Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare for Everyone Else) Read online

  Chapter Three

  From the soccer field at the nearby private school, Jason watched as a shiny new car entered the school parking lot, his friend Bordin behind the wheel.

  “There’s our man,” Connor said, sending a pass over to Jason.

  “It’s about damn time,” Jason muttered angrily, kicking the ball a few yards to the right of Connor so he would have to give chase.

  “Really?” Connor shouted back angrily, retrieving the pass and sprinting to catch up with Jason. “Do you have to be such a jackass?”

  “I’m the way I am because I’m unhappy,” Jason said. “The summer didn’t go the way I wanted.”

  “So I take it you’re still sore about losing to dear brother Donnie?” Connor asked, stealing a glance at Bordin, who hadn’t even bothered to get out from his car, choosing instead to roll down the window. “Stop acting so pathetic, it’s not good for the team.”

  “What do I care about the team?”

  “You need the team to beat Donnie’s team,” Connor explained. “You can’t do that on your own.”

  “Maybe it’s not the team that I want to defeat, but rather that confident and over-cocky Donnie.”

  “I have to remind you,” Bordin said from his seat, “that you were the one who challenged him. You were the one who set up all of those games.”

  “And now I look like an ass,” Jason said, tucking his long black hair behind his ear. “I had no idea that pretty boy Clark had the slightest idea how to do anything on our battlefield other than stand there like he was on the cover of a romance novel.” Bordin chuckled from inside the car but Jason didn’t crack a smile.

  “Oh laugh, why don’t you?” Bordin said. “Even in your sour mood, can’t you crack a smile?”

  “I go through the motions that’ll keep me alive and nothing else,” Jason said. “I sleep when I’m tired, I have sex when I’m horny, and I eat when I’m hungry.”

  “But Jason—”

  “And,” Jason continued over top of him, “I will laugh when I find something funny.”

  “You’re such an ass,” Bordin said.

  “So did you see anything interesting at practice?” Jason asked.

  “Only that Donnie is working hard for the first school match,” Bordin said. “He doesn’t seem to think of you as often as you think of him. I don’t even know if he’s mad at you at this point.”

  “I don’t care,” Jason said, “I’m still mad at him for humiliating me in front of our father.”

  “You could try talking to Donnie,” Connor suggested. “You and your brother could still get along—”

  “Half-brother,” Jason snapped, “and I don’t want to get along with him. I don’t mind being hated—”

  “He doesn’t hate you,” Bordin said, rolling his eyes.

  “Maybe that’s because he still doesn’t see me as a worthy opponent,” Jason said. “He still sees me as his lowly little bastard brother. He sees no reason to respect me yet, but what he needs to understand is that I’m not like him – I seek to be respected and feared for my ability, not loved. Our father knows my mind, yet Dear Donnie still thinks that by his brotherly devotion he can show me the error of my ways. Can a man be that ignorant? So be it. I’ll show him I’m not going to be denied.”

  “Denied what? His disdain?” Connor asked.

  Bordin rolled down the window a bit further. “Jason—”

  “What?” Jason snapped.

  “Maybe we should look at this in a different way.”

  “How do you mean?” Jason barked.

  “You could show your brother you do not need his approval.”

  “Meaning what?” Jason asked, already growing bored. He noticed a few girls in the parking lot looking over at the scene but this only angered him more.

  “I’ve heard that Clark—”

  “The moronic pretty boy,” Jason said.

  “I heard he’s going on a date with Heaven.”

  “Heaven?” Jason sneered. “That short artsy chick? Why would he do that?”

  “Who knows?” Bordin said. “But I heard him say it. And Donnie intends to help them get together.”

  “He wants to play Cupid now?” Jason asked. “That idiot can’t resist playing the good guy, always butting into other people’s business because he thinks it makes him look good. So the cocky one-hit wonder on the soccer field wants to date Heaven?” Jason asked, not able to hide his interest. “I’m intrigued. Do you know where the two lovebirds will be heading?”

  “Some ice cream place,” Bordin said.

  “I see,” Jason said. “A fitting choice – sickeningly sweet cream that melts at the first sign of heat. There’s only one good place in this entire shit hole worth getting ice-cream from, so we have to assume that this is where they’re going. Is Donnie going to be there?”

  “He will, if I know anything about Clark,” Bordin said. “Over the summer he couldn’t even go to the bathroom without his pathetic posse.”

  “Ahh, Bennett and Bea, those loudmouthed, poor—”

  “So are we going?” Connor interrupted.

  “If there’s any chance I can spoil the good mood, then of course we’re going,” Jason said. “Not only do I see this as a chance to sour Donnie’s reputation, but also as a chance to disperse the sickly sweet smell of love in the air.”

  “So I’ll pick you up after practice?” Bordin asked, turning up his music in preparation to speed away.

  “Do that,” Jason said, his eyes gleaming. “I look forward to what lies ahead.”

  Act II