The 3rd Period Shakespeare Conundrum

Freshmen in Ms. Carson’s Honors ELA classes are in the midst of re-enacting Shakespeare’s classic play Romeo and Juliet. While they are only reading the lines in character, many disputes over which people get which roles have sparked up. 

One notable dispute occurred in Ms. Carson’s 3rd period ELA class over who gets the roles of Romeo and Juliet.

Freshmen Jackson Ruiz and Justin Allen wanted to be Romeo and Juliet but Aubri Albin and Chloe Johnson were also eyeing the roles.   

According to two anonymous students, Grayson Gallagher “sweet-talked Ms. Carson” into getting to play Juliet for Act 3 and his name was written

A heated debate filled the classroom as Ms. Carson was about to write down Aubri Albin for the role of Romeo but Jackson Ruiz—using his quick thinking—proposed that a game of rock-paper-scissors should be used to decide who plays Romeo. 

The intensity of the conflict originated from the fact that Jackson and Justin had previously played Romeo and Juliet in Act 1. The freshman Girls vying for the roles argued this was “not fair.” But, to be fair, neither Jackson nor Justin had a role in Act 2 while Chloe and Aubri did.

The best-out-of-three rock-paper-scissors game began and Aubri Albin scored her first point against Jackson Ruiz. This was a blow to the opposing duo, as now Jackson Ruiz would have to lock in and win the rest of the match. 

Jackson Ruiz managed to score a point against Aubri and the boys were filled with hope.

And, ultimately, the match deciding who gets to play Romeo and Juliet ended in a 2-1 victory for freshmen Jackson Ruiz.

Jackson Ruiz was “overwhelmed with joy” and celebrated very loudly with what Aubri described as “screaming loudly against T-Bird conduct.” The commotion could be heard in the neighboring journalism classroom. 

Interestingly, both Aubri and Jackson believed the other to be cheating during this game of rock-paper-scissors. Aubri said Jackson is a “liar, a cheater, and dirty.” 

While Jackson had won the battle by obtaining Romeo, the duo had not won the war as Juliet still remained in the hands of Grayson. Justin pleaded Ms. Carson to let the role of Juliet be decided by a game of rock-paper-scissors as Grayson had the same role the act prior. 

Ms. Carson concurred and another heated match of rock-paper-scissors commenced. 

The game ended as soon as it began as Justin Allen swept Grayson Gallagher 3-0.

Grayson believes that Justin should go on a “little quest of self-improvement” and summed up the situation as, “The power couple Jackson and Justin took all the roles.”