Page 64 of Hate You, Maybe
“Our jobs are completely different. What do Bob and Hildy expect us to do?” I let out a scoff. “You can’t teach the football team to performRomeo and Juliet, and I can’t teach the theater kids how to kick a field goal.”
Dex tips his head. “Huh.”
I blink. “What?”
“Those aren’t bad ideas, actually.”
I huff out a small laugh. “Thanks for the compliment, but you can’t be serious.”
“We’re not supposed to be serious, remember? We’re supposed to be having fun.”
I gape at him. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Maybe.” He straightens in his chair, hands on his knees. “But you’ve got me thinking.” He’s quiet for a moment, eyes in squint. “Imagine if wedidwant the varsity football team to act out a scene fromRomeo and Juliet.You and the theater kids would have to help me coach them, and vice versa. The football team and I could show you and the cast of the fall play how to scrimmage.”
“Okay …” I sink my teeth into my lip, while simultaneously resisting the urge to murder my cuticles.
“So I kind of have a picture in my head of the SACSS coming out to the football stadium in the middle of the day, and they’re sitting in the stands, and the school board is with them. The administration, too. And maybe we’ve got a big stage set up on one end of the field with microphones andspeakers. And the football players act out something from the play. Like the ‘to be or not to be’ speech.”
“That’s fromHamlet.”
“All right. Some other famous scene, then. Like the one with a rose by any other name. And ‘wherefore art thou, Romeo.’ That’s gotta beRomeo and Juliet.”
“It is.” I nod. “And back in the Elizabethan era, the plays were all performed by men anyway. So it’s historically accurate.”
“Score one for social science, too, then,” Dex says. “In the meantime, you could have the theater kids down on the opposite end of the field in a football scrimmage running plays.”
“Ooh! Like a screen pass?”
“That’s a good one, yeah. In a screen pass, the throw to the receiver is short, so we wouldn’t necessarily need a quarterback with a good arm. Not that I’m assuming someone in the theater can’t toss a ball. It’s just that they can’t be in the fall play and on the team at the same time. So the actors probably have about as much recent practice playing football as a guy on the team has reciting Shakespeare.”
My eyes widen. “In other words, this gives them all the chance to try out a school activity they otherwise can’t?”
His brow quirks. “Win-win.”
“My two favorite words.” I nod, slowly, letting his vision take shape in my brain. “To make this really effective, though, we’d need to showcase other departments working together. Not just ours.”
“I agree. We’ll come up with different pairings that seem like total opposites. And not just curricular, but extracurricular, too. That way, the SACSS would see all parts of our school collaborating.”
“Like … we could have the Mathletes and the soccer team perform a lip sync with the advanced dance class.” I lean forward and my clipboard almost falls off my lap. “And maybe the sign language club could be onstage next to them, signing the song, too.”
“That’s what I’m talking about,” he says.
“And maybe halfway through the song, the lyrics could switch to Spanish, with AP Spanish joining in?”
“Sure. Why not? We’re just brainstorming.”
I blow out a breath, ignoring the twinge in my stomach. “There would be a lot of moving parts. We’ll need all the teachers and club advisors to buy in. Do you think the kids will go for it?”
“If all else fails, we can offer extra credit.” His mouth slips into a lopsided grin. “A little bribery never hurt anyone.”
“True story,” I say, with a laugh. “Also true? I have no idea what a screen pass is. My mom and I just watched a lot ofFriday Night Lightswhen she was in between boyfriends and I was in between … friends.”
“Huh.” Dex’s gaze comes to mine. “I’m surprised you’d watch that show. I always assumed you hated sports.”
“Not really. I just never played on a team.”
“Wow. None? Never?”
