Juliet - Chapter 2

Ngl guys, I’m feeling a bit of Maid-sama vibes here! I mean why would Prince Charming go to study in an ordinary public school?

It wasn’t that funny of a joke, but it got a few chuckles. It’s because you guys keep laughing at Mr. Harrison’s lame jokes that he keeps making them! I tried to make it clear that I didn’t appreciate these jokes with a pout, but Mr. Harrison just smiled. Whether five years ago or now, he wasn’t past using lame jokes!

“Ah, Juliet. It’s been over a week since the semester started, but you haven’t signed up for any after-school activities yet. There’s no one better for after-school mentoring than you.”

Like he said, I was the only one free after school, and that meant I was the only one free to show Romeo around.

I bit down on my lip. This is probably Mr. Harrison’s way of getting back at me for not taking that English Literature class this semester.

Just wait, I’m not the same Juliet Holiday that was dragged on stage to be Kansas’s Juliet five years ago!

***

With first period over, it was time for Chemistry. It wasn’t on Abigail’s schedule, so she headed to French while I headed towards the science lab, located on the east side of the building. Wouldn’t you know it, Romeo was already there.

Veronica Adams was already in front of Romeo, happily smiling like a newly-minted barbie doll. I couldn’t stand to look at the prim and proper Miss Ravenwood, with her clothes seemingly cut straight out of a fashion magazine.

“She sure knows how to stand out,” Regina murmured, biting a pen in disapproval.

With her 30,000 instagram followers practically always on her heels outside school, Veronica was Ravenwood’s queen. That said, she didn’t necessarily know or approve of them.

“Why’d he leave Eton for Ravenwood?”

“Maybe he was kicked out after being caught selling cocaine or something, “ answered the out-of-the-box thinker Mindy as she pushed up her glasses.

“Kicked out? You’re kidding.”

“Why else would he come here?”

“You don’t think it’s the least bit weird to go halfway around the world because of drugs?” I replied with a contemptuous expression, to which Mindy lowered her voice:

“That’s why it’s so suspicious! Maybe there was a scandal that got out of hand… One so big he couldn’t go to any other school in England!”

“You’ve watched a bit too much Netflix. A model student like him wouldn’t mess with drugs.”

“It’s exactly those seemingly perfect guys who’re the scariest, with their pent up desires and all.”

“Don’t say baseless things like that! You’re just spreading rumors if there’s no evidence,” Regina couldn’t help but interject.

“But it’s suspicious, isn’t it? Why now of all times?”

“He must have a reason.”

If someone like me who hardly knows any other high schools in Kansas, forget England, has even heard of Eton College, isn’t that enough to make it famous? Only us locals have ever heard of Ravenwood, yet everybody knows Eton.

Even if his family had a reason for coming to Kansas, it’s still strange that they’d transfer him to an ordinary public school as opposed to an expensive private school in Kansas City. I don’t agree with everything Mindy said, but I do agree that they must’ve had some private reason.

“Still, even if he was kicked out of Eton because of drugs, I can let a good looking guy like him off the hook.”

When Penelope mentioned that while looking at Romeo with her head propped on her arm, Regina responded with a shocked expression:

“What? Penny, drugs are a felony!”

“Wouldn’t it be cool to date a criminal? Remember how Debora dated Baby.”

When Mr. Cunningham showed us the movie Baby Driver after finishing last semester’s music exam, it was all Penelope could talk about, and she hardly watches movies. How she mastered the musical is beyond me. While Regina was busy going on about how a director who portrayed a criminal as such a cool guy ruined an innocent student, I stole a glance at Romeo.

I was sorry to Regina, but I agreed with Penelope. I mean, I’d date a criminal if he was good looking. With Romeo’s chiseled face, blue eyes, and blond hair that shone as if it was molten gold, he really was someone who’d be the talk of the town in a small public school in the backwoods of Kansas. Oh, and he’s tall to boot.

“Grey must feel threatened, having always been touted as Ravenwood’s hottest.”

I glanced at Grey when Mindy mentioned him. He’s good looking and all, but the fact that he’s a snarky joker all the time puts me off.

“Will he and Romeo get along?”

“Even if it doesn’t look like they’ll be playing football together anytime soon, why shouldn’t they?

“Yeah, more like he’d run for student council instead.”

A British guy becoming a Kansas school’s student council president?’

Mrs. McCoy walked in while we were busy laughing, so we split up for the start of everyone’s favorite class, Chemistry.

My younger sibling and I were originally from Connecticut. Our parents met in college and eventually got married. We then moved to Nortonville in northeastern Kansas, where my father got a job at Glenfield University.

Seated at my computer is my first friend, Luke Theobold of the same age.

“When’d you get here?” I asked as I opened my door. Luke replied without taking his eyes off the monitor:

“In the last half hour.”

“You changed first?”

“Of course.”

Luke’s science high school was the only one around that required uniforms, and he wasn’t a fan of’em. He’d get embarrassed just by me telling him to fix his tie. Considering he’s not the type to wear stylish clothes to begin with, I am surprised that he’s so bothered by them, but it’s not like I don’t understand. I’d be embarrassed, too.

We spent the first six years of school together until Luke transferred to a combined middle and high school for 7th to 12th grade. While it was a boys’ school with tough teaching, West Milford  was a private science high school famous even in Kansas City, renowned for its curriculum.

There are dorms, but Luke doesn’t conform with the dorm lifestyle, so he commutes. Somehow, he also ends up in my room when school gets out early… And there’s a simple reason for it.

“Is that computer that fast?”

“Yeah. With its processing speed, it’s the only one for me.”

My dad’s job as a statistics professor sometimes involves processing incredible amounts of data, so we’ve always had a computer with the best specs. Wouldn’t you know, the best place for it to run cool with the fastest and most secure LAN connection just happens to be my room.

I’ve always been against it given the lack of privacy, but my cold and calculative dad defended it with the fact that I got the biggest upstairs room, even bigger than my parents’ master bedroom.

That was when I was at the tender age of 14, so I suspected he used it as an excuse to check on me whenever he wants, but thankfully he hasn’t done so very much. His lab computer’s enough for him most of the time.

It’s not all bad, though. He may not touch the computer for up to a week when he gets started on some data, and that’s mostly when I’m not home, so it doesn’t bother me now. The dim glow actually complements some glow-in-the-dark stickers I put on my ceiling at 17.

However, while we were playing one day, Luke was beaming when he noticed it and asked if I used it. Upon hearing my answer, he rushed to beg my father to allow him to use it. It must’ve been surprising to hear Luke specifically ask to use our most expensive computer when my dad hardly knew him, but they’ve become familiar enough to call each other by name since.

Dad probably agreed with Luke being a kid from the block he knew, so he gave permission after a lengthy discussion about Luke’s end of the bargain. In exchange, Luke would maintain the system and keep watch for bugs while inputting data. He was hooked after just a couple clicks and became proficient very quick, optimizing it for a longer life which pleased my father.

At the end of it all though, my dad letting Luke come and go to use a computer in my room leaves plenty of room for debate. I asked my parents if they were okay with a boy having free access to their daughter’s room, and somehow they were surprised by it.

“Do you even see Luke as a boy?”

“What else should I see him as?”

“Well, it’s fine. If you were to make a mistake, it wouldn’t be horrible if you made it with Luke,” My mother said in a playful tone as I listened in disbelief.

“Mom!”

My mother must be crazy! I stormed up to my room after saying something about how she must think we’re a family out of some crazy drama with a California sunset in the background.