Star-Crossed (5 page)

Why would he do that?
you think.
He's making friends with the enemy? What's with that?!

You feel your face grow hot and realize that you are embarrassed. You try to swallow but your throat is dry. You stare with disbelief at Reuben until he, uncomfortably, returns your gaze. Your face seems to say it all as Rubes shrugs his shoulders and raises his eyebrows as if to say, “Well, what else was I supposed to do?” You will kill Chris for sucking up to Rubes, but later. Now you have to concentrate on making him look stupid.
Which won't take much,
you think.

You glare at him, but he just smirks and winks at you. You roll your eyes as Mrs Walker starts to speak.

“Now, everybody – today we're going to start by going over the characters to make sure you all have a clear picture of who you're playing. Then we are going to look at a couple of scenes, which are … the very first scene and … the lovers' death scene.” She looks up and beams at the cast. “Everyone OK with that?”

A nodding goes around the group.

“OK! So, I want you all to face each other. Get quite close – you'll be getting to know each other very well, starting right now. We have six weeks to pull this production together, so everyone needs to get along…” Walker raises her eyebrows at you, but you pretend not to notice. “So – I want you all to introduce yourself to the person standing in front of you. First introduce you as you, and then introduce yourself as your character. You have two minutes – go!” Everyone starts to talk. You look up and see that Chris is already looking at you, but as soon as you make eye contact he looks away.

This is pointless,
you think, but just as you are about to insult Chris for being childish, Walker stops beside you. She gestures to the corner a few metres away.

“You two over here, please.”

You look at Chris again, but he determinedly avoids your gaze and follows Walker to the corner. You sigh and walk over too. You look into your teacher's face and wait for her to speak. Her level stare falls on you, then on Chris.

“OK, leads, this is your ultimatum. I cast you because you were the best of those who auditioned. I know that separately, you are dedicated, motivated and mature.” She pauses for a second, not quite knowing how to say what she needs to, then carries on. “However, together you seem to become distracted and childish – volleying insults back and forth like you're at Wimbledon, and giving each other looks that could kill. But I'm willing to take the risk on you working together if you stick to my one rule, which I will tell you both right now. If
either
of you ever brings your issues with each other into this play so that it disrupts the rehearsal, you are out. I am not kidding. If you break this rule, I will sack you from the play and you will not take part. Do you understand?”

You nod, and so does Chris, which seems to satisfy Walker. She turns on her heel and goes back to the group, knowing that you will follow. Chris turns and momentarily stands in front of you so you can't get past, then turns back and joins the line. You scowl, knowing that pretending there is no anger or hatred between you and that boy will be quite impossible, but rejoin the line across from him. He is still smirking. Your face is set with purpose. You are determined not to let him ruin this for you.

Walker prowls around the two lines, looking at each pair as she passes. Everyone shuffles a bit closer towards each other, apart from you and Chris, who don't move at all. The hall is silent. His head turns to follow Walker, and his eyes remain focused on her. You study his perfect face with disdain.

On the outside he might look normal, even nice
, you think bitterly.

Walker starts to speak. “
Romeo and Juliet
is the original love story. Everyone has heard of it; everyone knows what happens and everyone knows why…”

She reaches your end of the line, and sees that you and Chris haven't moved closer together. She catches you off-guard and pushes the small of your back slightly, tripping you forward, so that you are just centimetres from a pair of bright blue eyes staring into yours. He smells so good that you momentarily forget who he is. Momentarily. You come to your senses and take a step backwards, your anger returning as well as your hate. You remember all the fights, all the comments, all the detentions that have happened because of this boy, and your skin crawls to think that you were actually soothed by his body only this afternoon. However, you are determined not to show any of your anger, so you just gaze blankly back, as Walker starts to talk once again.

“They all know
why
. But what people
don't
know is the
passion
” – she brings her hands up to her chest with balled fists – “the
danger
” – she takes a step forward and throws her arms in a shield in front of her face – “the pure
exhilaration
” – she spins fast once on the spot and stops suddenly, her face flushed and her chocolate-brown hair falling out of her plait. A giggle comes from the other end of the line, but Walker ignores it. Everyone else is watching her closely to see what she is going to say next. Walker comes up to you and Chris and speaks softly to you both – “the urgency in their love for each other.” She takes a deep breath and addresses everyone else too. “They are supposed to be enemies; however, what is that fine line between love and hate? One look can cross the line,
tip the scale
, and suddenly” – she looks from you to Chris – “the impossible happens.”

She has finished her speech. You look over at Chris, who is staring at Walker with awe. You smirk. All of
your
passion will be coming from your deep source of hatred for the boy. But Walker has started to talk again.

“So, how well do we know our characters? Jen – why don't you tell us about Juliet?”

You smile. You know all about Juliet. You
love
this damn play, so you know
everything
about the leading lady. You turn to Walker, raise an eyebrow, and face the class.

“Juliet is Capulet's daughter. She's presented to the audience as innocent – she's not even fourteen yet. Throughout the play, Shakespeare repeatedly stresses her young age to show her growing from adolescence to maturity, and to make her seem more of a tragic heroine. She loves Romeo with the full force of her being – enough so that she defies her Montague-hating parents and faces death twice. She can't live without Romeo, because living without him would be like living without a soul – just gliding through life as nothing, not feeling anything, just waiting for the body to die so that she could stop the pain. So when she finds him dead, she takes the dagger and kills herself, to be with her Romeo for ever.”

You look to Walker as she nods and smiles.

“Good. Now, Chris. What do you know about Romeo?”

You turn your small laugh into a cough. Chris glares at you and holds his head a little higher. He speaks as though he is talking to the whole class, but you know that every word he says is directed at you. “Romeo is Montague's son, who is loved and respected in Verona. First, he's represented as a comic lover – 'cause of his exaggerated declarations of love for Rosaline. But then after he meets Juliet, he abandons his tendency to act like a traditional lover, and he becomes more intense in the way that he talks, reflecting how genuinely passionate he feels for his Juliet. But when he kills Tybalt to avenge Mercutio's death, he starts off a chain of events that eventually leads to his suicide, after believing that his beloved Juliet is dead.”

His cold, triumphant stare mocks you. You are completely stunned. You would have bet a thousand pounds on Chris not knowing a single thing about Romeo. But it turns out he's practically an expert.

You're not the only one who is shocked.

“Wow…” Walker says, clearly astounded. “I couldn't have put it better myself! Way to go, Romeo!”

Walker moves on to the next person, and you finally come back to the real world.
Did he just say all that stuff I think he just said?
You look up into that self-satisfied smile, and you know that he did. He whispers to you as someone else is giving their character profile.

“I do believe that you've met your match, Anderson. Round one has only just begun…”

 

You arrive home, pushing the door shut behind you. The rehearsal went really well, but you are exhausted. You're ready to flop on the sofa and veg out for the rest of the night in front of the TV. You kick off your shoes, drop your bag and pad softly into the lounge. You turn to roll on to the settee but there is already somebody on it, flicking through a magazine.

“Mads! You're home!”

Your sister beams at you, jumping up to give you a tight squeeze. The two of you sit back down on the sofa and begin to chat. She's come home for a flying visit, as it's your mum's birthday tomorrow. You talk about home and what's happened since she last came, and then the conversation turns to school, and the play.

“So how's it going, you big star?” she asks, poking you in the ribs. “And who's the leading man? Mum didn't say when I talked to her the other day.”

You pause for a second, wondering how to tell her, then continue. “Chris Banner.”

Your sister crosses her arms. “What?”

“Banner got cast as Romeo,” you say quickly, “and I have to act with him throughout the play.”

Maddy shakes her head. “He's an arrogant little boy who thinks an awful lot of himself, from a family of back-stabbers who think they are better than everyone else. I don't know how you deal with him.”

You suddenly have a flashback of earlier today, of Chris helping you to breathe and calming your asthma. You remember how nice he was to you, and how much trouble you could have been in if he wasn't around. It confuses you how he can change so rapidly.
There must be something good there, right…?

“Is he really
that
bad?” you ask tentatively. You see your sister's face frown, so speak a bit faster. “I mean, he can't be all bad, can he?”

Maddy is scowling now. “The Banners are bad news, Jen. They always have been and always will be.” She takes a deep breath and stares at you. “Do you know what happened, what his dad did to our dad? Why we stay away from the Banners, 'cause they're more trouble than they're worth?”

You shake your head. You've always known that Ethan Banner and your own father had been best friends, but Ethan had betrayed your dad in some way, and shortly after that your father left the army to go into medicine. They've not spoken since. And then the first day you met Chris he was rude and mean and you didn't like him, and so the feud continued through you two. But you don't know the exact story.

“Ethan and Dad were best friends, from when they were tiny. Mum says they were inseparable, like brothers. Banner men are pretty much expected to go into the army or the navy when they are older, which is what Ethan did. Dad followed him, and joined the army too. But Dad had never been as good as Ethan at anything, always second best, and when it came to the army, Dad couldn't cut it. He started to get bullied, and then one time he got beaten up really badly, and Ethan walked in on it. But instead of helping out his best friend, he ran away. He turned and ran like a coward. And that ended their friendship.”

You are stunned.

How could somebody do that? What kind of friend sees their best mate being beaten up and runs away?! No wonder Dad hates him.

“I can't believe that someone could be so gutless,” you mutter.

Maddy unfolds her arms and wraps one around your shoulders. “Me neither. But he was. And now they're both bitter – you know what it's like when they're in the same room – and his son is just the same. So stay away from the Banners. They'll just betray you, like he did Dad.”

You nod, and rest your head on your sister's shoulder. She uses the remote to turn on the TV, and you start to watch. She laughs at something, but you're not really listening. You're thinking about how stupid you were to ever think that Chris was a good person, and about how when you next see him, it will be guns blazing once again.

I believe it's you who's met your match, Mr Banner. Get ready to feel very bad about yourself next time I see you.

A gust of wind swings the door shut behind you with a bang as you enter the Year Eleven area at lunch, a week after the first rehearsal. You sweep your wind-tangled hair out of your eyes and take a look around, but you immediately know something is wrong.

Rubes is sitting with Helene Johnston, who's another girl from the play, and a group of her friends. The friends are talking among themselves, and Rubes is talking to Helene. He is obviously telling a story, gesturing animatedly, and talking fast. You start to walk over to their table, winding between the little groups of squishy chairs. The volume of noise drops slightly, so you look round to see why. Casting your eyes around the room, you see that about half of the people there are looking at you. As soon as they see you, they all glance away and start up their conversations again. You sigh.
Can't they find someone else to talk about?

It's been like this for just over a week. Everywhere you go, people have been staring as you walk past, then when you look back at them, they all look away. You've been getting more and more frustrated and now you are plain sick of it. You decide to ignore everyone and just sit with Reuben, so you focus your sights on him and speed up.

Helene flicks her long, blonde hair and laughs at a turn in the story. The two of them are still laughing as you arrive at the table. They turn around and Rubes smiles at you and pats the seat next to him for you to sit down, but Helene's face falls.

“Can I sit down?” you ask her.

For a second she just stares at you, then she smiles and nods.

“Yeah, sure, why not.”

You sit down and realize that Helene's friends have stopped their conversation and are all looking at you, as if waiting for you to do something. You are starting to feel like a monkey in a zoo.

“What?” you say. “
Why
are you staring?”

They all look at each other, then back to you. A girl with straight red hair speaks. You recognize her as Kate Littleton, a ballet student who spends most of her time in the school dance studio practising her pliés. You know her enough to like her and smile at her in the halls, but don't talk to her often. “You mean, you don't
know
what everyone is talking about?”

They all stare at you again. You lose your patience.

“Does it look like I do? What's the latest on my oh-so-depraved social life?”

She laughs. You look at her, then she stops laughing. “The rumours,” she says. “What everyone's been talking about.” You stare at her blankly. With the air of letting someone in on a great secret, she talks again, hardly above a whisper. “Everyone's saying that you've been sending Chris Banner threatening letters. I heard that you had a huge fight and that you broke Chris's rib.”

Helene butts in, resting her elbows on the table too. “And Misha told me that you have to see a psychiatrist because you have anger management problems, because of your dad. She said that your dad had a fight with Chris's dad ages ago, and it left him all mentally unstable, and because of that you want revenge. On Chris.” She pauses for dramatic effect, and leans in that tiny bit more, dropping her voice to a low whisper. “Everyone thinks that you're about to go crazy any minute.”

You are half amused and half mortified by this information. Looking around the room again, you see that all the groups have moved closer together, talking quietly and casting glances every so often to your table. Looking back down at your lap, you sigh. You knew that people were talking about you, but not to this extent. You shake your head with anger.
This is so stupid,
you think.
And who does Misha think she is?! And I have a psychiatrist now? Come on. She has gotta get over this. She's so bitter.

Kate leans cautiously towards you, pulling you out of your thoughts. Reuben is looking between you and the staring girls around the table with a very confused expression on his face.
So he didn't know either.

Her emerald eyes are wide and her chin is resting on her palms, elbows on the table. She bites her lip, then asks you what they all want to know. “So. Did you do it?”

I don't believe it. They actually think that I am some kind of psychopath. I've had enough of this.

You get up. The girls flinch, as if scared that you are going to start beating them up too. You give a humourless laugh.

“Do you seriously have nothing better to do than discuss my life?”

No one says a word.

You give a tiny sigh of disbelief, turn quickly and leave the way you came in. The corridor is deserted. You are going so fast that Reuben has to run to catch you up. You put your hands to your forehead and look down at your pacing feet.

“Why can't they find someone else to talk about?! It's always Jen this, Jen that, Jen beat Chris to a mangled and bloody pulp in the street. Like I'd be that lucky to get the chance! This isn't just me, you know.
He
hates
me
too! He does stuff to wind me up, like these stupid rumours, and I'm the one who looks like the crazy person, when in fact he is the psycho behind it all! If he just stayed out of my way then I could get on with my life. Damn, he pisses me off!”

Reuben hurries along behind you. You expect him to say something, but he doesn't. When Rubes is silent like this, you know what it means. It means that he's not going to say what he's thinking, because he knows it's not going to go down well.

It's even more frustrating that he's always right…

“What are you thinking, Rubes?” you ask him wearily.

He shakes his head. “You're not going to like it.”

“I know. But tell me anyway. I'm being unreasonable or something, aren't I?”

He takes a deep breath. “Well, you say that you never start anything, but you did kind of encourage the rumours. You did write that note next to his name—”

You stop and turn around, raising your hands in indignation. “I was being
ironic
! I don't
want
him to die! I was just mad and … embarrassed and …
argh
!” You spin back and carry on walking. “I know that it was a stupid idea, but it didn't mean a—”

The corridor is coming to a bend, but you're furious and you don't see the turn.

“
Jen!
”

You smack straight into something quite solid, look up, then back away, rolling your eyes.
This is
exactly
what I need
…

“Watch where you're going, bitch!”

Chris's two best friends, Sam McDonald and Travis Parker, block your way out of the narrow hallway. Travis is the shorter of the two, but both are tall and built like rugby players. You wouldn't want to meet either of them in a deserted alley on a dark night. Now they are towering over you and Reuben like two bears, ready for an attack.

“Can you let us past?” you say, with as much politeness as you can muster through gritted teeth.

The boys look at each other, then back at you, and shake their heads.

“Nah,” says Travis, taking one of your arms in a pincer-like grip. You wince and try to shake him off, but it doesn't work. “I don't think so. What do you think Sam?”

Sam takes your other elbow and pins you against the wall with it. You gasp and try to wriggle free, but the pair are strong, so you stay right where you are. Reuben steps forward threateningly.

“Get off her or—”

“Or what? Are you going to crack our ribs?” They laugh. “I'd like to see you try.”

One of them grabs your bag off your shoulder and tips it upside down. All of your things fall out. You struggle against them again, but there's not much you can do except kick out at Sam's shin. He lets go of your arm to grab his leg, but Travis regains hold of the one that Sam had before.

“What do you think you are doing, bitch?”

You wrench yourself forward, and Reuben pulls you towards him. “Get the hell off her, you jerk, and go find someone else to grunt at.” You stumble away and stand behind him, rubbing your arm, glaring at Travis.

Sam stands up straight and Travis cracks his knuckles, and they corner Reuben, who stands firm and doesn't back away.

“What did you just say,
fag
?” Travis asks in a menacing tone. His dark eyes just got darker, and you swear that he also got a little bit taller.

Reuben doesn't flinch. He just stands there, looking blankly into the bully's face. It's not like this is the first time someone has insulted him because of his sexuality.

You remember when he came “out” at school – when people began to know that he preferred guys to girls – and the mixed reaction that it got. Some people accepted who he was immediately, no questions asked. They said that it didn't matter what he preferred, he was the same guy and it was stupid to think any different. Others took a little bit of getting used to it. These people, who the day before they found out had hugged Reuben when they saw him, now smiled awkwardly at him when he passed them in the corridor, made forced conversation to try to prove that they were “all right with it”, then moved along as quickly as possible. The remainder, thankfully a tiny minority, still avoid Reuben like the plague and, whenever they cross paths, give him abuse until he either walks away or gets so angry that he lashes out.

Part of that minority is stood in front of you now. These boys are as homophobic as they come, and the fights that have gone on between them and Reuben in the past four years have resulted in mutual hatred. This hatred grows every time they meet.

You are slightly shaken by the guys, but Rubes isn't fazed at all. He is standing tall and strong. You can almost feel the power radiating from him. Sam and Travis look just as strong, though, and they are giving Reuben the same stare – one that could melt a snowman. There is a weird silence between the boys that seems to scream their loathing more than any words could. You don't know what to do. You feel quite powerless.

“I told you to let her go and leave her alone.
Let us past.
”

The boys move in. “Not a chance, Lucan…” Sam growls.

His balled fist rises up and draws back, but Reuben stays where he is. Like you are watching in slow motion, you see Sam's fist start to move towards Reuben's face.

“
HEY!
”

Sam's hand stops mid-flight.

Thank
God
.

“What's going on? What are you guys
doing
?”

The person who had shouted runs up to the group and puts himself between Reuben and the other two. You shut your eyes in disbelief.

Why is he always the knight in
goddamn
shining armour?

“What's he done this time?” Chris asks Travis and Sam. They don't answer, but just glare at Rubes over his shoulder. Sam shakes his head and pushes Travis gently away, towards the common room.

“Come on, man. Let's just leave it.”

The guys walk away, leaving you with a silent Chris and a murderous Reuben. Chris turns around to face you both, but Reuben doesn't move. He is just staring at the floor. You look at him closely and see that he is shaking. Your heartstrings pull.
He shouldn't have to take this kind of stick. Oh, Reuben.
You touch him lightly on the shoulder, but he shrugs your hand away.

“I've gotta go and do … something…” he says vaguely. “Thanks…” he mutters to Chris.

You paste a smile on to your face and look up at Rubes. “I'll see you later?”

He walks off in the opposite direction to the common room without even acknowledging that he heard you. Your smile drops and you turn around, only to bump into Chris.

“Sorry,” you grumble, looking up into his face. You can't be bothered to be rude or insulting right now. Your stuff is still scattered about. You sigh and bend down, starting to collect everything up, not liking the fact that you are scrambling around at your enemy's feet. You reach over for your pencil case, but another hand gets there first. You quickly take your hand away. His hand then waves in your line of vision, so you look at Chris – whose expression you can't read – and give him a small smile. You think you see a flicker of a smile beneath his blank face, but it's gone as soon as you notice it. You try to take the case back, but Chris doesn't let go, just looks into your eyes and says nothing. You pull it a bit harder and he lets go. You straighten up at the same time as Chris, slowly putting the last things back in your bag. He still hasn't taken his eyes off you. You touch your hair to see if it's a mess, but realize that that's not the problem. He's waiting for you to say something.

“Thanks,” you say quickly, putting on your bag. “For picking up my stuff.
And
for telling Travis and Sam where to go. Thanks.”

He nods. “I didn't do it for you. Reuben's cool. He doesn't deserve that kind of stick.” Your heart lurches slightly when you realize that you have just thought the exact same thing.
At least he's got something right.