Secondary Characters (Novella) - By Rachel Schieffelbein Page 0,20
have to worry about him noticing.
My eyes roam over his broad shoulders and the curve of his neck when the teacher calls his name.
“Lance, why don’t you come up here and read this part,” Mrs. Sandberg says. We’ve been studying Shakespeare, and every once in a while she makes someone get up and read out loud. She says Shakespeare was meant to be performed, experienced, not just read from a book in a classroom. Most of the class can’t stand her.
Lance walks up to the front of the classroom holding Romeo and Juliet. I’ve been daydreaming and have no idea what part we’re on.
“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun.” His eyes stay glued to the page as he reads the beginning of the balcony scene. His voice is soft. I watch the way his lips move as he speaks. “It is my lady, O, it is my love!”
“No, no, no,” Mrs. Sandberg interrupts him. He stops and looks up at her. “This is the moment when he sees Juliet, his love! You can’t say it to a book.” She starts to survey the class. “Perhaps we need someone else to come up, too. Someone to play off of.” Her eyes stop on me.
No no no no no! Please don’t make me go up there.
“Mabel, why don’t you come up and read the part of Juliet?”
What can I say? I can’t, if I do I might burst into flames. I slowly stand up and stare at my feet as I walk to the front of the room to stand beside Lance. I grip my book like it’s a life preserver.
“Now turn to each other and begin again,” Mrs. Sandberg says.
I’m really starting to hate her.
“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks,” Lance says again, still speaking to the page. Then suddenly he looks up at me. “Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief.”
The poor moon. I know how she feels.
His eyes are so blue. My heart feels like it is being pulled right out of my chest, like some sort of magnetic force is tugging it toward him so strongly I might just tip over.
“It is my lady, O, it is my love.” His eyes are still locked on mine. They’re dark blue pools I could dive right into.
“O that she knew she were,” he says softly and I swear his cheeks get a little pink. He takes this extra-long pause that goes forever, or maybe it just seems that way to me because I’ve stopped breathing.
“Ay me,” I say Juliet’s line with a sigh. Someone in the back row coughs and things return to normal. The magnet is turned off; I’m able to pull my gaze away from his face and fill my lungs with air again. I feel my cheeks get hot. I carefully avoid eye contact with him as we finish reading the scene.
The bell rings and I sprint out of the room at a speed a cheetah would envy.
I try to shake him out of my head. It’s all so crazy. A month ago I barely registered his existence, except to roll my eyes at some stupid joke. Now he’s all I can think about. The way his eyes crinkle up when he smiles. His dimples. The fact that he understood what it feels like to always be in someone else’s shadow, to feel like a secondary character in your own life. The way that he made that feeling go away, if only for a moment. The look on his face and the sound of his laugh when we sat together on his front steps. It echoes in my head. I’m so pathetic.
Chapter Twelve
I dump my dark blue messenger bag into my locker with a “thump” and half my things come falling out. I don’t even care. I scoop a lip gloss tube off the floor, toss it in and slam the locker door shut. I’m grumpy and whiny to the point I’m even annoying myself. There are posters all over the halls for some stupid dance. Amber and all the other girls talking about dresses and jewelry and high heels, have not helped my mood.
I see one of the posters as I run from English class and am tempted to rip it right off the wall. Bitter much?
On the upside, at least no one has really had to deal with me. I’ve become pretty good