Dawnstar94 - Yeah, GO BENNY! Even though I'm the author, I also kind of want to beat up Gabriel sometimes!
Well, I've hit fifty chapters. Today is also an important day, because it has been one year since I uploaded the first chapter of Child Swap. I feel like I've come a long way since then, make new friends, improved my writing and such. I love the fanfiction community and want to say thanks to everyone for their support!
I'm also glad I'm uploading this chapter today, because it's kind of inspired by Child Swap, it follows the same sort of themes. I rewrote this one several times as well, but I think I'm finally satisfied with the result.
The disorderly group were searched, asked their names and ages, and then led to a communal cell.
"I can't stay in here, my mum will be expecting me!" yelled Tybalt.
"My dad will be wondering where I am!" cried Benvolio.
"I can't stay here! I need my own cell!" insisted Gabriel.
"An emergency callout to some unruly school boys fighting over girls? This is all we've got" scolded the policeman.
"I'll share with a hobo, I don't care! Just don't leave me here with these...people!" Gabriel hollered.
Romeo and Mercutio just smirked "If I had to get arrested once, then this was an awesome excuse!"
The cell door slammed shut, leaving the boys alone. Gabriel immediately retreated to the corner, and sat down. Blood had dried on his nose and upper lip. He snivelled. A doctor had examined him, and told him his nose was fine. It wasn't broken. Well, to Gabriel, it certainly didn't feel fine. Mercutio, Romeo and Benvolio, meanwhile, sat on a bench in the middle of the room. Tybalt leant against the wall by the door. An awkward silence filled the room.
"I don't believe this" Gabriel sobbed "I told them I was Angelo Fulgencio's son. I told them he'd be furious if he ever found out how they were treating me. And they just shut me in here!"
"Get used to it" grunted Tybalt "I've seen the insides of these plenty of times. They don't care if you're a Capulet either"
"This is so unfair!" cried Gabriel "I didn't start any of this. And my nose hurts"
"Well, it serves you right" seethed Mercutio "How dare you..."
"Stop it" said Benvolio, curling into a ball. His pounding heart had calmed, and he leant his head back against the wall tiredly. Gabriel stopped crying, and wiped his eyes. The blood had dried on his nose and upper lip, and Gabriel picked at it.
"This is just great. We're going to be stuck in here all afternoon" grumbled Tybalt.
"Together" added Mercutio with a creepy smile. Romeo sniggered. Then Mercutio slapped his hands on his knees and stood up "Right. We could be boring and just sit here, or we could have some fun. Who wants to play 'I Have Never...?'"
"Not with you!" sniffed Gabriel contemptuously.
"Don't talk to Mercutio like that" Benvolio snarled back.
Gabriel shrivelled defensively against the wall.
"Don't worry, we're already in the slammer. I'm not going to bother laying any fingers on you" scoffed Benvolio.
"I'm not scared of you" Gabriel glared back "You couldn't fight if your life depended on it. No. It's your guard dogs I'm worried about"
Mercutio and Romeo both growled, low and scary, across the room at Gabriel. Tybalt shook his head, muttering something about them being childish.
"So, are we not even going to speak whilst we're in here?" asked Mercutio.
"Oh wow, Mercutio has a brain, and he figured something out!" Tybalt snapped sarcastically.
"That's more than you ever could. If a thought ever entered your brain, it would die of loneliness" said Romeo.
"Look who's talking" snorted Tybalt "Love-obsessed weirdo"
"Well, let's play... 'Would You Rather?'" announced Mercutio "I'll start. Would you rather suck Escalus' cock or Angelo's?"
"Mercutio!" shrieked Benvolio.
"That's my father you're talking about!" Gabriel yelled "Urgh! You made me throw up in my mouth!"
"So let's play 'I Have Never...'" said Romeo "Ok, I have never...slept with a girl who'd made a chastity pledge!"
"Oh, really?" Tybalt sniffed "Well, I've never harassed somebody with manic depression because I didn't like her son"
"Soz" shrugged Romeo.
"I have never stolen someone's girlfriend" Benvolio glared at Gabriel.
"I have never been an appalling boyfriend" retorted Gabriel.
"I've never bullied anyone" Benvolio continued.
"I've never wet the bed!"
"Enough! Let's play it properly. I have never...been caught in the act" Mercutio winked. Tybalt stood up.
"Oooh! Tybalt! Spill!" commanded Romeo.
"Several times. My mum walked in on me and Rosaline last week. This girl I was with before her, Shayna, I got caught with her in the school cupboard. And one of my first girlfriends, we spent the night together, her dad came home so I had to climb out the window with just my boxers on, and then her brothers walked past with me, hanging out the window, half-naked!"
"Ha ha!" Mercutio cackled "Right, your turn. What have you never done?"
"I have never...worn women's clothes"
Mercutio gasped with laughter as everyone but Tybalt stood up.
"Last Halloween said Benvolio.
"Last Halloween" added Romeo.
"Yesterday" Mercutio beamed. He turned to Gabriel "Right, Gabriel, you have to tell us about it"
"They're comfy. Most my clothes I made myself, so I make what I want. They're usually unisex anyway. It's my taste, my choice, so you can butt out if you're going to laugh" snarled Gabriel.
"I wasn't going to" Mercutio shrugged "I don't care what you wear. I was dancing around the house in my mum's skirt in front of Valentine's friends to embarrass him. I'm not bothered"
"Tell that to the rest of my year group" Gabriel bitterly complained.
"I'm not in the mood to listen to your whining" Tybalt interrupted "Someone, do another one"
"I have never...walked in my sleep" said Romeo.
Mercutio and Benvolio both stood up.
"Ok, so I was a kid, and I just woke up, went into Valentine's room, picked up his duvet, carried it through the house, put it on the sofa, and then went back to my own bed like nothing had happened, leaving Valentine lying freezing cold!"
"Ha! I remember that. It was hilarious. Poor Valentine" said Romeo.
"Well, I was staying at Romeo's house, and then someone was making silly noises, and so I woke up and needed the loo" Benvolio glared at Mercutio "I didn't realise where I was, or what I was doing, and so I wandered around the place, before going into the kitchen and trying to-"
"Pee in the kitchen cupboard!" cackled the other two boys as Benvolio flushed. They high-fived.
"Remember when I threw up in the swimming pool?" asked Mercutio "After eating all your birthday cake?"
"Yes, Mercutio. It was rank" Romeo replied.
"Aw, we go way back, don't we?" said Mercutio.
"Enough of your little Montague friend buddy stories, let's just get on with the game" interrupted Tybalt "Mercutio, do another one"
"I have never...been mollycoddled by my parents"
Tybalt rolled his eyes "My mum won't leave me alone. She always insists on cooking my so-called favourite, 'Sausage Surprise!' and if I get a grade like a C she acts like I just got admitted by Harvard or Yale or something. She always shows my baby photos to my mates. And she showed them to Rosaline. Including the one where I was running around the garden naked!"
"Haha!" laughed Romeo "Well, I'm the only one in this room with parents who are still together, and they brought me up properly, and they pretty much brought up Benvolio and Mercutio as well"
"Why?" asked Gabriel.
"My folks divorced because of my dad's drinking" Mercutio shrugged "We moved back into the palace with Uncle Escalus, my cousin Paris and his parents. I hate Paris, he's such a stuck-up pompous prick. He keeps trying to get us to call him Count Paris because that will be his title when he comes of age. He just loves reminding me of the fact that I'm last in line and that I won't get a title or anything. I keep trying to get him to acknowledge the fact that I don't care"
Tybalt shifted, realizing that he was also in a similar situation in his family. He pushed the thought aside. He hated Mercutio. That was right.
"Well, my mother died of cancer when I was ten, leaving me with my dad. It was horrible" murmured Benvolio quietly. He cleared his throat, and went on "He favourites my sister and gives her everything she wants, and believes her over me, every time we argue! He'll let her buy loads of Twilight and High School Musical crap, but moans at me if I ask for a measly ten pounds to buy science revision book that will help me get a good grade!"
Gabriel also shifted, realizing that he was in a similar situation. But he pushed the thought aside. Rosaline was on his side, not Angelo's. And, unlike Benvolio, he didn't care that he didn't get on with Angelo. That was what he told himself.
"Mum always used to go around Romeo's, because she was pals with his mum. And we all used to hang out together" said Mercutio "Didn't we, guys? We go way back"
"I wish I had some friends like that" said Gabriel wistfully.
"I wonder why you don't have any...oh, because you're a psycho!" Mercutio declared.
"I'm not a psycho" glared Gabriel "I'm..."
"Yes?" Mercutio said grandly.
"Whatever. I've had enough" Gabriel hugged his knees to his chest.
"But I want to know" pressed Mercutio "In fact, if you don't tell us why you aren't a psycho, I'm going to sing a special song for you"
"Just tell him" urged Benvolio "His singing is horrible"
"Now, now, Ben-ben, that's not nice" tutted Mercutio "Oooh, I feel a song coming on! Oh baby, baby, how was I supposed to know? That something wasn't right here. Oh baby, baby, I shouldn't have let you go-"
"Shut up!" yelled Tybalt "Just tell him and get him to shut up"
"Because everyone hates me!" Gabriel shrieked "My dad is trying to abandon me for a daughter who is everything I'll never be, all the boys in my year group think I'm a joke, and everyone in Verona is always feuding and fighting and hating and I can't fight, and it makes me feel like, like, I'm constantly on edge. I have to get people psychologically before they can beat me up, and it's because of you four always fighting and hating on each other, and getting all the other boys involved. Masculinity is not about beating people up. I'm sick of your petty feuding. You don't have a reason to hate each other, you're just wrecking people's lives for the sheer hell of it"
"Of course we have a reason to fight! Tybalt is a mean, aggressive twat who beats up people for pleasure!" shot back Mercutio.
"Yeah, he used to bully us for no reason when we were in nursery school. He shoved Benvolio over when we were kids for no reason" Romeo added.
"You deserve it, for always being a bunch of freaks" Tybalt snapped.
"I don't like fighting anymore than you, Gabriel" said Benvolio, turning to his rival "I'm sorry if it makes you feel this way, I feel the same sometimes. You don't have to act like that, you know, you can always try to help make peace"
"Whatever. You were trying to ruin my looks a few hours ago. As if I'll accept apologies from you" Gabriel turned to glance at the jail door "Things will never change. It'll take a miracle to change things in Verona"