I'll Be Your Juliet

(FYI: This is a prologue to “Not Some Juliet” available to read on my profile! :) Both are standalone as well.)

The Olveras and the Bentlys hate each other. That’s just a fact. It has always been that way and it will always be that way.

The day I met Ben Bently that all changed.

My name is Julia Olvera, if you didn’t already know. This is a story, my story, the story of how the 99 Years feud in Amerigo ended.

It all began on a warm fall afternoon. I was walking down to Andre’s General Store to get a few ingredients dad had forgotten to buy for dinner. Ever since my mom left he’s always forgotten a thing or two when he went shopping. He had never learned to cook, but he said he was trying to for me. It was the least I could do to pick up groceries later in the evening, even if the only open shop was on the Bently’s side of town. 

Looking back, the neighborhood I was in probably contributed to the events about to take place and everything that followed. Can’t say I regret it, but I can't say I would do everything the same again if given the chance. 

A warm autumn breeze danced around me as I walked downtown in the setting sun. The air was clear, and a field of grass and flowers flowed like a roaring sea to my left while a busy street surged like a rushing stream to my right. That’s part of what I loved so much about Amerigo, my hometown, the constant contrast. Unfortunately, that contrast was also present in the town’s two founding families. One rich still, one fallen into poverty and ruin. Each one blamed the other for every single one of their problems.

I stepped on a crunchy leaf and my mind wandered to reviewing for the chemistry test I had the next day. Hydrogen, Helium, then Lithium… 

I suddenly found myself in front of Andre’s. The automatic doors opened and I was hit with a cool breeze and the smell of fresh produce and flowers. I walked in, taking in the familiar smell, when I accidentally ran into someone.

“Watch it, red.” A boy with brunet hair and dark brown eyes stared down at me. He glanced at me for a second, looked away, and then immediately looked back at me. 

He was doing a double-take, as they would say in the movies. He looked somewhat familiar, but I couldn’t quite place him in my memory. 

“Ben! What’s the holdup?” A boy's voice inquired from the other aisle. 

“Just a second!” The boy in front of me, Ben, replied to them as he continued to stare at me. 

Oh no. How could I be so stupid?! This is Ben Bently! That’s how I recognize him. In a panic I tried to hurry forward, but Ben had to get in my way. 

“How’re you doing?” He asked, leaned cooly against the wall with a grin on his face. 

I rolled my eyes, “I’m sure that line works every time. Now if you don’t mind, I have shopping to get to.” I pushed past him and went straight for the tomatoes. 

I managed to grab all my items without being bothered and even checked out before Ben decided to shoot another shot at me. He was used to getting what he wanted, I could tell that much. 

I walked out of the store and made it halfway down the street before I could hear them behind me. Ben was by my side a few seconds later with a smirk and haughty demeanor. Some of his friends trailed behind him eager to see the events that would unfold. I held my shopping bag tighter and fidgeted with the handle.

“Whaddya say, you, me, Ferris wheel? The county fair is in town.“ Ben smiled at me and winked. 

It was pathetic, really. It took everything in me not to laugh. This idiot had no idea who he was talking to. Mostly, I was shocked. Outwardly, I remained calm. My internal dialogue wasn’t so nonchalant, though. Wait, what?! Excuse me, no way Ben Bently, the son of my family’s worst enemy, was trying to ask me out on a date. He was smiling like he was absolutely sure I would say yes, and since I didn’t say yes the first time I’d say yes the second time. This annoyed me greatly.

I looked him up and down, I couldn't believe he really had no idea who I was. “No.”

He was obviously taken aback by this, and his brow furrowed while his friends snickered. Ben Bently (What a pretentious name.) is what his Mom would refer to as a ladies man and what his exes would refer to as a player. Wherever he was he walked around like he owned the place, and he might’ve, his family was so rich and well-known in this small town. Nobody could ever say anything to him that hurt his ego. At least that’s what I used to think.

“What? Cmon, it’s one date.” He was practically begging. He even managed some form of puppy eyes to try to get me to give in. It was hilarious. 

“If it’s one date why does it matter if I go with you or not?” I said with a smirk, hands on my hips. His friends laughed.

His cheeks turned red and he said with a huff, trying to win back his cool and collected attitude, “Fine, then. But don’t come running back to me if you change your mind, Red.” He sauntered away, but no amount of sauntering would erase the fact that I had hurt his pride.

I smiled to myself. I had a feeling mama would be proud of me for rejecting him.

The next few days business proceeded as usual. As taken aback as I was by Ben’s advances toward me, I knew they were only because he didn’t know of my last name. I resolved to forget the whole thing, and never told anyone, not even my friends about what had happened. 

But over the next few weeks I noticed a change in Ben’s behavior toward me at school. I had just transferred there that year, and only because I needed a more pretentious school on my college applications. Previously I had been a nobody, but now I was the girl who had rejected him. He was surprisingly kind to me. He went out of his way to hold doors, always seemed to pay attention whenever I answered a question in class, and was soon even asking around school about me. 

Coming from anyone else, this behavior would have been worrisome or even stalkerish. But Ben Bently owned this town and everyone in it. He was never rejected, especially not by the new girl. He wanted to know who I was. Maybe figure out why I rejected him. If only he had known, maybe we wouldn’t have gotten into this mess. 

One day at lunch I was sitting alone at my usual bench. I didn’t have any friends in my lunch period and preferred to read while I ate anyway. Ben And his friends were in the center of the cafeteria, always making too much noise and too much commotion. 

This particular day I heard my name from inside the giant circle of social status. I looked up to see Ben staring at me. Someone finished whispering something in his ear, and milk squirted out of his nose. I couldn’t help but giggle. He looked back at me and stared dumbstruck like he just found out he had been mistaken for another baby in the hospital at birth. I put two and two together and figured he had finally learned my last name. For anyone else this might not have been such a big deal, but the Bentlys and Olveras have been fighting for too long for him to even pretend not to care.

After a few more minutes of lunchtime I walked into the hallway to grab something from my locker. I was reaching for one of my books when I heard footsteps to my left. To my annoyance and surprise I found Ben standing right there next to me.

“What are you doing here?!” I asked angrily. We weren’t supposed to talk, especially now that he knew who I was.

He looked down at me with those sweet puppy dog eyes, “Why didn’t you tell me, Red?”

I felt myself blush and tried to shake it off. I raised an eyebrow, “Why should I have? It was too funny to see you begging for an Olvera. Besides, every girl in this school could be your's in an instant. You’ll get over me fast.” I slammed my locker door shut and turned to walk away.

“But I don’t want every girl in this school, Red. I want you. I haven’t been able to get you out of my head since the day I first saw you. When you walked into Andre’s that night, I thought it was my chance. My one chance. But you turned me down, and now I understand why. I like you though, Red. And I don’t want to stop. Maybe that’s selfish of me, but how come our dang last names get in the way of us happening?”

I turned around and faced him. He was being genuine, I could see it on his face.

I stopped dead in my tracks. I didn’t want to admit it, and everything inside of me was telling me to walk up to him and slap him. But I liked him. I liked him a lot. I couldn’t give in so easily, though. My father would never forgive me, and he's all I have left. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, “We can’t be a thing. Our parents would kill us.”

He walked up to me so we were only inches apart. “Maybe so. But if I’ve learned anything from my parents, it’s not to give a crap about anyone else and do what makes you happy and everyone else mad.” 

I smiled. “In that case, wanna buy me a soda from the vending machine?”

That was the beginning of my first love.

We kept talking through the rest of lunch. After a confession like that, how couldn’t we? 

We continued like that, sneaking off and chatting every lunch period. We talked and got to know one another where no one could see. I learned his favorite color was red, and that his favorite animal was a horse. I also learned that he wishes his father paid him more attention and wishes his mother didn’t baby him so much. 

When I was with Ben all the terrible things in my life melted away. I was happy. Really, truly happy. I was with a person who made me laugh and genuinely cared about me despite my faults. I was falling for him like a late summer rain. I had jumped into a freefall without a parachute and was asking him to catch me. 

I should have known how it would end. 

Sometimes my brain would remind me of what would happen if we were ever found out. These thoughts scared me but I didn’t let them hold me back. I realized I never hated him, I hated the idea of him I was taught to hate. I had been so sure I could never stand someone like him, a Bently, but everything inside of me seemed to disagree with that. Besides, what our parents didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. After all, my mother left me. What did I care about her family’s stupid fued? 

After three weeks of our secret chats and emotional freefalls Ben took me out on my first real date. He took me to the county fair, of course. We felt it was safe enough because it was the second to last day to the fair, the day nobody ever goes.

I won him a teddy bear and he beat me at ring toss. We laughed and played and bought each other snacks. It was nearing dusk when Ben asked me,

“Want to ride on the Ferris wheel?”

“Lead the way.” I replied with a smile and an outstretched hand. 

Ben grabbed my head and led me to the ride. We sat down next to each other, Ben letting me on first with a polite, “M’lady.”

I looked out across the town I had lived in my whole life and contemplated why I had to hide from it. I suppose Ben was doing the same, because he asked me, 

“How’d we get here, Red? Having to date in secret, because of some stupid fued?” His face was serious. 

I giggled even though it wasn’t anything to laugh about, “Its not just some stupid fued. It's gone on for 99 years, literally since the founding of this town. It's been on for generations.”

“Yeah, but for what?” He seemed annoyed. Not at me but at the world. 

“Easy for you to say. Your family got the rights to the town. You have everything. We lost everything.”

“Your family were immigrants. My family wasn’t.”

I hit him in the shoulder, “My family built half this town, same as yours! In case you were too dumb to notice, your family must have immigrated over here at some point to. This is the problem with you Bently’s, you think you’re better than everyone else.”

He shifted to the side to face me, “Oh, us Bently’s are the problem? Well, your uncle killed my uncle! Not to mention all the times you’ve sabotaged us in the name of revenge.” 

“Well, maybe it was well-deserved! Or maybe it was overboard, I don’t even know, really. It's not like I even care! I only hate you Bentlys because my mother hates you, and I hate her for leaving me because of you!” I was screaming and was taken aback by my own words. I had never admitted that out loud before. 

“Hey hey hey. It's alright. Calm down, deep breaths,” Ben put his arm around me, “Stop talking like that. It's not anyone’s fault but hers for leaving, which was a terrible thing to do, by the way. Listen, I don’t give a crap about who owns this town or what our great grandparents were fighting about. I would give up everything if it meant being with you.”

I sighed, “You might have to. My family won’t forgive yours, your family is too stuck up to apologize. Besides, it's not like my family is blameless either. We have exacted ‘revenge’ far too many times for that. I can’t wait to be free of this town, but at the same time it’ll be hard to leave.”

“I get that.” 

We stared out into the sunset. I rested my head on Ben’s shoulder.

“I don’t want to do this without you.”

“Me either.”

The ride ended and Ben helped me out of my seat. It was closing time, and we started walking to the exit.  

Ben smiled at me and ran a hand through his silky brunet hair, one of my favorite of his quirks, “What a day.”

I looked at him and laughed. I held his hand as we walked across the parking lot.

That was the moment I knew that I loved him. Still, I kept getting an uneasy feeling in my stomach. I thought to myself, Hm. Must just be butterflies.