forum In Fair Verona // Modern Romeo and Juliet // Private RP - CLOSED

Started February 05, 2019 by @blue_topaz

tune

One second I was in my glory, back to back with Mercutio while we brawled like barbarians in the center of the hallway. The next my ears were ringing while blood trickled down from a brand new gash on my forehead. A slew of curses escaped my lips as I stumbled backwards, dazed and pissed as all hell. I swung my fist to clobber my attacker, but diverted the blow last minute.

“Wha—What the hell?” Cue the slow motion and the heavenly lights. In front of me, her hand still gripping into my shirt collar, was Juliet Montague—er… Capulet. My worst enemy, or she was. Usually is. Almost always. Okay! You’ve caught me! I think I hit my head too hard…

I knew when I needed to scram. It was like a sixth sense that told me when a teacher was arriving to put an end to the fight. But right now? I’ve been staring at her dumbstruck for almost a full minute. My family would literally kill me if I went after a Capulet. But damn did she know how to fight…

This time, my laugh was brutal, harsh even to my own ears. I cocked an eyebrow at Romeo, enjoying the absolutely dumbstruck look on his face much more than I should have been. “Oh, this is precious,” I chuckled, a sharp edge lining each of my words. We, or rather, I, was the only one left standing, the rest of the brawlers having run off or passed out on the ground. “Are you going to tell daddy that you were beaten by both a girl and a Capulet? Or will I have to write it all over your face?”

My blood ran hot, rage thawing and giving away to the pure rush of victory. I dropped him like a sack of hot coals and planted my boot in the centre of his chest, digging the heel in hard enough to elicit a gasp of pain. I was expecting an attack in retaliation, for Romeo to attempt to catch me off guard, but we both knew I was much too prepared for that to happen.

(Damn, Romeo is smitten~)

I stood there, trying to form a coherant thought. Blood oozing out of the cuts of my face as I stared. Smashing into that wall had been like a system restart. I could hardly gain my bearings, unable to tear my eyes from hers. That laugh. That wicked, beautiful laugh. Hell, I’ve heard that demonic melody enough times to know exactly what was coming next. I knew how to counter it and keep the fight going. I done it a million times before, but now I—

A blur and a flash of pain later and I was sprawled flat on my back, wheezing to catch my breath. The acrid taste of my own blood filled my mouth. Juliet dug her heel into my chest, causing me to sputter and groan softly in pain. I didn’t even bother to move dazed and sluggish. Her heel seemed to have kickstarted whatever the hell was happening to me. Our eyes locked, and my heart began to pound faster than it had during the fight. What the hell? What the hell?! My brain finally seemed to catch up to the situation. Good news, I could now think. Bad news. I’m pretty sure I’m having a heart attack.

(He totally is lol)

(Lol
I totally haven’t been anxiously waiting for your every response to this rp lmao)

“You won’t even fight back?” I dug my heel a little harder into his chest before stepping back and dusting my hands off. There was blood in the corner of my mouth; I could feel it, slick and warm, but I didn’t move to wipe it away. Lightning still buzzed in my veins, flooding my body with excited energy, but most of my fire had flickered out now that there was no one else to fight.

“Wow, some Montague.” I was about to smirk and turn away from his amusingly dazed face when my cousin rose shakily to his feet, groaning. “Nice one—oww—Juliet,” he congratulated through gritted teeth, causing me to snort. “What hurts more, your lost dignity or that cut on your cheek, Tybalt? Try not to get kicked down by Romeo, of all people, next time.”

Yes, it was incredibly harsh and uncalled for. But I’d been raised that way, show no mercy or weakness, etcetera. Typical mafia boss weekend lectures. And it was easier this way, was it not? Being soft was the easiest way to end up sprawled on the ground.

“Have fun explain that one to daddy, Romeo,” I tossed over my shoulder, before slipping past Tybalt and in the direction of the nearest washroom.

(Okay, so maybe I’m overdoing it on the heartless badass thing….)

(Lmao I keep waiting for your responses too while I watch the Office in the corner of my screen. Also heartless badass Juliet is a queen, Romeo loves her)

“Dude! What was that?” Mercutio was the one to pull me to my feet. “You concussed?” He waved his hand in front of my face several times, looking legitimately concerned to a certain degree. I sidestepped him, leaning against the same wall my face had been bashed into moments earlier, watching Juliet walk away.

“What’s with the face? Is Rosaline coming?” Mercutio continued to babble at my side. I tuned him out, still adjusting to my rapid heartbeat. It slowly started to ease in my chest once Juliet was out of sight. “No! Romeo! Hey!” Mercutio snapped his fingers directly in front of my face.

“What?” My sharp glare did nothing to deter him as he began to freak out.

“You can’t serious be making the face at Juliet right now? You’re shitting me right?” The teen exclaimed, punching me hard in the ribs.

“I’m not making the face.” I rolled my eyes, ditching him in the middle of the hall in favor of going to wash up. Mercutio caught up with me anyways.

“Romeo, think of Rosaline, she’s only turned you down twice now! Third time’s the charm. Bonus here, her family won’t fill you with bullets!”

(Loll
Romeo is my absolute favourite oml)

I didn’t bother eavesdropping on Romeo and Mercutio’s—okay, who the hell names their kid Mercutio? Sure, I had a cousin named ‘Tybalt’, but ‘Mercutio’ was its own level of weird and old-fashioned—conversation, why would I care what they were talking about this time? Probably the pretty senior Romeo was so obsessed with (school news, obviously). I had about ten minutes left until the morning bell rang to clean up my bloodied face, which was exactly what I did, using the tiny bottle of concealer i carried in my pencil case to cover up a few stray bruises.

Perfect.
The rest of the fighters would definitely be singled out, but I knew how to get out of trouble, and I wasn’t going to waste time in the principal’s office again.

I smacked my lips and headed out for my first class, which was unfortunately the horror that was Pre-Calc. I’d take gun fights over this bullshit any day.

Almost two arduous hours passed, leaving me in Co-Ed P.E. class with a group of fairly athletic girls, my best friend, and none other but the ‘almighty’ Romeo Montague. I caught his eye from across the gym and smirked, waiting for his reaction.

I had P.E without Mercutio, which normally wasn’t fun, but today it was a sweet relief. He’d been nagging me all morning! Honestly, how stupid did he have to be to assume I liked a Capulet? I’ve been in love with Rosaline since Junior year! Which is only really one year, but that’s a long time for me! He’s being ridiculous, overreacting as per usual.

P.E was the best anyways. So what if Capulet was in this class? No one in this school compared to me when it came down to athletics. All I had to do was to be good at whatever we did here in order to make up for whatever five minute concussion I got earlier. I scanned the room, trying to weigh out the pros and cons over who to pick in case we did a team sport.

Everything was going smoothly until Juliet ruined it all again. My chest constricted slightly as she smirked at me. No. I am not making the face. I’m not going to make the face. The face, was the name of the lovesick puppy expression that was signature of my restless heart switching allegiances. The fond title had been given by Mercutio, who felt he had naming rights after having to deal with it for so many years.

I forced myself to smirk back, winking confidently before coolly turning away to hyperventilate where Juilet couldn’t see me.

(Lmao Romeo is a whole mood right there)

He winked back, but his smirk was satisfyingly delayed, enough to boost my confidence the teensiest bit higher. “Right,” I said to Marina, who was twisting her light hair into a simple plait. “Goal of the period, beat Romeo Montague in whatever sport we’re playing this time.” My best friend snorted loudly, giving me her signature, dubious blue-eyed look. “Again? I thought you beat him up this morning.”

“Your point?” I grinned.

“You know, Juliet, you could try being nice to him for the rest of today.”
After a beat of silence, we both burst out laughing. “Yeah, screw that.”

Coach Gugliemi blew his shrill whistle and launched into a set of instructions for the game of football (soccer) we were supposed to be playing; girls VS boys. Several girls in the class could be seen cracking their knuckles after that announcement.

After a few minutes of awkward assembling, the game began with me on left forward and Marina on midfield.

(So, I was thinking, maybe there’s some sort of party that night?)

I was more than ready to lose myself in the game and just act on instinct. As soon as the ball hit the cheap waxed wood floor I was off, practically dancing my way around a defender and charging at top speed, keeping the ball in check.

The adrenaline had me fired up, everything me a blur as the air shimmered and crackled with energy. This was why I loved sports more than anything else. I didn’t have to think or care about anything besides scoring a goal. Point A to Point B. Simple, powerful, instinctual. I let out a whoop of joy as I took a shot at the net, putting as much force behind the kick as possible, aiming for the top right corner.

(Yesss the party will be amazing omg! Also I’m sorry if my descriptions are terrible for P.E., the only sport I actually know how to play is hockey!😭)

(Dw about it lol, the only sport I vaguely know how to play is soccer)

Marina dove to block Romeo’s shot, seeing as their goalie was utterly useless, but the ball whizzed right past her head and into the net. She and Juliet made eye contact, buzzing with frustration. The ball was sent back out into the field, and this time, Juliet managed to get a hold of it, gliding it through the feet of the other team’s midfielder and sending it straight into the net. Grinning triumphantly, she soaked up the after effects of the adrenaline rush the win had given her and sent an infuriating wink Romeo’s way.

I was standing five feet behind Juliet when she turned around and flashed a triumphant grin in my direction. I meant to scowl, but if I’m being honest, I usually don’t do a lot of thinking when I’m playing a game of any kind. I didn’t quite realise I’d given her a bashful dopey smile instead of a glare until it had already happened.

Romeo you absolute… I released a silent stream of curses as blood rushed to my face. I rubbed at my forehead and shook my head several times to try and clear away the foggy daze Juliet kept sabotaging me with. After failing several times I slunk off to the sidelines to go get water, purposely dousing my face to reduce the red flush.

Coach swapped Marina and I for two more girls to let us rest, and naturally, to uphold her title and status of best friend, the very first thing the shortish blonde said to me was “You did see the look on Romeo’s face when you winked at him, right?”

I’d turned away before I could have properly glimpsed it, so I was firmly disbelieving when she described an almost sappy, flushed expression.
“Nope. You’re delusional.”
“And you’re blind, Miss Capulet. I’ll even prove it to you.”
I crossed my arms as a sign of fiery defiance. “Oh yeah? How?”
Marina flashed me a mischievous grin. “The party tonight. Romeo will be there. Let me dress you up, we’ll go together, you can flounce right past him.”

I raised both eyebrows. “Marina, can you hear yourself? My dad is not going to let me go to a party. And you’re going insane if you think I’m going to let you dress me up.”
“Come on…” she persisted, before sighing. “Fine. I’ll smuggle you my brother’s liquor supply.”
“And?”
“And nothing. Liquor or nothing.”
“Fine.” I tucked an escaped lock of hair behind my ear. “It’s a deal. I’ll see if I can convince Angelo..”

“I’m going to kill myself.” I muttered to my half empty water bottle, trying to cope with my own idiocy. Having Juilet off the field made it easy to play again, and I was able to do well for myself, scoring goals left and right. It was a good confidence booster after the weird day I was in the midst of suffering through. The party tonight would be fun. Plus, Capulet never went to parties. It was a safe place to hide away and enjoy school without being mauled and brutallly slain.

Soon enough, the lunch bell had rung, signalling for the fatal stampede of hormone-pumped teenagers to flood the hallways in an attempt to get to their lockers, the the cafetieria, as violently as humanly possible.

Marina and I got changed from our gym uniforms quickly, grabbed our wallets and phones, and ran right off school property the moment everyone’s back was turned. Once safely around the corner, we met up with a small gang of guys who passed around a packet of stolen cigarettes while we laughed and swung our legs over the edge of the creek not far from the prison that was the school building.

“So….” Joseph, the ‘ringleader’ of the guys drawled, mischief dripping from his tone. “Rumour has it that Juliet Capulet’s going soft over some magic man.”

Both Marina and I snorted in unison. “Pfft, as if. You wish, Joe.”
Joseph had the decency to put on a playfully damtic show of mock offence.

(Keep going or skip to the party? Up to you)

(Not at all, I feel the exact same way lol, as long as things don’t happen nearly as fast as they do in the play bc hen the rp wouldn’t last three days 😂
Would you mind starting?)

(Oh don’t worry, Romeo has a lot of unrequited pining to do still!)

Parties have always been tough with my interesting family life. But I usually get to go as long as I don’t drink. It’s a good deal as far as I’m concerned. I dressed myself in a leather jacket, blank skinny jeans and a white shirt. A necklace with my family’s crest hung around my neck, more or less as a threat to everyone else. He quickly raked his hair back with his hand before entering the house.

Pulsing music immediately synced with my heartbeat as I entered the room, isolated for the time being without Mercutio. However, a few girls had taken notice upon my entry. I offered them a polite wave before working my way towards the middle of the dance floor. I wasn’t an expert dancer by any means, but I desperately needed to burn off steam after today.

(Loll)

“I can’t believe I’m letting you do this…..” I muttered under my breath for what must have been the fiftieth time in the past half hour. Marina, dutifully playing her part as the faithful best friend and not caving in to my bitching and moaning, ignored me and dragged a comb through yet another lock of hair.

“Ow,” I complained, just for the sake of having something to say, to which she replied with a “Oh, shut up already. You’ve literally shot people, but can’t handle a bit of hair styling?”
“Esattamente,” I muttered, Italian for ‘exactly’. “And I still can’t believe Angelo is letting me do this…”

Marina hadn’t been born into an overly-dramatic crime family like I had, but my padre, or father, though I rarely called him by anything other than his first name, owed her parents a favour, so he was fine with her company. She’d known me for long enough to understand that when it came to acting flirty and participating in normal party behaviour, I was useless, just as I knew her well enough to know that she absolutely rocked that life.

“Are you done?”
“Yes, mi dio,” she replied in an exasperated tone of voice and angled her mirror so that I could see my reflection.

Marina had dressed me up in a simple but oddly elegant red blouse that showed off a significant amount of shoulder (as long as Angelo didn’t see, I would be fine) and a nice pair of black leggings, with my hair done up in a half-down, half-up style that was casual enough for a party, while retaining an air of… beauty, I supposed. A small crimson brooch with my family crest emblazoned on it was pinned over my heart, a silent reminder to anyone who tried to cross me, but other than that and a touch of makeup, I was unadorned.

“Fantastic. I look…..”
“Beautiful. Now hurry up.”

We managed to get to the party without any major incidents, stumbling in before any of the real hype had begun. I willed myself not to look for anyone, to simply act carefree.
“This had better pay off…”

I picked a random girl I vaguely recognized from one of my classes and started to dance with her. Keeping myself distracted was hard, but I was confident that I was doing well. I spun the girl around a few times, made her laugh, dropped her back off to the sidelines. I repeated this process with three or four songs before I finally retreated off the dance floor, wiping at my forehead.

“Hey, dude!” I turned around to see Mercutio waving to me. I quickly jogged over to join him in discussing the party. “How’s your concussion?” He teased, grinning at me.

“I don’t have a concussion.” I roughly elbowed him, and he did the same back. The process repeated itself until the two of us had an impromptu playful wrestling match.

(I almost deleted the thread by accident oh my god)

(That would’ve sucked)

“There he is..” Marina hissed right in my ear, loud and sudden enough to make me jump. I followed her eyes and found, as promised, Romeo Montague and his ridiculous best friend. “Why do you even care so much?” I muttered under my breath and she steered me in their direction.

“Because,” she breathed, “Its really, really fun to see a Montague humiliated.”
I grinned. “Good answer.”

Marina led me directly in front of the two guys, who were currently wrestling (of course), and into the line for food, which conveniently happened to be situated a few feet away from our targets. I forced myself to quench a part of my fire and instead gave Romeo and his friend a long, cool look before looking away, unfazed.

(I almost deleted the thread by accident oh my god)

(That would’ve sucked)

Yeah agreed
Why is the delete button so close to the posting button??)

The instant I slackened on punching Mercutio, he stood up. “Romeo, Don’t look over there. Come on man. Focus! Rosaline’s Coming tonight.” Mercutio snapped in front of my face a few more times. “You’re drawing attention to yourself!”

I was completely defeated the moment she walked in. “Yeah, man. You win I guess.” I mumbled, shoving Mercutio to the side. Juliet was stunning to say the least. This was probably the first time I ever saw her in a dress. I waved in response to the look she gave Mercutio and I, feeling like a bashful middle schooler.

“He’s waving at Rosaline, not you!” Mercutio grabbed me by the arm, causing me to stumble as he pulled me away from Juilet, to the other end of the room. It took all I had to keep my balance while looking over my shoulder at Juilet, trying to steal glances.

(I’m gonna get some rest for now, but I’m always up super early for school always!)

(Good night, sorry if I kept you up too long! Hope you get some rest, at least)

Marina and I stared at each other for a full second before bursting out into peals of laughter, knowing full well that both Romeo and Mercutio could hear and see us. “Oh my god—” Marina wheezed between uncontrollable giggles, clamping a hand over her mouth. My laughter had more of a biting edge, something that would hopefully cut into Romeo’s self-assurance, but it was there nonetheless, possibly the most if exposed myself in front of this big of a group. But for once, I didn’t care, too caught up in the unbelievable hilariousness of the whole situation.

“He’s waving at Rosaline, not you!” Marina did her best to impersonate Mercutio’s voice as we both grabbed a cup of punch. “Bitch, where? I don’t see Rosaline, do you?” I let out a loud snort. “Mi dio… I hate to say it, but you may possibly, just possibly, be right this time, Marina.”

We were cut off by a familiar voice and a heavy hand on each of our shoulders. “Did I just see what I think I saw?” I turned to see Joseph, grinning like a homicidal maniac.

“Yes.” Marina’s voice was practically dripping with glee. But Joseph was already shaking his head and leading us towards the rest of the the boys. “No, I don’t mean Montague’s painful little schoolboy crush. I mean—Am I hallucinating? Did I just witness Juliet Capulet laugh a genuine laugh?”

“Oh fuck off, Joe,” I muttered with a roll of my eyes. Jamie, Joe’s younger brother, smaller than us by a year, smirked. “The future mafia boss is getting soft~” he sang, which earned a fiery glare from me and a round of chuckles. “Careful, Jamie. La raggazza del fuoco may be out to get you if you’re not careful….”

And thought there was no sensation equal to that of the burning adrenaline of a fight, I had to admit that I enjoyed the playful, laid back banter.
“You heard your brother, Jamie. Watch your back~”

(Sorry if I’m beginning to include more swearing.. is that okay?)