Work Text
Three teens by the names of Beatrice, Benedick and Claudio sat together in their English classroom, reading through the Shakespeare play they were studying with sullen expressions adorning their faces. It was funny, how the story was so like their current situation.The empty seat at the table only seemed to prove this point.It had started at the beginning of the school year when, after returning from band camp, Claudio had found himself falling for Hero, a childhood friend and fellow student. The boy had gone to one of his friends, Pedro, about the problem, and the two had quickly devised a plan that, at the fast-approaching prom, Pedro would pretend to be Claudio, and was to declare his love for the oblivious Hero.After some drama - instigated by numerous rumours surrounding who truly loved Hero - had occurred, the night had ended well, with Hero and Claudio confessing their love for each other. Several days later, however, consumed by a desire to make trouble, John, Pedro’s brother and the local school bully, tricked both Claudio and Pedro into believing that Hero had been cheating on Claudio with another student, even going to lengths such as to send (photo-shopped) images of Hero and her unknown partner to the pair. In an overdramatic bout of anger and sadness, Claudio and Pedro had made a plan that, when the opportunity arose, Claudio would reveal Hero’s secret to the rest of the school. This opportunity was provided by Hero herself who, upon giving into her belief that it was the 21st century and women were strong and independent, had made a show out of asking Claudio out on a date.
It was lunchtime. Claudio had just walked into the crowded school cafeteria, and he could see Benedick and Beatrice sitting at one of the cafeteria tables, fidgeting nervously and casting excited glances at the boy, while Pedro, a crease in his brow, was staring solemnly at Claudio.
Claudio made his way over to his spot at the table, sitting down and glancing at everyone with an expectant grimace. The sound of a door banging open caused him to glance towards the figure entering the room-Hero.
The girl was wearing a white summer dress, her black curls, pinned up in a half-up, half-down fashion, bouncing as she strode over to their table, coming to a stop in front of Claudio, where she’d pulled him up and off his seat so that the two were facing each other. ‘
Claudio,’ she had said, ‘Since I met you, I’ve loved your kind heart and handsome face, so at prom, when you told me you loved me too, I couldn’t have been happier. That’s why now I’m asking you, Claudio, if you would go out with me?’ Hero asked, smiling happily.
Claudio had stood, fury boiling in the pit of his stomach as he stared at Hero. How could she act so innocent when she was hiding a secret big as her own? How, pray tell, was she standing in front of him, smiling even though lies spilled from her mouth. Claudio didn’t know, but he did know one thing.
His answer.
'HERO,’ He had screamed at the girl, ‘HOW DARE YOU.’ Then, after taking a deep breath in a futile attempt to calm himself; ‘How dare you stand there, looking at me with affection in your eyes, when all you’ve done is betray me and my trust? How, when you know you’ve been running around with other people, cheating on me! When all this time, I have been the one to love you, wait for you, be loyal to you, and stand by your side!’
By now, everyone else in the room was watching the scene play out with rapt attention, gaping at Hero as she in turn gaped at Claudio with tears in her eyes. ‘Claudio, I wouldn’t,’ she had pleaded, ‘Please.’ Claudio looked at her one more time, face contorting to hold a vicious glare and mouth curled into poisonous sneer as he turned and walked out of the hall, his answer echoing through the cafeteria as he finally realised that the attention of everyone was on him.
‘
No.’
After he had left, Hero had collapsed onto the group in a fit of sobs and heartbreak, until her father - a teacher at the school - with anger and disappointment lingering in his gaze, had pulled her up a little too harshly and led her to his office for ‘a little chat’.
It was here that, unbeknownst to everyone else, Hero’s father had sat down to hear her side of the story, and the two had devised to pretend that Hero had been so wronged by Claudio’s accusations that she had transferred schools, when in fact she was just staying home for a week. The plan was that, upon his asking, Leonato would tell Claudio the news, breaking Claudio’s heart even further when he told him that Hero and he were to have no contact, for his daughter could not bear to hear his voice. If he were to ask for it, Leonato was to tell him that his only chance to make up for his wrong-doings would be to befriend Hero’s cousin – actually Hero in disguise – who was to be starting at the school the next week, and who had no other acquaintances.
It only helped that John confessed his doings in a meeting with the principal, only further proving Hero’s innocence. This confession led to Claudio, drowning in guilt, pleading with Leonato for another chance and falling perfectly into the plan, if only for a chance to see Hero again.
Now, sitting at his table in the small classroom with the perfect view of the school garden, bursting with big bushes, towering trees and winding vines, nervously waiting for lunchtime, when he would meet Hero’s cousin, Claudio begins to wonder if the rest of his inconvenient tale would turn out as magnificently as Shakespeare’s play did.He certainly hopes so.