(Back now! alright, sounds good)
Marina's POV:
I tore down the hallway, my eyes fixed to the person at the end of it. Mercutio. I'd been hoping for Romeo, but his lackey would just have to do.
Juliet had fallen through my bedroom window at four in the morning, shaking and crying her eyes out more than she had when her own mother had died, and though she'd spilled a few horrible details, I knew there was more to it. There had to be. I was absolutely terrified for her, terrified about what her father was going to do to her when she went home, terrified about what she could do to herself, and I knew that Romeo Montague, scum of the earth, had something to do with it.
I reached Mercutio with more fire blazing in my eyes than even Juliet could muster. "Spill," I growled at him, shoving him backwards against the wall. "What the fuck has Romeo done to Juliet?"
“I’m sorry, who the fuck are you?” I narrowed my eyes, but made no attempted to push back. I almost laughed. What did Romeo do to Juliet? The question should’ve been reversed. It was too early for me to be forced to deal with a Capulet. I’m not in the mood for a fight. Not without my best friend.
I knew I was short. I knew my blonde hair and blue eyes seemed to give everyone the impression that I was just a stereotypical 'girly girl', easy to mess with, easy to beat.
Yeah, fuck them. And fuck Mercutio, and Romeo, and every single goddamn Montague who thought they could mess with my best friend.
"Marina," I practically snarled the introduction. "And I want to know what your best friend did to mine."
I glared at her, undaunted and annoyed. “Alright, Marina.” I drawled, making sure to emphasize how much of my time she was wasting. “Sir Snots-A-Lot hasn’t talked to me in—“ I lazily pulled out my phone, once again taking more time than necessary. I clicked my tongue a few times, doing the math. “—roughly seventeen hours. This morning he moped around and mumbled he was going to the washroom. That’s the best I can do for you.”
He was mocking me. The lazy bastard was actually mocking me.
"Yeah, right," I snarled, crossing my arms. "Very believable. I'm guessing that you're going to argue with me if I accuse him of assaulting her?"
It was the only thing I could think of to make her this upset. Romeo had harassed or assaulted her—badly.
I couldn’t stifle my laughter any longer. “Romeo? As in Montague?” I shook my head, trying to quell the laughter erupting from my lips. “I’ve seen Romeo fall for quite a few girls over the past nine years. He’d be more likely to jump off a bridge for Juliet than lay an unwanted hand on her.” I snorted, still amused.
I was fuming by now. If looks could kill, Mercutio would be long dead by now.
“It’s the only thing that could accept her this badly, goddammit.” A disdainful, disgusted look crossed my face as I looked him up and down. “I can tell you’re not particularly concerned about the state of your friend. Apparently, Montagues are even more heartless than I thought.”
(Omg notebook just deleted a full paragraph I typed)
Ugh I hate it when that happens ):
I shifted my stance, irritated now. Marina, a Capulet, had the audacity to walk over here and not only accuse my best friend of assaulting someone, but then to say I didn’t care for him. “No one. No one. Has stuck by Romeo as long as I have. Don’t ever say I don’t care for my best friend. Do you want to talk to him? Is that it?” I glowered at her, taking a threatening step over. “Or is it that you just want to see him cry? Take advantage of him just like Juliet probably did.” I sneered.
I shoved him right back, eyes burning as my rage flared. “Don’t you dare say that about my friend,” I spat, voice dripping venom. “Don’t you fucking dare. What the fuck did she do to ‘take advantage of him’? And end up in her current state? Bullshit.”
“It’s probably whatever she’s been texting him about!” I growled, my muscles tensing in preparation for a fight. “Upset that your friend finally grew a conscious?” I hissed grew gritted teeth, more than ready to punch the Capulet trash in front of me.
“Texting him?” I scoffed, rolling my eyes. “Bitch, when? I know Juliet, and she’d never stoop so low as to text Romeo Montague. And, for your information, she has more of a conscience than you ever will.”
“You know what? I tried to be nice. But you absolute shitbag Capulets can’t seem to get the message!” I braced myself to punch Marina, but halted right before attack at the sound of my name being called.
“Mercutio, don’t.” Rounding the corner was the dumbass in question, Romeo Montague. The teen looked even worse now than he did a couple minutes ago. His eyes were rimmed red, and his face red and blotchy. He cradled his cast with his uninjured arm, leaving the mess of roses on bright display as he glared st me.
“Romeo, for fuck’s sake. Just go back to the washroom. I’ll be there in a minute.” I hissed, shooting him a dirty look for his terrible timing.
I completely ignored Romeo, who looked more awful than usual, rounding on Mercutio. “You want to do this here?” I demanded, forcing him to look back at me. “Right fucking here?” I hadn’t been this furious, this enraged, in a long, long time.
I looked between Romeo and Marina. From Marina’s beady little eyes to the large pleading ones of my best friend. “I’d kick your ass anytime, Capulet.” I spat viscously before backing down. “But I don’t abandon my best friend when he needs me. Don’t sweat it. I’ll reserve you a nice left hook for the next time we meet.”
I didn’t stop to think, didn’t bother second-guessing myself before I rushed forward and drove my fist into his face. Then, wiping my hands on my leggings, I growled a warning in the direction of Romeo, turned, and made for the doors.
“Coward!” A slew of curses escaped my lips as I dashed after Marina, fury blazing through my veins. She slammed her fist right into my cheekbone. It hurt like hell. There was no way she was getting out of this without a fightly. I simply heard Romeo yelling for me to stop, running after me at a slower pace due to his injuries.
I whirled around to face him, fists clenched. "Oh, I'm the coward?" I yelled, taunted. "Look, I don't know what your stupid friend did to Juliet, but whatever it was, he fucked up bad. I'm sorry if I didn't want to sit back and do nothing."
“You want to know what he did so bad? Ask him! Are you that fucking dense!? He’s right here!” I grabbed Romeo, nudging him in between Marina and I. He looked frazzled, and a bit frantic now.
“W-What do you mean? Is Juliet okay?” The color drained out of his face. “Can I see her? Where is she? Is she—“ I cut Romeo off, starting to tug him backwards.
“Never mind.” I growled quietly, making it my personal mission to keep Romeo away from away and all Capulets.
"Don't pretend like you actually care," I snapped at Romeo, pushing straight past his stupid friend and shoving him back against the lockers. "What the hell did you do to her??" My fist still throbbed from the force with which I'd driven it into Mercutio's face, but I would gladly give 'lover boy' the same treatment, if not worse.
As furious as I was, I backed off a little, letting Romeo fight his own battles. Or, I assumed he would fight. At the moment as was staring back at Marina, cradling his cast. “Please, just let me see her. Is she upset? What happened?” He was frantically mumbling. If his parents could see this they’d have him killed. Groveling at the feet of a Capulet in order to see another Capulet? I waited silently, ready to step in as soon as I was needed.
I stared him down, disgust contorting my features. He was downright pathetic, a lowly, lying snake who had somehow managed to hurt my miracle of a best friend. "I hope you feel really good about whatever you did to her," I snarled, releasing him and stepping away. "Because you are going to pay for it. I will personally drag your sorry ass to hell to see it done."
Shooting one last glare at Mercutio, I turned and walked away, slamming the front doors shut behind me.
“Fuck! Fuck! Mercutio, I-I… I messed up! I didn’t mean to… God what if she tried to—“ Romeo burst into tears. Again. In the middle of the hallway. I watched him frantically pull out his phone. “I have to call her.” He mumbled feverishly, taking a step back after I tried to take away his phone.
“Romeo…” I massaged my temples in frustration. “You’re losing you’re mind, dude. You need to calm down. Hand me the phone.” I outstretched my hand, trying to coax him into giving it up. But instead he shushed me, the phone pressed close against his ear while it rang.
Juliet's POV:
A few minutes later, Marina stormed back to us, hands balled into tight fists. "I am going to kill him," she hissed, driving her fists into the wall. "That filthy son of a bitch—" Her actions jarred me from the heavy fog that had been creeping over me, causing me to jump to my feet and grab hold of her wrist.
Joe spoke before I could. "Who? What happened?" Marina's crystal eyes darkened dangerously. "Mercutio and Romeo Montague. I am going to rip them to shreds." My own eyes widened perceptibly. "What did you do?" I breathed, barely stopping the fear from leaking into my voice.
"Tried to squeeze information from Mercutio about what his dumbass friend did to you. Punched him. Then Montague got there and started panicking, pretending like he—" She was cut off by a loud ringtone, coming from my pocket. I fumbled for my phone, and when I saw the name on the screen, my blood turned to ice.
Romeo. Oh god. Oh my god—
My face went white.
"Who is it??" Joe demanded, eyes flooding with worry. I barely managed to shove my phone back into my pocket without dropping it, pressing my violently shaking hands to my mouth. "Angelo," I lied, and everyone went still.
I didn’t mean to upset Juliet. And now I had no idea where she was. She wouldn’t answer the phone. And now, Mercutio was dragging me off to the back of the school to get fresh air. I’m pretty sure he just doesn’t want Benvolio to catch me crying, but that was the least of my worries at the moment. I texted Juliet as we walked, hoping I could at least get a read. Some vague acknowledgment that she was okay.
ROMEO: I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. Are you safe right now? You don’t have to respond. Please, just open this so I can see the read label.
"Shit," Marina breathed, dragging a hand through her dirty blonde hair. "Shit."
"At least tell us what happened," Joe pleaded, to which I shook my head. "I—I can't. I've already told Mari too much—He'd actually kill me if he found out—" It wasn't fair of me, to be putting them through this. I was weak, a pathetic coward. I should be able to hold my own.
In my pocket, my phone buzzed, which only served to heighten my anxiety.
(skip to English or something? Maybe Romeo and Juliet have that class alone?)
I was the first one there. Pacing around the room while waiting for Juliet. I deflected one or two concerned glances from our teacher and continued to prowl around. Juliet hadn’t left, right? My worst fear was that she had hurt hurt self because of me. Hell, she hadn’t even read my message! The whole situation drive me off the wall.
It had been about an hour since the incident with Marina and Mercutio, since the phone call from Romeo, and I was still shaken to the core.
Firstly, Romeo was still actually alive.
Second, Marina had tried to confront him.
And third, he'd called me. In front of everyone outside.
I had been dreading English class since first bell, and now that it was looming, I was seriously considering skipping. But if Angelo found out……. I stood outside the classroom for five full minutes before I took a deep breath and entered.
