(C) 2010 by rmsl

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A Stage For Leigh

Kym couldn’t apologize enough as Cory drove her home. She felt so bad. But it wasn’t her fault. Cory had forgotten.

His car slid into her driveway and almost onto the snow covered grass before Kym got out. She jumped out of the car just waving, not wanting to cause Cory any further delay. His tires skidded backwards as he tried to pull away but he managed to maneuver the wheel at the right angle. He sped towards Leigh’s house.

How could he forget Leigh? All her practicing, all her time. Wasted. He was a jerk. No argument there. Not to mention all she had done for him. What an idiot he was! She helped him dive into his writing, to understand the cryptic words of the Bard of Avon. She even helped him get better at baseball. And Jason. He had a real friend there. And it was because of Leigh. Jason tried to tell him about Leigh and she tried to show him how he really felt. Leigh knew he had fallen for her even before he did. Dammit! even Kym knew. How could he have been so stupid?

He hoped she got to the audition somehow on her own. Please, don’t be home. Don’t be home. Please, have gone to the audition. Don’t be home.

As his car slid into Leigh’s driveway, an overwhelming feeling of guilt swept over him. She’s never going to forgive him for this one. It will be their third and final fight. Strike three. And he’s out.

There were no lights on inside the house. He felt a little relieved. He still needed to knock on the door before he raced to the school. She wouldn’t be home. Somehow she had managed to get to the school in time, taken the bus maybe, and she would be mad at him for a little while for making her go out in public in her costume but then at least she had gotten to audition. She would get the part and be the best Juliet Cranwood High had ever seen. Other aspiring Juliets would watch the tape of her performance in the alumni room in awe for years and years to come.

But that little daydream was shattered when she answered the door.

She had on her off-white Juliet gown tied at the waist with a dark pink ribbon. Her hair was disheveled and the clip that she used to make it fan out in the back was out of place and tangled in the few braids still intact. Her wide brown eyes were red and puffy. Cory knew she had been crying.

He couldn’t say anything to her at first. They just stood and stared at each other. It was the worst moment of his life. He would never feel more like a jerk than he did now for the rest of his life.

“Leigh…I’m…so…sorry.” His words came from the deepest parts of his heart and he didn’t realize he began to cry. The tears rolled down his cheeks burning his skin and froze.

“Say something. Please…”

Her head violently shook and she waved her hand out in front of her. “Don’t.”

“But Leigh, I…I can explain…”

“Don’t say anything, Cory.”

“But you worked so hard…and I ruined it. I’m so sorry, Leigh.”

She looked like she was going to say something but she stayed quite.

“Why didn’t you take the bus? I know you didn’t want—”

She raised her hand and for a second her face gained life. But then her head fell to her chest and Cory could hear slight sniffling sounds that told him she was going to cry again. When her head came up, she wiped her eyes and stepped closer to him. “It’s not the play.”

“It’s not? What happened then?” For a second Cory felt relief showering all over his body. But then just as quickly he feared the worst. Did her heart tumor come back? Was it malignant this time? “It’s not…it’s not your…heart is it?”

She let out an odd giggle shaking her head side to side. “No. It’s not my heart.”

Cory was really frightened now. If it wasn’t the fact she missed her audition or that a new tumor was growing in her heart, what was it that was making her so upset?

“My dad called from his hotel.”

“He’s okay, right?” Leigh couldn’t lose her dad and her mom. It wouldn’t be fair.

“His boss…his boss offered him his old position back.” She was full-blown crying now. “We’re moving back in two weeks.”

 

After Leigh told him she was moving she shut the door. She mumbled something to him about him not caring anyway and something about Kym but he couldn’t make it out through her crying and the door slamming in his face.

Cory thought the hurt and guilt about forgetting to pick her up for the play was bad, but now he felt lost. He was going to lose his best friend.

When he got back to his house, he couldn’t remember driving there. He couldn’t remember who made the turns, who pushed the gas pedal, or who hit the brake when it needed to be used. Just when he realized what it was he was lacking his whole life, why he always felt he came in second in everything he tried, why he was never really happy, she was leaving. It wasn’t fair.

He went to his room and cried. He cried like he never did before. His yearning for Kym had made him cry many times before, sometimes long into the night, but this time he felt more alone than ever. His chest felt like someone applied a vise to his heart and his stomach acted like it was trying to eat itself. How could he live with himself now?

Not only did he let her down in the biggest way possible by not picking her up for the audition, she was also moving away from him. She would never forgive him and now he didn’t have any time to make it up to her or to show her how he felt about her. Leigh was the best thing that had ever happened to him and now she would only remember him as a guy she once knew who hurt her more than clinically imaginable. More than her heart condition could ever hurt her.

Before he fell asleep from exhaustion, he thought about Kym. This was how Kym must have felt when she realized he loved Leigh and that she might lose him. Cory didn’t blame her one bit for how she acted the last couple of months.

The blame was only his.

 

Leigh didn’t come to school the following Monday. Cory didn’t even try to call her. He wouldn’t have wanted to talk to himself if the situation was reversed. Kym saw how upset he was and tried to cheer him up. Even Joey treated him like a friend in English class. But nothing they said would stop Leigh from moving. Or hating him.

“Dude, why don’t you go and talk to Mr. Jurgenson. Maybe he’ll let her tryout still.”

Suddenly, Cory had life again. Why didn’t he think of that? But Mr. Jurgenson was so strange. And he had his shed-u-als to keep. He wouldn’t change his mind now.

“Joey that won’t work.” Kym looked at Cory empathetically. “She’s still moving in two weeks. She won’t even be here when the play opens.”

Cory heart sank again. “You’re right. It wouldn’t matter anyhow.”

Joey violently shook his head. “Dude, it doesn’t matter if she won’t be here. Am I the only romantic here? At least she would know if all that stuff you guys did in that room mattered.”

“I don’t know, Joey. It sounds sort of pointless now,” Cory said.

“It will show her that you tried something. Maybe she won’t be mad at you then. That’s something at least.”

At the end of English class, Mr. Maragelloto pulled him aside and asked him what happened to Leigh because he was sure she was going to audition for the part of Juliet. Cory explained the whole situation to him. He told him about all the work they did in the alumni room he let them use, how they practiced, and how he forgot her. He guessed Cory could try talking to Mr. Jurgenson to see if he would give her a private audition but even Mr. Maragelloto thought it was a long shot. Why have her audition if she was moving? Cory could tell Mr. Maragelloto felt bad about Leigh not having a chance to be Juliet but he also could tell that he felt bad for him. Leigh was a very special person and Cory obviously cared a lot about her.

By fourth period Cory convinced himself that Joey was right. If he got Mr. Jurgenson to agree to it, Leigh would at least get to be Juliet for a brief time. She would probably be so good that Mr. Jurgenson would call Mr. Reynolds and persuade him to stay at least until after play season. And maybe she would try to start to forgive him. It was his only hope.

He went to Mr. Jurgenson’s office directly after school. The office was next to the English Department but it looked like a custodian’s closet than a faculty member’s office. Cory knew instantly Mr. Jurgenson wasn’t in a good mood when he entered the room. Even while he was explaining his situation, Cory could tell his plea was going to be ineffective. Mr. Jurgenson laughed him out of his office saying, “No time, my boy, no time.”

The rest of the week Cory sulked through the halls and in his classes. Kym, Joey, and Jason did everything they could think of. Cory even saw Kym talking to Leigh one time in the hall but nothing seemed to come from it. She was never going to speak to him again.

Despite Cory’s brooding, the rest of the school building was buzzing with excitement. The girls’ varsity basketball team won the state title over the weekend and the school celebrated it with announcing a victory dance and a senior rally on Friday.

Baseball practice wasn’t going well either. He couldn’t concentrate and keep his mind on the drills. He would have given up baseball for good if he knew Leigh would just forgive him. Truly forgive him. She didn’t have to talk to him again or come to Leigh’s Stage again; he just needed to know she would be all right.

When all the seniors gathered in the gym for the girls’ basketball victory rally, Cory didn’t feel up to it at all. He tried to close his eyes and take himself somewhere else. He tried to imagine he was back at Leigh’s Stage, watching her perform. Her beautiful brown eyes sparkling with Juliet’s love for Romeo and her smile carved into her face as if Michelangelo did it himself. Unknowingly, his eyes watered. There was only a week left before Leigh moved and he couldn’t think of anything that would mend his broken heart and the hurt he caused her.

The gym was decorated with banners and signs congratulating the girls’ team. Streamers ran the length of the gym and helium-filled balloons lined the ceiling. The noise was deafening. There was a single microphone stand in the center of the gym and students from the set crew were positioning spotlights on the floor from the stage and the balcony.

Leigh was the lone student working the lights in the balcony. He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she moved along the ledge.

The lights dimmed and Leigh shined her light directly on the microphone stand. The students on the stage sent multi-colored lights dancing around everywhere and the mob of seniors hooted and hollered with excitement.

But no one came to the microphone stand. Cory glanced over to where the girls’ team waited in the small foyer that led to the outside of the school. They were all jumping and bouncing around and pointing into the bleachers where their friends sat. But the head coach was nowhere to be seen.

Most of the senior class teachers were present. Mr. Maragelloto was leaning against the front wall of the gym, standing next to the principal. They looked confused as well. Another faculty member ran over to the principal and said something into his ear. The principal walked to the center of the gym, asked for quiet, and explained that the head coach would be here shortly and to please be patient. The rally would begin shortly.

Mr. Jurgenson instructed his students to shut off the spotlights and the multi-colored lights and the main gym lights came back on for the time being. The student body didn’t care. They weren’t in class.

Cory stared at the microphone stand. He couldn’t believe what he was thinking about doing. It wasn’t something violent or inappropriate but it would definitely lead to a suspension of some sort. And the days of suspension would land right around outside baseball tryouts. But he didn’t care. He had to tell Leigh how he felt about her. He couldn’t let her leave without at least knowing that he loved her.

At first, his legs wouldn’t move. His feet felt like cement blocks. He managed to stand. No one paid any attention to him as he made his way down the bleachers and on to the gym floor. The noise was so loud that Cory couldn’t hear himself think. But he wasn’t thinking right now. He was feeling.

He walked to the center of the gym floor and took the microphone from its stand. Still no one noticed him. He spoke into it. “Leigh.” He said it so softly that he didn’t even hear it through the gym’s sound system.

Cory said her name again. This time some of the students took notice and started pointing him out to other students. The gym slowly quieted down.

“Leigh!”

Now everyone in the gym stopped cold. The principal was about to make her way over to him but Mr. Maragelloto stopped her. Cory didn’t know what he said to her but she never tried to come back out. Kym was smiling and Joey even looked as if he envied Cory’s bravery.

The last time he called her name she looked down at him. She had no expression on her face. She didn’t look embarrassed or worried. She just stared at him.

Cory walked closer to her. As he started to say the words they mixed together in the microphone and sounded muffled. He regrouped himself and started over.

“But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief, that thou her maid art far more fair then she…”

The whole gym was silent. Leigh stared at him and did not take her eyes off of him. But she didn’t move.

Cory saw her chest begin to heave up and down and her hand fall softly at her side.

“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny they father and refuse they name. Or, if thou will not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”

The lights in the gym dimmed again and a spotlight lit Leigh up completely. She was Juliet now. And Cory never saw anything so beautiful. A second spotlight caught him and both lights moved with each of the actors. Even though Cory was a horrible Romeo, it didn’t phase Leigh. She was giving her best performance.

“…yet I know the sound. Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?”

“Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.”

They finished the entire balcony scene and nobody stopped them. Kym was crying and smiling at the same time. Joey yelled, “That was awesome, dude.”

Cory ran to the steps of the balcony and handed Mr. Maragelloto the microphone. “I know I’m in trouble. But I gotta go to her.”

Mr. Maragelloto just smiled. “I know you used somebody else’s words, but you finally showed real feeling in your work.”

Cory smiled and ran up the stairs. Leigh was looking over the balcony searching for him. She couldn’t see below her but she kept trying to find him. It startled her when he came up next to her.

“Dost thou love me?” she asked.

Cory took her in his arms. He couldn’t believe it was actually happening.

“You do know that some people believe there are no kissing scenes in the play.”

Cory laughed. “I’m a writer, aren’t I? I’ll just have to rewrite it a bit then, huh?”

They kissed. Cory’s whole body tingled. He never wanted to remove his lips from hers. He would have let her swallow him whole if he could have gone on feeling the way he felt at that moment. Leigh was his Juliet and he was her Romeo.

The entire student body roared when they kissed. Kym couldn’t hold back her excitement and started screaming, but Cory couldn’t hear what she was saying.

Leigh pulled away from Cory and stared into his eyes. “You know…you’re a much better kisser than you are a Romeo.”

 

Cory was suspended for three days. The principal explained to him that she couldn’t have students running around the school doing whatever they wanted. Cory understood. He didn’t care. His parents did though. His brother made fun of him for what he did too. But nothing could bring Cory down from his cloud; except for moving day.

He spent as much time with Leigh as he could during the last week she was there. He ate dinner over her house every night. They didn’t do much, mainly talking and reading, but it was the best week of Cory’s life.

When Cory pulled onto Leigh’s street on Saturday and saw the moving van, his heart sank. She was really leaving. Her dad’s company hired a moving crew and even paid for the rental of the truck.

Her dad was directing the guys carrying the grand piano when Cory walked up to the house. “Leigh Ann’s in the back.”

The winter days had subsided for a time and the warmer air almost made it feel like spring had arrived. Leigh was sitting on the swing on the patio. She had a gray sweatshirt on and a blue baseball cap.

“Cory, I don’t wanna go.”

“I know, but whatta you gonna do? I’m just glad you stole my journal that day.”

She kissed him.

“Sorry you didn’t make the team. I feel sort of responsible.”

“Don’t. I’m hanging up my cleats anyway. It’s time for me to move on from that one.”

She sighed and snuggled close to him. “You know, there’s a good college up in New York. It has a good writing program too.”

Cory laughed. Even though that day was the saddest day of his life, Leigh could still make him feel good. It felt wonderful that she wanted him to be close to her.

“What kind of teaching program does it have?”

“Teaching? Really?”

“Yeah. I kinda enjoy it. That sophomore first baseman thinks I’m pretty good at it.”

They sat silently on the swing, holding on to each other as tightly as they could. He didn’t know what Leigh was thinking at that moment but all he could think about was the fact that he didn’t have to worry about what color the walls were going to be at college.