Abe held two buckets of chicken strips, and Albert balanced three two-liter soda bottles in his arms. Billy waved.

"What is up father of Marie. It is indeed a pleasure to meet you!" Billy said, sounding unusually stiff and formal.

Abe cracked the side of his mouth open. "Over the top, Billy."

"Um..." her dad said again.

"No worries, Dad. They are definitely not spending the night. Marie needed extra cheering up, so we're making it a party!" Sophie said.

Marie laughed and gave Sophie a big hug before looking at her dad. He was studying the boys closely. At least he didn't look hostile.

"Oh come on, Dad! Let them stay," Marie said.

A small twitch of his upper lip, and Marie knew he'd given in. "Alright. Best behavior, kids. These walls are paper thin."

Marie rolled her eyes. "Dad!"

"Fear not, father of Marie. Our quest this night is of cheering and merriment! Not of-"

"He gets the point, Billy," Albert said.

"Right. Good," Billy said.

Her dad couldn't help but glance at Billy with a questionable look, but still smiling. Marie realized his facial expression could sum up most people's opinion of Billy.

Marie hugged Sophie again as her dad went back into the dining room. "How'd you find the guys?"

"Oh please, Marie. Have you ever heard of a phone book? And have you ever heard of a stranger sounding last name than Einstein? No offense." Sophie glanced at Albert, who shrugged.

"None taken."

They all sat on the couches in the front room and dived into the buckets of chicken strips.

"I was going to ask you, Marie, is the zit going away?" Billy asked.

"Yeah, it is." Marie brushed her hand over her nose to check. She didn't feel the tenderness like before.

"Oh good! I've had one of those before. They are the worst!" Billy said.

Marie couldn't help but smile. "It's so true!"

"I had another zit on the inside of my ear once," Billy started as he took a huge bite of chicken. "It was in one of those crevices where I couldn't get to it and it kept growing until I finally could. The strange thing about zits in ears is when you pop it, you can definitely hear it. It kinda sounded like phphfft."

Abe was almost ready to take a bite when Billy started the story, but stopped when he made the noise.

"I swear it was oozing puss for days! I'd feel this wet stickiness in my ear and I'd go to wipe it and my finger would come back with so much clear ooze. I mean, I thought it was big because it sounded like an explosion in my ear." Abe winced, and Billy must not have seen it, because he kept going. "I had no idea a zit could produce so much puss," Billy finished as he took another big bite of chicken.

Abe set his chicken down, his eyebrows pulled together in a painful expression. "Thank you for that lovely story, Billy."

Billy laughed and grabbed Abe's plate. "I do this to get more food."

Marie found it wasn't too hard to forget about her time at the S.E.A. It was a strange feeling to see her best friend and her three guy friends all in the same room, chatting and laughing.

Sophie glanced around the group. "Well, to be honest I didn't plan anything for this party. Should we play, like, truth or dare? Get to know each other?"

To everyone's surprise, Billy groaned. "Abe is the worst at that game!"

Abe turned to his friend, shocked. "What do you mean?"

"You are honest to a fault, my friend. You never hide anything, and there are some things people don't want to know about you."

"Wow." Albert glanced from Billy to Abe. "How do you feel, Abe? Billy, who told us in gory detail about a huge zit in his ear said you are way too open about your life."

Sophie did her loud laugh which ended in a snort. It made everyone else join the laughter.

"Let's get serious." Billy intertwined his fingers and placed his two pointer fingers against his chin. "Marie, do you have a microwave blowing up set, and can I see it."

"A microwave what?" Sophie asked.

"Billy thinks every scientist blows up microwaves," Abe said. "Don't know where he got it from."

"I doubt they make microwaving explosion kits," Marie said. "But I do have a kit which makes slime."

Billy turned to Marie, his eyes shining with excitement. "And you haven't brought it out yet!"

Marie laughed as she got up. "I might have to do some digging. I got it a few years ago."

Her friends chatted while Marie stepped into her room. It didn't take long to find it. She rushed back and pulled out the ingredients. Billy giggled with excitement. Albert took the directions and glanced through them.

"This must be for kids," he said.

"I got it in elementary school."

Abe plucked the directions from Albert and glanced through them. "For kids, huh?"

A slight smile tugged at Albert's lips. "Kids who have a basic understanding of what they're doing."

"Oooh. Burn," Sophie said. "Do you two do this a lot?"

"Yeah, and Albert usually wins," Billy said.

It surprised Marie that Abe could glare so well at Billy. Billy held up his hands in defeat. "Am I wrong?"

Abe sighed. "No, you're not wrong."

Marie dusted off her kit and they chatted as Marie, Albert, and Sophie with the occasional help from Abe and Billy whipped together the slime. Since Billy was such a good storyteller, he told them a lot about experiences he had with the few science classes he had in elementary school.

"It's done," Albert said.

Billy squealed as Albert dumped the slime into his open, eager palms. He stared at the finished product with wide, wondrous eyes, moving it back and forth in his hands.

"It's beautiful!" he said.

Sophie searched through the remaining bottles and picked one up. Billy glanced at the bottle in her hands, his eyes wide.

"There was glitter!"

"I guess we forgot to add it," Sophie said.

"Good!" her dad's voice came from the dining room. Marie and Sophie giggled.

"So, Marie," Abe said, leaning back in the couch as Billy continued to move the slime back and forth in his hands. "How was the S.E.A.?"

Marie sighed as she folded up the instructions. "It was fine, I guess. I'm sure I'll get a good handle of the basics."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Abe asked.

"Actually, I am kind of nervous for the try outs in drama on Monday. Does anyone have any tips for not getting stage fright?"

"Don't stare at the people." Billy was laying with his back to the floor, still playing with the slime. The bottom of the couch supported his legs and his feet dangled in mid-air. "It's worse if you recognize someone. It throws me off and thrusts me back into reality. It's nice when they have the lights on, because then you can't see anyone in the audience."

Albert placed his head in his hands. "I'm more worried about the cold readings."

"The what?" Marie asked, feeling sick. "Are we doing those too?"

"Yeah," Albert said. "Cold read with another student from a script a graduated Presley High student wrote so we can't cheat and read ahead to prepare."

Marie groaned, rubbing her head.

Abe frowned. "Would we have time in class for monologues and cold reads?"

"Well," Albert tapped his finger against his chin. "The monologues are about a minute to a minute and a half tops. There's about twenty students, which means twenty to thirty minutes for the monologues. The cold reads are I'm sure three to four minutes, but it's in groups, so if you divide-"

"Okay okay. There's time, and you're good at math," Abe mumbled.

"Is there any way to prepare for cold reads?" Marie asked.

"Practice." Billy got up, holding the slime in both hands like it was a precious baby. "That's all there is to it."

Marie chewed on her bottom lip. "I don't mean for this party to turn into a study session, but would anyone object to us practicing a bit?"

Albert nodded. "Let's do it. I need practice too."

"Is this okay Sophie?" Marie asked. "I know you don't have this class, so-"

"No, please, my drama tests are coming too. Our cold reads won't be until midterms, though. You guys start early."

With a delicate hand, Billy put the slime back in its holder. He saw a bookshelf and moved over towards it. "Do you have any books we can use to do a scene?" Billy pulled one of her dad's chemistry books down.

"It sure is a pity we don't know a playwright who's working on a story none of us have read to get the full experience of reading something we've never seen before," Albert said.

Billy stiffened then turned around, his eyes wide with a hint of fear. He began nervously giggling. "It's not ready."

"What are you talking about?" Abe asked.

"I've only written the first twenty pages."

"It's all we need, to be honest," Albert said.

"I didn't bring it with me," Billy said.

"If you've submitted some of it to your teachers, you can borrow Marie's computer and get into Presley High's course management system and print off what you've already submitted," Sophie said.

"But... but...." Billy, eyes still wide with fear, looked like he was struggling to find an excuse. "Guys, it's my first draft. I never let my first drafts see the light of day!"

"Then Mr. Miller is..." Albert trailed off to prod Billy to finish the sentence.

Tenderly, Billy placed a hand over his heart. "A teacher who can handle first drafts and, more importantly, the person writing it."

Marie smiled. "Come on Billy. I sang an entire ballad about a zit in my nose, and you all still seem to like me."

He was stumped. "Fine." He looked uncomfortable when he sat down on the computer. The other's talked and chatted until Billy had a small stack of pages printed off. He hugged them close.

"It's the first draft. Go easy on me."

"We know, Billy," Abe said.

"It's the beginning. It's setting up the conflict and what not. It's set in an old time period."

"Okay," Sophie said.

"There might not seem like much going on, but my teacher and I are still working things out."

"Macbeth, Billy. Are all playwrights this protective?" Albert asked.

Billy's lip stuck out in a pout. "This is my soul, guys. Be nice to it."

Marie couldn't help but laugh. She covered her mouth. "Sorry, Billy. You're always confident in everything else, it's nice to know we all get scared at times."

They started practicing, going through the beginning and working their way through the unfamiliar scenes. Billy continued to give tips. He taught them to follow along with the thumb to not lose track, but to make sure they're not hiding their face. Marie felt her confidence building, and she imagined if she nailed the monologue and the cold read, her grade would profit from it.

Abe and Sophie were getting ready for their cold read. Billy had a stop watch, giving them a minute to quickly read through and do whatever prep they needed. Abe paused, bringing the paper closer to his face. Billy noticed Abe's reaction and winced.

"Just tell me now, Abe. What critique do you have?" Billy asked.

The papers covered most of Abe's face, his eyes darting in Billy's direction. "Oh, no, I um... we're not actually going to kiss, are we?"

"Oh." Billy took the script from Abe. "Right. I forgot that was in there."

Abe's eyebrows shot up. "You forgot they kiss? Isn't this a romance? Kind of a big thing to be happening within the...what... first five pages? They hardly know each other."

"It's a romantic tragedy, Abe. Big difference. Besides, the "big thing" is discovering they're from two fighting families. It's where the real juice comes from." Billy punched the air for emphasis. "Really drives the sexual tension."

Abe grumbled something inaudible before speaking up. "Yeah okay. But... I'm assuming we'll skip the kissing."

"Yeah." Sophie peeked over the edge of the script. "I'm okay with not kissing."

"It's fine. I didn't expect you to," Billy said. "Especially since the walls are paper thin and Marie's dad is listening in right now."

"You better believe I am," her dad's voice came from the dining room.

They all laughed.

Abe and Sophie read through their scene and Marie was biting her shirt collar to keep from laughing. Sophie kept giving her a dark glare. It was a romantic scene, with Abe's character going on and on about lips. Marie could tell Abe suffered with the flowery romantic language but tried not to hurt Billy's feelings. Albert sat next to Marie, scratching his lips to hide the fact he was grinning. Billy watched Abe and Sophie, mouthing the lines along with them.

Sophie's face was red, and Marie wasn't sure if it was from the scene or from noticing Marie trying not to laugh in the corner.

"Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake." She said the line so fast Marie barely caught it.

"Then..." Abe paused, scrunched up his face, and tried again. "Then move not while..."

Marie and Albert shook from silent laughter. Abe gave a deep breath.

"Then move not while my prayer's effect I take. And then we're supposed to kiss, which we are most definitely not, and moving on," Abe said.

It was too much. Marie and Albert burst into laughter. Billy jumped at the noise.

"Come on, guys, you're distracting them," Billy said.

"I'm sorry, Billy," Albert wiped a tear from his cheek. "It's hilarious."

Billy tried to hide a hurt expression. "The acting or the writing?"

"Abe's stiff as a board," Albert said.

Abe rolled his eyes. "I'm not great at acting."

Sophie dropped the script, giving Marie a friendly glare. "I'm not great either. I won't find myself a leading lady any time soon."

"Fine, Albert, show us how it's done," Billy said as he turned a page in the script.

Albert rolled his eyes, giving Marie a tiny smile before standing up. Billy watched Albert and Sophie as they quietly read through a different scene. Abe sat down next to Marie.

"This has been good practice," Abe said.

Marie nodded. "It has."

Albert stood in the middle, and Marie and Abe watched him.

"Two of the fairest starts in all the heaven, having some business, do entreat her eyes to twinkle in their spheres till they return. What if her eyes were there, they in her head? The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars, as daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven would through the airy region stream so bright that birds would sing and think it were not night. See! How she leans her cheek upon her hand! Oh, that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!" Albert was layering it on super thick, glancing at Marie and giving her a joking smile before turning back to the page.

Marie rolled her eyes.

Abe gave a curious look. "What is it?"

"This Romeo character." Marie made sure Billy wasn't listening as Albert continued on with the scene. "He loves his super flowery words. He's just going on and on! They feel kind of pointless. I mean, there's only so many compliments a girl can take before she feels like he's trying to cover up for something else."

Abe gave her an amused look. "Not much of a word girl, then?"

Marie shrugged. "Words only do so much."

"So," Abe continued. "Just for the record, you'd get bored of a guy telling you he loves looking into your eyes to see a happy gleam. How he works every day to make you laugh because he's addicted to the sound. How he loves watching you work on your passions because it fills your face with a beauty he's never seen before. And how he wishes for the opportunity to let you see yourself through his eyes to see how beautiful you truly are."

Marie stared at him. Was he talking about her? For the first time she saw a warmth in those grey eyes she'd never noticed before. She had no idea her mouth was slightly open until he'd stopped speaking. She closed her mouth, her face hot. Though Abe seemed to have a way with words, the words in her brain seemed to jam and fluster as she tried to get something out.

Billy turned to them. "Marie, you're up."

Abe gave her a tiny smile. "Okay. Good to know."

Still unsure of what to say, she stumbled to her feet. Billy passed her the script and Marie took it, her mind still not working right.

"How about you and Sophie do this next scene. You guys have been friends for a while. It should be a bit more relaxing," Billy said.

"Yeah. Yeah. Let's do that," Marie said, trying to hide the slight tremor in her hand.