Recipe for Trouble by Sheryl Berk

Higgins groaned. “Please stick to the lines on the page.”
    â€œWhy does Juliet need a nurse?” asked Julia. “Is she sick or something?”
    â€œA nurse is a trusted family servant,” explained Mr. Higgins. “Like a baby-sitter. She’s cared for her since she was a baby.”
    â€œJuliet 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…
    â€œLexi 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.
    â€œRomeo, 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.
    â€œThat 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.
    â€œOkay, 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.
    â€¢ • •
    On Thursday, Mr. Higgins handed out the cast list and script. “I do not want anyone complaining about the casting,” Juliette warned.
    â€œSometimes 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.
    â€œNo 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.
    â€œOh no,” she whispered to Kylie. “This cannot be happening!”
    â€œWoo-hoo! I’m the friar!” Kylie cheered. “I get to poison you!”
    â€œKylie!” 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!”
    â€œYup,” 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