to work with amateurs!”

Kylie was next, reading the part of the friar. “Much I fear some ill unlucky thing!” she cackled like an evil, mad scientist and held her pen in the air, pretending it was a knife about to plunge into someone’s heart.

“Romeo and Juliet is a romance, not a horror movie,” sighed Mr. Higgins. “Next!”

Abby and Julia read the nurse and Juliet…and giggled through most of it. “Madame Julia, your mother craves a word with you!” chuckled Abby.

“It’s Juliet not Julia,” Mr. Higgins groaned. “Please stick to the lines on the page.”

“Why does Juliet need a nurse?” asked Julia. “Is she sick or something?”

“A nurse is a trusted family servant,” explained Mr. Higgins. “Like a baby-sitter. She’s cared for her since she was a baby.”

“Juliet still needs a baby-sitter?” Julia asked.

Abbey read her next line and burst out laughing. “What lamb? What ladybird?” She laughed so hard she fell off her chair. “This play is hilarious!”

Mr. Higgins banged his head against the wall. “All right, who do we have left to read?” He went down the class list, looking for names.

Lexi sunk under her desk. She knew there were only two kids left who hadn’t had a turn: her and Jeremy. Don’t call on me, don’t call on me…

“Lexi and Jeremy, you can read Juliet and Romeo’s balcony scene!”

Lexi felt like she was going to faint. Read a love scene with Jeremy? How could she? She’d die of embarrassment! She shook her head no and tried to hide behind her script.

Kylie leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Lexi, you can do it!”

She took a deep breath and forced herself to focus on the single page in front of her—not on her giggling classmates, not her teachers or Kylie, not even Jeremy, who was fidgeting uncomfortably in his seat.

“Romeo, Romeo…” she began softly. She pictured herself standing on a balcony in the moonlight, dressed in a flowing, white gown, peering down at Jeremy as he held his arms out to her. The words suddenly made sense: she felt Juliet’s pain—she understood how torn she was between her love for Romeo and her love for her family. And when she finished reading, there were tears in her eyes.

“That was excellent, Lexi,” said Juliette. “You really connected with your character.” Lexi nodded and looked over at Jeremy who gave her a thumbs-up and smiled. She felt her heart do a little skip.

“Okay, guys, that’s it for today,” said Juliette. “I don’t think Mr. Higgins can take much more!”

As the class filed out of the drama room, Lexi hoped Jeremy would hang back to talk to her. No such luck. He raced off with Jack to get to phys ed. Who was she kidding? Jeremy would never love her the way Romeo loved Juliet! He wouldn’t recite poetry in the moonlight. He wouldn’t even spell it out in Milk Duds.

• • •

On Thursday, Mr. Higgins handed out the cast list and script. “I do not want anyone complaining about the casting,” Juliette warned.

“Sometimes you get the starring role, and other times you get the chorus,” added Mr. Higgins. “At least that’s what I hear. I’ve always been the star…”

Lexi was hoping that her teachers put her in charge of scenery. She would be great at painting backdrops to look like the bustling streets of Verona.

“No way!” shrieked Meredith, reading the casting list. “I’m the old nurse and Lexi is Juliet?”

Lexi grabbed the yellow sheet of paper on her desk and saw her name at the top of the list. Beneath it was Jeremy’s name…as Romeo.

“Oh no,” she whispered to Kylie. “This cannot be happening!”

“Woo-hoo! I’m the friar!” Kylie cheered. “I get to poison you!”

“Kylie!” Lexi grabbed her hand. “You’re not listening! I’m supposed to stand on a stage and be the star of a play? I’m supposed to kiss Jeremy in front of the entire school? I’ll die!”

“Yup,” replied Kylie. “Juliet does die in the play. So cool! You have to make it look really gory when you plunge the fake dagger into your heart.”

Lexi buried her head in her hands. This was the worst thing that had ever happened to her in her entire life. Even worse than the time she threw up in the middle of her fourth-grade book report! She raised her hand. “Mr. Higgins, I really can’t play this part,” she pleaded.

“Of course you can,” he replied. “You did an excellent job the other day, and I have no doubt you will make a great Juliet.” That made Lexi feel a tiny bit better…until she saw Jeremy’s face. He looked as scared as she did.

Juliette came over to her desk to offer more encouragement. “Lexi, no one read Juliet the way you did. You totally get her, and I think doing this play will be really good for you. It will help you come out of your shell.”

Lexi sighed. She didn’t want to come out of her shell. She liked it just fine in there. In fact, she wanted to crawl back in right now, like a turtle, and stay tucked away till the play was over.