Conqueror of Daylight

Chapter 10: For Jim's Sake

Mrs. Janeth: "Terrible performance Y/N. I thought you and Jim were battling over who plays Romeo, not who doesn't play Romeo!"

You simply shrug. "I guess I lost the spark."

Mrs. Janeth: "Tch."

You smirk as you give Jim a quick wink while you descend the stage and sit next to Mrs. Janeth.

Jim doesn't react to your wink, his facial expression remained neutral as he eyed his clipboard while standing next to Claire.

You mentally facepalm, assuming Jim was still upset with you.

You purposefully didn't audition when Jim did, so you could be a good friend. But during the time between when Claire first gave you the audition papers and now, she has caught you multiple times in the hallways and urged you to audition.

So, here you are now.

Mrs. Janeth stands up. "Okay, that leaves you two." She paces back and forth between Jim and Claire. "Deny and refuse." But he can't deny it. But Romeo can't not be a Montague, which means that Juliet..."

Claire: "And I'll no longer be a Capulet." Claire quickly and happily responds, which earns a nod of approval from the teacher.

Mrs. Janeth: "Exactly!" The woman looks at Jim. "Jim?!"

Jim looks up, startled. "Huh?"

Mrs. Janeth: "Or, if thou wilt not, be sworn, my love..."

Jim: "Right. No, I-I got it. Love, deny, refuse. I'm on it." Jim's eyes quickly dart to you.

You look away, remembering what unfolded a while ago, which, was the last time the two of you interacted.

However, you could only feel happy for Jim because Claire was talking to him more.

You watched as Claire turned to Jim with a warm and worried smile, as she asks if he was okay, which, seemed to instantly brighten Jim's day.

Jim: "Okay... I'm ready."

Mrs. Janeth: "All right, all right! Act two, scene two, line 33."

Claire: "...Wherefore art thou, Romeo?"

Jim smiles, finally feeling a spark of happiness...

- Later -

Y/N: "Hello? Earth to Jim?" Y/N enunciates while waving a hand in front of Jim's face.

Jim: "Hmm...?" Jim utters as he's snapped out of his trance.

The two were standing outside in front of some lockers.

Y/N: " You were zoning out..."

"Oh uh... Yeah, just happy y'know?" Jim responds, earning a supportive nudge from Y/N. "It's cause of Claire, huh?" Y/N teases.

Jim hurriedly puts his hands up as if he were surrendering. "Okay, okay, you got me." Jim pleads while laughing.

But, his smile fades instantly.

Y/N: "Uh... What's wrong?"

Jim: "It's just..." Jim looks at Y/N. "I can't shake what happened yesterday in the forge... That wasn't you, at all."

Y/N looks away.

Jim: "B-But, I know you didn't mean anything by it! I know you couldn't control it. I accept your apology by the way, even though I heard it from Toby and not you."