The Dating Game

Chapter Fifty-Six

Justin

Apparently the most adequate time which my dad could find to come visit and give me his present was Monday morning right before school.

Mom saw the inconvenience of this but kept her lips pursed throughout the ordeal and the awkward time choosing. It wasn't until Dad left that she was also beginning to shoo me out of the door with, "Hurry up to school or you'll be late!"

My present that I'd received from Dad were a selection of things from cologne, a watch to signify my eighteenth birthday because, "My dad gave me a watch for my eighteenth so I'm carrying on tradition," said Dad, "and hope you will do the same one day," and the final things were a few DVDs which were predominantly horror films he thought would enthrall me.

So from being consequentially late after Dad's brusque arrival, I had ended up jogging to school. I managed to make it through the gates and weave through the traffic which was slow ambling teenagers to see Juliet and Beth about to make their way from the bench. As Juliet stood up, however, she winced slightly. Beth seemed oblivious to this because she turned her back for a moment to reach to the bin to discard her rubbish.

Frowning, I picked up my pace and made it to Juliet by the time she reached her locker. She was devoid of wincing now, but she was wearing a knitted jumper and a leather jacket, despite it being March and actually, it wasn't that cold today. She shrugged it off saying, "I'm probably coming down with a cold or something."

"Is that good? I mean, with your heart?" I clarified, leaning in to whisper so no one could endeavour to eavesdrop.

"It's never hurt me before," she remarked, looking up to me, "so I think it's good."

Slinging my arm around her shoulder, we carried on through the corridor as I nodded. "Okay, yeah, that's good then."

She was dithering slightly, but others who were wearing inadequate attires today were also shivering. However, they weren't wearing three layers probably because Juliet was known to occasionally wear a tank top underneath her knitted jumper for maximised heat retention.

By lunch, her dithering hadn't ceased so as we made our way to the lunch hall, I pulled her off to the side by the lockers and asked, "Are you sure you're okay? I don't think I've ever seen you so cold before, Juliet. It's beginning to worry me."

Juliet smiled and reassured with, "I'm fine. Like I just said, I'm probably coming down with a cold."

Just as we were about to commence our excursion back to the lunch hall, we were momentarily halted by the lockers by oncoming taunting voices. The first started with, "Well, if it isn't Royal wearing her famous knitted jumpers. Is she trying to hide it or something by wearing a leather jacket on top?"

From my peripheral vision, I saw Juliet bow her head shamefully.

"Shut up, Rachel," I said.

It had been so long since Rachel and her band of merry followers had said anything to us but now they were back. It was evident that it destructed Juliet's confidence... or what was remaining, anyway. Her self-esteem was low, but her confidence she could gain if she didn't hear all these jokes about her surname.

"Sorry, Justin," said Rachel, her voice mingled with attitude. "But considering your loser status at this school now, no one takes orders from you." Then an idea popped into her head. "With you two, it's like the princess and the pauper." She tilted her head, so one side of her hair was longer. She wore a jubilant smirk.

"Well you know what, Rachel? At least Juliet isn't a bitch like you."

Rachel and her gang gasped melodramatically. Even Juliet from the side of me seemed a little taken aback by my insulting outburst because her head snapped up, too. Everyone's lips parted, I knew I had silenced Rachel so I reached out for Juliet's hand and began ambling towards the lunch hall. Silence continuously lapsed around us as we sat down opposite Michelle and Beth.