Something Like Romeo and Juliet

Chapter 2

While he was distracted, I peered at my partner closely. He didn't look like a genius, his whole outfit untidy and a binder that was being held together by threads. Not the best development in this nightmare of a class, but it was what it was.

He turned to me. "Hey."

"Oh, hi. Um, I'm Zara."

"Jonathan," he responded, everything about his tone uninterested.

I balled my fists for a second under my desk. Why did I always get the most brain dead partners in the universe?

He made a motion towards the front of the room. "So, we should probably go get our assignment."

"Right. Right, let's do that."

I walked stiffly to Miss Robinson's desk at the head of the room, not looking back to see if he was following. I stood in front of the desk, gripping the rounded edges until my knuckles turned white, while Jonathan stood by with his hands in his pockets and eyes on the ceiling.

Miss Robinson glanced at us before taking the packet from the top of the stack and handing it to me.

"Romeo and Juliet," she read from the heading. "Lucky you. I have lots of online resources on it if you need it."

"Thanks," I replied flatly, not bothering to make an attempt to smile. I didn't much care what play we had to read. It was Shakspeare, and that was about as much information that was needed.

Jonathan caught up with me back at our desks.

"Hey, Romeo and Juliet. That's a good one, really easy."

I looked at him incredulously. "You've read it?"

He nodded as he flipped through the pages of the packet. "When I took this class last year."

"Why would you sign up for it again?"

"Failed it last time," he replied, looking completely unconcerned about this fact.

My prospects of having any kind of help from my partner on this project were looking worse and worse. "Why'd you fail it if it's so easy?"

Jonathan set down the packet. "I said Romeo and Juliet was easy, not every play Shakespeare thought up. The guy wrote 37 plays in his life, plus like a million sonnets. And anyway, I slacked off."

"Thirty seven plays, huh?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. "Looks like you picked up at least some of the curriculum last year."

He shrugged and didn't respond. "Okay, so, we shouldn't use any of the teacher's websites, those are all trash. They never interpret the play right and just try to make all the translations G-rated."

I took a moment to look up at him incredulously. "Um, Romeo and Juliet was written in, like, the 1500s. How mature of content can it have?"

Jonathan smirked a little and combed his fingers through his mess of dark hair. "Wait till Act 2, Scene 4," he said. "Mercutio."

"What's a Mercutio?"

"You're kidding," he exclaimed, his voice losing its apathy by the minute. "Mercutio, Romeo's best friend, considered one of the most extraordinary characters ever created by Shakespeare?"

I studied him with narrowed eyes. Who was this boy?

"I'm sorry, have you memorized this whole play?"

Jonathan looked quickly back down at the packet, skimming over the same pages over again. "Everyone knows Romeo and Juliet," he responded, his voice flat and emotionless once again.

I tipped my head slightly, surprised at this new development. My partner was clearly not the brain dead slacker I'd hastily decided him to be, but instead some kind of Shakespearean genius. So much for being a good judge of character.

The rest of class was uninteresting, with the two of us trying to come up with our reading schedule for the play. Or, should I say, me suggesting a schedule and Jonathan shrugging in noncommittal agreement. The bell rang, and I quickly scrambled to collect my stuff to get to Mr. Laren's class on time. I hurried out the door before stopping at the sound of my name.

"Hey! Zara!" Jonathan, holding out my Shakespeare notebook. "You forgot this."

"Oh, thanks!" I gasped hurriedly, grabbing it from him as I ran out the door.

"Bye!" I called, looking over my shoulder in time to see him turn his back to me. As my head began to whip back into place, I got one last glimpse of him raising his hand over his shoulder in goodbye.

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There are certain scenes in this book that I'm really happy with, and others not so much. This one's definitely not my favorite, but I'm publishing it anyway...

Just a PSA that this book is going to be completely appropriate, including the language, and if it gets any comments with bad words I'll make sure to delete them :) It's probably like PG at most.