No reviews? I'm all sad and lonely now! Anyway, so, Ros and Tibby are back together. Rosaline and Angelo have made up. Benvolio's made the first steps to getting over Rose. And that leaves Hermia to face Rosaline's wrath.
A few days later...
Hermia did not like wearing dresses.
Sometimes, loose summer dresses were comfy for lounging in the sun, and she liked to wear long tunic tops with leggings, but formal dresses for formal occasions, she did not like.
She was probably the most out of place person at the party. It was a warm summer's day, and it was yet another gathering where the rich people of Verona gathered to revel in their riches and be stuck-up. She and Juliet were both perched at a table. As always, Juliet looked beautiful, and her mother felt the need to show her off.
Hermia had the funniest but most accurate feeling that Lady Capulet and many other nobles did not want her here.
"I wonder if Tybalt's going to be here" said Juliet.
"I hope not" muttered Hermia, knowing he would laugh at her and poke fun of her for wearing a dress.
"There's Mr. Fulgencio" pointed Juliet "Oh my God, just look at Gabriel's outfit! He looks ridiculous! He looks like Dr. Frank-N-Furter!"
"Juliet!" gasped Lady Capulet "How dare you say such a vulgar thing and watch such a vulgar film! Well, I am going to leave you girls here, and go and converse with Lady Lancely. If you do anything, Hermia, and I mean, anything, I will be having words with you later on"
"Rabbit, rabbit" muttered Hermia under her breath as she left.
"Hey, look at Rosaline!" hissed Juliet.
"Where?"
They both turned to gaze at Juliet's cousin. She was with Angelo, and she looked...amazing. She was wearing an ice blue dress, that was sleeveless and almost fell to the floor. She had matching gloves that came up to her elbows. Swarovski diamonds glittered in her ears and around her neck. Her hair tumbled down her back in a thick waterfall of blonde curls. She was stunning.
"Fantastic" grumbled the two girls.
"Daddy's girl" spat Juliet.
"Look who's talking" added Hermia.
"Yeah, but I'm not a cow who hankers after him for cash" replied Juliet "I feel sorry for Gabriel. Look, Angelo's just ignoring him and showing Rosaline off"
Hermia had never really thought about it that way before. Lady Capulet ignored her and showed Juliet off. But she shook the thought aside.
"People wonder why he's so mean, but that's probably why" Juliet went on.
"Forget Gabriel. Where's Tybalt? I wonder what he thinks of this"
"Tybalt's probably getting drunk in one of the back rooms or something" replied Juliet. They continued watching as Angelo and Rosaline talked politely with some rich people, and Gabriel stared into space miserably.
"Maybe I should ask him if he wants to sit with us" said Juliet.
"No! He's a bitch! He's worse than her, I swear. He's a girlfriend stealer"
"Ok, fair enough" shrugged Juliet. They went back to their drinks, but then Rosaline caught sight of them both.
Finally. Finally she could show them. She was just as good as them, if not better. Rosaline excused herself from Angelo. He was, as always, impressed with her ladylike manners and hissed something to Gabriel about why didn't he take a leaf out of her book. She and Gabriel weren't as friendly as before, but Rosaline didn't care, since she had Angelo.
"Oh, hello, girls. Mind if intrude upon you?" she asked, sitting down next to her. The two girls blanked her at first.
"I am having a simply splendid time" said Rosaline, spreading cream over a scone "Mingling with charming young men, wearing this lovely outfit, what more could a girl want?"
"An even richer, more powerful boyfriend, which is why Tybalt is not present" retorted Juliet.
Rosaline tutted "Now, now, Juliet. No need to be so envious. You two do not know me very well, do you?"
"I know you well enough" Hermia hissed, rubbing her arm that had been wearing a cast.
"Well, I don't believe you do. I still believe that you think of me as, may I quote, 'a money-grabbing cow' and a 'gold digging hoe'"
"Why wouldn't we?" remarked Hermia.
"You should know by now that what me and Tibby have is genuine" trilled Rosaline delightedly "We know and accept each other's differences. We have, and shall continue to do so, stick together through difficulties. I don't date him for the money or status, because we all know he won't have that for much longer. He isn't an heir, he doesn't have the brains or cunning to make himself rich. But I love him, and that's why we're together. But less of that. Today I am here with my father, who is a part of your upper class. So, since I am now a part of your upper class, since I am dating your cousin, it looks like I'm here to stay"
The girls scowled at her.
"I don't give two hoots about the upper class. Bunch of stuck-up tossers" scoffed Hermia.
"You say you love Tybalt, but you just called him stupid" added Juliet.
"Tybalt calls himself stupid. I did not refer to him as stupid. I simply said he didn't have the cunning to make himself rich. But that doesn't matter, because I'm here to stay. I found out about your little scheme to expose me and ruin my reputation. And I know about your part in it, too, Juliet. My brother is Gabriel. His sweet little boy act doesn't fool me, and so your sweet little girl doesn't fool me either. And if anything, your plan backfired, since we played our cards right, and our relationship is now all out in the open. Angelo is on my side, your parents, well, Juliet's parents, are on my side. So, whether you like it or not, I am here to stay"
"That's good, because I'm about to leave" said Hermia, getting up "Just going to go and talk to some nice Montagues over there. See you later, Juliet"
Juliet and Rosaline glanced at each other. Without Hermia, Juliet always felt nervous around her bitchy older cousin.
"So, my friend," hissed Rosaline, laying a gloved hand on Juliet's arm "We'll be seeing a lot more of each other, where I am your equal, and not even Hermia can look down her nose at me"
"Perhaps if you treated her kindly, then we wouldn't feel the need to" Juliet attempted to snap "You bring it on yourself. You have no right to call her a bastard. You've always been jealous of her because our dad took her in and cared for her from day one, whereas yours waited until you'd grown up"
"And her way of repaying the gratitude is by running around with disgusting animals such as Mercutio Vincentino, who is so inhumane that he torments people like my Tibby's mum, when she's mentally ill? Which is also hypocritical, since he is a walking freak show"
"I don't care about him. It's you who helps alienate her and makes her feel unwelcome in her own family!" Juliet hissed back "She's a Capulet whether you like it or not. She's my sister, and I care about her. And so would Tybalt, if you weren't always whispering poison in his ear"
"Is everything all right over here?" asked Tybalt himself. For the rare occasion, he'd been shoved in a suit, and didn't look very comfortable.
"Perfect, Tibby. Come and sit down" Tybalt sat down next to Rosaline, and she possessively caressed his shoulder whilst smirking at Juliet.
"So, Juliet, has Rosaline told you about the party?" asked Tybalt.
"What party?"
"The end of term party that we're having!" Rosaline finished "We have to keep up our popularity, don't we, Tibby?"
"Of course. We're having a party at your place to celebrate the end of term, the end of exams, and it's going to be fancy dress. We're just sorting out the invitations, and the entertainment for the evening. Gabriel said he's going to sing"
"Lucky us" said Juliet. Hermia came back and sat down.
"It's Tibby! How lovely of you to grace us with your ugly face"
"Shut up, bastard" snarled both Tybalt and Rosaline. Hermia ignored them, even though Juliet knew how much it stung.
"What the hell are you wearing?" sneered Tybalt.
"A potato sack" snickered Rosaline.
"As Gabriel would say, you're supposed to be a Capulet, but you look like you haven't got a pot to piss in" scoffed Tybalt.
"You haven't even bothered to put on any proper make-up. Honestly, you look like you just got out of bed. And why do you wear your hair like that, with that fringe covering your eye? You look stupid" scorned Rosaline.
"I'll look how I want" retorted Hermia "I'll never smear coloured crap all over my face and rub weird cream oil stuff in my hair to make myself look like what is considered pretty amongst a shallow crowd of wannabes to make people like me. As long I have Merc and the boys, I don't need to torture myself with eyelash curlers and tweezers and shit"
"Speaking of Mercutio and your Montague friends, guess what we're going to do" sneered Tybalt.
"We're going to get you for what you did with the DVD" threatened Rosaline.
"I'm waiting with bells on" replied Hermia calmly.
"And I'm going to get Mercutio for helping!" Tybalt added.
"He's waiting with bells on too"
"This isn't the end. Everything might have turned out ok for us, but I'm going to make sure things won't turn out ok for you" Rosaline continued.
"Boohoo" said Hermia, still calmly.
"We know all your weaknesses, and we know exactly how to play it" Rosaline smirked.
"Hey, you do have blonde hair and a brain!" Hermia clapped a few times.
Tybalt leant over threateningly "We're going to make sure you're thrown out the Capulet family. Maybe not today, maybe not next week. But we will do it. I'm prepared to pull out all the stops, and so is Rosaline. So you better watch your traitorous back from now on"
"Tybalt!" gasped Juliet. Rosaline just pulled another fake smile at her, and caressed Tybalt's shoulder. He stood up, and offered her his arm. She accepted it, and they walked away calmly.
"Bitch" breathed Juliet. She turned to see Hermia, who, whilst she looked calm and unbothered by their statements, had started to shiver. She pulled her chair closer over to her, and patted her "I'll look after you, Hermy. I won't let them do any of that stuff to you"