"Did you just call me darling?" I let fire ripple beneath my tone, searing through my words—a warning. "And, actually, you forget that I literally beat you to the ground only yesterday morning. Easily. I won't hesitate to do that again, and…….." This time, my voice was bitter, almost raw. "Francesco Rizzo is a close friend of my family. I think the Montagues have hurt enough of the people we care about, don't you?"
(she's referring to her mother, check the 'family' section of her template)
(https://people.howstuffworks.com/mafia.htm is a good resource about the mafia, go straight to the second page bc the first is useless)
Pros and cons of this situation. Pros: Juliet is talking to me, she has to spend time with me almost everyday now, she’s really pretty, she could kick my ass if she wanted to.
Cons: Juliet is insulting my family, I have to pretend to hate her, she actually hates me, she will kick my ass because she wants to.
I weighed out this situation carefully. The thought of Juliet hating me hurt like hell even though a week ago I wanted her dead like the rest of my family does. The sudden sinking feeling in my chest threw me off my rhythm, leaving me to stammer out a quiet: “Whatever, Capulet.”
I was surprised at myself, at how easy it was to lash out, the wound of my mother's death never really having healed over. "I'm going to the washroom," I muttered, rising to my feet and leaving the classroom as quickly as I could without bothering to ask the teacher for permission.
Keep it together, idiot, I told myself harshly as I slipped into the safety of the bathroom. I could definitely hold my own, stay composed. But when it came to my mother….. I fell apart.
It only took me a few minutes to cool down, draw the heat and pain back inside. As soon as I was confident in my ability to hold a pokerface, I was returning to the class, looking Romeo straight in the eye as if nothing had happened.
I knew I made a mistake as soon as she got up to leave. I groaned quietly, resting my head on the table in frustration. Being outgoing just seemed to drive her away more. I changed tactics, straightening everything out our desks, ripping a piece of paper out of my notebook for each of us. I grabbed my earbuds out of my pocket, plugging them into the headphone jack on my phone, opening YouTube.
As Juliet returned, making an uncomfortable amount of eye contact, I rested my head on the desk, putting one of the earbuds in my right ear. “Put the other one on.” I ordered, not bothering to explain myself.
"Do you have some kind of mood swing disorder?" My voice was smooth as marble and colder than ice. "But fine, as long as I get to pick the music." I held out my hand for his phone, frowning down at the assignment sheet on the desk in front of me.
"And, as much as I hate it, this is a group assignment. We have to actually talk for it to work…. and though I wish I didn't have to interact with you, I need a good mark on this project."
“Already started working, Capulet. Aren’t you supposed to be good at this? I get inspired by music pretty easily.” I gently handed my phone over to her, staring at the blank sheet of paper in front of me.
I snorted, giving his empty paper a doubtful glance before taking his phone into my hands. Our fingers brushed briefly, causing me to jerk my arm away, but I quickly forgot about the slip up, chewing on my lip as I tried to choose a song. A strand of dark hair fell across my line of vision, and I moved to brush it away, fingers hovering over the small screen before I looked up 'Nothing Compares 2 U', the Sinead O'Connor version. One of my mother's old favourites… I didn't even stop to think about the actual meaning of the song and the fact that I was playing it for Romeo, of all people.
I felt my face grow red as Juliet lightly brushed my hand with hers. She promptly retracted it like she’d just been exposed to the plague, but by that point every sappy gene in my body had been activated. I watched Juliet thoughtfully type something up, chewing her lip. The song wasn’t what I expected, but the lyrics were driving me insane. Is this some sort of message? Girls are so confusing sometimes… I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it.
But around halfway through the song, I started to scribble down ideas onto the page.
-couple, living out their lives, husband is never around when anyone else is. Plot twist: he’s a ghost/figment of the imagination
-runaway teen learns how to survive on his/her own
I looked up at Juliet as the song faded out, still flushed a bit red.
I promptly ignored Romeo's facial expression and leaned over his desk, pen in hand. Beside the note about the husband being a figment of his partner's imagination, I wrote:
'(or a hallucination. Runaway teen falls in love with someone who turns out to be their hallucination?)'
"Any other ideas?" I asked coolly, tapping the page with the end of my fingers again. The song had ended, transitioning into some other popular 90's tune, also about love.
I don’t think I breathed the entire time Juliet wrote on my paper. “I uh…” I paused to clear my throat, trying to calm myself down. “N-Not at the moment. If you play something else we can think of something else I’m sure. Since you— we, probably won’t want to act out a lovestory.”
"Fuck, you're right," I muttered, heat rushing to my cheeks for a brief moment. "I forgot we'd have to act it. A teen who hallucinates a… sibling, then?"
God, Marina is going to have a field day when she finds out about all this…..
Just for the sake of pleasing my best friend, I scooted my chair closer to Romeo's, a picture of cool, relaxed ease. "How much tragedy-versus-comedy are we going for in this?" Though my words were friendly, my tone was far from it, almost bordering on hostile.
I now perfectly understand what a mixed signal is. Juliet’s close proximity and cold tone have me completely baffled. I couldn’t even look in her direction at the moment, pretending my eyes were glued to the paper. “Um… You can decide. You’re the one who cares about this stuff anyways. I’m just…” I verbally backed myself into a corner, unsure of to react when she was so close by. “Doing sports, you know.”
"All those sports, and yet it's so easy to grab you by the collar of your shirt and slam your face against the wall….. I'm underwhelmed." My eyes still fixed to the sheet of paper in between us, I chewed on my lower lip, which was already chapped and bloodied compared to the glossy, smooth thing it had been last night. "To be honest, I'd much rather to tragedy. Angst, and whatnot."
I nodded, withholding a frustrated groan. What did I want to say? Something along the lines of ”Ever since you bashed my head into a wall I’ve been madly in love with you.” I was also wallowing in regret. Why did I have to tell her to avoid doing anything with love? I very faintly, but still audibly whispered “Why am I like this?” Before taking a deep breath and offering her an amicable smile. “Tragedy it is then.”
"Great," I hummed, glancing up at him with a completely blank facial expression before writing down a few bullet points on my lined piece of paper. "Why are you like what?" Of course I was going to ask him that, after his tiny monologue, how could I possibly pass up an opportunity to make him feel insignificant? He deserved it, as did his whole family.
I could physically feel the blood rushing to my face. “What are you talking about?” I did my best to muster a confused expression, tilting my head to the side a little. It seemed Juliet was letting YouTube autoplay do its job, and the constant love songs playing in the background weren’t helping my situation. “Do we need a plot first or main characters first?” I prayed that maybe she’d stop if I put actual effort into this. Anything to stop this nightmare of confusion and constant missteps. I’m Romeo Montague for Christ’s sake! I always know what to do! In every single situation except this one right here.
"Smooth, Romeo, real smooth," I snickered, tucking another lock of hair behind my ear. "And it would be a good idea to plot how many characters we're each going to play, just vaguely, before we work on the plot."
I absolutely despised the idea of having to work on a two-month project with this guy, but dear lord, was I enjoying the sigh of him this distraught and conflicted.
“Let's do that then. That’s a great idea.” I desperately needed Juliet to focus on anything but me at the moment. “You uh… you listen to a lot of love songs.” I commented quietly. I didn’t mean it as a bad thing, but I mostly did it so I didn’t have to hear another stupid love song describing the girl in front of me when I could already see her as clear as day on my own. Wow, cheesey. That’s a new low. That was bad.
"Excellent observation, smart one. What's that supposed to mean?"
I barely spared him a glance, quickly tapping his phone screen as it began to go dark and clicking the search bar. "Your turn to pick a song, by the way." My own phone buzzed from where I had stashed it inside the desk, and I quickly fished it out.
MARINA: How's drama with Montague?
Snorting, I hastened to respond, purposely leaving the screen in plain view of said Montague.
JULIET: I got paired with him for a project. Send help.
MARINA: Tf?? Poor bb
JULIET: Me or him?
MARINA: Haha. Both, i guess. must b hard to get partnered up with someone hopelessly in love with u
JULIET: He's not in love with me
MARINA: Pfft. U blind or what?
JULIET: Come on, Mari
MARINA: No, you come on. He liiiiiiiiikes youuuuuuuuu
The conversation went on like this, all within Romeo's line of sight.
“Nothing! Just didn’t expect that from you.” I shrugged, picking up my phone. What song do I play? This wasn’t a problem I expected to face so soon. Juliet was texting as I searched through all my playlists. I got the courage to peak up and regretted it instantly as I read the conversation over Juliet’s shoulder. Panic shot through me like a volt of electricity, causing me to drop my phone on the table. A song title had been selected, but I had yet to hit play, almost frozen in place as my face turned a furious shade of red. I need to get the hell out of here.
I shot up from his chair, dropping the earbud on the table. “I… uh—sorry, I’ll be back.” I stumbled, causing an accidental ruckus by tripping over a few chairs as I made my escape, retreating into the hallway. I slowly walked towards the water fountain, wondering if it was possible to transfer.
Abandoned on the desk sat my phone, the finished, yet unsearched song title read P!ATD I Wanna Be Free. Two text messages had also popped up on the screen, both from Mercutio.
MERCUTIO: Didn’t see your deathwish in the halls this morning, u focusing in class or pining again?
Followed By:
MERCUTIO: I asked around, apparently she doesn’t have a boyfriend. You can stop FaceTiming me about that now. Please. It’s pathetic.
The whole class, including me, burst out laughing at this seemingly random outburst. My whole face practically lit up with absolute glee—Oh, how good it felt to finally have another piece of sweet revenge. Stifling peals of laughter behind my left hand, which I had pressed against my mouth, I sent a quick message to Marina using the thumb of my right.
JULIET:Oh my god. Guess who peaked at our messages?
MARINA:OMG. REALLY?
JULIET YES. He literally ran from the room with his face as red as a tomato, it was hilarious
MARINA: Holy shit. Sweet victory is ours
I paced up and down the hallway by the water fountain, trying to prevent my head from exploding. But at least Juliet didn’t know. That was the only relief I had. That girl hated me to my very core, and the odds of me getting messed with and taken advantage of were 100%. For now I was safe, but for how much longer?
After a few more minutes of back-and-forth texting with Marina, the bell rung to signal the end of the period. I was still grinning, but it wasn't a goofy or ridiculously happy grin. It was a triumphant, if slightly cruel, expression that I was very much used to wearing, and, according to Joseph, suited me very well.
I gathered my binders and left the classroom, already looking forward to my next two lessons, for the sole reason that they were both with my best friend.
(skip? maybe to lunch? something eventful could happen?)
( IDEA: after Juliet starts to fall for Romeo, too, what if they had a fist fight or something and ended up tackling each other and rolling on the ground and the tension would be fantastic? )
