The next morning, Lexi arrived at school an hour early. She had been up practically all night, tossing and turning, trying to figure out what she would say if Jeremy confronted her. It was a long night and now it was going to be a long day.

“Juliette?” she called, knocking on the drama classroom door. Through the window, she could see there were people inside. She peeked in and could make out Juliette and Mr. Higgins in the back of the classroom. Juliette was standing on a chair and Mr. Higgins was kneeling on one knee. They looked pretty silly—and busy—but Lexi couldn’t hear what they were saying. So she pushed the door open a tiny bit more…

“Be but sworn my love,” Juliette said, touching a hand to her heart.

“By blessed moon, I vow,” Mr. Higgins replied, taking her hand in his. Juliette leaned forward, and they looked deeply into each other’s eyes.

Lexi gasped. This looked a little too real to be acting! Could it be…Rodney and Juliette? Could Kylie have been right about them? It certainly looked like it! The doorknob creaked loudly in her hand.

“Who goes there?” shouted Mr. Higgins. He put his glasses back on and Juliette hopped off her chair.

“I do,” Lexi said tiptoeing into the classroom. “Sorry,” she apologized to her teachers. “I just needed to talk to you about the play.”

Juliette motioned for Lexi to come take a seat beside her. “We were just figuring out the staging. What’s up, Lex?”

Lexi took a deep breath. “I have to quit.”

“Why?” Mr. Higgins seemed disappointed. “We thought we’d chosen the perfect Juliet…aside from this Juliette.” He looked over at her teacher and winked.

“I just can’t, that’s all,” Lexi continued. “Besides, I don’t think Jeremy would want me to.”

“Are you two not getting along?” asked Juliette. “But I thought—”

“So did I. I was wrong. He hates me,” Lexi replied.

“Sometimes a relationship starts out on the wrong foot,” Juliette said. “Maybe it’s all a misunderstanding?”

Mr. Higgins nodded. “Ms. Dubois and I initially had a little misunderstanding.”

Juliette coughed. “A little? Try humongous!”

“Anyway, we worked together this past week and discovered we have a lot in common,” he added. They smiled at each other.

“The point is don’t just give up, Lexi,” Juliette reminded her. “‘The course of true love never does run smooth.’”

“Shakespeare again?” Lexi asked.

“Of course!” Mr. Higgins replied. “The bard knew a thing or two about romance. Just give it a try for a few days and see how it goes between you and Romeo. Fair enough?”

Lexi agreed but felt a knot in the pit of her stomach the moment the class came into the room. Thankfully, Jeremy was late and in a hurry to get to his seat. He didn’t have time to say anything to her.

“We’re going to break up into small groups today and run lines,” Juliette explained. Lexi was supposed to rehearse a scene with the Nurse aka Meredith. Even acting with Meredith would be better than facing Jeremy.

“Find a quiet corner with your partners,” Juliette instructed the class. Meredith had already grabbed a spot in the front of the room and was making strange sounds with her mouth.

“Mama made me eat my M&Ms!” she sang. “Sally sells sweaty socks by the seashore!”

“What are you doing?” Lexi asked, puzzled.

“Warm-ups,” replied Meredith. “Every actor knows that.”

She then began to read her lines in a strange, clipped British accent. Lexi thought she sounded like Mary Poppins.

“Anon! Anon!” Meredith bellowed. “Come, let us away…”

Lexi wished she could away!

“A word, ladies,” Mr. Higgins interrupted.

“How do you like my accent?” Meredith asked.

Mr. Higgins wrinkled his nose. “Well, dialect is a difficult thing to master. Why don’t you try delivering the lines without an accent? I think it might be more powerful.”

Meredith smiled. “I can do that.” It took her almost the entire period to get through the scene. “Don’t you think the nurse should say a little more here? She’s a very important character in the play!”

Mr. Higgins rubbed his temples. “Yes, yes, every role is important, Meredith,” he replied. “But I don’t recommend rewriting Shakespeare.”

Meredith shrugged. “Whatever.”

Lexi was just glad she escaped drama without any drama. She saw that Jeremy was busy rehearsing with Jack who played his enemy, Tybalt. Jack wanted to know when they could practice dueling with swords.

“Tomorrow,” Mr. Higgins sighed. “I need to make sure we have a first-aid kit handy.”

“En garde!” Jack yelled, flourishing his sword in the air. “This is going to be awesome!”

“I also want to do some work on the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene tomorrow,” Juliette added. “Lexi, Jeremy, make sure you memorize your lines for homework tonight.”

Lexi looked over at Jeremy to see his reaction. He nodded and didn’t seem disgusted by the thought of having to rehearse with her. Phew!

• • •

Kylie caught up to Lexi in the hall. “How did it go?”

“Okay, I guess,” Lexi said. “Jeremy didn’t say anything about the cupcake catastrophe. And I told Mr. Higgins and Juliette I wouldn’t quit the play for a few days.”

“Good! That’s plenty of time to do some detective work,” Kylie exclaimed.

“What kind of detective work?”

“We need to find out why Jeremy threw away your cupcake. Jenna thinks maybe he’s allergic to nuts or something. She saw him going to the nurse last week.”

Lexi thought it over. Well, that would explain why he tossed the cupcake so quickly. “How do we find out?”

“We investigate,” Kylie replied. “We can all take turns following Jeremy.”

Lexi shook her head. “No way!” The last thing she needed was for Jeremy to spot her spying on him.

“I am an expert at secret intelligence,” Kylie insisted. “I’ve learned from some of the best monster hunters in the movies.”

“Like you’re an expert at matchmaking?” Lexi pointed out.

“Exactly! Did you see the look Juliette gave Mr. Higgins this morning? She was cracking up at his jokes, and all he said was ‘Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.’ What’s funny about that?”

Lexi wasn’t about to fill Kylie in on what she’d seen before class. If Juliette and Mr. Higgins were destined to be a couple, then they didn’t need any help.

“I’ve always wanted to be a junior bridesmaid at a wedding,” Kylie gushed. “And can you just imagine the huge white cupcake tower we could make for it? You could sculpt little white doves and a bride and groom out of fondant…”

Lexi couldn’t help but chuckle. Kylie had a knack for getting carried away, especially when cupcakes were involved. “I don’t think we should start baking those wedding cupcakes just yet,” she said.

“You’re right. We have to focus on Jeremy first.”