Romeo and Juliet

“Please, come into my office.”

“Yes, Prince- Principal Escalus,” Juliet couldn’t keep the tremor out of her voice as she toyed with the bottom of her plaid skirt and entered the unfamiliar office. She had been in here a few times seeing as the Academy was like a second home to her. She’d been enrolled in Kindergarten before she could even tie her school uniform tie or shiny black shoes. She sat on the hard plastic chair across from the Principal’s oak desk.

“I hope you are having a good morning,” Principal Escalus said, although Juliet knew that he hoped no such thing. There was no warmth to his voice. No familiarity. She might as well have been a stranger. Not a girl he had known for eight years. He sat down behind his heavy oak table with careful, neat movements. “Unfortunately, I have heard from several sources that you are having trouble following the rules.” He tapped a stack of white papers and yellow folders with a thick, meaty finger and leaned forward. His voice grew quieter.

“Without rules, Juliet, we are nothing more than animals. And our rules were clearly outlined in the contract you and your parents signed when you enrolled in our wonderful Fair Verona Academy. The contract you have signed every year since. Now, I have had to call your parents.” He leaned back just as Juliet shrank in her seat and paused, as though remembering that Juliet was only a child. “Before they come in, is there anything you wish to tell me?”

Juliet dropped her head so that her hair fell across her heavy-lidded eyes. “No,” she mumbled.

Her thoughts raced as she tried to figure out who would have snitched. Benvolio. It had to be. Romeo’s cousin and captain of the Lacrosse team at their school. Ben was always sticking his nose in their business, lecturing and lurking.

“Very well.” The Principal sighed and made a gesture to the long window that faced the reception.

When Juliet’s parents entered the expansive room lined with bookcases and framed awards, they wouldn’t look at her. Or maybe they simply couldn’t. Mrs. Capulet was a thin, severe woman with a short peroxide bob and Mr. Capulet looked as though he had been athletic in another decade but now sported a small gut and trimmed goatee. They both sat on either side of Juliet, the chair creaking under their adult weights, and awaited the dark news.

“Suspension?!” Her father’s face turned almost immediately red. He began to ramble the same way he did when someone at work misplaced an invoice or mistyped an email. “Juliet is a good girl. She’s a great student, straight-A student, you couldn’t find a more studious child. You simply can’t suspend her. Not when she hasn’t done anything. Tell me! What has she actually done?”

“Beside, you are well aware of the tuition we pay for our daughter to attend this Academy,” Mrs. Capulet cut in, a sneer forming on her blemish-free skin. She stretched her thin neck and jutted her sharp jaw. “She has attended for years. We have a vested interest in her education, as we have demonstrated with our generous donations.”

Principal Escalus pressed his lips tightly together.

“I understand your position. And we have been very grateful for your generous contributions. However, the Academy’s reputation is on the line here. Three students are in hospital. One boy has a concussion. Another a broken leg.”

“Yes,” Mrs. Capulet sat up straighter, “we have heard about this matter. The Mercutio boy. Are you suggesting Juliet be held to account for her cousin’s actions?”

“Besides, hasn’t Tybalt received consequences enough?” As though catching himself, Juliet’s father shook his head. “Anyway, in time I believe it will be found that he acted in self defense.”

“The investigation is on going.” Principal Escalus paused to turn his sharp gaze to Juliet. “We have reason to believe that Juliet is at the center of all of this,” he paused as though considering how to put it most delicately, “drama, shall we say. Our Guidance Counselor, Mrs. Lawrence is here to shed some light on the situation.”

Principal Escalus nodded at the glass window behind Juliet. The door opened and pious and sweet Mrs. Lawrence entered with a somber expression. Traitor, Juliet thought darkly while shooting the Guidance Counselor a glare.

“What do you know?” Juliet muttered under breath as Mrs. Lawrence sat down to the side of the Principal.

“Juliet,” Mrs. Lawrence began, twisting a cross at her neck, “The school nurse has informed me recently of your relationship with Romeo, a boy attending a nearby school.”

“The Montague?” Mr. Capulet cried.

Another glare. Mrs. Lawrence faltered and shot the Principal a weak look of despair.

“Continue, please, Mrs. Lawrence.”

“I know him and his family fairly well. Romeo is a sweet boy, very idealistic. But also quick to temper. He has been linked to the violence occurring lately.” At this, Mrs. Lawrence turned to the Capulets. “He is also extremely passionate about your daughter.”

Juliet shrank as her parents tutted and shook their heads.

“Now, is it true, Juliet, that you instructed Romeo to…“ Principal Escalus paused to rile through the papers on his desk. “Let me see here, yes, that was it. ‘Deny your father and refuse your name.’”

“Ben is a liar!” Juliet exploded. “You can’t believe a word he says.”

Her parents shared a look. Juliet shrank further in the hard plastic chair. She wished it could swallow her up. Or that she could melt into it.

“Principal Escalus, we are starting to see your position…” Mrs. Capulet said in a restrained tone, her neck muscles flexing while her forehead stayed frozen.

“If I may,” Mrs. Lawrence continued with a raised hand, “I believe one of the most egregious occurrences was only after Par— after the third injured student was discovered. He claimed to have found Juliet with her boyfriend giving each other tattoos. When he confronted Juliet’s boyfriend, Romeo, he was brutally attacked.”

“Tattoos?” Mr. Capulet sputtered. “Juliet is thirteen. She can’t have a tattoo.”

Mrs. Capulet sighed deeply and looked over at Juliet for the first time since she had entered the room. “Go on then, where and what is it?”

Juliet lifted the hem of her plaid skirt to reveal the patchy black stars and dagger Romeo had tattooed on her thigh at the Tombs, a club for teens. Romeo had matching stars and a poison vial in the same spot, although his were done by an actual tattooer in Mantua. Mr. Capulet gasped and Mrs. Capulet let out a heavy sigh.

“What are our options? What do we do?”

“There is a wonderful equestrian boarding school on the East Coast. Several of our staff actually attended themselves. Port Ludwig Hall. ” He paused and then gave her parents a pointed look. “Remote. All girls.”

“It’ll be social suicide!” Juliet pulled herself out of the chair and jumped to her feet. “Mom, dad, please. I barely have any friends here, as it is. I can’t leave for that horse girl freak zone.”

Mrs. Lawrence bristled. “Horses are incredible creatures with—”

“See! Mom, you can’t. Please. Dad!”

It didn’t matter. Juliet wondered if the tattoos had been the final straw or if they had walked into that room ready to hear the bad news. Ready to negotiate. Ready to send her off somewhere more convenient to save their good names. The hot tiles scalded her hands when she leaned back.

She wasn’t sure how she got to the pool. Only that her feet had carried her numb body away from the office while her parents continued to talk to the Principal. They would then head back to their estate on the outskirts of town and deliberate . The Academy had three pools but this one was the best. Outdoors. Fenced off and forbidden except when a lifeguard was on duty. Under the shinning blue sky which reflected on the ripples Juliet made with her big toe, white socks scrunched up beside her black shoes.

“Boy got your tongue?” A voice asked from behind her. Someone else had jumped the fence.

“I guess. Yeah,” Juliet answered without glancing up. “My boyfriend… we’re in trouble. I think we should run away together or… or something. I don’t know.”

An older girl with tumbling dark hair and fair skin collapsed down next to her. Juliet recognized her from the lunch hall but they had never spoken. The girl pulled her own black shoes and white socks off and dropped her feet into the cool water.

“Aren’t you a little young to have a boyfriend?” She gave Juliet a playful splash.

“Romeo doesn’t think so.” Juliet sniffed and looked side-ways at the girl. She reached down and brushed the droplets from her knees. “Who even are you?”

“I’m Rosaline,” the girl said with a concerned look. She had wide, expressive eyes that reflected the clouds. “And you’re Juliet. Everyone knows that. But do you mean the Romeo in my grade? Like three years older than you? The Montague?”

Juliet could only nod to all three questions, suddenly feeling very small, very stupid, and very, very young. Rosaline stared at her in expectant silence and Juliet swallowed painfully before she explained. “I’m being expelled because we got in some trouble together. He gave me a tattoo. He beat up my cousin and my ex… well, not really my ex but a guy who has a crush on me. Paris.”

“Beat them up how bad?”

“Hospital bad.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Juliet plunged her entire foot into the water with a splash. “So now I’m being suspended, maybe worse, and everyone is blaming me for it.”

“Listen,” Rosaline’s tone softened. She pulled out a pink scrunchy and wrestled her wild hair into a ponytail. Several strands bounced right back around her pretty face. “No boy worth dating would put you in this position. It doesn’t even sound like you did anything, right?”

“Well, he didn’t do anything wrong either.” Juliet pulled her feet in from the pool and her knees up to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them and sighed. “He only hurt Ty and Paris because he loves me. He was protecting us.”

Rosaline paused and brushed a lock of her dark hair behind a heavily pierced ear. “You know, I don’t say this to hurt you but… we were seeing each other. Romeo and me. Kinda fooling around. He said he loved me.” Her words came out short and fast in one rush of breath. “I just… I don’t know if he told you. This summer.”

“No,” Juliet retreated further into herself. “No, I met him at the Mixers Ball. At the start of this year.”

The clouds moved overhead and covered the bright sky. The clear blue of the pool turned murky. Juliet squeezed her eyes shut but still heard Rosaline take another breath.

“Yeah, so, like, a few days after I broke things off with him. That's actually why he went to the ball. To try to see me.”

Juliet’s head was spinning like the ripples of the pool had swarmed her mind. Like something was breaking the surface and scattering her thoughts. “You mean, you broke up with him and he immediately started dating me?”

“I guess so, yeah.”

The two sat by the pool for a little while longer, neither feeling an urge to break the silence. There wasn’t much more to say. Juliet swallowed again. Shook her head again. Rubbed her damp knees with her hot palms. Tugged at her plaid skirt when she saw the edge of her splotchy tattoos.

“I feel like an idiot.”

“Yeah, aren’t we all?" Rosaline seemed to relax at that, as though she had been expecting Juliet to want to fight her. “Especially when it comes to love.” In a quick movement, she slipped into the pool. She barely made a splash. Pushing loose, soaked strands away from her temple, she looked up at Juliet. “So, what are you going to do?”

“Go to the hospital. Apologize. Beg the Principal for another chance at the Academy. See a doctor about a tattoo.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Rosaline tipped back in the water, allowing her legs to rise to the surface. “Anything else?”

“Swear off boys until I’m in college?”

Rosaline let out a bark of laughter and smacked her palm of the water. “Good luck with that one. I'm trying my best at that, too. Easier said than done. Although, you know, there’s a lot to be said for good friendships.”

“Yeah. I haven’t got any.”

Rosaline grinned and Juliet could see why Romeo had fallen in love with her. “Well, consider yourself friended. You should join me. The water is so cool.”

Juliet turned back to the Academy. She thought of her mom and her dad sat in the Principal’s office. Thought of every stolen kiss and secret text with Romeo. Every time she had put her neck out for him. Every stupid plan and decision. How all she had ever really wanted was someone who understood her. Someone to talk to. As easily as she had talked to Rosaline just now. She dove in.