We Don't Have to be a Tragedy

Juliet’s Point of View

So, Romeo’s house was a nice size. And a few other students had been invited - the ones that had worked on the props. There was a good ten or fifteen of them, and I recognized a few with a twinge of happiness. But I had a strange feeling that I wouldn’t be talking to them much, because I’d seen them while scanning the room. There was Mom, and Cathy talking to Romeo, and there was Paul and - wait! Romeo?

Well, duh, he walked me here, but still!

But for some reason, I didn’t want to look away. He was just as handsome as normal, which was always really handsome as it was, and I didn’t need to stare. I was saved in a totally unsuspected way.

“JULES!”

I turned, and saw enough of her blonde hair to scream, “TAYLOR!”

“Dude, that’s Juliet?” a voice asked, and then a familiar one replied.

“Todd, what’re you doing here?”

“Your Mom called, and we managed to get some time off to come down. Turns out that your Juliet is Taylor’s Juliet. I was wondering.”

After our hug, I glanced at the tall, black-haired boy.

“You’re Todd?” I asked blankly.

He laughed, “Yeah. Nice to meet you, Juliet.”

We shook hands and I grinned, “Nice to meet you, too!”

“Sooo…” Taylor sauntered over to the two boys, a little after me. “You’re Romeo.”

“Yeah, I am,” Romeo said, eying her kind of like a mouse might look at a cat when cornered.

“He is a drop-dead gorgeous sexy man beast.” she said suddenly, and we, and Romeo, burst into laughter.

“Dude, what is up with that?” Todd asked blankly.

“Inside joke,” Taylor and I said in unison, then burst into laughter again. Then it struck me, “HEY! What are you doing here, Taylor?!”

Todd and Taylor laughed, and Taylor replied, “Your Mom called me the same day that Romeo’s called Todd, and so we went and asked the administration together so it would be that much harder for them to say no.”

I laughed, and Romeo rolled his eyes at his best friend, but then I said, “So, what are you doing here?”

“We’re here to see the play!” Taylor squealed.

“We’re staying the week,” Todd added, “At the mothers’ insistence, so we’d better get seats for all of the performances.”

I pretended to faint, and Taylor laughed again.

Romeo’s Point of View

Both Todd and Juliet’s friend Taylor are here, now. That is sooo weird to wrap my head around.

But I’m not trying to wrap my head around it right now.

She was nervous.

And not just nervous, but shift from foot-to-foot constantly, not able to stand still, and make a strange noise every time she was talked to nervous.

That was nervous.

Why?

Well, today is Monday. Monday meant the opening night of the play. And I had never, ever, seen Juliet so nervous. Ever. Of course, I hadn’t known her very long, but Taylor had commented about ten minutes ago before she and Todd had went to find seats that she’d never seen Juliet so nervous, either. And they’d been friends for years.

It’s horrible of me, I know, but I held a secret joy in watching her. Like, how most of her weight shifted to one side when nervous or embarrassed, but now that she was really embarrassed she couldn’t stand still for more than a few seconds.

But I especially loved the way that she pulled off a shy, innocent look, letting her hair fall over her face with her eyes darting around at every little noise or motion, and how she kind of hugged herself, as if she was holding herself together so she wouldn’t fall apart.

She was truly beautiful.