PART IV - HELEN

She got the role.

We were going to do gay Romeo and Juliet.

Romea and Juliet.

Roma and Juliet?

There isn't even a female version of Romeo.

This was a classical play. How could Mrs. Carter let that happen?

"Jonathan," I said when the auditions were over, and the other students were leaving the room.

He came up to me, smiling. "Yes, Helen?"

"This was your doing." I knew. I had seen her grinning at him.

He acted cluelessly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I am talking about Sofia!"

He made a negating sound. "No, that was all her."

I nodded slowly. "And no one of the guys wanted the main role?"

He shook his head slowly from one side to the other and said in a tone that belied his words, "Apparently not."

My face said "I am taking none of your bullshit" but I didn't know what else to say.

"It will be fine, Princess."

"What makes you say that? It's Romeo and Juliet! A classical play! Why does everything have to be gay these days?"

He seemed honestly surprised at my outbreak. "Why do you have such a problem with it? Gay people exist."

I had regretted saying it the moment I did. My forehead hurt, and I started massaging it. "I don't mind putting on a gay play. It's just so different from what I thought it would be."

An empathetic smile appeared on his face. "I know that you like everything going according to your plan. You just – just learn how to cope with those things. You can't let it get to you, Helen."

"I know." I sighed. My heart suddenly felt heavy.

"Come here," he said and took me into an embrace.

"She was really good," I mumbled into his shoulder. I couldn't believe I had just said that. I don't think I had admitted it to myself before I had said it out loud.

I felt Jonathan chuckle against my body.

Aimee and Aaron waited for me outside.

"Ready?"

My grandparents lived only a quarter mile down the road from our house. Ever since I was a child, I had been running down the street to my grandparents' house to play with the twins.

Grandma opened the door for us. Over the summer the first few grey hairs had appeared on her head. I was shocked by this finding because my grandma had always struck me as an ever-young person. Her two youngest had kept her on her toes until recently but even they got older and less dependent on their mom.

It was only late afternoon and it would take some time before dinner was served. Aaron went upstairs while Aimee and I joined Grandpa on the terrace in the back. Grandma fetched us some iced tea. I kissed my grandfather on the cheek before taking the seat next to him.

"How are you doing, Dad?" Aimee asked but stared at her phone before he could answer.

He shrugged and turned to me. "Helen, it is so nice to see you. How has the past week been treating you?"

"I'm really good! I just had an audition for the role of Juliet in the school play, and I got it."

He patted my hand. "That's my girl!"

"I'm your girl," Aimee protested.

"You're both my talented, wonderful girls."

With my grandfather, I could believe more easily that he was aging. He was only slightly older than Grandma, but he had retired early from the military (administration, not combat) to start writing a never-finished novel. This mysterious book of his, which no one of us has ever set eyes on, was the reason he only worked part-time in a menswear store downtown. He was walking slowly around the house and was often found with a notebook in a rocking chair on the terrace. Grandma was still in the same position she had been for the past 22 years which was on the judge's bench. Together, they could provide for a rather comfortable life.

Later that night, Dad came to pick me up. It was not yet dark outside, and we sat in the garden for another half an hour before his parents let us go. Dad had looked fatigued and serious in his suit when he came in, but when we left, there was a glow around him I wished I saw more often.