Leona woke up ecstatic; she was going to sit with William today-and of course Edward and, ah, Benny-Benjamin.

Today Ms. Phelps, their drama teacher, was choosing the parts for their play, Romeo and Juliet. Ms, Phelps didn't take auditions, she just chose and you did it.

Leo was feeling really good, so today she decided to wear a pretty pink dress that cut just after the knee and went with a little black belt. She wore it with a pair of black pumps.

'Oh,' her mom was looking at her dress. 'I thought you only wore, and I quote, "jeans and t-shirts with sneakers".'

'Well,' Leo smiled. 'This is a special occasion.'

'Oh, is this for a certain guy?'

'I guess you could say that.'

'Well, I'm just glad that you are finally taking some interest in Jason.'

'Oh, yeah, it's-it's for him, yeah, that's who it's for, for Jason. Yeah, okay. Anyway, bye,' and with that Leona rushed off to school.

She arrived at school a few minutes later. Dan and Sam walked next to her.

'Oh, what's with the dress?' Dan asked.

'Nothing, just waiting for my part in Romeo and Juliet, you know. I'm hoping I'll get the nurse,' Leona replied.

'Or does this have something to do with a certain William Ridley?' Sam nudged her, again.

'It has nothing to do with him, but while we're on that subject, I wanted to say that I asked William if he wanted to sit with us.'

Leo had it all sorted out; Arthur had been expelled and there were no other Walters in the school and Jason didn't know of the feud, so no-one could rat them out to their parents. Leo had it all sorted, she just hoped that William did too.

'You did, what did he say?'

'He said sure, but he'll have to see with Benjamin and Edward.'

'Oh, well we'll leave you two alone then.'

'What-?' Leona was confused when the two girls walked away, then she saw William walking up to her. 'Oh.'

'Hey,' the boy said.

'Hey.'

'So, I checked with Ben and Edward; they said they wouldn't mind and it was getting a bit stuffy sitting at the far end of the cafeteria.'

'Great,' Leo was blushing as he walked away.

The day seemed to go on forever for Leo, until it finally came to lunch. Leo, Dan and Sam sat at their table and watched as the three boys came over to their table. They sat at the opposite side and just stared at the girls, and the girls stared back.

'I'm sorry to bring this up, but,' it was William's friend, Edward who spoke. He had a thick Italian accent. 'Don't you're families have a feud going on?'

'Well, yeah, they do, but no-one will find out,' Leo said.

'Yes, but why are you doing this?'

'Well, this feud has been going on for centuries and I think this should stop.'

Edward nodded and there was no more talk of that.

'So, Edward,' it was Dan speaking. 'Where are you from?'

'Verona,' he replied.

'Like where Romeo and Juliet was originated?'

'Yes.'

I almost choked; he was also in my drama class.

The rest of lunch was filled with idle chatter and at the end it was full of "come sit with us again" and "that was nice".

Their next class was Drama, and all six of them were in the same class. They all filed into the class and waited for Ms. Phelps. After a ten minute long wait, she finally emerged.

'Okay class,' the old woman said. 'I will be reading your parts for the play:

William Ridley: Romeo

Daniela Aniston: Nurse

Samantha Black: Lady Capulet

Edward McKeever: Mercutio

Benjamin Cooper: Benvelio

Leona Walters: Juliet...'

From that point on, Leona didn't pay attention; she was Juliet and her family's enemy's son was Romeo. She caught William's eye, he was just as shocked as she was.

'Okay,' Ms. Phelps turned to William and Leona who were, oddly, sitting next to each other. 'Romeo and Juliet; your first assignment is to learn to dance-together. You can take lessons, I don't care- just dance together. And props director, Jamie Blake, you have to get us a few rapiers.'

At the end of the lesson everyone filed out, laughing and praising people for their parts. William and Leo didn't say a word, just walked back to their classes with their friends.

At the end of the day Dan and Sam said they had to go and get costumes for the play, leaving Leona alone. Then, right on cue, William walked up.

'So, listen we need to practice dancing,' William got straight to the point.

'Yeah, we do. Do you, by any chance, know ballroom dancing?' Leo asked.

'Actually, I do. I used to go lesson, thankfully I stopped.'

'Why? You would look nice in a suit.'

He blushed. 'So when can we practice?'

'We can practice today, I mean it is Friday and my parents won't care where I am.'

'Okay, I'm free, but where can we practice? My parents won't really want you there, no offence.'

'None taken and my parents won't want you at our house either. We could practice in the park...?'

'Uh, okay, let's go.'

Romeo and Juliet walked past their school and into the deserted park. William instructed Leo to put her hand on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her waist. He showed her some basic steps and very soon she was not looking at her feet and she was also rather hungry.

'Where do you want to go?' He asked.

'No, you don't have to take me anywhere,' she replied.

'No, I insist. You deserve it; for being such a great dance partner.'

She laughed. 'Ok, Mr. Hot-Shot, I know a great-not expensive-restaurant down the street.'

'Okay,' he offered her his arm and they walked off to the restaurant.

The restaurant was called The Hang Out. There was a fair amount of people there, all talking and laughing. They decided to sit outside, where there were no people. They sat down and a waitress came to take their orders.

'So,' Leo said. 'Tell me about yourself; the great William Ridley.'

'Okay, what must I tell you?'

'Anything; what you're favourite colour is, you're favourite animal, anything.

'Okay. My favourite colour is blue, my favourite animal is a tiger, I like old books and mythology and I really like the play Romeo and Juliet.'

'Really? You like old books? Like what?'

'Well, I've read the Iliad, some Renaissance books, the plays and stories by Shakespeare. But enough about me, tell me of you.'

'Okay. My favourite colour is green, my favourite animal is the koala, I like reading documentaries and old myths.'

Dinner ended an hour later and William offered to walk Leona home. When they were at the gate they stopped.

'Thank you, William. You are a lot better a guy than Jason,' Leona said

'My pleasure, Leona,' William said.

'Please, call me Leo.'

William stepped closer to Leo and Leo stepped closer to William.

Then they kissed. It was a long kiss, where they both closed their eyes. When it ended they both looked into each other's eyes, shocked. Then William had said goodbye, touched Leo's cheek and walked away, his head down.