A Summer to Remember

Note: The bath scene is actually greatly inspired by a picture on Deviantart posted by WeBgHoSt involving a similar situation.

After a simple dinner of hot dogs and french fries, Mercutio and Benvolio left the cafeteria to head to their rooms. There they would unpack their things and discuss... let's just say 'other matters'.

Upon opening the door, the two noticed that Romeo was already in the room sitting on the bed. Mercutio blinked and grinned innocently saying, "Why, Romeo, fancy seeing you here..." as Benvolio noticed the boy looking down, a melancholy look on his face.

Romeo looked up at them and shrugged before looking down again, Benvolio putting on a look of concern and sitting down next to the boy asking, "Romeo, what's wrong?"

"Maybe he got a tummy ache," Mercutio suggested, shrugging before saying, "A good joke should fix that. After all, laughter's the best medicine!"

Before anyone could object to this, Mercutio cleared his throat and asked, "What's the matter, Romeo? Cat got your tongue?" before breaking out into hysterics, Benvolio staring at his friend with confusion. Seeing that Romeo's spirits hadn't been lifted, Mercutio stopped laughing and tapped his forehead before a big smile crossed his face, the boy proceeding to say, "So a horse enters a bar. As soon as he sits down, the bartender asks... you're gonna love this... WHY THE LONG FACE!"

Mercutio broke out into heavy laughter, clutching onto his sides as Benvolio slapped his forehead. It wasn't long before Mercutio once again noticed no response. As such, he took a deep breath and stopped laughing.

"Boy, this really is serious," he said as Benvolio patted Romeo on the shoulder saying, "Romeo, we're your friends. If something's bothering you, just tell us."

Romeo looked up at his friends, Mercutio mustering up the courage to put on a serious look of his own. It did take a lot for him to take moments like this seriously. Romeo felt he may as well tell them his innermost thoughts.

"You remember how we watched those girls coming out of the bus earlier?" he asked as Mercutio rubbed his cheek saying, "Yeah, all too well. Why?"

Romeo let out a sigh and replied, "Well, that girl Rosaline from the Capulet camp is quite possibly the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. I want to get to know her."

Benvolio stared with shock as Mercutio laughed before saying, "Our little Romeo's in love!" before Romeo let out a light laugh, adding, "I'm afraid, though, that after earlier I may never have a chance with her. After all, she's in the Capulet camp, and we're in the Montague camp."

Benvolio looked down as Romeo was right. After all, that brawl earlier would have definitely earned the Montague camp some hate from the Capulet camp. However, Mercutio wasn't as willing to give up on his friend.

"Romeo, don't you worry," Mercutio said, "First thing tomorrow, I'll try to find any information on how you can get close to Rosaline. Maybe it'll help me get close to Michelle, too," while winking at the readers, Romeo asking, "Why tomorrow?"

"We have plans tonight," Mercutio replied as Benvolio sighed and shook his head saying, "I am NOT getting involved with this plan of yours."

Meanwhile, Paris had settled down in his room as a young boy with short blonde hair, an average build and wearing nothing but black entered and said, "So, Paris, we're sharing a room," Winston sitting on a chair and reading a book, ignoring the two completely.

Paris looked at the newcomer and grunted, "Hi, Tybalt," as the blonde, Tybalt, looked at Paris and asked, "Are you treating my cousin well?"

"What are you, my mom?" Paris remarked while rolling his eyes, "Also, Juliet and I are both very happy together, so you have no reason to worry."

"Okay, good," Tybalt replied, folding his arms, "It's just that she's my cousin and I care about her. If I find out you've harmed her in any way, shape or form, I will make your life a living nightmare."

Paris blinked and shrugged before proceeding to ignore Tybalt, pulling out a book that he didn't even like and opening it up, pretending to read it. At least Winston's tactics were effective, right?

Later at around nine o'clock, the girls of the Capulet camp were exiting the building to sit in the hot springs. Naturally, Juliet, Michelle and Rosaline were there among quite a few others.

As they sat in the hot springs, Juliet let out a sigh and said, "Paris can be so annoying sometimes! God, why did he have the one to start that fight? It's so embarrassing!"

Michelle rolled her eyes and rested the back of her head against her hands, soaking in the hot water while asking, "Why are you two still together? I think you should break up with the little snot."

"I wish it was that simple," Juliet replied as Rosaline and Michelle looked with concern, the blond girl adding, "See, Paris was born in a very rich family. As such, he has really high status. I've wanted to break up with him for months, but my parents keep telling me that I should stay with him and eventually marry him."

"Some parents," Michelle remarked, rolling her eyes, "They care more about their income than their daughter. What a sad world we live in," as Rosaline patted Juliet on the shoulder and suggested, "Maybe you should tell him that you don't like his behaviour. He might change."

Juliet shook her head and sighed. Rosaline always was the more positive thinker, but sometimes her thoughts weren't exactly realistic. Though it sounded good, changing Paris was impossible and Juliet knew this for a fact. See, the boy had been spoiled and showered in compliments all his life. As such, he could never take criticism well. Rumour had it that the last person to speak up against Paris now had permanent scars on his arms and legs.

All the while, Mercutio and Benvolio were sneaking behind the fence. Mercutio had a big grin on his face while Benvolio looked frightened out of his mind. How had he gotten involved with Mercutio's plan?

"Alright, the hot spring is right here," the brunette said, noticing a few nails sticking out of the fence. He proceeded to signal Benvolio toward the nails, clearly intending to use them like stepping stones to stand on.

"Maybe we should call this off," Benvolio said with a look of terror in his eyes, "Then we may actually keep our health."

"What, are you gonna cross a road to get to the other side?" Mercutio remarked before chuckling to himself, turning back to the fence and saying, "Oh, I am on fire tonight," while Benvolio scratched his head, eventually getting the joke and planting his palm against his face, shaking his head.

Mercutio started to make his way up the fence, standing atop the nails sticking out and signalling Benvolio to join him. Benvolio gulped and trembled, realizing it was too late for him to back out now. After all, he'd stupidly agreed to this and he knew Mercutio wouldn't let him back out now.

"Maybe I can teach you how to fight," Michelle said, giving Juliet a wink, "That way, you can either threaten him to start respecting you or convince him to break up with you so you won't have to do it. Either way, it's win-win."

Juliet laughed and replied, "Thanks for the help, but I don't think that'll work."

Mercutio finally reached the top, making sure that only the top of his head was peering over as his eyes widened. He let out a soft chuckle before whispering to himself, "None of them are wearing bikinis. This is great."

He then spotted Michelle in the hot spring as well, hearts filling up his eyes. Sure, he loved looking at girls by nature, but there was something about Michelle that was different.

As Benvolio finally pushed himself up, peering over the edge as well, he turned to Benvolio and whispered, "This had better be..." then stopped himself mid-sentence when he looked at the girls, a strange sensation coming over him as a small bit of blood came from his nostrils. He continued to stare while whispering, "Mercutio, I feel something I've never felt before," as the brunette turned to him and replied in a quite voice, "That would be male hormones. Nice to know that yours actually work."

As satisfying as it felt, Benvolio couldn't help being ashamed of himself to some degree. Either way, he was just glad the two hadn't been caught yet.

While Michelle continued to talk to Juliet about her issues, Rosaline cut in, moving herself in front of the grey-haired girl as Mercutio stupidly rose his head up, muttering, "Move out of the way." At that moment, one of the girls looked up and spotted both heads right there, pointing up at Mercutio and saying, "Guys, we have a peeping Tom."

All of the girls stopped what they were doing and looked up at Mercutio, Rosaline moving out of Michelle's way as the girl grimaced. She remembered him all too well as the guy who had flirted with her earlier.

"Hey, ladies, don't stop what you're doing because of me," Mercutio said, Benvolio too spellbound to really care about the fact that he'd been caught, Michelle now fuming. Mercutio then made things worse for himself as he rested his chin against his hand, pointing his free finger at Michelle asking, "As long as I'm here, how's about later, you and I...?"

However, Mercutio couldn't finish his question as Michelle picked up one of the stones surrounding the spring and hurled it into the boy's face, Mercutio falling backwards, hitting the ground hard while Michelle shouted, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!"

Benvolio soon snapped out of his trance and gulped, quickly hopping off the nails keeping him up. Rosaline simply stared at that, Juliet blushing after having been seen naked by two guys while Michelle let out a sigh and started grumbling to herself.

Mercutio lay on the ground with stars in his eyes while he uttered, "Oh yeah... she digs me..." while Benvolio simply slapped his own forehead, happy that he didn't get hit by a rock too.

After Benvolio rose to his feet and the two were about to head back to their room, Mercutio overheard Rosaline saying, "Don't worry about it, Michelle. At least there's the costume party in the dining hall tomorrow night," the boy's eyes going wide. He then turned to Benvolio with a grin saying, "Hey, I know how we can solve Romeo's girl troubles."

Soon enough, the two returned only to find Romeo asleep. Mercutio shrugged, figuring he could tell of his plan tomorrow. After all, sleep was important. With that in mind, the two of them decided to call it a night as well. They'd already done what they wanted to anyway, right?

Meanwhile, the girls had finally decided to exit the hot spring, all now with towels wrapped around them. Juliet's face was still a bit red as Rosaline patted her on the shoulder, Michelle refusing to talk about the previous event.

Juliet then let out another sigh as she said, "I just remembered that tomorrow night, I'm going to have to dance with Paris. It's bad enough having to be in the same events as him," then turning to Michelle, she asked, "Who are you going to dance with?" Michelle glaring at the girl.

Juliet laughed nervously, making a zipper motion in front of her lips as Rosaline shook her head, Michelle putting on a neutral look and saying, "Sorry about that. I'd just rather forget about boys right now."

"You know, now that I think about it, that was pretty funny," Rosaline said and started to laugh before adding, "Michelle, your reaction was priceless."

Michelle let out a sigh, but as everyone knew, laughter was contagious. As such, she joined in with Rosaline's laughter as Juliet did as well, forgetting about having to dance with Paris. Either way, today had certainly been eventful, but what would tomorrow bring? Would Romeo be able to meet Rosaline like he wanted? What was Mercutio's plan? Would Paris ever stop being such a jerk? Would Juliet ever be truly happy? All of this and more was sure to be answered on the following day.