forum In Fair Verona // Modern Romeo and Juliet // Private RP - CLOSED

Started February 05, 2019 by @blue_topaz

tune

I was standing five feet behind Juliet when she turned around and flashed a triumphant grin in my direction. I meant to scowl, but if I’m being honest, I usually don’t do a lot of thinking when I’m playing a game of any kind. I didn’t quite realise I’d given her a bashful dopey smile instead of a glare until it had already happened.

Romeo you absolute… I released a silent stream of curses as blood rushed to my face. I rubbed at my forehead and shook my head several times to try and clear away the foggy daze Juliet kept sabotaging me with. After failing several times I slunk off to the sidelines to go get water, purposely dousing my face to reduce the red flush.

Coach swapped Marina and I for two more girls to let us rest, and naturally, to uphold her title and status of best friend, the very first thing the shortish blonde said to me was “You did see the look on Romeo’s face when you winked at him, right?”

I’d turned away before I could have properly glimpsed it, so I was firmly disbelieving when she described an almost sappy, flushed expression.
“Nope. You’re delusional.”
“And you’re blind, Miss Capulet. I’ll even prove it to you.”
I crossed my arms as a sign of fiery defiance. “Oh yeah? How?”
Marina flashed me a mischievous grin. “The party tonight. Romeo will be there. Let me dress you up, we’ll go together, you can flounce right past him.”

I raised both eyebrows. “Marina, can you hear yourself? My dad is not going to let me go to a party. And you’re going insane if you think I’m going to let you dress me up.”
“Come on…” she persisted, before sighing. “Fine. I’ll smuggle you my brother’s liquor supply.”
“And?”
“And nothing. Liquor or nothing.”
“Fine.” I tucked an escaped lock of hair behind my ear. “It’s a deal. I’ll see if I can convince Angelo..”

“I’m going to kill myself.” I muttered to my half empty water bottle, trying to cope with my own idiocy. Having Juilet off the field made it easy to play again, and I was able to do well for myself, scoring goals left and right. It was a good confidence booster after the weird day I was in the midst of suffering through. The party tonight would be fun. Plus, Capulet never went to parties. It was a safe place to hide away and enjoy school without being mauled and brutallly slain.

Soon enough, the lunch bell had rung, signalling for the fatal stampede of hormone-pumped teenagers to flood the hallways in an attempt to get to their lockers, the the cafetieria, as violently as humanly possible.

Marina and I got changed from our gym uniforms quickly, grabbed our wallets and phones, and ran right off school property the moment everyone’s back was turned. Once safely around the corner, we met up with a small gang of guys who passed around a packet of stolen cigarettes while we laughed and swung our legs over the edge of the creek not far from the prison that was the school building.

“So….” Joseph, the ‘ringleader’ of the guys drawled, mischief dripping from his tone. “Rumour has it that Juliet Capulet’s going soft over some magic man.”

Both Marina and I snorted in unison. “Pfft, as if. You wish, Joe.”
Joseph had the decency to put on a playfully damtic show of mock offence.

(Keep going or skip to the party? Up to you)

(Not at all, I feel the exact same way lol, as long as things don’t happen nearly as fast as they do in the play bc hen the rp wouldn’t last three days 😂
Would you mind starting?)

(Oh don’t worry, Romeo has a lot of unrequited pining to do still!)

Parties have always been tough with my interesting family life. But I usually get to go as long as I don’t drink. It’s a good deal as far as I’m concerned. I dressed myself in a leather jacket, blank skinny jeans and a white shirt. A necklace with my family’s crest hung around my neck, more or less as a threat to everyone else. He quickly raked his hair back with his hand before entering the house.

Pulsing music immediately synced with my heartbeat as I entered the room, isolated for the time being without Mercutio. However, a few girls had taken notice upon my entry. I offered them a polite wave before working my way towards the middle of the dance floor. I wasn’t an expert dancer by any means, but I desperately needed to burn off steam after today.

(Loll)

“I can’t believe I’m letting you do this…..” I muttered under my breath for what must have been the fiftieth time in the past half hour. Marina, dutifully playing her part as the faithful best friend and not caving in to my bitching and moaning, ignored me and dragged a comb through yet another lock of hair.

“Ow,” I complained, just for the sake of having something to say, to which she replied with a “Oh, shut up already. You’ve literally shot people, but can’t handle a bit of hair styling?”
“Esattamente,” I muttered, Italian for ‘exactly’. “And I still can’t believe Angelo is letting me do this…”

Marina hadn’t been born into an overly-dramatic crime family like I had, but my padre, or father, though I rarely called him by anything other than his first name, owed her parents a favour, so he was fine with her company. She’d known me for long enough to understand that when it came to acting flirty and participating in normal party behaviour, I was useless, just as I knew her well enough to know that she absolutely rocked that life.

“Are you done?”
“Yes, mi dio,” she replied in an exasperated tone of voice and angled her mirror so that I could see my reflection.

Marina had dressed me up in a simple but oddly elegant red blouse that showed off a significant amount of shoulder (as long as Angelo didn’t see, I would be fine) and a nice pair of black leggings, with my hair done up in a half-down, half-up style that was casual enough for a party, while retaining an air of… beauty, I supposed. A small crimson brooch with my family crest emblazoned on it was pinned over my heart, a silent reminder to anyone who tried to cross me, but other than that and a touch of makeup, I was unadorned.

“Fantastic. I look…..”
“Beautiful. Now hurry up.”

We managed to get to the party without any major incidents, stumbling in before any of the real hype had begun. I willed myself not to look for anyone, to simply act carefree.
“This had better pay off…”

I picked a random girl I vaguely recognized from one of my classes and started to dance with her. Keeping myself distracted was hard, but I was confident that I was doing well. I spun the girl around a few times, made her laugh, dropped her back off to the sidelines. I repeated this process with three or four songs before I finally retreated off the dance floor, wiping at my forehead.

“Hey, dude!” I turned around to see Mercutio waving to me. I quickly jogged over to join him in discussing the party. “How’s your concussion?” He teased, grinning at me.

“I don’t have a concussion.” I roughly elbowed him, and he did the same back. The process repeated itself until the two of us had an impromptu playful wrestling match.

(I almost deleted the thread by accident oh my god)

(That would’ve sucked)

“There he is..” Marina hissed right in my ear, loud and sudden enough to make me jump. I followed her eyes and found, as promised, Romeo Montague and his ridiculous best friend. “Why do you even care so much?” I muttered under my breath and she steered me in their direction.

“Because,” she breathed, “Its really, really fun to see a Montague humiliated.”
I grinned. “Good answer.”

Marina led me directly in front of the two guys, who were currently wrestling (of course), and into the line for food, which conveniently happened to be situated a few feet away from our targets. I forced myself to quench a part of my fire and instead gave Romeo and his friend a long, cool look before looking away, unfazed.

(I almost deleted the thread by accident oh my god)

(That would’ve sucked)

Yeah agreed
Why is the delete button so close to the posting button??)

The instant I slackened on punching Mercutio, he stood up. “Romeo, Don’t look over there. Come on man. Focus! Rosaline’s Coming tonight.” Mercutio snapped in front of my face a few more times. “You’re drawing attention to yourself!”

I was completely defeated the moment she walked in. “Yeah, man. You win I guess.” I mumbled, shoving Mercutio to the side. Juliet was stunning to say the least. This was probably the first time I ever saw her in a dress. I waved in response to the look she gave Mercutio and I, feeling like a bashful middle schooler.

“He’s waving at Rosaline, not you!” Mercutio grabbed me by the arm, causing me to stumble as he pulled me away from Juilet, to the other end of the room. It took all I had to keep my balance while looking over my shoulder at Juilet, trying to steal glances.

(I’m gonna get some rest for now, but I’m always up super early for school always!)

(Good night, sorry if I kept you up too long! Hope you get some rest, at least)

Marina and I stared at each other for a full second before bursting out into peals of laughter, knowing full well that both Romeo and Mercutio could hear and see us. “Oh my god—” Marina wheezed between uncontrollable giggles, clamping a hand over her mouth. My laughter had more of a biting edge, something that would hopefully cut into Romeo’s self-assurance, but it was there nonetheless, possibly the most if exposed myself in front of this big of a group. But for once, I didn’t care, too caught up in the unbelievable hilariousness of the whole situation.

“He’s waving at Rosaline, not you!” Marina did her best to impersonate Mercutio’s voice as we both grabbed a cup of punch. “Bitch, where? I don’t see Rosaline, do you?” I let out a loud snort. “Mi dio… I hate to say it, but you may possibly, just possibly, be right this time, Marina.”

We were cut off by a familiar voice and a heavy hand on each of our shoulders. “Did I just see what I think I saw?” I turned to see Joseph, grinning like a homicidal maniac.

“Yes.” Marina’s voice was practically dripping with glee. But Joseph was already shaking his head and leading us towards the rest of the the boys. “No, I don’t mean Montague’s painful little schoolboy crush. I mean—Am I hallucinating? Did I just witness Juliet Capulet laugh a genuine laugh?”

“Oh fuck off, Joe,” I muttered with a roll of my eyes. Jamie, Joe’s younger brother, smaller than us by a year, smirked. “The future mafia boss is getting soft~” he sang, which earned a fiery glare from me and a round of chuckles. “Careful, Jamie. La raggazza del fuoco may be out to get you if you’re not careful….”

And thought there was no sensation equal to that of the burning adrenaline of a fight, I had to admit that I enjoyed the playful, laid back banter.
“You heard your brother, Jamie. Watch your back~”

(Sorry if I’m beginning to include more swearing.. is that okay?)

(That’s totally fine! I probably will too anyways lmao)

“Romeo, you need to listen to me, okay? If this gets out you are fucked.” Mercutio had dragged me a short distance away from Juilet. She was laughing at me, something I’m not used to. “Montague! Mi dio!” Mercutio grabbed onto my shoulders. “Five minutes. I need your attention for five minutes!”

“Fine, chill.” I shifted my gaze back to him, actually making an attempt to focus. It was harder than I expected. Juilet was right there. In a dress. I wasn’t even sure what I was feeling. Overwhelmed, I guess. Like my senses got slammed into overdrive. I can’t even remember the last time someone laughed at me. It just didn’t happen.

“…you aren’t listening are you?” Mercutio, who had apparently been talking this whole time, rubbing his temples. “Your family will kill you if you like her. Is that clear enough?” He explained dramatically, emphasising every other word. I rolled my eyes.

“She’s laughing at me, man.” I rubbed the back of my neck, attempting to discreetly sneak a glance at her. “I don’t know what changed, but I got to trust my heart, you know that.” I couldn’t help but watch her, now surrounded by her friends.

“She would sell your soul for a nickel, dude. Yesterday you hated her! What’s gotten into you?” I looked over at Mercutio, scratching at the scab on my forehead while he ranted.

“If I’m being honest, I don’t have a clue what changed,. I just know something did. Trust me! I’m Romeo Montague for god’s sake, I can smooth talk her. Easy.” I ran my hands through my hair, purposely messing it up a bit, Mercutio gave me an exasperated look.

“No, you can’t. That’s the problem. You physically can’t because I don’t think I’ve seen you processing words sinve she entered the room. Maybe you should consider another girl who won’t get you killed or kill you?” I laughed, slapping Mercutio playfully on the back. He sighed quietly. “Here we go again.”

(G’morning, how’re you?
Lmao I live for these two and their conversations)

My phone suddenly buzzed in the purse I had resting on my hip. Sighing, I declined Joe’s cigarette and fished it out. A loud, dramatic groan immediately escaped my lips.
“Oh god, my dad is going to kill me…”

I angled my phone so that the others could see the text message I’d been sent, earning a round of ‘uh oh’s and suppressed chuckles.

The message contained a simple sentence:
Montague’s son is at this party??

“You’re in for it now, Miss Mafia,” Jamie crowed. I raised a halting finger and wagged it. “Oh, no. Watch this.”

JULIET: Joe and the boys are here, so is Tybalt.

Jamie snorted. “How the hell is that going to make a difference?”
“Patience, young Padawan.”

The reply came quickly.

ANGELO: Joe is there?

Juliet snapped a quick picture of everyone and sent it to him.

ANGELO: Fine. Don’t let me hear any news about you strangling some Montague.
JULIET: Yes, sir.

Joe’s family was as close to mine as could be—hell, he was practically an adoptive brother of mine at this point. As long as Joe and his gang were with me, my father usually didn’t mind whatever I did. Even though we were both the same age, he’d always been a bit of a ‘big brother’ type… not that I needed protection.

I was about to do something that Mercutio insisted was “exceptionally stupid”. Unfortunately for him, I’m not a coward. I took out my phone and pretended to examine a few of my wounds with the camera. I quickly snapped a photo of Juilet in her dress. I slid my phone smoothly back into my pocket. “See? Told you I got this.” I grabbed Mercutio by the arm, dragging him away from the Capulets. “Tonight was a success.”

A nudge and a whisper from Matteo Bianchi, one of my friends, sent my eyes speeding across the room and locking on the retreating figure of Romeo Montague. I quickly brushed the accusation off, however, determined to believe that Matteo was trying to do nothing but stir up trouble. "Matteo, he took out his phone. I don't need you playing Sherlock Holmes for me twenty-four-seven, alright?" He rolled his tawny eyes—I could remember falling for him, back in our freshman year. Those days were long over, though I couldn't deny the fact that he was attractive— and gestured to the dance floor. "Fine, Miss Capulet. Since we're not all under the impending threat of your father crashing this party, can we make like actual teenagers and dance?"

I eyed the dance floor, which was alive with flashing strobe lights and writhing bodies, dubiously. "You want me to do what, exactly?" I turned to Marina, expecting some sort of snarky response, but the wicked light in her eyes threw me off guard. She shoved me towards Matteo, practically into his chest, and then proceeded to push the both of us in the direction of all the action. "Yes, good idea, Matt, go dance with Juliet!"

Seeing immediately what she was trying to do (i.e., make Romeo jealous), I pulled away, but Joseph pushed me firmly back. "Go, Juliet, have some fun like an actual teen, for once. And no dirty dancing!"

Several dirty looks and lost arguments later, Matteo and I were dancing along to some upbeat 80's rock song, most of our awkwardness having melted away. But the song came to an end, and slow-dance began to play, causing us both to hesitate. I glanced back towards Marina, who appeared to be in the middle of trying to send me a telepathic message, and sighed. "Come on, Bianchi. Hands on my waist…. God, I can't believe I'm letting Marina bully me into this." Matteo laughed, golden curls bouncing, and followed my instructions.

For some reason Mercutio refused to let me even go near the dance floor. “I thought you wanted me to get over her!” I tugged Mercutio towards the center of the party, but he fought me every step of the way.

“Why don’t we drink? Or leave?” He insisted, trying to drag me away again. I shook him off, rounding on him.

“No! What the hell is going on?” I glared at him, ready to start another fight on the spot. Mercutio glared back stubbornly. A standoff ensued, tensions flaring between Mercutio and I. After moment he backed down, shaking his head.

“Fine, but if you get your ass kicked after whatever impulsive shit you pull, I’m not saving you.” He turned me around, giving me a clear view of Juliet. She was gliding gracefully along the dance floor, impossible not to spot. But as soon as my eyes locked onto her, I encountered the issue Mercutio had done his best to distract me from.

Juliet was in someone else’s arms. I felt my heart drop like a stone. Since when did she have a boyfriend? I remained in place for a moment, distraught and indecisive, staring at the couple underneath the dull lighting.

One second passed. Then another. And another. A sickening feeling knotted in my stomach, finally spurring me into motion. Without another word I stormed towards the doors, shouldering my way past Mercutio and out into the night.

Just for the hell of it, Matteo and I decided to put on a show, stifling our laughter and wrapping our arms completely around each other.
"Jesus…" I muttered, unable to stop a grin from spreading over my face. "Is this what couples do? Disgusting."
Matteo laughed and tugged me closer, clearly enjoying the acting. "Keep it up for a few more minutes, I can see Mercutio trying to keep Romeo away from the dance floor."
"I hate this….."
"Liar."
"Fine, this is fun. But you know that Joseph will never let us forget about this, right?"
Matteo winked, breaking our embrace to twirl me around as theatrically as possible. "He will when you help me get with Rosaline."

My jaw dropped. "For God's sake, that's who you like? I didn't know you were this stereotypical!"
A light blush, almost unnoticeable, spread across his face. "Leave me alone, Miss 'I'm Too Badass For Love'."
"Love??"
"What, is that jealousy?"
I rolled my eyes. "Bullshit, you know it's not. But Rosaline?"

I couldn't remember the last time I'd let myself go this much—since when was I this… carefree? But for once in my life, I just wanted a break from the strict rules and regulations I'd grown up under. And I would have done more, had the loud sound of a door slamming not broken through the music.

Matteo smirked. "And that would be Romeo upon seeing you with me." A few moments later, we broke apart, slipping straight back into the casual, platonic relationship we'd always maintained. As we returned to the group, Joseph wolf-whistled loudly, earning a slap from Marina. "First of all, did you see the look on Montague's face? And second of all, you two put on such a good show that one could believe that it wasn't quite fake…."
Everyone gave him a dubious look.

I wasn’t ready to take off quite yet, still a bit too distressed to trust myself to drive. So instead I paced outside like a caged animal, kicking rocks and cursing. Part of me wants to just listen to Mercutio and get with another girl for the night to make myself feel better. But by now I knew my emotions wouldn’t fade that quickly. I eventually sat on the front steps, somewhere in between wanting to fight and wanting to cry.

Marina winked at me, inclining her head towards the door.
"I'll be right back, you girls sit tight." She slipped out, followed by indignant protests from the guys.

Marina's POV:

Once I was outside, it was a piece of cake for me to locate Romeo, swearing loudly and kicking a poor pebble around as violently as humanly possible. I smirked—this was all the confirmation I needed, and turned to go back inside, hoping he hadn't seen me.

Truth be told, I wasn't only doing this to help our mafia family gain ground over the Montagues. I did have a more personal reason to get back at Romeo's parents…. One that I was never going to share, not even with Juliet.

God only knew how she'd react….

(Oh lord I sense a plot twist!!!)

After calming down, I left almost instantly. I couldn’t hang around a party and see them the whole night. What did that kid have the I don’t? Okay, besides the whole rival families thing. Money, good looks, talented, charming. I might as well be a prince!

I hopped on my motorcycle, revving the engine a lot louder than necessary before taking off at top speeds, enjoying the feeling of the wind whipping through my hair. Screw the party right? Ma’s making cinnamon rolls for the shop, and I’d much rather be doing that than dancing with Juliet. Definitely…. Who needs love anyways? Not me, that’s who. Romeo Montague is very in control of his emotions, thank you very much.

(:D
there isn't really much I'd like to do at the dance, so should we skip to the next day? Maybe…… they get paired together for a project?)

(I know I'm sorry, I'm not usually this clumsy
okay that's a lie I'm always clumsy

alright, just give me a mo)