Help with JApplet

I need to write an event driven JApplet, with 15 labeled buttons. The buttons say nearly identical things, with the exception of a number. I do not want to write them individually, and I need to know a way I can group them in a JApplet.

Essentially I need a way I can just write one string such as:
buttons [i] = new JButton ("Seat " + (i+1) + " is open.");
and have it label all the buttons.

I have an hour to figure out how to do this.
Help is greatly appreciated.

Here's the section of code I need it for:

    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
 
        if (e.getActionCommand( ).equals("Exit")){
            int choice = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(null, "Do you want to exit?", "Confirm", JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION);
            if(choice == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION){
                createFile();
                System.exit(0);
            }
        }
       
        else {
               
                for(int i=0; i<buttons.length; i++){
                    if (buttons [i] == e.getSource ()) {
                   
                    if(buttons[i].getText().equals("Occupied")){
                        int choice = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(null, "This seat is occupied - do you want to unbook this seat?", "Confirm", JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION);
                        if(choice == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION){
                            String code = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null,"Enter code to unbook");
                            if(code.equals("7777")){
                                buttons[i].setText("Seat " +(i+1)+" is open.");
                                seatCounter--;
                            }
                        }
                    }
                    else{
                        int choice = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(null, "Do you want to book this seat?", "Confirm", JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION);
                        if(choice == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION){

                            buttons[i].setText("Occupied");
                            seatCounter++;
                            SeatsFilled();
                        }
                    }
                }
       
            }
        }}