He stood patiently while Lex finally clipped his microphone, bending so she could place his earpiece. She hugged him, squealed, and ran offstage.
“Harley, take it from your speech,” Ms. Mendez said into their earbuds, out of sight once again.
Not wanting to delay any longer and worried about her grade again, Harley followed the teacher’s instructions.
“O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?” she started with all the emotion in her. That particular line, one of the most romantic and iconic of all time, always stirred her. “Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet.”
“Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?” CJ responded.
His confidence eased her and allowed Harley to recite her lines as if they’d rehearsed together. He flubbed several of his parts, or outright forgot them, but he was still as brilliant as ever.
When Act Two, scene two ended and the spotlights flickered off, Harley and the balcony rolled backstage. CJ followed.
“I have to talk to my Dad and Uncle Mort,” he said the moment he was mic free. He held out his hand to her and helped her as she walked down the hidden steps of the set piece.
“The play isn’t finished, CJ. We have three more acts and three more scenes.”
“What?”
She nodded.
“Pssst.”
Looking over CJ’s shoulder, Harley saw Uncle Val standing in the opened exit door and beckoning to CJ.
“We need Romeo, Harley,” Uncle Val said.
“The play isn’t finished, though.”
“For him, it is. He got to take care of something.”
Ms. Mendez rushed from her office, with Diesel following her out.
“If you can sing a closing song, you’ll get an ‘A’ for the semester, Harley,” she said as Diesel looked at CJ and nodded toward Uncle Val.
“Okay,” Harley said.
CJ kissed her cheek. “I’ll call you in a little while, bae.”
Diesel smiled at her, then led CJ away.
Staring down at Nardo’s body laid out on the autopsy table, Christopher inhaled Aunt Mary, exhaled, and inhaled again, then passed her to Val.
To say he’d been shocked when he heard CJ’s voice in the role of Romeo—one of the stupidest fuckheads in literary history—was an understatement. At first he wasn’t sure if Harley had freaked out and asked CJ to switch roles with Nardo. Or if Nardo had escaped. He hadn’t known what the fuck was going on. Neither had Megan. She’d wanted to go backstage but Christopher wouldn’t allow that. He wasn’t sure if it was safe. Listening to his boy struggling with his lines would’ve been funny if fucking cluelessness hadn’t fucking consumed himandif he hadn’t been worried that Harley would fail her fucking class because CJ was fucking up the play so bad.
It wasn’t Harley’s fault, but the department, especially Ms. Mendez, had put their heart and soul into the production for a hands-on experience that made learning fun. Those who participated, and excelled, even if they had a minor part in any area of the show, escaped sitting in class for a long fucking test to pass their classes.
When Diesel turned around in his seat, caught Christopher’s eye and nodded to him, he knew shit had kicked offafuckingain. In the hallway, Diesel showed Christopher a cryptic message from CJ.
He’s near the Middle School receiving bays
Heturned out to be motherfucking Nardo, deader than a fucking rock. At first, Christopher had seen no obvious wounds or signs of strangulation, so he’d wondered if CJ smothered him. Fuck,thathadn’t mattered. Moving the motherfucker without detection had, so Christopher called Val to bring the fucking van, then sent Diesel to pay off the teacher if she gave Harley a passing grade.
Afterwards, he’d brought his ass back to the auditorium, so fucking happy he’d missed most of the rest of that fucking play. He had to convince his kids tonevertake theater, even if he had to pay them a fucking mint. Mendez liked fucking Shakespeare and Christopher would blow the building up if she convinced one of his kids to willingly participate.
Megan had asked what happened and he’d simply whispered, “Nardo ain’t a motherfuckin’ problem no more, baby.”
Her eyes had widened; she’d heaved in a breath; and nodded.
