I looked between Romeo and Marina. From Marina’s beady little eyes to the large pleading ones of my best friend. “I’d kick your ass anytime, Capulet.” I spat viscously before backing down. “But I don’t abandon my best friend when he needs me. Don’t sweat it. I’ll reserve you a nice left hook for the next time we meet.”
I didn’t stop to think, didn’t bother second-guessing myself before I rushed forward and drove my fist into his face. Then, wiping my hands on my leggings, I growled a warning in the direction of Romeo, turned, and made for the doors.
“Coward!” A slew of curses escaped my lips as I dashed after Marina, fury blazing through my veins. She slammed her fist right into my cheekbone. It hurt like hell. There was no way she was getting out of this without a fightly. I simply heard Romeo yelling for me to stop, running after me at a slower pace due to his injuries.
I whirled around to face him, fists clenched. "Oh, I'm the coward?" I yelled, taunted. "Look, I don't know what your stupid friend did to Juliet, but whatever it was, he fucked up bad. I'm sorry if I didn't want to sit back and do nothing."
“You want to know what he did so bad? Ask him! Are you that fucking dense!? He’s right here!” I grabbed Romeo, nudging him in between Marina and I. He looked frazzled, and a bit frantic now.
“W-What do you mean? Is Juliet okay?” The color drained out of his face. “Can I see her? Where is she? Is she—“ I cut Romeo off, starting to tug him backwards.
“Never mind.” I growled quietly, making it my personal mission to keep Romeo away from away and all Capulets.
"Don't pretend like you actually care," I snapped at Romeo, pushing straight past his stupid friend and shoving him back against the lockers. "What the hell did you do to her??" My fist still throbbed from the force with which I'd driven it into Mercutio's face, but I would gladly give 'lover boy' the same treatment, if not worse.
As furious as I was, I backed off a little, letting Romeo fight his own battles. Or, I assumed he would fight. At the moment as was staring back at Marina, cradling his cast. “Please, just let me see her. Is she upset? What happened?” He was frantically mumbling. If his parents could see this they’d have him killed. Groveling at the feet of a Capulet in order to see another Capulet? I waited silently, ready to step in as soon as I was needed.
I stared him down, disgust contorting my features. He was downright pathetic, a lowly, lying snake who had somehow managed to hurt my miracle of a best friend. "I hope you feel really good about whatever you did to her," I snarled, releasing him and stepping away. "Because you are going to pay for it. I will personally drag your sorry ass to hell to see it done."
Shooting one last glare at Mercutio, I turned and walked away, slamming the front doors shut behind me.
“Fuck! Fuck! Mercutio, I-I… I messed up! I didn’t mean to… God what if she tried to—“ Romeo burst into tears. Again. In the middle of the hallway. I watched him frantically pull out his phone. “I have to call her.” He mumbled feverishly, taking a step back after I tried to take away his phone.
“Romeo…” I massaged my temples in frustration. “You’re losing you’re mind, dude. You need to calm down. Hand me the phone.” I outstretched my hand, trying to coax him into giving it up. But instead he shushed me, the phone pressed close against his ear while it rang.
Juliet's POV:
A few minutes later, Marina stormed back to us, hands balled into tight fists. "I am going to kill him," she hissed, driving her fists into the wall. "That filthy son of a bitch—" Her actions jarred me from the heavy fog that had been creeping over me, causing me to jump to my feet and grab hold of her wrist.
Joe spoke before I could. "Who? What happened?" Marina's crystal eyes darkened dangerously. "Mercutio and Romeo Montague. I am going to rip them to shreds." My own eyes widened perceptibly. "What did you do?" I breathed, barely stopping the fear from leaking into my voice.
"Tried to squeeze information from Mercutio about what his dumbass friend did to you. Punched him. Then Montague got there and started panicking, pretending like he—" She was cut off by a loud ringtone, coming from my pocket. I fumbled for my phone, and when I saw the name on the screen, my blood turned to ice.
Romeo. Oh god. Oh my god—
My face went white.
"Who is it??" Joe demanded, eyes flooding with worry. I barely managed to shove my phone back into my pocket without dropping it, pressing my violently shaking hands to my mouth. "Angelo," I lied, and everyone went still.
I didn’t mean to upset Juliet. And now I had no idea where she was. She wouldn’t answer the phone. And now, Mercutio was dragging me off to the back of the school to get fresh air. I’m pretty sure he just doesn’t want Benvolio to catch me crying, but that was the least of my worries at the moment. I texted Juliet as we walked, hoping I could at least get a read. Some vague acknowledgment that she was okay.
ROMEO: I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. Are you safe right now? You don’t have to respond. Please, just open this so I can see the read label.
"Shit," Marina breathed, dragging a hand through her dirty blonde hair. "Shit."
"At least tell us what happened," Joe pleaded, to which I shook my head. "I—I can't. I've already told Mari too much—He'd actually kill me if he found out—" It wasn't fair of me, to be putting them through this. I was weak, a pathetic coward. I should be able to hold my own.
In my pocket, my phone buzzed, which only served to heighten my anxiety.
(skip to English or something? Maybe Romeo and Juliet have that class alone?)
(Good idea)
I was the first one there. Pacing around the room while waiting for Juliet. I deflected one or two concerned glances from our teacher and continued to prowl around. Juliet hadn’t left, right? My worst fear was that she had hurt hurt self because of me. Hell, she hadn’t even read my message! The whole situation drive me off the wall.
It had been about an hour since the incident with Marina and Mercutio, since the phone call from Romeo, and I was still shaken to the core.
Firstly, Romeo was still actually alive.
Second, Marina had tried to confront him.
And third, he'd called me. In front of everyone outside.
I had been dreading English class since first bell, and now that it was looming, I was seriously considering skipping. But if Angelo found out……. I stood outside the classroom for five full minutes before I took a deep breath and entered.
I noticed her as soon as she walked in. I froze in place from where I’d been pacing on the side of the room. Now that she was here I was hit with a huge dosage of relief, but I also now had no idea what to do or say.
The sight of him nearly destroyed me. I could feel the last of my composure crumbling to dust, blowing away with the chilled breeze that drifted in through he open classroom window…… it was all I could do to force my expression to go blank and turn away from him. I sat down in a seat on the far side of the room, hands balled into fists in my lap to keep them from trembling more than they already were.
I plopped down beside her without a word. I didn’t look at her. Didn’t speak. Just sat down and took out my notebook. I knew she wouldn’t talk to me until she was ready, but I desperately needed to have her next to me for awhile. Even if it was just an hour.
My whole body was tense, on alert, my head spinning with so many confusing emotions that for a moment, the whole room seemed to tilt, I placed a hand on the desk to steady myself, squeezing my eyes shut against the dizzying scene around me.
After a full thirty, seconds, I broke. “You can’t just do that.” My voice was low so that only he could hear, saturated with pain. “You can’t say something like that and leave for the rest of the night.”
I flinched. Her words felt like a solid punch to the gut. “I don’t want to get hurt because I have poor self control.” I whispered back weakly. “You… You said it yourself. You shouldn’t care about me. What I decide to do is my choice. Even if that means…” I trailed off, leaving the implied meaning hanging in the air between us. I’m order to stop myself from panicking again, I began tracing the roses on my cast, almost feverishly in nature.
“Fuck, Romeo, I know.” I swallowed hard, willing my voice to stop shaking. “But after a text like that? You don’t get to leave without another word. At least—“ Cutting myself off, I slipped my pen from my pocket and began to draw on the desk in front of me, but it slipped from my trembling fingers and onto the floor.
I reached down to pick up her pen, whimpering softly when Input too much pressure on my cast. I pressed it back into her palm as gently as possible. “Yes, Juliet. I do get to leave after that. I need you to be prepared.” I murmured softly in reply.
Fuck. No.
Tears suddenly blurred my vision, tears which I quickly blinked away, praying he hadn’t seen them. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting a full ten seconds until I dared to speak. “You’re—You’re acting as if—as if I’ll live long enough to do that.”
“I’m going to tell you something now. And you need to keep it a secret for me. Can you promise me that?” I whispered, trying to make eye contact with her.
I kept my eyes firmly shut, shaking my hair in front of my face. “Fine,” I whispered. “I promise.”