I should have never managed to fail Intro to Art. When he called me to his office, coach hadn't wanted to hear about how my partner failed to turn in our final project. There weren't excuses. I just had to make it up to him.

It was hard to see the hard copy of my transcript, and a giant fail mark was next to Intro to Art on coach's desk. He reamed me out for my attendance. Then he told me that to make up for my failed arts credit, he'd taken the liberty in enrolling me in a theater class for the summer.

The class was called Shakespearean Performance Workshop. That sounded fine, I guessed. It was only a month, and coach said that as long as I performed with the group, I should make a good grade. The course would make up for my failing grade, take a month of my summer break, and delay my return home for summer by a month.

Luckily my father and stepmother didn't live too far from the college and were happy to host me for a month since getting housing on this short notice was impossible. I'd never lived with them full time before. They had a room for me in their converted basement, which was nice.

The hard part was calling my mother and explaining why I wasn't coming home until June. She'd been understanding but disappointed. My sister, Shayna, just found it comical that I was enrolled in a Shakespeare class. She'd been in a Shakespeare play this fall that had brought a whole gamut of emotional issues with it, but she'd come out all the better for it.

I looked down at my phone to catch the time and read a series of texts from my sister before typing back my response.

Rolling my eyes, I knew my sister was trying to be supportive. I'd gone a whole year without thinking much about dating. I'd had enough heartbreak senior year of high school. I still tried not to think much about Gloria.

We'd been good friends. I'd watched her crowned prom queen just because she was my girlfriend, and then three days before graduation, she told me she was going to school on the west coast, and she didn't think our relationship was salvageable. She said she'd never been in love with me. She was just having fun.

I'd thrown myself into football training as a distraction. I hadn't wanted to go to parties or dance with girls.

I shook my head. Shayna was still in her honeymoon phase with her new boyfriend. She was at that hopeful stage where everyone could be in love just like her.

I entered the theater nervously, clutching the schedule coach had printed for me. There were about a dozen students on the stage. I'd been told that most of them would be theater majors.

One girl was in the center of the melee organizing the chaos. She was tall and lean, almost like a basketball player. She was pale with wildly curly red hair swept into a bright orange scrunchie at the nape of her neck. Brown plastic glasses slipped down her nose, revealing numerous freckles.

"Kayleigh, get over there," she said. "Chase, over there. And you..." she whirled on me and cocked her head. "I don't know you."

"Parker," I said.

I doubted this crowd even cheered in football stands. Being Parker "Clutch" Christian-Porter wouldn't matter here.

"Parker then," she said. "I'm Lexi Thaxton, one of the teaching assistants. Get up here. Grab a line packet. Guessing you're the football player Tunstelle said was joining us."

I didn't have time to ask questions. I walked on the stage, and the scrunchie girl, Lexi, shoved a script packet in my hands.

"What are we doing?" I asked.

"Tunstelle told us to assign parts for our first readings," a girl with dark frizzy hair sticking out of a yellow beanie said. "She'll join us later. I am the other TA, Emma Kate Jennings."

Teaching Assistant. I looked down at the script and read the title. Apparently, we were performing The Tempest. I'd at least heard of that.

"Lexi," one of the guys with a bandana tied around his buzzed head raised his hands. "There's like not enough parts."

"Lorne, be creative," Lexi snapped, and she pushed at her glasses. "Tunstelle will be here soon."

Lexi seemed like one of those hard-core girls who didn't deal with stupid questions. Girls like that usually had walls.

She was cute, though. Looking at her closer, I could see a bright streak of blue in her almost orange curls. I wondered how often she dyed it.

I shook my head. It was just Shayna putting ideas in my head. I wasn't about to fall in love here in a Shakespeare class of all places. Football and school came first, and family came before that.

Family was the most important thing. My sister, Shayna, was practically the center of my universe. Dad leaving us had hurt her deeply. I'd promised him I'd always look after her.

I was closer to Shayna than anyone, even some of the bros I played with. She'd laughed when I'd told her I wasn't coming home and had to take this class.

She was doing a lot better lately. She'd fallen in love with Jack Garrison, a guy we'd known a long time. She didn't call as often, and she was trying to repair her fraught relationship with Dad.

"Let's make sure that we know everyone's names," Emma Kate said. "Because I think I know everyone here, but I could be wrong. I'm Emma Kate Jennings," she gestured to a pretty dark-haired girl next to her. "Let's start with Kayleigh and work around the room."

The dark-haired girl puffed out her chest. "I'm Kayleigh Alvarez, and this is my boyfriend, Jude Lazer."

Jude shook his head, and his tight dark curls bounced in time to the motion. "Skip to the next person since Kay stole my thunder."

The guy next to him adjusted his camouflage neck scarf. "I'm Chase Manuel, and I'm more of a behind-the-scenes dude, but they wanted to make me try stage this summer."

A dark-skinned girl introduced herself next as Cynthia Becker, and the girl beside her whose makeup looked professionally done said her name was Riley Iden.

The next girl rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't even be here if I could have found any other show to be in."

"Tell them your name, Raisa," a pasty boy with big blue eyes said.

"Fine," the girl said. "I'm Raisa Sami."

The pasty boy with blue eyes said his name was Lucas Collins, an English major. He was the only non-theater major in the pack.

Beside him stood a lean boy in name-brand designer clothes nodded his head and winked. "Just call me Maddox."

The last boy had a dashing smile and wore a plaid shirt with khaki pants, and his bright socks covered in prints of cartoon dinosaurs were pulled out over his pants. He introduced himself as Bradley Michaels.

I'd met him before at one party or another. He was always laughing and telling jokes. He'd been a comedic smash at the university's last musical and one of the best members of the university's improv team.

He was one of those guys that seemed to know everyone and seemed to be everywhere. He looked like the least intimidating guy here. All the others seemed to either be giving me the side-eye or were buried in their scripts, so they were a lot more serious about Shakespeare than I was.

"Parker," Lexi's voice brought me back to reality. "You've had time to look at the script. Since you're new, what part do you want?"

"Oh," I looked down at the script I'd yet to open. "Oh, I can do whatever."

Lexi sighed and shook her head. "Emma Kate, you expressed interest in Ariel."

She rattled off names and roles. Finally, she made her way back to me.

"Okay, Parker," she said. "I'm feeling you should read as Ferdinand."

"Really?" Jude frowned. "He's new."

"We are reading today and tomorrow," Lexi said. "Auditions are Wednesday."

"He's still got no respect for Shakespeare or The Tempest," Lorne said.

The Tempest. I vaguely remembered some group performing that at Shayna's Shakespeare festival. There was like a wizard and a shipwreck.

"I saw a group do it at a festival a while back," I said. "Hilly something or other."

"Hilliard Shakespeare Festival?" Emma Kate smiled. "I ran backstage. Lexi ran errands for the judges."

"My sister was in it," I said. "They did As You Like It."

"I totally remember your sister," Emma Kate said.

I supposed it was easy to surmise who my sister was. We did both look remarkably alike down to our dark curly hair that tended to border on messy to our mother's dark skin.

"Yeah," Lexi said. "She was the super compelling Jacques."

"No," Emma Kate said. "She played Rosalind."

Lexi nodded. "She and Orlando had great chemistry. I remember performing at Hilliard three years ago."

"They're dating now," I said. "And my sister knocked it out of the park."

"Well, you're in our house now," Lorne said. "And it doesn't look like your sister is here."

"Enough, Lorne," Lexi said. "Maddox, I believe you have the opening lines. Start us out."

And with that, we started reading through The Tempest which would consume half of my summer. I hoped I'd make it out of here alive.

Watching the theater majors read was impressive. Each one seemed to understand their character. Even with a minor part, Cynthia was compelling.

Competing with them seemed impossible. Even Lucas, the English major, read better than I did. Once the reading was over, I felt hopeless as everyone gathered their things to leave.

"Yo, Parker," Bradley walked over to me. "Not a bad reading for your first time."

"Don't lie," I said. "It was bad."

Bradley bent down and tied his loafers, and adjusted his dinosaur socks. "Acting is just about putting yourself in someone's shoes. You have to find the part of yourself that's like the character and use that to become them."

"You make it sound so easy," I said. "I'm not an actor."

Bradley stood back up and dusted off his pants. "Everyone is an actor. You'll find what works for you. Trust me. And I know Emma Kate and Lexi will find a perfect role for you."

"You sound so confident," I said.

"Well, Emma Kate is my girlfriend, and Lexi is great once you get to know her," Bradley said. "I'm hosting a cast party on Friday. I wanted to invite you. That's why I came over here."

Going to parties was fun. Some had drinks. Others were just overgrown game nights. Some had a lot of dancing. It made me wonder what kind of party the theater kids threw.

"Sounds cool," I said.

"I also wanted to make sure you had a good place to stay this summer since you found out you had to stay near the university at the last minute," he said. "Emma Kate likes to joke I'm like the dad of the theater. I always make sure everyone's doing good."

"I'm staying with my dad," I said. "He lives nearby. I'm headed there for lunch before I spend the afternoon at the gym."

"Great," Bradley said. "So, the party's at the house Maddox, Lucas, Chase, and I went in on. I'll give you the address Friday. Will I see you there?"

I smiled. "I'll be there."

Walking out of rehearsal, I was happy that not everybody thought I was invading the play. Maybe Bradley and I had a chance to be friends.

Hey everyone!!! Parker is one of my favorite characters. This whole idea started with what if Parker had to perform Shakespeare like his sister in my other story, Before Opening Night Let me know what you think! I always love reading what you have to say. I'm super excited about this story and exploring Lexi and Parker's world.

--Eliana