"What did I tell you before coming home in the middle of the night?" Marie said to her son while she happily heated the pot roast on the stove.

"Call ahead," Gage answered as he sat by the kitchen island waiting for his favorite food. "Sorry, Mom, we had a meeting in the theatre club, and it took aaalll daayy. Madame Vestia finally told us about what play we're gonna do and made us watch the movie and documentary. Gosh! it's crazy and by crazy, I mean crazy boring."

"I'm sure it's not that bad."

"Mom... there's also a video about Shakespearean words and what they meant."

"You are doing this for Courtney."

"I know, I know."

"Pot roast is ready," Marie placed it in a bowl and then a cup of rice on a plate. She put them on the table in front of her son.

"Thanks, mom."

"So, are you going to join the play?" The mother leaned on the counter and watched Gage eating.

"If I do, it's just some extras or stuff number, whatever."

"Hmm... what about Courtney? What part does she want to play?"

"Juliet, of course."

"OH! Why don't you audition for the role of Romeo?"

"No," Gage bluntly replied.

"Why? You are just as handsome as him," Marie held her son's face and squeezed it like he was a little toddler.

"Mom, stop..." he whined. Gage continued munching his food, "but promise me that you don't stop cooking this. By the way, is Dad home?"

"No, he's still out of town for work. He said he'll be back next weekend."

"That's too bad, I was looking forward to spending time with him. I won't be able to come home for the next few weeks. Oh well, more time with you then, Mom."

"Oh you, just eat your food and take a shower before going to bed," Marie walked towards a framed picture of her family, herself, Gage, when he was just a little boy and Adrian.

-----

The next day, the two girls were at a mall near their school the morning after, and they were at a craft store to buy the things they needed for the backdrop for Rita's niece's birthday. "Okay, we need styrofoams, acrylic paints, and cutter," Oddey said.

"That's it?" Rita quipped. "Wow, talk about frugal planning. If we add balloons, paper plates, giveaways, and other stuff, we still have a lot of money to spare."

"I know, right? now come on, so I can start working on it."

After material shopping, the girls went to Usagi Cafe for lunch and coffee too, they wanted to be cozy to discuss the backdrop with the paper bags of what they bought, Oddey even showed a rough diagram in a notepad. "So this is my plan, I will make the barnyard and the farm animals out of the styrofoams and the barn will be five feet high and the rest of the animals will be two feet," Oddey explained.

"Cute, I have a question," Rita said.

"Okay, shoot."

"Why styrofoam again?"

"So that after the party, your niece and her baby friends can have fun breaking it, I read it somewhere about planning a one-year birthday party or was it that someone told me..."

"Wherever it is, it's still good advice. Anyway, thanks for helping me with this."

"That's what best friends are for."

"By the way, what about your art homework?"

"Oh! Not to worry, I will just need to do some coloring, and then I'll work on the backdrop."

"Awesome."

"We'll be done in less than a week."

"Double awesome, and no one would suspect that I use the money for something else, although I have to tell them someday or when my niece has grandkids."

"So never?"

"Yup."

"Got it."

Later, they went to the art studio, Oddey began sketching the barn in the styrofoam, and Rita helped her in the process as well with some music in the mix to make it more fun They painted it together red afterward and added the white lines for details. In just half an hour, they were done and then placed carefully by the wall to let it dry. "Wow! That was fast, I didn't barely feel the work," Rita expressed.

"I know, right?" Oddey winked at her.

"And it looks so great like it came from an events supplier, maybe even better."

"I can start working on the farm animals on the weekdays after my classes."

"Sounds like a plan. I'm just glad that one part of it is done."

"Me too."

"You're the best, bestie," Rita hugged Oddey. "Anyway, let's go back to the dorm, I need to finish my presentation and send it to my groupmates tonight."

"Sure, I have some studying to do too."

"What about the barn? we'll just leave it here?"

"Yup, this room is like lockers. It's mine for the rest of the school year."

Rita looked impressed as they got out of there and turned off the light. "This university is so cool."

--------

The following Sunday morning, Gage was eating lunch before leaving his home while his mother was sitting across from him and going through some mail, he happened to look at one of the envelopes and saw her name written on the back which made him remember Oddey then he started chuckling at their encounters in the bridge. "What?" Marie asked as she noticed her son laughing. 

"It's nothing," Gage answered, yet he was smiling when he continued eating the food that his mother saw.

"Really?" her brow lifted but decided to ask more about it. "Okay."

Once he was done, he took his stuff and headed to the door with Marie. "Bye, Mom," Gage embraced her and gave a kiss on her cheek. "I'll miss you and dad."

"I'll miss you too and do well in school, okay?" Marie held her son's face.

"Pfftt... no sweat."

"And please consider auditioning for Romeo."

"Nice try, Mom. You just told me to do well in school, so I can't do that if I'm gonna be in the play. Okay, I've got to go. Bye, Mom," Gage began walking out of the house.

Marie shook his head at her son's response. "Bye, Gage, remember to call me when you get to your dorm."

"I will."

Gage just arrived outside Carm U by bus and walked inside. He even told his mom that he was there since she told him to, and then he called his buddy. "Hey, Felix, I'm here. Where are you?" he reached his best friend through his phone.

"I'm the art studio working on my claymation characters. You can hang here if you want," Felix said while fixing the poses on his characters that are made of clays.

"Sure, I'll be there, I'll go get coffee first, you want one?"

"Yes, thanks, buddy."

He got the drinks carried them to the art studio and headed to Felix's room. On the way, he would see other students working in their own space, somewhere drawing, painting, or doing sculpture.

Gage passed some empty rooms until he saw there was another one working, and it wasn't just anyone. It was Oddey resuming her sketch. She was adding color to her hand-drawn sketch. This time, the boy stopped and watched her paint, but Oddey's back was turned to Gage. He had no idea that the girl he saved was just inside that room.

Oddey had her earphones on with her favorite song playing. She painted a red string with acrylic around the couple, which somehow mesmerized Gage so that he was peaking through the glass window in her door.

"There you are!" Felix exclaimed to Gage as he was startled by his friend's loud voice. He got out of his art room, which was just three doors from Oddey's.

"Hey... Felix," Gage greeted. He tried not to look flustered.

"Hey, man, I almost thought you flaked on me."

"Of course not... I got the coffees, I even got one for Courtney, I told her to come here."

"Cool, I need to go to the bathroom. My room is just over there."

"Okay," Gage nodded and just went straight to Felix's room.

-------

Meanwhile, Oddey paused for a moment, and for some reason, she turned to see the door, but Gage was already gone. She shrugged it off and just admired her art before continuing. About an hour passed, and the art student took off her earphones because she was finally done with her artwork and let it dry first for a while so she cleaned her brushes and her paint palette at the sink inside the room.

All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door. She turned to it and saw Felix waving at her through the window, so he signaled him to come inside. "Hey, do you have green acrylic that I can borrow? It's for my clays, I need some retouching?" he asked.

"Oh, sure, I have three shades by the easel," she answered.

"Thanks," so he went over there and took a small tube, then saw her work. "Cool painting."

"Really? Do you think so?"

"Yeah, romanticism, right?"

"Yup, it's an assignment."

"Well, you nailed it. Anyway, thanks again for letting me borrow your paint tube, I'll return it tomorrow."

"No problem, let me know when you finish your film, can't wait to watch it."

"Of course, thanks, I better get back to it now," Felix smiled at her support for his passion as he exited her room. Oddey saw the watercolor in her paint was already drying, so she closed her artbook and put it in her bag, then left.

---------

Felix was retouching a zombie figurine that was made out of clay. "So the play is gonna be Romeo and Juliet? seriously?" he scoffed at Gage when he told him about what went on in the theatre club. "That's so high school."

"Right?" Gage complained and then sipped his coffee. "Even everyone in the club was disappointed."

"Well, yeah, I mean... come on, out of all the plays..."

"I know, it's so stupid. It's so mainstream that I think the other members were willing to give me the lead."

"Oh my Gosh," Felix snickered.

"But well... Courtney is still willing to get the lead."

Courtney was coming, but before she entered Felix's room, she could hear the boys talking and laughing. "In a play that has been done so many times that goes back to middle school?" Felix chuckled, which she heard. "They probably would've given Juliet to her on a silver platter."

"Pfft... yeah, I wish so I don't have to deal with rehearsing with her," she heard Gage say, which hurt her. Felix kept laughing until he saw Courtney standing by the door, Gage noticed his expression and turned around. He saw her all upset from their private conversation about her, the theatre club to be exact. "Courtney..."  he gasped.

Courtney opened the door and glared at them. "You guys are jerks," she snarled. She saw the iced coffee that was for her, so she took it and threw it at them, then stormed off. The guys just sat there with their clothes, and Felix's clays that he worked on got wet. They looked at each other and knew that they screw up.

"Courtney!" Gage chased her to the corridors. "Wait! I'm sorry, you hear all that, I didn't mean to hurt you."

She stopped and turned to him. "Too late," she replied to him with her voice cracked up because she was trying not to cry. "You know what? don't do me any favors and just quit the club for all I care, I don't need a friend like you talking about me behind my back," then Courtney ran off in tears while the other student in the art studio came out from their rooms to see what the commotion was about.

Gage saw that eyes were on him, so he decided to go back to Felix's room and just give Courtney some space to cool off.