I woke up to the sound of things being thrown around followed by the yelling voices of my parents. "She can't go to Prom by herself. She needs a date or someone I know and not some shady guy," my dad yelled.
"A wise man once said, 'if you love something set it free,'" my mom countered, she could get like that sometimes, quoting random people. I rolled my eyes and jumped out of bed. I rummaged through the pile of clothes on my floor for something to wear. I walked over to my dresser and tried to ignore the screaming voices from downstairs. I ran my hand through my hair that is black and sighed. I picked up the brush and attempted to brush my hair before giving up and pulling it back into a ponytail. I grabbed my locket from where it was hanging above my mirror and fastened it around my neck. I flipped the locket over and read the engraving on the back. Always. I rubbed my finger over the words before walking in the bathroom. I started brushing my teeth but I stopped halfway through when I saw my eyes. I opened them wider and sighed. My hazel eyes were almost unrecognisable because of how red they were. I can thank my all night studying for that. Stupid private school. I walked out of the bathroom and down the stairs. As soon as my parents heard the sound of my footsteps, they stopped arguing and stared at me. I shoved past them to the door where my backpack was. I slung it over my shoulder and grabbed my phone. I threw open the door and ran outside just in time to see the bus start to pull away. I chased after it, but it quickly outpaced me. I can already tell that this is going to be another bad day.
Chapter 2
I felt someone tapping on my back. I reached back and a note was pressed into the palm of my hand. I quickly checked to see if anyone was watching before unfolding the note and reading it.
So Are You Going? I quickly wrote a response and put the note on the desk behind me. I watched it get passed from one student to the next until it stopped in the hand of my best friend, Mae. She read my response and looked up at me with a look of sadness.
"Juliet," my teacher said, "Pay attention."
I turned around and focused on my book until I felt a tap at my shoulder. I spun around, grabbed the note, and read it.
Why Not? Is It Because Of Your Parents?
Isn't It Always? I Also Don't Have A Date. Unlike you, I Can't Get Any Guy I Want.
I immediately regret what I wrote, as soon as it reached Mae. She was just a very likable person. It wasn't her fault. When she looked up, her face showed understanding. This time she folded up the paper into a paper airplane and threw it at me. I caught it and unfolded the paper.
This Is Junior Year. Junior Prom! You Can't Not Go. And You Don't Need A Date. You Can Go With Me!
I wrote my response and folded the paper back up into a paper airplane. I threw it across the room at Mae but it fell and hit the floor. The bell rang and the paper airplane was trampled by the feet of my 40 classmates. They pushed and shoved their way out the door, taking my note with them. I started to follow them, but a hand grabbed my wrist stopping me
"So… are you going?" Mae asked.
"Ill try"
"Yay. This is going to be the best prom ever!" Mae said.
"Not if we have the same decorating crew as last year. I mean seriously who has a robot/alien prom?"
"Well, it won't be the same as last year because we are decorating. Eee! and I have the perfect prom theme ever! snowflakes"
Chapter 3 *Prom night*
I locked eyes with my reflection. It felt like I was looking at myself through someone else's eyes. I looked nothing like my normal self. The dress that Mae picked out for me was a strapless mermaid dress. It squeezed tightly around my waist and then fanned out into a flowerlike flowy bottom. It was black with a hint of red that made it look like something out of a fairytale. I curled my hair and walked downstairs. Mae was waiting for me. She was wearing a blue ballroom gowns that reached down to her feet.
"Come on we're going to be late. I want to see who wins prom king and queen" she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me out the door. When we got there, Mae practically carried me into the gym so she could get there fast enough to see the prom king and queen crowned which, surprise, was her and the quarterback of the football team. Time seemed to speed up and before I knew it I had danced with not one, but 5 people. I was in the middle of dancing with my 6th person when my stomach growled and I realised I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. I walked to the refreshments table, got my plate but when I turned it was like I hit a brick wall with arms. Punch went all over the front of me and the shady guy who ran into me. I recognised him from my geometry class. His name was Romeo and at the moment he was wearing a now soaked, pitch black, three-part tuxedo fully equipped with a black vest, shirt, and tie.
"Oh, I am sooo sorry," he said, "I'll get some napkins." He reached over my still shocked face, brushed a strand of hair out of my face then got a small stack of napkins. "Look, I am sorry about that I should have looked where I was going," He looked truly sorry for me, "if you want the next slow dance, I'm all yours if you want."
I walked back as if in a trance to May. "hey ... oh my god, what happened to you?"
"I ran into Romeo, literally."
"So what happened?"
"He asked me to dance."
"So why aren't you dancing? Go go" Mae said, shoving me on the dance floor. The place was so crowded that I kept getting bumped around. I couldn't stop moving until I ran right into someone's chest.
"Hey," A familiar voice said. I looked up to see Romeo staring down at me. A slow dance song started playing and his arms wrapped around my waist. I moved my hands from his chest to behind his neck and swayed to the music.
"So you never told me what your name was" He said.
"Juliet" I said.
"Romeo and Juliet, I like that."
Dancing with him put me in some sort of trance. I never wanted to stop. Eventually, we had to go but even after we had split apart and I watched him drive away, I was still in a trance. I couldn't stop thinking about him. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't notice when we got in the car, or when Mae was talking about the guys she danced with, or even when we got home. I went to bed thinking about him and his voice remained in my dreams.
Chapter 4
Romeo was missing. He wasn't in any of my classes and whenever I would ask anyone they would say things like,
"I dont know where he is." "I thought I saw him but I'm not sure." and the most common answer "Who is Romeo?" I looked for him for weeks but there was no sign of him, well, until I heard the tap tapping of pebbles being thrown at my window. I looked out to see Romeo standing outside.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, "And where have you been?"
He didn't answer, instead he climbed up the tree to my window and climbed through my window.
"Nice place" he said while admiring my room.
"You can't be here!" I said, "I am already in trouble with my parents"
"Relax, they will understand," he said. Something in the way his eyes sparkled or the way he smiled at me made me believe him.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"Well, see I figured that since I don't know you very well except that you are an amazing dancer and very hot, I should get to know you more, or at least where you live. So I followed you home and ta-da here I am"
"You followed me home?"
He stopped in front of my mirror and picked my locket off the top of it.
"What's this?" He asked
"A locket"
"Its pretty" He put down the locket and climbed back out the window.
"See you tomorrow Juliet"
I walked to the locket to put it back above the mirror but stopped when I saw a piece of paper hanging out of it. I opened the locket and took the piece of paper out.
Call me: 231-148-8385
I walked back to the window and looked out. Romeo's car was still in my driveway, and he was leaning against the car smoking. I smiled and waved at him. He smiled back and got into the car. I watched as he drove away. I was definitely going to call him.
Chapter 5
Every moment I spent with Romeo I never wanted it to end. He made a habit of climbing through my window every day. If I wasn't there he would sit and wait for me. We would talk and talk for hours. We would laugh and tell secrets. But deep in my heart I wish that we would be more than friends.
"Juliet, are you listening?" Romeo asked poking at me.
"Yeah"
"So anyway as I was saying, the reason why nobody knows me at school is because they do know me" I looked at him with a puzzled look.
"My name is not Romeo… It's Tyler. When my mom and dad got divorced, it was a hard time. My dad was in trouble with the law. He asked me to help him out and take the blame because I didn't have a record so they wouldn't send me to jail. I refused and so my dad shot my mom and me and then ran. We were both rushed to the hospital, I made it but my mom didn't" He pulled up his shirt and I could see a scar where the bullet hit. "My dad was caught a year later. I got pretty paranoid that he was going to come back ,so I left town and changed my name. But, every year I still get a birthday card on my birthday from him just like he is saying, 'I'm still out here'"
"I'm so sorry."
"Its ok" he said.
We sat in silence until it was time for him to leave. He climbed out the window but before he left he tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and cupped my cheek in his hand, and he leaned in. He crashed our lips together and my heart sped up at the contact. I smiled and almost died when I felt him smiling back through the kiss. I wrapped my hands around his neck and deepened the kiss. At last we parted and he climbed down the tree. When he got to the bottom he smiled up at me and I blushed. He ran away down the street and I smiled.
Chapter 6
Ruliet, thats what they called us. After the kiss came many more and after that we finally became boyfriend and girlfriend. We were in love, we even made plans to get married. Of course that didn't happen. We hung out whenever we could. The only exception was our parents, well my parents. Romeo wasn't exactly what my parents wanted in a boyfriend, he was actually the opposite. Shady, in trouble with the law, climbs through girls windows at night, you know. We managed to stay away from my parents until one Friday night, when he climbed through my window while I was having a fight with my parents. Long story short there were punches thrown and Romeo was hurled out the window. After that, my parents did everything they could to keep me and Romeo apart, even at school. Rumors spread and changed. Some were saying that he was a stoner, others said that he went to jail.. I felt my heart long for him. Eventually it became too much. One day I got all the prescription drugs from my mom's vanity. I came back to my room and popped at least two dozen sleeping pills in my mouth and collapsed. In my overdosed state I could see Romeo outside my window. He broke in and checked my pulse. I couldn't tell what he said but he looked devastated. I saw him pull out a nine mil. and hold it up to his head. With tears in his eyes, he pulled the trigger. Blood splattered on the wall and Romeo's lifeless body dropped the the floor. My mom burst into the room took in the scene in one second and fainted. My dad burst in a second later. He picked me up and rushed me to the hospital. By then I had gone unconscious. When I woke up, I was in a hospital room, my parents at my side. Mae visited and then left. Doctor and nurses flowed in and out, taking tests to see if I was alright. This went on until eventually I was left alone with only the images of Romeo's death on my mind. I don't know how people do it, losing a loved one. It felt like a part of my heart was ripped out and I was never going to get it back again. I knew now that Romeo would be forever on my mind and I couldn't help but blame my parents. They didn't care about Romeo, they left his dead body just laying there. They were the ones that overreacted over a boy climbing through my window. I mean they threw Romeo out the window and refused to let me see him. They didn't even care about me. They were always too busy fighting to care about anything else. None of them would have missed me if I died. It was at that moment that I decided, I would rather die than be without Romeo. So I increased the dosage of the morphine and I waited to die, all the time thinking of Romeo and how we would be together again, always.
