Disclaimer: I own nothing.
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Fortunes Fools
Chapter Five
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Looking up to the ceiling of my room, I felt Cassie shift beside me. It was not the first time we'd ended up like this, lying with our heads together facing the ceiling, just talking about everything and nothing in particular.
"I've got it." Cassie said, sitting up and turning to face Belle and I.
"Got what?" I asked, rolling fully over to my belly and looking at Cass in confusion.
"The setting of the play." She replied, clapping her hand together as she stood up and bounced over to my computer. I looked towards Belle, clarifying that Cass was, in fact, the only person who understood what she was on about.
I pushed myself up from my lying position and walked over to Cassie, leaning on her shoulder as she pulled up a web browser and typed in a few simple commands. Within moments we were looking at website advertising Schoolies Cruises. I raised an eyebrow, as I looked to Belle who, by the looks of her facial expression, also shared my query.
"Darling," She said, patting Cass on the shoulder "We're not even in year 12 yet. Schoolies can wait oh say, another six months."
"No," Cass replied, exasperated "For the setting." She repeated, spinning around to face Belle and I. "On a luxury liner, like the Titanic, but not, and without that whole sinking thing." She continued, shrugging off the huge disaster that was the Titanic.
"Think about it." She said as she stood up and pushed Belle and I back onto the bed "The richest kind of kids, on a Luxury Liner, so huge that it can house both households."
"Good use of intertextuality." I interrupted, but Cass shushed me as she went on.
"What would you do if you were completely rich, completely bored and stuck on a floating home in the middle of the ocean? You'd abuse every privilege you ever had, and more. Well, Romeo would wouldn't he? Imagine it…" Cassie said, adopting a story tellers voice. "Romeo and his best mate Mercutio living the good life thanks to the good graces of his excellent parents. Then, one night across a dance floor, he sees the angel Juliet. They dance, and he falls… fast. So does she. After living a very sheltered, innocent life, Romeo is everything her mother and nurse warned her about… and completely irresistible." Cassie finished dramatically, sitting back in the chair, obviously satisfied with her speech.
"Remind me to get you into public speaking if you don't make it in fashion." I said mockingly.
"Well, I'm sold." Belle replied.
I laughed next to her, "Of course you are. It involved sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, you'd be sold on anything that involved those three things."
"Hey," Belle replied, pushing me back onto the bed as I laughed harder.
"Besides," I continued "Why are 'both households' on a boat together any way?"
"They live in the same city, can't we just use that concept and run with it?" Cassie replied, obviously not caring about the finer details.
"Ric is built to be that kind of Romeo." Cassie said offhandedly.
"Yeah, but I'm not that kind of Juliet." I sighed from my position on the bed.
"You could be any kind of Juliet M-Girl." Cass replied confidently. "You've just gotta believe in yourself."
"And tonight is the perfect opportunity for a trial run." Belle said mischeviously.
"Tonight…" I repeated dumbly
"Is James Gregsons party. The social event of the season… with hoards of alcohol and underage drinking. It should be fun, and we'll get you in character and all will be peachy keen jellybean. You can even try you're Juliet out on James, because it's harmless."
"Oh James," Cass sighed "What a waste of the finest of fine."
"But at least he's great to perve on guys with." B reminded her, as they both nodded their head knowingly.
As I leant up onto my elbows, I considered everything before replying "Okay, a trial run. But you've gotta come up with an alternative in case I can't pull it off."
Cass clapped her hands together in delight before standing up and walking over to my wardrobe. She pulled out the pink dress that they'd convinced me to buy and turned to face me.
"But," She began in a voice I knew could only mean no good, "You've gotta give yourself fully over to the character. She may be on the innocent side, but Juliet knows how to use her…. everything… to her advantage. So, we may need to make some, adjustments."
Groaning, I fell back onto my bed as Cassie and Belle both smirked at me.
I knew they would get their way no matter the amount of protesting I gave, so… I caved, and let them have their own way. It's easier to give Cassie and Belle their own way than it is to fight with them.
"Fine, I'll be your minion." I finally replied.
"Not our minion. Our… protégé."
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"Uh…" I said as I walked out of the bathroom. "Are you guys sure this…"
"Looks fine." Cass cut me off from her position infront of my vanity.
I half smiled as I tugged the dress down, trying to get I to cover at least half of my thighs.
"And would you quit doing that?" Belle snapped from her position next to Cassie "We've told you, it's not too short to leave nothing to the imagination, but it's not too long that it kills the imagination either." She finished, grinning wickedly at my reflection.
My pretty, soft, knee length, pink angel dress was now completely transformed much like I was. What was left of the dress was a sleeveless, low cut, tight fitting mini dress, the bottom hem jagged and torn, giving it a 'grunge' feel, Cass had informed me.
In place of my usual neutral make-up that covered my eyes were darkly lined smokey eyes. A coat of shimmer lip-gloss covered my lips. "Your eyes are stunning" B had said "And this sets them off. You need to have all the focus there, and not on your lips. Not when you're this kind of Juliet."
My hair was a tangled mess of curls that reached just below my shoulder. "Wild one" Cass and B had said in unison, before sighing happily at their handiwork. The last thing had been my dress, which slipped om over my head easily, but gave me no self confidence what-so-ever.
Which left me here, standing behind Cassie and Belle, who were adding the finishing touches to their immaculate make-up. Cassie, the classic beauty in black, and Belle, the vixen in red. Together, they turned around and grabbed their bags and shoved me towards the door before I could protest any more.
"We're going to blow them away." Cass said happily as we marched down the stairs.
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I shivered a little as I stepped out of Cassie's car and shut the door lightly behind me. The night was amazingly warm for a spring evening, but I still couldn't shake the cold feeling I had, especially in the little amount of clothing I was in. I tugged on the hem one final time before B swatted my hand away, shooting me a glare as we walked up the footpath.
"Stop it." She hissed at me "You look fine."
"Funny," I shot back "I feel like a whore."
"Well you don't look like one." Cassie said as intervened. Belle and I had a tendancy to snap at one another when either of us was on edge. Tonight was just another example. And Cass, well, she was always the peacemaker. Sometimes, that girl was too nice for her own good. "You look beautiful. Hi James." She said brightly as she stepped through the open doorway and gave James a huge hug.
"My, my, my" James said as he stood back, looking the three of us up and down "Are you three drama queens trying to steal my show?" He asked.
"Always James, always." I replied happily as he pulled me into a tight hug, just as he had done with Cassie.
"Well, in that case," He replied as he let go of me "You three are the only minx's I know who could pull it off. Come on, there's nibbles and drinks out the back." He said, motioning for us to follow him.
No one could throw a party like James. He often had his house to himself on weekends, as his parents jet-setted across the world, and had become designated party thrower during the very early stages of year eleven. There was never a lack of alcohol on stand, nor was there a lack of music, seating, or dark places for dark deeds.
As we stepped out into the backyard, instead of noticing how many people were there, or how much alcohol was available, or what song was playing, or who was missing with another certain whom, I saw one thing, and one alone.
Ric.
He was standing across the other side of the yard, one arm leaning against the fence, the other holding a drink in his hand. He was standing with a huge group of guys, who were obviously laughing at some lame attempt at a joke one of them had made. Henry and Luke were in hysterics, doubled over clutching their stomachs, their drinks splashing everywhere.
Instead of laughing, like his best friends were, he was watching me. Waiting for me to watch him. Waiting for his chance to look me in the eyes, waiting for the chance to read my soul.
But I wouldn't give him that chance. I'd met his eyes once, and been scared by the information I'd been privy to see. I wasn't going to go back there again. Not when I had another choice.
Instead, I looked towards B, who was walking back over to me with two Cruisers in hand.
"Here." She said as she handed me one. I proceeded to skull the entire thing in one go, as Belle and Cass' eyes grew wide in fear.
"No Matilda." Cass said sternly "Do not go there."
"Why not?" I said incredulously, as I walked towards the alcohol, looking for something stronger, "Tonight's just a game anyway"
The need to feel something other than his eyes on me consumed me quickly. I found a bottle of Vokda and pulled it out of the iced tub, walking over to a group of girls I knew from school and sitting down, preparing a round of shots.
I needed to feel something, anything else. Something other than that small spark of desire… that I was beginning to feel… for him.
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What could've been several minutes, or several hours… but what I knew for sure was too many drinks later, I felt a pair of arms lift my from my position at the strip poker table. I struggled momentarily, but I began to feel my stomach fight with me, and realised that, anything about to happen could not be good.
"Heyyyyy" I moaned, "HEYYYY. Pull over. We can't go driving any more. I'm going to be sick."
"I know" A voice replied gruffly from below.
"It's okay sweetie" An angelic voice cut in.
"Am I dead?" I said, trying to lean up, but the world started spinning, I groaned and gave up any attempt to fight.
"That's right." The gruff voice said from below. "Just stay still, we're almost there."
I closed my eyes willing the sky to stop spinning, and the very bad feelings in my stomach to go far, far away from me.
What seemed like hours after, I heard doors slamming and something cold being put all over my face.
"Go away." I said oh so maturely, before I felt my stomach lurch.
My head hurt so much and was spinning so much, that I didn't realise what was happening until it was almost over. My hands were on a cool china toilet bowl, and the contents of my stomach had emptied themselves into the toilet.
The strangest thing was that there was no hair matted to my wet face, like I expected there to be. And there was a soothing voice behind me, and a hand rubbing circles softly on my back, another hand pulling the hair away from my face.
"Why'd you do that to yourself?" I hear someone say from behind me.
Now conscious it enough to know the owner of that voice, I whipped around and slumped back against the wall, cringing at the slight pain my sudden movement caused, then groaning from the headache I'd just given myself.
Rubbing my head gently, I looked up and finally met his eyes.
"What are you doing here?" I attempted to growl at him, but my voice was hoarse and it barely came out.
He smiled that little smile that was beginning to annoy the crap out of me, and passed me a bottle of water before he stood up, and leant against the bathroom door.
"Belle and Cassie came and got me."
I laughed shortly at this, before groaning realising that anything I did, any movement I made was going to hurt like hell.
"As if." I said, and the words came out stronger this time.
He laughed, much like I had done moments before, as he walked over and crouched down, so our eyes were level, our heads almost touching.
"Believe it. They said you said that only Romeo could remove you from your losing position at Strip Poker. So they found me, because I'm Romeo, right?"
"Hardly" I scoffed, not knowing what else to do. This had all become to weird for words, and I was fairly sure I was going to forget this conversation by the next morning, but why should I break a perfect record now, and start being nice to Ric?
Answer, because he was being nice to me.
And I wanted to know why, so I asked.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" I said innocently, shifting sideways and inviting him to sit in the space next to me.
He looked at the space suspiciously before sighing heavily and sitting down next to me. He looked at me still though; his eyes never left mine.
"Why shouldn't I be nice to you…" he began, but I had to cut him off there.
"Shall I list them for you… there was that one time…" But his hand was covering my mouth, his eyes were smiling at me, dancing in unison with my own, which were locked in his.
"You fascinate me Matilda Hunter. You're the total opposite of Cassie and Belle, you don't have the bite that they have, but you're still not afraid to speak your mind, especially when it's something your passionate about, like the play." He paused here, and took his hand off my mouth waiting for my reaction.
I was too stunned to speak. Eric Dalby had just complimented me, more than once. I pinched myself, making sure that everything was real.
And he just laughed beside me.
"You have these little quirks that you do. You make a face when you don't agree with Cassie or Belle, or you bite your lip when you're reading a book that is really good. You tap your foot when you're in exams, and you bite the ends of your pen when you're bored in class."
I raised an eyebrow at him; "You do that when you're suspicious too." He said.
"Are you stalking me?" I asked him slowly, thinking that he'd gone crazy.
He laughed and ran a hand through his dark hair. "No, no way. You're brother would flip his lid." He said, as he shuffled closer to me "It's just…" he said, cupping my chin and pulling my face closer towards him "You just…." My eyes we're closing, I was lost in the moment, lost in the feeling, drowning in whatever Ric was making me feel, or whatever the alcohol was doing to me.
His breath was hot on my lips, his hands sending jolts of electricity down my arms, throughout my body, and I wondered how I could've lived without feeling this kind of… wonderful.
It was like everything that had happened, everything that had come between us had vanished, and we were left standing naked with one another, ready to bare our souls.
My stomach didn't seem to agree with my mind, and just as our lips were about to touch, I felt it lurch again, and pulled away quickly, heaving into the toilet bowl.
The last thing I remember was Ric's arms pulling me tight against him, holding me safe from harm. Then, there was blackness.
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The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage.
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AN: Thanks to Tess for being an awesome proof reader. And to all those who reviewed, hopefully this is just as good.
