Two (Ten years later - Present Day)

Jamie

3rd September, this day was a day I'd been sort of dreading all summer for one big reason - it was my first day back at school and I was dreading it. Sixth Form was where the serious work started, I needed to use this year to get the right grades and get into university. That was the plan, apply to Oxford University next year and hope to God that I get a scholarship… because there's no way in hell that Trevor would pay for me to go to university, even if we had the money.

Pulling my rucksack higher over my shoulder, I stopped at my locker in the packed corridor, opening it and pulling my books out for my first class - English Literature and I turned to see a blonde curly haired girl running towards me, her light brown eyes shining with excitement and I couldn't help but a grin as my best friend Vanessa (or Nessa as I called her) pulled me into a hug.

"I've missed you!" Nessa said happily as she pulled out of the hug and beamed at me, pulling a small gift wrapped present and gave it to me "Happy Belated-Birthday!"

My birthday was in June and Ness had missed it because she was seeing relatives in America, but I wasn't bothered… I hated my birthdays. At home, birthdays were never really celebrated and to me it was a reminder that another year had past since Mum's death. Trevor and I lived together, but we weren't close and if it wasn't for Nessa I wouldn't even acknowledge I had just turned seventeen.

I kept a cheerful smile on my face as I opened the present and saw it was a hardcover copy of Wuthering Heights, I looked at Nessa with a more genuine smile and she looked proud of herself.

"Thanks Ness, it's great." I said honestly and Vanessa shrugged casually.

"If it was any other guy, I'd be in deep shit," Vanessa said, grabbing my arm and pulling me along the corridor with a sly grin "but you're so easy, babe. I just have to buy you a good book."

True. I still loved reading and I fly through 700 page novels with ease. The writing, that was a different story and Vanessa had quickly learnt not to ask if I was writing any good stories. Don't get me wrong, I still write, I just don't like others reading my work nowadays.

We walked into the classroom and sat at a desk in the front of the class, which I always hated but Vanessa said she hated sitting behind Mark Brent and smelling his farts - he did actually stink and I got her point. I looked around the class, it was more or less full and I noticed that the boys from the local estate were sitting in the back of the class, these guys were mainly black or mixed raced with the occasional white boy that acted like an idiot to fit in with his gang. I don't care what skin colour you are, but at this school there was a big divide between the teenagers from the suburban part of town (aka Me) and the teenagers from the council estate that was quite rough.

My eyes met a pair of dark brown eyes and I was suddenly looking at Rashawn Mason. Rashawn was a really handsome black guy, with a strong muscular build, a short cropped haircut and the most brilliant brown eyes. Rashawn gave me a small smile and I returned one back, before turning back to front of the class as the teacher entered. In all the years we had been at this school, Rashawn and I never really hung out but we got on if we had to work on an assignment together and I actually thought he was a decent guy. But our lives were complete opposites, so we weren't exactly moving out of our way to become proper mates and I wouldn't really want to risk Trevor finding out I was hanging out with boys from the estate.

Mrs Richards - the ONLY lesbian at this school that was comfortable with her sexuality smiled at the class, brushing her greying hair behind her ear and pulled a stack of books from her back. I read the title on the spin and saw it was copies of Romeo & Juliet, looks like that was what we were going to be studying this term.

"Right, did everyone have a good summer?" she asked brightly and there was a mumbled response from the back of the class and a few excited yeses from the nerds in the middle and the front - and before you asked, that didn't include me.

"How's your bird, Miss?" called Brendan from the back of the class, who was a tall and lanky black guy with a shaved head "she doin good, yeah?"

"Not that this is relevant, but my wife is fine." Mrs Richards answered shortly and I heard Brendan snigger, clearly finding the fact that our English teacher had married a woman highly amusing.

Just goes to show how mature some people are.

"She's quite fit, Miss!" Marcus, who was mixed race and slightly cubby called and Brendan's laughter intensified.

I turned and glared at the two of them, seriously getting pissed off because they were being completely out of order.

"Will you shut up, you pair of twats!" I snapped and that stopped their laughing, looking at me as if I was a creature from another planet.

"What did you say?!" Marcus snapped, glaring daggers at me because I had told him to pack it in and I couldn't really care less if he was pissed off.

"Enough!" Miss Richards ordered and I reluctantly turned to face the teacher, feeling Marcus' gaze burn into the back of my head "I'll send the lot of you out if you continue to disrupt my class, is that clear?"

"Yes, Miss…" was the muttered response from Brendan, Marcus and I.

Vanessa sat awkwardly beside me, avoiding my eyes and playing nervously with her hair. Vanessa didn't like talking to any of the Grove Hill Estate boys, because she was absolutely terrified of them and was even more afraid to walk through the estate due to the gang crime that was mainly around that area. The gang crime wasn't just big in Grove Hill, it was everywhere in this town and the two main gangs were constantly battling for territory. However, for some strange reason Vanessa was more scared of the black gang than the white gang - I personally think they're both as bad as each other and I wouldn't trust anyone that was from the Mons or the Caps. And that was saying something, especially since Trevor was the leader of the Caps and my own brother.

"Romeo & Juliet, a classic love story and our main reading piece for this term." Miss Richards announced grabbing the books and handing them out to each of us "However, I want to make this lesson more interesting and that is why I have cast individual students to read each part. We'll be reading certain scenes and the others take notes while they see the scene acted out in front of them, this will give us a visual taste of Shakespeare's masterpiece."

That was actually a brilliant idea and I was seriously impressed with our teacher's creativity, but I was worried who she was going to ask me to read.

Miss Richards returned to her desk and picked up a piece of paper, reading aloud.

"We'll be reading Act 1 Scene 5, where Romeo first meets Juliet. Romeo will be read by Rashawn Mason and Juliet will be read by Jamie Cullen."

My jaw dropped in shock. This woman had seriously lost it, was she trying to make my life at school a living nightmare? Obviously she was, crap!

Reading a romantic scene with another guy… oh fuck, I was never going to hear the end of this.

Author's Note: Hey guys, thanks for reading and a review to give any feedback on this story would be awesome and very much appreciated :)