Mercutio stood alone, a misunderstood young man, capable of fitting in with any crowd but there were few people he could truly call his "friends". He was an awkward boy however, loving only his writing and the small sum of people he held close to his heart. His deep dark brown eyes could penetrate your soul seemingly even able to control you, knowing your thoughts if you looked past his long brown bangs into them. Being inconceivably shy and not at all a daredevil, he didn't tend to socialize. Sure he'd tried sports, he found some of the rougher ones such as rugby enjoyable and he was fairly decent at basketball; a freshman standing at six foot one, how could he not be.
Standing back, he watched the passersby when he caught glimpse of a girl, whose radiant beauty the sun would be envious, enter a classroom at the far end of the hall. He raced past the lemmings littering the hallway, conversing about the latest fashions or rumors they could possibly comprehend. Halfway through the distance he stumbled over an outstretched leg. As he assured himself in his own thoughts that the hall was indeed a path of travel and not a gathering place, he thought he heard a say, "What's his trauma? Anyway and then he called me and said he couldn't make it because his parents got in a car crash! Like oh my God!" And then another voice responded, "Yeah, like how lame!" Mercutio corrected himself, steering his body on one leg. Slowing his pace as the crowded hallway became even more so. He used the connecting hallway as a passing lane. As the wall came closer and he was just about to cut back in, an arm jutted out in front of him and he crashed into its owner. Being only slightly taller than him but twice as big, Mercutio had no doubt that this was the leader of the senior football team, and seeing the letterman jacket he wore only reassured Mercutio of this thought.
"You almost ran into my girlfriend." The ogre said.
"Uh, I'm sorry?" Mercutio responded blankly
"Don't you know how I am?" He shot back with an obvious tone of superiority.
"I'm new here." Mercutio stated, stepping up on the tips of his toes to get a better look over the sports star's shoulder.
"I'm Burrows." He said.
"And I'm late." Mercutio closed beginning to step past the colossus. Burrows grabbed a notebook from Mercutio's hand, flipped to a random page and proceeded to read.
"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and wirey? Over many a quant and curious volumes of forgotten lore? Awful. What is that shit?"
"Haven't you ever heard of Poe?"
"Who?"
"Edgar Allen Poe?"
"Who's that?"
"Figures."
After the behemoth's ignorance had been proven to Mercutio, the girl nearest them turned to Burrows and said, "Ready to go Honey?"
With a deepening of his voice, Burrows said, "Yeah." He dropped the book at Mercutio's feet and walked off with his arm draped over the girls shoulders. Hmph. Chauvinist. Mercutio had always thought that looked demeaning. He bent to retrieve his notebook. When he rose there were two people standing in front of him, one male the other female. The male stood an inch or two under him with broader shoulders than himself. With a sandy tint to his skin, Mercutio almost thought he was made of stone. He wore baggy, dark toned yet bright colored clothes. His curly loose lying hair seemed to befriend the gold color of his large eyes.
The female was smaller, much smaller, five foot three at most and much more carefree than the norm. With her hair fallen loosely over her shoulders and not much makeup if any, she showed great care for the inner appearance rather than the outer. Mercutio examined her. From the slightly red tint to her hair, her thin-rimmed glasses, the sparkle in her eye, and her sweet caressing smile. To her smooth skin, her unrestrained breasts, and her dancer-like shoes. The two were a perfect pair.
"So you weren't pummeled or thrown up against a locker? Pretty good for the first day." The rock said enthusiastically.
"Yeah, 'star' football players... almost thought I was gonna have to teach him to read." Mercutio replied, quoting the word with his hands.
"You know," said the other boy. "He's also the 'star' of all the other teams as well, except the chess team, so you might have to teach him to tie his shoes as well." At this they all had a laugh.
"By the way, name's Mercutio." Mercutio said outstretching his arm to the boy.
The boy replied, "Dathen." He grabbed Mercutio's arm at the wrist and shook it as the ancient Greeks did.
"Lanei." The girl chimed in with a salute of sorts as the two proceeded to lead the way.
"Hey guys," Mercutio raised his voice a little to be heard by his departing comrades. "I'll catch up with you guys at lunch okay?"
"We'll be in the library," they said. "Oiling the gears those sort don't use much." They turned and hurried away without seeing the dirty looks they were receiving from those of which their words made reference to. He rolled his eyes to himself and shrugged looking after them. With a smirk he turned to the doorway his not yet forgotten beauty had entered in hopes that she would still be within. Mercutio looked at the sign above the door which read, "Spanish". Spanish. Spanish! Why couldn't it be Greek or Latin? Or even Japanese? But Spanish?! He thought to himself, regretting that he'd never taken the time to learn the language. He entered and was star-stricken by her. At about five and a half feet, the top of her head was covered with the softest, black, shoulder length hair. Two bangs had fallen out from behind her ears and one hung over each green eye. Her hair accented her pale white skin. It was easily seen by her worn yet smooth hands that she was tremendously talented. But the thing that amazed Mercutio the most was her clothes. Despite all the wisdom seen in her, by her torn jeans and "Metallica" T-shirt it was shown that she was still in youth.
"Hola." Mercutio said to her once he recovered from his statue-like state. She replied with a long sentence, apparently and obviously to Mercutio, in Spanish. "I'm sorry,' Mercutio said. "I know about three words in Spanish."
She chuckled a little. "I said Hello, my name is Fiona. What's yours?"
"Oh. Mercutio."
"Like Shakespeare?"
"Yeah, like Shakespeare." Mercutio responded slightly annoyed by how often he got that.
"You lost?" She asked him.
"No." He replied awkwardly.
"Oh. You just wanted to check out... the classrooms?" The twinkle in her eye let him know that she knew the real reason he was there.
"Yeah, something like that." He said damning himself for making it so obvious. The bell rang to signal the starting of class. "Well, I guess that means I gotta go."
"Yep. See ya 'round."
"Later." He said and walked out to return to his search for room 14.
This was Art class. How someone could grade art, Mercutio was unaware but he took the course anyway. Mercutio drew a few things and then put his head down on his desk and napped. He woke at to the bell and headed on his way to Chemistry in room 16. This was much easier to find for it was only two doors down. He walked in and the teacher told him to find an empty seat. Lucky for him, there was an empty desk right behind Fiona. Once class had begun the teacher asked if anyone had a twenty dollar bill. Yells came from all over the room.
"I got fives."
"I got tens."
Mercutio reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty then raised it into the air. The teacher, Mr. Revnac took it and soaked it in a clear liquid then lit it on fire. The class gasped as the bill went up in flames, then the flames receded and the bill was intact, he handed it back to Mercutio who said, "One part gasoline, one part water right?" Revnac nodded as he walked back to his desk and continued with his lesson.
Fiona looked to Mercutio, "So you just give any stranger twenty bucks to light on fire?"
"I knew he'd reimburse me." Mercutio winked at her. They spent the rest of the class period halfway listening, halfway caught up in their own discussions of physics or quantum mechanics. The bell rang and it was time for lunch.
"So what are you doing for lunch?" Fiona asked Mercutio.
"Meeting some friends." he replied.
"First day and you already got 'friends'?" she asked. "Who?"
"Names are Lanei and Dathen."
"Oh them, let's go." They pushed through the library doors and the pair was right where they said they would be.
"Mercutio... you brought a friend." Dathen said with a wink in Mercutio's direction.
"Hello Fiona." They both said.
Mercutio looked around surprised. "Nobody's in here."
"Yea, we know." Lanei and Dathen said at the same time seemingly one.
"No one's ever in here 'cept the librarian who just sits there reading or drinking his tea." Dathen stated.
"Oh, and Carsten comes in every once and a while and says a few words and is out again." Lanei added.
"Who's Carsten?" Mercutio asked.
"Oh, just another bookie. There he is now." Dathen said pointing to the boy in front of the swinging doors. He was a more portly young man with blond loose hair and thick, dark-rimmed glasses. He had a jean jacket on with a band name across the back. Mercutio couldn't tell what brand his pants were but they matched his black converse shoes. He was a little shorter than Dathen and the only skin he showed was his pink face and hands. He came and as they said, whispered a few words over the counter and on his way.
"Bye." The three of them said. And with a wave over his shoulder, his was gone.
They each sat at a computer and proceeded to do whatever suited them at the time.
Before he knew it, lunch was over and Mercutio had to scarf his meal on the way to Math class. As he reached for the doorknob, somebody plowed through his arm. Who should it be but none other than the superstar himself, Burrows. Burrows glared at Mercutio as he entered the next door. When he was out of sight, Mercutio glanced up at the sign above the closing door. It read, "PreIntegrated". Mercutio smirked as he thought, Huh, I did that math in Fifth grade. He then opened his own door and seeing Fiona out of the corner of his eyes, let her enter first, happy to have another class with her. But not even five minutes into the lecture he was bored out of his mind. Fiona sat an entire row away and in this dull environment, not even her beauty could keep him together. Somewhere between "The slope of the xy integer" and "exponential growth rate of the graph of the ab parallel" Mercutio had drifted off. He awoke in time to hear the words, "Alright, time for the quiz." Great. He thought to himself. I don't even know where we're at. The teacher, Mr. Luehber, handed out the papers. Mercutio whizzed through it, handed it in and went back to sleep. He woke again to Fiona tapping him on the shoulder.
"Hey!" She said. "Wake up. Class is almost over and here's your test."
Mercutio replied with, "No. Sleepy." And he pushed the paper off his desk. Fiona smirked and walked onward. Mercutio opened his eyes and looked at the desktop to make sure he hadn't drooled. He then mentally slapped himself for saying something so child-like to Fiona and told himself to never fall asleep in class again, though he knew he'd never live up to it. The class began to compare scores and to everyone's amazement, except his own, he got the highest, a ninety-nine point six percent. He was quickly shot a glare by Elise, obviously the class "Miss-I-know-it-all". She had dark hair reaching down to her mid-section and was a good five-foot-four. She seemed to have a perfect tan and those clothes you only see rich people wearing. He could sense her "I'm-to-proper-for-my-own-good" attitude. Sitting straight up in her chair and some 400 page book in her hand Mercutio didn't even want to know the name of. Sure he had his exceptions but Mercutio liked to keep the books he read down to near the 250's.
The bell rang and Mercutio proceeded to P.E. where of course he didn't dress down because as he explained to his teacher, "I didn't know I needed them." But she assured him that he knew. How he could possibly, was beyond him since he had only received his schedule earlier that day.
The class ran a mile which tired him drastically for any time he slowed to a walk, the teacher, walking herself, began to shout, "No walking! No walking!" He kept repeating to himself, How come she doesn't have to run then huh? Just because we're younger means we're not equal? Hey, free country. Free country. Afterwards they played basketball which normally would have been fairly fun if not for "The Plow" Burrows, who seemed to be gunning for him. The bell rang and school was out. Thankfully. Mercutio was gathering his things from his locker when Fiona walked up.
"Hey Mercutio, you wanna walk me home?"
"Sure." He said. He closed his locker and turned to come face to face with Dathen. This caused him to jump back a good three feet, nearly knocking over Fiona. Apologizing to her and making sure she was alright, he looked back to Dathen and Lanei who had just arrived.
We were gonna see if you wanted to come hang with us but it seems you got other plans." Dathen said to him, nudging him with his elbow. Lanei bumped him with her shoulder to tell him to stop. Dathen raised his eyebrows to Mercutio in an "Uh-oh" look as the pair turned and walked away. Fiona followed with Mercutio in tail. The four walked together until they came to the crossroads near the school. Dathen and Lanei quickly exchanged phone numbers with Mercutio and the groups separated. Dathen and Lanei continuing forward whilst Fiona and Mercutio went left. Luckily for Mercutio they both lived in the same direction from the school, even if he did live another fifteen blocks farther than her. During their journey home Mercutio asked her how her day had been and she proclaimed that he had been with her over half of it. So he decided on a better question.
"How was your last class?"
"Fine," she said. "And Yours?
"Decent." They then went on to talk about likes, hobbies, favorites, collections, and family. They came to find that they both read, wrote and drew; they both liked fantasy creatures and listened to hard-rock, although Mercutio listened to most everything. Neither talked too much about their families, they almost looked embarrassed to tell.
Along the way Mercutio offered to carry Fiona's bag but she insisted that she could carry it herself. They reached her house and said their goodbyes. They traded phone numbers and Mercutio left hoping he could find home. The house was easy enough to for him to find, the streets were nicely numbered and lettered. At home Mercutio turned on the television and not seeing anything that interested him, he flipped the switch on his Playstation and sat down to indulge himself in the game for a couple of hours. When he finally shut off the system it was beginning to get hot. He decided it best to start his homework and opened up his Math book. Not more than half an hour later he had lain down on his bed, cranked up his stereo and closed his eyes. He could see swirling gray clouds, and then a red rain drop splashed into a pool. The night became darker and the sky went red. Mercutio awoke when the phone rang. Halfway bedazzled, he sat there in his bed staring blankly forward. His bedroom door slowly opened and a head popped in. It was his mom.
"Honey, you got a phone call. It's a girl." she said arching her eyebrows almost mockingly.
"Mom," Mercutio said party embarrassed, but mostly annoyed. "Just gimme the phone." She handed him the telephone and hurried out of the room. "Hello?" he said into the phone.
"Hey," Fiona's voice came through the receiver.
"Oh, Ello Luv." He sat up straighter saying the British thing he'd heard Spike say on "Buffy" a million times.
"So how was your nap?" She asked.
"How'd you know I was asleep?" Mercutio questioned her
"I just guessed, you seem to always be sleeping."
"Ah, well, good minds need their rest." He said with a laugh.
"I'm sure they do but how would you know?"
Harsh," he responded. "So how was your evening?"
Boring, I started my six page report for Chemistry. You?"
"Ah hell... oh yeah um I'm getting to that."
"Ha, right, we'll see."
"Yeah, so did you have a good day today? I didn't bug you too much did I?"
"Oh. No. it was fun."
"Your boyfriend's not gonna kill me is he?"
"Boyfriend? I don't have a... oh... no, I don't have a boyfriend."
"Oh, okay, never mind then." He said as he mentally slapped himself for being found out.
"Oh hey, can you hold on for a second?" She said indicating she had a call on the other line.
"Yeah." Mercutio replied. There was a click on the phone and Mercutio was left in momentary silence to ponder over what to make of the conversation.
Fiona clicked back over and spoke, "Hey Mercutio?"
"Yeah?" He responded.
"A friend just invited me to a party on Friday, she said I could bring a friend, you wanna come?"
"Uh, Alright." The awkward boy replied with question.
"Fiona?" He heard someone say in the background on the other end of the phone.
"Yeah! Hold on!" She yelled back. "I gotta go." She told Mercutio.
"Yeah, I know. Later Luv." He said with a sense of intimacy.
"Goodnight." She bid him.
"Sleep well."
"You too. See you tomorrow." She ended.
"Bye." Mercutio clicked the off button and laid the phone down next to him. He laid back and closed his eyes with sweet thoughts of love.