Allison
"Who would have thought, Allison Clark ditching class with none other than Chaz Carter." Ryan says, gripping the steering wheel.
Ryan hasn't been able to stop laughing over the fact Chaz and I ditched English yesterday. Mostly just the fact that I willingly left school with Chaz. I, Alison Clark ditched class with the school's bad boy. Something I thought I would never do in a million years.
"Please don't remind me." I mutter, leaning my head against the window. "The fact that he's coming over to my house today to work on it just makes it worse."
Ryan laughs again. "At least he's actually contributing. But Romeo and Juliet?! Your luck couldn't be any worse, Allison."
"Tell me about it." I sigh. "I even tried talking to Mrs. Simon to see if she had any other extra books but she didn't."
"Well," Ryan says as he pulls into my driveway. "Have fun with Chaz. Call me if you need saving." He adds with a wink.
"Expect many calls from me then," I tell him as I get out of his Land Rover.
As soon as I get inside my house, I check the time. Chaz should be here any minute, but knowing him, he would show up much later than he had said. I was just glad my parents were still at work. The last thing I would want to do right now is have Chaz meet my parents. I pace back and forth in my room, trying to keep myself busy until I hear a knock at the door.
I open the door to see Chaz leaning against the door frame in his signature leather jacket and faded jeans.
"Ready to work on this project, partner?"
I can already tell it's going to be a log day.
"More than ever." I mutter.
***
"So I was thinking we should do the most famous scene in the book." Chaz says as he makes his way over to my couch and kicks his feet up on the coffee table. "Simons will go crazy over it."
"But that would be so unoriginal, she loves creative ideas." I tell him as I push his feet off and take a seat on the coffee table.
"What are you, her best friend?" He raises his eyebrows at me.
"Well I know her well enough to know she always loves my work."
"I'm sure she likes mine better." He says, leaning back onto the couch. "You can even call her up and ask her, I'm sure you have her number."
I roll my eyes at him. "I don't have time for your comments."
"Do you know how rich I would be if I got a dollar every time you rolled your eyes at me?"
I clench my teeth. "You'd be a millionaire, Chaz. Now can we please get some work done?" I pull out a notebook and pen.
"The most famous scene in the book, act two." Chaz crosses one leg over the other. "The importance of the scene is that Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time after the Capulet party, now knowing their families are enemies. Romeo claims that Juliet is the sun, basically stating she is his happiness. She also does not want to believe that Romeo is her enemy, which is the main plot of the entire play. But, what many people don't know is that this scene, along with the other important scenes in the play usually take place either in the early morning or late at night for the entire play to be able to take place in only four days."
I stare at Chaz, not knowing what to say. I had underestimated him and assumed he hadn't read a single page of the book. He knew way more than I believed. I started to feel guilty, knowing I had judged him to be much less intelligent.
"You read Romeo and Juliet?" I ask him.
"It was assigned in the ninth grade." He says as if it's obvious.
Just as I'm about to say something, my phone vibrates in my hand. I glance down at it I see I have a text from Ryan.
If you need saving I'm just 5 minutes away!
I smile slightly before puting my phone back down.
"Who's Ryan?" Chaz asks with an unreadable look on his face.
I look up at him wondering why he even cared. Maybe he's just shocked I actually have a friend.
"Why does it even matter?" I question him.
He stares at my blank notebook. "Did you even write down anything I said, Clark? Or was what I said too intelligent for your brain to process?"
And just like that Chaz was back to his annoying self. I shouldn't be surprised.
I pull out the book we got from the library and flip through the pages, searching for the scene. Why did we have to do this scene? I'd rather not have to act out confessing my love to Chaz Carter. Especially in front of our entire class. Why couldn't we do the scene where Mercutio dies? That would have been a lot more enjoyable, especially having Chaz play Mercutio. But I'd rather just go with his idea so we can get this done faster.
"Okay," I say once I find the page. "Let's start acting this out."
Chaz turns to the page as well. I clear my throat before speaking.
"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father-"
"Hold up, hold up." Chaz raises his hand interrupting. "Who says you get to be Juliet?"
I stare at him. "Are you serious?"
Why does he have to make everything so difficult? Does it really matter if I play Juliet instead of him? I swear he's just doing this to irritate me.
"Yeah, I am serious." He says. "Why can't I play Juliet?"
"Well, considering I'm a girl it would make sense for me to play Juliet and for you to play Romeo."
You see, this is why it would have been a lot easier if we just did the scene where Mercutio dies. There are no girls whatsoever in that scene.
"Whoa, are you sexist, Clark?"
"What??" I ask, growing infuriated.
"Just because I'm a guy doesn't mean I can't play Juliet. I'm an independent man and can play any gender role, thank you very much."
"This is so ridiculous," I sigh. "Fine, do you want to play Juliet, Chaz?"
"Nah, I think I'm good playing Romeo." Chaz smirks.
I hate him more than words can describe.
"Okay fine." I manage to say through gritted teeth. "Let's take it from the top. O Romeo, Romeo!-"
"Wait," he interrupts once again.
"What now!" I ask.
"You know I always envisioned Romeo and Juliet to be Mexican. Try it again with a more Hispanic accent."
Okay, now he's just messing with me. He must find this hilarious while I just want to get this over with as soon as possible.
"What makes you think Romeo and Juliet are Mexican?"
He shakes his head. "First sexist, now you're racist too."
"Okay, well in the book it shows no indication of them being Mexican and they also aren't Mexican in the movies either."
"You see, this is exactly why Simons likes me better because I actually like to be creative, unlike you who likes to stick to the book. She would love it we added a little twist to it."
I contemplated it for a moment. Maybe he's actually right. Maybe she would like the creativity.
"Alright fine," I tell him.
Just as I'm about to start my lines again, Chaz interrupts. I'd be lying if I said I was surprised.
"You know it's getting late, I should probably get going." He says, getting up from the couch.
I furrow my eyebrows at him. "It's only five o' clock."
"But my mom's making Mac and cheese. Can't miss out on that." He winks.
"Chaz, we're not even close to being done." I say, following him to the front door. "We haven't even practiced our lines."
"We still have a few days and anyway we already have the importance of the scene. All we have to do is read some lines."
I sigh in defeat. "Alright, how about we run lines tomorrow then?"
"Oooh, no can do." He says as he leans against the wall.
"Wow let me guess," I say, putting a finger to my lip, pretending to think. "You're probably hooking up with some girl tomorrow, right? I bet you spend your days hooking up with random girls all the time."
He raises an eyebrow, amused. "How'd you know?"
Even though I know he's just being sarcastic I'm sure he does hook up with girls at school all the time. They basically throw themselves at him so it's easy bait. But it's clearly all for his looks. Yeah, so maybe I learned he's actually bright but that took years for me to find out. I've known the guy since the sixth grade, not like he's ever acknowledged me since just a few days ago. Anyways I doubt anyone would care if he was smart. No one cares about that at our school. If they did I would be more popular than Chaz.
"Wednesday after school." I tell him. "You better be there because I need an A in English if I want to keep my GPA up and having a 89% isn't really helping-"
I stop once Chaz bursts into laughter. What's the guy's problem? Does he want to bomb this project?
"Y-you have a 89%?" He manages to say in between his laughing.
"I bet your grade isn't any better." I narrow my eyes at him.
"Actually," he grins. "I have a 100% in English."
Either I heard Chaz wrong or Mrs. Simon really does want to get in Chaz's pants.
"You've got to be kidding me. How do you have a perfect A?"
He runs his fingers through his hair all confident and hold out one finger. "Well first off I have creative and original ideas, unlike some people."
I try to not glare. He puts up his second finger.
"Second, remember that essay we were assigned the first week of school?"
Of course I remember that essay. The prompt was, 'If you could have one wish, what would it be?'. I chose world peace. I know, it's unoriginal and pretty cheesy but I didn't know what else to write about. I'm pretty content and happy with my life, at least I was when I wrote that essay. If we were assigned that prompt now, I definitely would've made my wish to have a partner other than Chaz. I received a low B on that essay, which made my grade drop. It was our first grade of the year.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Mrs. Simons loved my essay." He gives me a mischievous look before continuing. "She gave me a perfect score on it."
"No way, what'd you write about?"
All of a sudden the curiosity kills me. What could Chaz Carter wish for that Mrs. Simons would love to read about? Knowing him, he obviously didn't write about world peace. His life seemed pretty nice, though. He's popular, everyone loves him. I couldn't imagine what he could want in life besides being able to fuck girls without getting them pregnant. And I know Simons would not enjoy reading that.
"If I told you, I'd have to kill you." Chaz winks before walking out the door.
***
Chaz
I unlock the front door to the apartment and enter, inhaling the aroma of my mother's cooking. She works at a restaurant so she's an amazing cook. Although because she's always cooking at work she doesn't cook at home often. Today is just one of the few days she decides to cook. I see her with oven mitts on, pulling a tray out of the oven. I walk over to her and kiss her cheek.
"Hey, Mom. How was work?"
She sets the tray on the counter and wipes her forehead with her arm. She looks up at me and smiles weakly.
"It was fine, Chaz. Where have you been? I know it shouldn't have taken this long at Dr. Burks office."
"Actually I was at my English partner's house working on this project. I went to his office right after."
So maybe I lied to Alison about leaving early to have my mom's Mac and cheese. It's not like I was going to tell her about why I was going to see Dr. Burks, and besides my mom actually was making macaroni so it's not like I was completely lying.
She raises an eyebrow at me curiously. "Who's this partner?"
I scratch the back of my neck, knowing what she's thinking. "Her name's Alison."
"Chaz-" she sighs.
"Don't worry Mom, alright?" I tell her seriously as I sit down at the kitchen table.
She gives me a concerned look but in just a few seconds her expression changes completely. A grin now replaces her previous frown.
"I have a surprise for you."
"What is it?" I ask as I furrow my eyebrows, wondering what it could be.
"Should I tell you now or wait until after dinner?" She asks eagerly, sitting across from me at the table.
I laugh. "The curiosity is killing me. Just tell me."
"Alright," she tells me as she digs through her purse. She pulls something out and hides it behind her back. "So you know that poetry slam house downtown?"
I nod slowly. When we first moved here, my mother and I would go out for walks downtown and we would sit outside of the poetry slam house. We could never afford to actually go inside. I used to be so fascinated by all the people that would perform there. They always seemed so full of life. I would always tell my mom how one day I wanted to perform there. Especially since during that time we were doing a poetry unit in school.
Her grin widens even more. "Well I know how well you are at writing and I was thinking you could read one of your poems there!" She finally reveals what's behind her back: two tickets to the poetry slam. "Wouldn't that be great? I would love to watch you read your poem to a crowd. I know they'll love it."
It sounds great, it really does. I have written quite a few poems. Some of them were for assignments. Usually my mother receives calls from my teachers about how well I am with poetry. Mainly because they're shocked I'm a poet since my looks don't match it. Everyone at school knows me as the bad boy. No one would ever guess I write well. I really appreciate my mom for getting the tickets.
The only concern I have is what if people from my school see me there? They would never look at me the same. Gossip spreads around my school like wildfire. Rumors would be spread instantly. What would people think when they find the school's bad ass is secretly a nerd that goes to poetry slams?
As if my mom can read my mind, she speaks up. "It's a small poetry slam, only people that buy tickets can attend since it's limited space. So it'll be the last place you'll find Nick and Hunter. Look Chaz, I know writing is your passion and I want you to pursue it, no matter what people think."
She's right. I'm so glad my mother is supportive of me. I grit my teeth, thinking of what my father would have said. He would probably have called me gay for going to a poetry slam.
"Alright Mom, we can go. Thanks for buying the tickets, it means a lot." I smile at her.
She claps her hands together, beaming. "Great! It'll be this Friday, so get your poem ready!"
So I'm going to a poetry slam. Probably the last thing you'd ever expect to hear about Chaz Carter, at least if you attended my school. But I'm actually pretty excited. What could possibly go wrong?
---
Soo I'm currently at work reading Shane Dawson's book and there's this really creepy old guy that keeps coming in and hitting on me (not that I really mind considering he gave me a big tip, go ahead call me a gold digger ;)) and I thought what better idea than to post an update to this story!
Hope you liked this chapter ❤️
Xoxo