A Summer to Remember

Disclaimer: This is merely my own spin on the original Romeo and Juliet story, so it's not 100% original. Also, don't expect 100% accuracy to the original as, again, it's my own version of it. I will also be throwing in my own original character. Just thought I should clear all of that up.

It was the start of July and school had ended for everyone. Now all the former students wanted to do was enjoy their holiday. However, rather than doing what they wanted, most high school students had been sent to Summer camp against their will.

Our story takes place at two particular camps, both conveniently next to one-another only separated by a large wooden fence. The camp on the left side was the Montague camp, named after its supervisor, Henry T. Montague, a man entering his 50's who still had the spirit of a 30-year-old. The camp right next to it was known as the Capulet camp, also named after its supervisor, a man by the name of Lester P. Capulet. He was slightly younger than Montague but not quite as agile.

The two of them stood at the front of their camp grounds, waiting patiently for the buses and cars of those not willing to pay transportation fees to arrive. Montague let out a sigh and looked over at Capulet, his eyes going wide. The man blinked and asked "Lester, is that you?"

See, the Capulet camp had only been built recently, so this came as a huge shock to the man. Capulet turned his gaze over to the old man and smiled while saying, "Why, Henry, I haven't seen you since high school. So, how's the Missus?"

"She's alright," Montague said with a laugh, "We're a very, very happy couple," as Capulet rolled his eyes and turned away from the man, Montague laughing in response to this. See, these two weren't exactly the best of friends.

In fact, the two of them were rivals during their high school days. Montague had been dating a nice young girl who went under the nickname Lady Anna while all the while, Capulet desired to have the girl for himself. Ultimately, it never worked out and Montague ended up married to the nice young lady while Capulet ended up with a woman who only chose him because she was desperate.

"Let me guess, you made your camp to outclass me again, didn't you?" Montague asked as Capulet sighed, "If you must know, I had no intention of having my Summer camp next to yours!"

At that very moment, the vehicles carrying the students finally arrived. Many exited the bus while others had been dropped off by their parents. The first to exit the Montague bus was a slender boy with short brown hair and eyes that matched its colour. He also wore a brown T-shirt and gloves along with black jeans. This boy went under the name Mercutio.

Following close behind was a boy who wasn't quite as slender but still in descent shape. He also had brown hair, only it was a tad longer than Mercutio's. The boy wore a white T-shirt and blue jean-shorts and had blue eyes. This boy was known as Benvolio and currently, he was carrying a load of bags in his arms.

"I don't see why I have to carry YOUR bags, Mercutio!" Benvolio snapped as Mercutio laughed and remarked, "Stop kidding around, Benvolio. You LOVE doing stuff for me!"

Benvolio gave the boy a cross look before shrugging his shoulders and carrying forward, Mercutio tapping his foot impatiently as if he was waiting for someone else. He watched everyone clear out of the bus, noticing a pretty young girl walking by while copping a quick feel to her behind. Seconds later, he received a hard blow to the head courtesy of the girl's bag as he rubbed his head and whistled.

Mercutio then sighed and peered inside the bus to notice one last boy just getting up from his seat as he groaned, "Romeo, what is taking you so long to exit the bus! I refuse to enter without all two of my friends by my side!"

This boy, Romeo, turned to Mercutio and let out a sigh saying, "Sorry, I just have something on my mind right now," and proceeded to exit the bus. Romeo was a very handsome young lad with short black hair and eyes to match and wore a blue T-shirt and black jean-shorts.

As soon as everyone had exited, Montague stood tall and cleared his throat, ready to give the introduction speech just as the vehicles headed to the Capulet camp rushed by, Montague groaning in response to the interruption. Benvolio turned towards the direction the buses and cars were headed and pointed while asking, "Has that other camp always been there?"

At that moment, various people exited the bus as the members of the Montague camp watched them exit. Mercutio noticed a girl with long grey hair and orange eyes exit, his jaw dropping before he looked at all the girls in his camp and sighed, "I should have gone with the new camp."

Romeo noticed another girl, this one with blue hair following behind the grey-haired girl as his eyes went wide, his heart beating. Never before had he gazed upon one so beautiful.

The grey-haired girl turned to the blue-haired one and scolded, "Geez, Rosaline, you always take so long to prepare yourself," as the blue-haired girl, Rosaline laughed and let down a sweat drop before saying, "Sorry, Michelle."

"Michelle, eh?" Mercutio said while slicking his hair back and grinning deviously while saying, "I have truly gazed upon an angel," while Romeo let out a sigh and said, "What a pretty name, Rosaline." All the while, Benvolio stared at both of them, then at the girls and rolled his eyes while muttering to himself, "Hormones. They get the best of all of us."

However, this moment was soon interrupted as a limo pulled up, a boy with a smug look on his face, blonde hair slicked back and an extravagant outfit exited, his arm wrapped around the one of a young girl with long blond hair and a simple outfit. The boy noticed the girl starting to slow down as he sighed, pulling her inward.

Romeo narrowed his eyelids at the sight of this while Mercutio scowled before saying, "What a jerk," quickly rubbing his hand against a random girl's behind and receiving a slap to the face. All the while, the girl did her best to walk in sync with the boy who kept pulling her every time she slowed down, grunting, "Juliet, try to keep up with me!"

"Sorry, Paris," the girl, Juliet said with a sigh, "I'm just not as fast as you are."

The boy, Paris frowned in response to this and simply released the girl, handing her his bag and saying, "I guess it's alright. You can make yourself useful by bringing my luggage to my dormitory after the introduction speech. Do you think you can handle that, darling?"

Juliet let out a sigh and replied, "Yes, Paris," as the boy grinned smugly in response, turning toward Capulet who grinned and said, "Now that you're all here, I would like to welcome you all to..." only to be interrupted by Montague pulling out a megaphone and shouting into it, "I WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME YOU ALL TO THE MONTAGUE CAMP!"

"Keep it down!" Capulet snapped as Montague turned his megaphone toward the man and remarked, "WHAT DID YOU SAY!"

The two glared while Paris turned and spat, "Montague, how about you just shut your pie-hole? No one cares what an old man has to say!"

"Hey, show some respect, buddy!" Mercutio retorted while Benvolio stared with fear while saying, "Uh, maybe you shouldn't provoke the other camp."

"Our supervisor started talking first!" remarked a member of the Capulet camp, another shouting, "Yeah, he should be able to deliver his speech first!"

Capulet grinned while a member of the Montague camp retorted, "That's true, but don't forget, we arrived first!" while the youngest girl in the camp barked, "YOU'RE ALL JUST A BUNCH OF DORKS ANYWAY!"

This angered the members of the Capulet camp except for Juliet and Rosaline who simply face-palmed at the sight of every other camper marching toward the Montague campground, folding up their sleeves with Paris at the front. The members of the Montague camp also did the same except for Romeo and Benvolio who would rather not have been a part of this, mostly Benvolio as he was afraid of violence.

Soon enough, the two camps charged at one-another, starting an all-out brawl with each other, the four who weren't fighting covering their eyes. Mercutio bashed one of the Capulet boys over the head with a flat stone while laughing insanely at the boy's misfortune while quipping, "Fighting is such sweet sorrow."

However, he soon found himself pinned to the ground by Michelle who tackled him shouting, "Take that, you Montague scum!"

Mercutio looked up at the girl, his eyes going wide as he grinned, let out a growl and asked, "Hey, Baby, how's about you and me sneak out of camp later tonight and watch the sunset?" before receiving a hard punch to the face, Michelle with a disgusted look all the while.

Paris, meanwhile, gave most of the Montague members noogies and wedgies while clocking a few over the head, clearly proving himself the most formidable of adversaries. As such, some Montague members pushed their opponents of the side and tackled Paris, the boy howling in pain.

All the while, Capulet turned to Montague and held his hands against his sides while snapping, "This wouldn't have happened if you had just let me give my speech first!" as Montague folded his arms and retorted, "This only happened because you're an idiot!"

Montague laughed at his not-so-witty comeback only to soon be tackled to the ground by Capulet, who proceeded to punch him several times in the face. After a few blows, Montague's eyes went wide as he pointed behind Capulet who turned his head to see what was behind him, Montague punching the man in the cheek and sending him flying a short way back.

"This is terrible," Romeo said while Benvolio trembled, saying, "At least we're not the ones in there."

All the while, Juliet lowered her head while asking, "Why must Paris always do things like this?" while Rosaline patted the girl on the shoulder, saying, "I just hope this all stops soon."

As luck would have it, one last vehicle pulled up at this exact moment as everyone stopped fighting and turned to face it, Capulet blinking at the sight of this. He had been so certain that everyone in the Capulet camp had arrived. Perhaps if he'd taken attendance first, he would have avoided this error.

The one who exited was a dashing young man with short chestnut hair and a muscular build. He also wore a white T-shirt and brown shorts. He looked at the scene and pulled out a whistle before blowing into it, the members of each camp letting one-another go while the newcomer directed them all back to their sides, the camps obliging. It was strange, but this young man just from his appearance alone had a strange authoritative power over them.

"Oh, right, I forgot about him," Capulet said while wiping off the dust he had picked up during the battle and said, "Campers, this is Escalus. He's going to be my assistant supervisor. He will go over the rules and things like that."

The young man nodded and asked, "Say, Lester, what was that just now?" as Capulet looked down with shame, whistling innocently as Escalus sighed and stated, "Let me get one thing perfectly clear, campers! Anyone caught fighting here again will be kicked out for the rest of the Summer! Am I making myself clear?"

The campers gulped and nodded, Paris disgusted with himself for actually obeying this stranger. Assistant supervisor or not, Paris had always thought of himself with high status. He seldom ever let others control how he lived his life.

Romeo, Benvolio, Rosaline and Juliet simply wiped their foreheads and sighed with relief. It was a good thing Escalus had come when he did otherwise things would have gotten worse.

And thus, with Escalus' guidance, Capulet gave his introductory speech first, Montague giving his second, both apologizing for their childish behaviour. It was soon established that each dormitory would have a maximum three people of the same gender sharing it. They were also told of the hot springs located outside of the buildings. There was one on the Capulet side right next to the big wooden fence and another on the Montague side, this one located in the back. As strange as it may sound, this information would certainly become important later.

"So we're all clear on the rules of the hot springs, right?" Montague asked as Mercutio held up his hand asking, "Wait, when was the girls' hot spring time again?"

"I'll say it again," the man groaned, rolling his eyes, "Men can use the hot spring between six and eight while girls can use it between nine and eleven. Also, there will be someone to ensure that you don't barge in on the girls, so don't even try!"

"Thank you!" the boy exclaimed as Benvolio grinned saying, "I guess you can't harass the girls this year either," Mercutio laughing while saying, "Ye of little faith."

All the while, Romeo looked at a white board with the groups for the dorms. Conveniently, he, Mercutio and Benvolio were in the same room. Paris had been paired up with a boy by the name of Tybalt and some other guy named Winston, an anti-social kid.

"Oh, goody," Paris grunted, seeing Tybalt's name, "I'm with Juliet's cousin. Shoot me."

Juliet was relieved to see that she was sharing a dorm with Michelle and Rosaline. Both were good friends of hers, so this couldn't have been a better set up.

Soon enough, all had been sorted out as everyone went to his/her dorm to prepare for the following day, as tomorrow would be the day that their activities started. The only thing going on tonight was dinner followed by six hours of campers doing whatever they wanted to do as long as they followed the rules.