Romeo and Juliet (39 Clues)
In the small town of Attleboro, grey clouds loomed menacingly overhead, as if it could rain at any given moment. It was around three thirty, and all the teenagers who attended the local high school were gathering their stuff from their lockers, and leaving to go home or hang out with friends in town. Two girls, who at a glance appeared to be in ninth grade, but were actually a few years younger, were gossiping on the stairs. Well not exactly gossiping, more like trash talking the Richies.
The Richies and the Jocks were two rivalling cliques. They had both been founded a few decades ago, back in the eighties, but that was one of the only similarities between them. They were polar opposites, but they both constantly fought each other for the place of most popular clique at Attleboro High, but neither was more popular than the other. Everyone at the school who wasn't in either of the gangs was a snitch for them or did homework for one of the various members, just to avoid social suicide and/or getting bullied by the members.
"Did you hear about what that idiot Sinead did?" asked Reagan, one of the main members of the Jocks (she was the sister of their 'boss' Hamilton after all)
"No what?" replied Madison, Reagan's twin sister
"Well she-"Reagan started to reply, but stopped midway through her sentence, noticing the two boys who were walking across the school's courtyard.
It was Ned and Ted Starling. Those ridiculously good looking twins were the best friends of the 'leader' (or as he wanted to be called, the CEO) of the Richies, Ian Kabra.
Seeing the two Richies across from them, both Madison and Reagan wanted to teach them a lesson (i.e. punch their lights out), they were walking too close to the Jock side of the courtyard, but their principal, Mr McIntyre had said that anyone who started a fight would be expelled, so the two girls were determined to get Ned and Ted to start the fight. The girls looked at each other and came to an agreement. Madison stuck her middle finger at the guys.
Seeing this, the boys were shocked, and Ted was the first to react.
"Excuse me, but are you giving us the middle finger?" he asked
Madison looked at Reagan.
"Will the principal take our side if I say yes?" she asked
"Of course not you dumbass!" snapped Reagan, who out of the two, was the smarter one
"Well I did stick my middle finger up…" said Madison
"No shit, but were you giving us the middle finger?" asked Ned
"Are you trying to get us to fight you or something?" asked Ted
"A fight? Of course not!" replied Reagan innocently, maybe a little too innocently…
"Well if you are looking for a fight, you may as well fight me, I'm in a gang/clique thingy that's just as good as yours."
"No way punk! The Jocks are better!" shouted Madison before landing a punch on Ned's nose.
To defend his manly pride, Ned tried to fight back, but despite being older than Madison, she was very athletic and managed to dodge his lame attempt at a kick to the shin, and punched him in the arm. Ted tried to help his brother, but was confronted by Reagan. And in about two seconds, a fight had begun.
Jonah Wizard had just walked out of the school surrounded by his friends, when he saw the fight starting in the corner of the courtyard. He rushed over, attempting to stop the fight before it got too bad.
"Yo, stop it guys, you're gonna get in soooo much trouble!" he yelled while trying to stop Ted's punch with a punch of his own
"What the hell Jonah? You're trying to stop a fight by punching someone?" asked Ian Kabra, always eager to join a fight, or if there wasn't any fights going on, to start one
"Yeah dude, I am. Can you help me stop this?" asked a desperate Jonah
"I wouldn't help you or any other miserable Jock." Ian said snootily
"That's it- you asked for it!" shouted Jonah before punching Ian
Ten minutes later, practically every member of both cliques/gangs had joined the fight. It would've gone on for a lot longer if it hadn't been for the principal of the school.
Mr McIntyre wasn't a very intimidating looking man with thinning grey hair and a skinny stature, but he held an air of authority about him that made people listen when he talked. And he was very strict, known for giving harsh punishments.
"What is going on?" he shouted over the noise of the fight
At the sound of his voice, all fighting ceased immediately.
"Err, well-"started a boy with glasses and zits
"I don't want to hear your pathetic excuses. If either of your 'gangs' get into a fight ever again- the main offenders will expelled, and all the others involved will receive detentions for two years." snapped McIntyre before leaving.
Everybody scrambled off as quickly as they could, determined not to further enrage the principal. All the fighters had left the scene apart from the people who had started it, Reagan and Madison; they were waiting for their parents, Eisenhower and Mary Todd, to pick them up. When they saw a large four wheel drive pull up, they walked towards it and got in. Their parents were about to drive off when Jonah Wizard came running up and begged for a ride.
"So Jonah, where was Hamilton? I hope he wasn't at the fight." Mary Todd said after hearing Jonah's account of what had happened at the end of school
"He wasn't, last time I saw him, he was walking out of school with this depressed look on his face." replied Jonah
"Well the boy's not at home." said Eisenhower rather loudly (after all, he couldn't do anything quietly).
"Jonah, can you find him? I'm worried about Hamilton, he's not playing as much sport as he used to, and he's always shut up in his room." said Mary Todd
"Sure thing, can you drop me off at Sycamore Park? If he's not at your place, he's gonna be there." Jonah replied
A few minutes later, Jonah had arrived at the park, so he wandered off to find Hamilton. He walked for a while before finding Hamilton sitting on a bench under a large and leafy oak tree.
"Yo wassup?" asked Jonah
"Nothing." muttered Hamilton before sighing
"Dude, why are you acting so depressed?" Jonah asked, deciding to get straight to the point
"I'm not depressed!" reposted Hamilton
"Yeah right, so what's wrong?" Jonah knew he sounded like a girl, but he wanted to find out what was wrong with his friend.
"It's Rosie." Hamilton finally said
"The Richie?" asked a perplexed Jonah, "What about her?"
"She's not really a Richie, she's just friends with Alyssa who does some Richie's homework." he answered
"But you haven't answered my question, what about her?" asked Jonah, who was getting kind of pissed off at Hamilton
"Well I think that I like her." Hamilton muttered
"So? Just ask her out." cried Jonah
"She can't have a boyfriend until she turns twenty." Hamilton sighed again
"Too bad, now get over this chick, and let's go and meet some other hotties." Jonah exclaimed
But Hamilton didn't know that he could.
Meanwhile at the Starling's home
"So did you hear about the fight today Austin?" asked Mrs Starling
"Yes Mrs Starling, but I left before I could take part in it." replied Austin Paris, one of the smartest kids in school (aside from the Starlings).
"Isn't the whole Richies and Jocks thing getting old?" asked Mr Starling
"No, it's not." replied Ned, whose nose had in fact been broken by Madison
"Ned isn't your friend Ian Kabra having a party tomorrow?" Mrs Starling knew for a fact that there was a party, and that it would be the perfect place for her daughter Sinead and the lovely young man to get to know each other
"Yeah, why?" asked Ned, oblivious to his parents' plans
"Well I was thinking that Austin and Sinead could go together." she replied
Ted was feeling sick. Were his parents trying to set this Austin guy and his sister up?
"Sure." said Ned, who wasn't really listening to the conversation
"Sounds good Mrs Starling. I'll meet her here at seven, and bring her back by ten thirty." said Austin before leaving the living room and exiting the house
"Goodbye Austin" chorused the entire family
Sinead's mother turned around and faced her family.
"I think I'll go tell Sinead the news now." she announced before heading up the stairs
The Kabra Mansion
"Peter! Peter! Come here!" shrieked Natalie Kabra
Peter, their five year old cousin ran up to Natalie, he was afraid of her, and would do practically anything she asked of him.
"Y-yes Cousin Natalie?" he stammered
"Peter, I want you to go around town and deliver these invitations for my party tomorrow." she snapped, sounding a lot like her mother, Isabel.
"O-of c-c-course Natalie." Peter said before grabbing the list and scrambling out of the room.
Somewhere in town
"Come on dude, we can go clubbing or something." pleaded Jonah, desperate for the old Hamilton to come back, the guy who never got hung up over a girl.
"We can't even get into clubs yet Jonah." retorted Hamilton
Just then, a little kid with brown, wavy came running towards them
"Please help me! My evil cousin Natalie gave me these invitations to deliver, but I'm only five, I can't read very well."
"Kay little dude." replied Jonah as he began reading down the list
"The Starling triplets, my brother, the Cahills, Alyssa Jones, Rosaline Greene…"
When Hamilton noticed Rosie's name on the list of the invitees, he knew he was going to end up at that party on Saturday night one way or another.
"Thank you!" squealed Peter in delight after Jonah had saved him from Natalie's wrath
"Will you remember those names?" asked Jonah
"Yeah, didn't you see me recording you speaking on my Iphone?" replied the boy before running off
"I'm guessing that was a rhetorical question." muttered Jonah to himself
"Hey Jonah." said Hamilton
"What?" asked Jonah
"We're going to Natalie's party tonight."
Jonah thought about it for a minute. Going to a Richie's party wasn't the smartest thing to do, if they got caught, anything could happen, but on the other hand, it was a costume party, and maybe Hamilton would meet another girl and get over his obsession with that Rosie chick…
"Sure." replied Jonah with a wicked grin
Back at the Starling's house
"Honey, I have great news for you!" said Sinead's mother as she walked into Sinead's room
"What is it mom?" asked Sinead, who hoped her mother wasn't about to tell her that she was getting a new designer wardrobe.
"Do you know Austin Paris?"
"I think so, is he that tall guy with ginger hair?" asked Sinead
"Yes! You know who he is!" squealed her overexcited mother
"So?" replied Sinead, who wanted her mother to leave her alone
"You're going on a date with him tomorrow!" she squealed
Sinead was horrified. Sure Austin was pretty cute, but she hadn't really thought of him as a potential boyfriend before…
"It's going to be so much fun…" her mother droned on
Sinead decided that the best way to get rid of her mother was to be enthusiastic about her proposal.
"Yes mom, it's going to be amazing! Thank you so much for setting me up with a great guy like Austin!" Sinead said excitedly, hoping that her mother wouldn't find it strange that she was acting like some ditzy, lovesick girl.
"I knew you'd like him." Sinead's mother beamed before leaving Sinead to herself
Sinead took out her phone and called her best friend Amy.
"Hi Amy."
"Hey Sinead, what's wrong?"
"How did you know something was wrong?"
"You sound really depressed. But what's your problem?"
"My mom set me up on a date with Austin Paris."
"Hmm, he's sort of cute, but I didn't know that you like him."
"That's the thing, I don't."
"So why are you calling me?"
"Can you come with me to the Kabra's party?"
"I won't be like a third wheel or anything will I?"
"No, if anything, he'll be the third wheel."
"Okay then, I'll come by your place at around six to get ready okay? Do you have a costume I can borrow?"
"I think so"
"Okay then, see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you, bye."
"Bye."
After putting down the phone, Sinead had a feeling that something big was going to happen at this party, she didn't know what, but she hoped it was something good.