Chapter One
I'd never really met Romeo Montague, but I'd heard enough about them to write a biography (a very, very inaccurate biography, mind you, but a biography nonetheless.)
I first heard their name mentioned by my father. In the middle of a sea of swears, somewhere between "fucking" and "shithead", was the phrase "Romeo Montague, the brat". My brother, Tybalt, who took after my father in every possible way imaginable, picked up on that right away and has hated "that Montague brat" ever since.
I don't really care. The dispute between my proud family, the Capulets, and the other "dishonorable" family, the Montagues, has been going on since Verona was founded in 1856. Something about cattle or land, I think? I don't even know, though everyone else seems to.
Anyway, the petty feud between the Montagues and the Capulets was just that, a petty feud, until the first day of school in the 10th grade.
The bell for first period had just rang, and everyone sat uncomfortably in their seats. Well, everyone minus Abram Montague and Sampson Capulet.
Over the quiet tapping on pencils against the desks, yelling could be heard outside.
"Do you bite your thumb, sir?
"No, sir."
"Do you quarrel, sir?"
"Quarrel, sir? No, sir."
I turned my head to look in the direction of the yelling, but by then it was too late. I saw Abram lunge towards my cousin Sampson, and both boys fell out of view. I ran outside and saw a solemn crowd gathered around the spot where they'd fallen.
Sampson lie bleeding on the ground.
I watched the light leave his eyes like a candle being snuffed out. There is something in the eyes of the living, I think. Something that burns bright and beautiful and hopeful. When they die, that light is extinguished, and it leaves only emptiness behind. I've seen that same emptiness in the living as well.
I've seen that emptiness in Romeo.
It was after Sampson's death the rumors and lies about Romeo Montague really started to heat up.
I heard Romeo was a 'he', and a 'she', and an 'it'. It seemed that everyone had decided who Romeo was without feeling the need to ask them.
Except for me. I asked them. They responded very politely with "They, please" and I obliged, because that was the right thing to do.
Romeo and I haven't talked since then. Every once in a while, we'll see each other in class or in a store and nod at each other. It's very casual, and very subtle, because god forbid anyone sees our two houses acting civil together.
Maybe, someday, we'll talk. Till then, we don't need words. We have casual glances, small little gestures of friendship that prove that maybe this stupid feud won't last forever. Because - god willing - I'm going to stop this stupid fight before it goes any further.