Secondhand [UNDER RECONSTRUCTION]

Chapter Five

It was two weeks later, after Liam's water polo game, that I finally got to hold a decent conversation with my desk-mate that was longer than exchanged mutters of "Good morning". Well, mostly it was I who had grunted an almost inaudible greeting; Brian always spoke in that frustrating, I'm-holier-than-thou polite tone.

We were halfway through English Literature when Ms Delphine announced that we were going to watch the 1968 Romeo and Juliet film directed by Franco Zefferelli.

Oh joy, it was Romeo and Juliet was my favorite play by William Shakespeare, not that I would ever admit that.

Brian, who had been hanging on to every word in Ms Delphine's class, raised his hand. "But Ms Delphine, isn't that the movie which caused a controversy over Olivia Hussey's nude scene?"

The class chuckled. Ms Delphine replied, "Brian, we won't be watching the whole film, just Act Three Scene 1, the fight in which Mercutio dies."

From the back row, Liam mock-whispered to his friends, "That's why we wanna watch it."

"Juliet in the movie was so damn freaking hot," Seth pointed out.

Swiveling around in my seat, I smiled sweetly over at Seth. "We don't want you falling for a sixty-year-old woman now, do we?" I rolled my eyes.

"Are you serious, Elena?" Seth's jaw dropped and his features scrunged into a frown. "Well, I'd rather date you, 'cos you're so damn beauti -"

Liam's hand clasped on Seth's shoulder forcefully, the bones on his fingers protruding out. He growled out, "Seth Kingston, I dare you to complete that sentence."

"Dude, chill, it's not as if I want to bang your girlfriend or anything, even though she's -"

The lines beside his eyes tightened as Liam opened his mouth.

"That's enough, boys, calm down. Get a grip on your testosterone levels," Ms Delphine clapped her hands. She went back to her computer and started to insert in the CD-Rom.

"Boys and their immature banter." Someone muttered cynically beside me.

"Look Brian, aren't you a boy too?" I snapped. Why couldn't he just mind his own business?

"Yeah, but at least I'm being much more mature than they are," he retorted, sending me a very bored expression.

"What would you know, huh? You're such a nerd," I scoffed, glaring straight into his eyes. He responded with a cool steady gaze.

Fine, two can play at this staring contest. And I wouldn't lose.

But oh, why were his eyes the color of a stormy cloud?

Shut up, brain.

"Liam just doesn't seem like the kind of guy you'd be with," he said after a few moments.

Oh Brian, why do your eyes look like Tinkerbell had sprinkled gold dust in them?

"What kind of a guy then?" I countered. "A nerd?"

He started, "No, but just -"

The classroom became dark suddenly, because Ms Delphine had switched off the lights and it gave me the excuse to look away from Brian's intense gaze.

"Watch carefully, class, because I'll be asking some questions after this scene," Ms Delphine announced, once again clapping her hands to get our attention. The class' chatter ceased.

Ms Delphine clicked the 'play' button on the movie player, and the movie started. The scene unfolded, showing a wiry, shrewd-looking Mercutio facing a very cattish King of Cats, Tybalt.