Pure ≫ h.s. (Under Revision)

Chapter 18.

I unlock and open the door without looking through the peephole, met with a surprise instead of Louis.

Juliet stands on my doorstep with her bag over one shoulder, my backpack slung over the other. She holds a binder that is packed thick with paper, even slightly overflowing. My eyes move up and down the rest of her, seeing her shiny black hair has been pulled back into a ponytail. She's wearing blue skinny jeans, a black long-sleeved shirt, and a pair of thick-framed glasses are perched on her nose, beaten-up Converse shoes on her feet. I can see behind her glasses that she isn't wearing much makeup, if any at all. 

I clear my throat and cast my eyes down, figuring my staring was uncomfortable for her.

"Hey, Juliet," I say, my mother's words magically popping back into my head. 

What would she do if she came home right now and saw Juliet standing on our doorstep? I'm not positive I want to know.

"Hi, Harry." Juliet smiles. "I noticed you weren't at school today but I brought your bag to school with me since I thought you'd need it," she explains.

A small smile forms along my lips for a brief moment as I recall my leaving the bag at her house the day before, just so we'd have something to talk about today.

"Well, thank you for bringing it here afterward instead," I say, reaching for it as she holds it out to me.

"No problem. Oh! I also brought you tonight's English homework, as well as today's assignment from creative writing."

I watch as Juliet brings one of her knees up to balance the binder on it between her body and the door frame. Within two seconds, she's handing me the work. I mumble another thank you and take it.

Looking past her, I watch Louis park and get out of his car across the street. Shit. 

Without having seen Juliet before approaching the front drive of my house, Louis jogs towards the front door, immediately stopping at the sight of Juliet.

"Oh, hello, Louis." She greets him kindly.

I silently beg Louis to act calmly. Though my prayer goes almost unanswered when he spits out a reply of, "Juliet," with a curt nod, his eyes narrowed.

"Well, I best be going then. If you feel any better later, Harry, and need help understanding the point of the creative writing assignment, you can come on over and I'll be happy to explain," Juliet offers as she turns my way.

"Sounds great, I appreciate it, Juliet."

She nods and pivots on her heel, barely looking Louis' way as her shoulders slump, heading for her house just down the way. Once she's out of earshot, Louis pushes me back inside the house by the shoulders and slams the door shut behind us. I look down at my friend, who I realize now is much shorter than me, to see him sporting an angry frown.

"What?" I ask.

"What? All you have to ask me is what?" He exclaims. "I should be asking you what Juliet Pierce was doing here!"

"She was giving me some school work she picked up for me and giving me back my bag, so calm down, Louis," I snap, exhausted by his attitude towards Juliet.

He scoffs. "Well, I asked Liam to get me your work from English, but he said somebody else already grabbed it for you. I didn't expect it to be her of all people, though! I thought maybe your Mum had done it! And why the hell did she have your backpack?" Louis's anger continues, starting to piss me off.

"Because I left it at her house last night, and what's the big deal if she got me some of my work? I don't understand why you hate Juliet, Louis. She's nice! She's nice enough to say hello kindly to an ass like you and then ignore the fact that you spit out her name in greeting like it's poison on your tongue!" I was shouting now, too.

"Nobody will ever understand why I hate Juliet, okay? Not you, not Liam, not Niall, no one!"

"Well maybe if you explained it to me like you have Liam and Niall, I'd understand as much as I could!"

"Fine, you wanna know why? I'll tell you why Harry. I hate her because she's a dangerous murderer! She killed her father, for God's sake! Do you realize how scary that is for a fourteen-year-old boy to see? I was terrified for my safety and my family's because of her!" Louis explains fiercely.

"You don't know she killed her father, Louis, you don't," I defend Juliet. 

My mother was right, I am constantly defending her.

"Yes, I do! Who do you think called for the paramedics in the first place? Me!" Louis cries out, beating the palms of his hands against his chest.

I stop short, surprised. "What are you talking about?" I ask, returning to a normal tone of voice, chest rising and falling rapidly from being so worked up before.

I can see tears welling up in Louis's eyes, but he blinks them away. Louis takes a deep breath before saying, "Juliet and I used to be friends, you know that."

Correction, I'd always had my suspicions, I want to say, but keep my mouth shut, waiting patiently for him to continue.

"Every Friday night, I went to her house for a movie night. She went upstairs to get a blanket for me, and I heard the gunshot, Harry. By the time I got upstairs and found Callan and her, it was too late."