Rose • Justin Foley

• 10 •

"Honey, Justin Foley is here for a project." I hear my mom shout from downstairs.

"Coming." I say and quickly look in the mirror to see if I look presentable before I quickly walk downstairs to see Justin's eyes wondering around my living room.

"Hey, come upstairs." I say and he smiles as soon as he lays his eyes on mine. The boy follows me upstairs while we remain in silence.

"Nice house." He says.

"Thanks." I smile and we get to my room.

I close the door after him and I quickly sit down on the computer chair while he sits down on my bed.

"So, I guess we will start with Shakespeare." I say and he nods before we both open up our books.

In this english project we had to talk about the most memorable quotes from famous writers in History and we also got put with one famous writer and Shakespeare was the one.

I was really excited considering Shakespeare was my favourite to talk about in English terms.

"What about this one? 'Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."Justin's voice jumps up speaking a quote from Romeo and Juliet.

"Well – we have to choose a good one because we will perform it in front of class and talk about it." I say chuckling.

"What – is this not enough? I mean its amazing, the powerful words contain powerful feelings and only a person who could be feeling it can actually put their emotions into it while performing." He speaks in such a passionate voice.

"Well then – I can't really relate." I say. Lie.

"Well – I can." He says and looks at me with a smile. He breaks away from his trance and looks at the floor with a guilty expression in his face. "Jessica." He says.

I nod. Understandable since she is his girlfriend and probably the person he loves.

"So let's practice this shall we?" I ask with a fake smile pretending that what just happened didn't hurt me.

We both stand up and move towards the middle of the room where there is more space. We stand in front of each other but our eyes looking at the paper in our hands.

"So, what can we say about this quote?" I ask the boy.

"I don't know." Foley said barely making eye contact with me.

"Well, we can say how it is a very powerful quote and how love is such an overused word but very few actually mean it – and maybe you can actually go and express your love to Jess?" I say making him look up to me with a serious expression.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I ask.

"Yeah – why wouldn't I be?" He says and I bite my lip in frustration knowing he is not telling the truth. Especially when it comes to what happens at home.

I walk home slowly through the night hugging my colder arms until I hear screams coming from a house next to me.

I look to the side to see a built and tall man come out of the house frustrated along with a woman with black hair, looking poorly with tears down her cheeks running after him.

Confusion rules over me as I look inside to see a body against the wall, seeming to be unconscious. I try to look more clearly to see that the boy was very familiar. I look at his features.

Justin.

I didn't think since my legs were already moving to the inside of the house, falling to my knees in front of the unconscious boy as I try to wake him up.

"Justin!" I say as my voice tone became louder while lightly slapping his cheeks.

I try to listen to his heartbeat for the worst case scenario but gladly his heart is still beating. I let out a sigh of relief.

I get my phone out ready to call the ambulance or the police but as soon as I do Hannah is calling me.

I quickly hit answer since she rarely calls at this time of day.

"Hannah – hey – look something's happened and I nee-" I start but I am interrupted by a different voice from the other side.

"Cassie." I hear Mrs Baker's silent cries.

"Mrs. Baker? What's – whats wrong? What happened?" I ask confused and worried.

"Hannah – she's – dead." She says and those words hit me like a train. I felt numb, like the time had stopped, the world had stopped.

I turn off the call as tears started going down my cheeks and I slowly let my head fall on Justin's chest while finding comfort on the boy's arms.

"No you just – you just seem a little off." I say and I stare into his eyes, those damn eyes. It was then that I realised how close we actually were.

He stared at me but his eyes moved to my lips. As the space between us closed and I felt his soft lips on mine.

It felt like the perfect moment, I place my hands on his neck while he puts his hands on my waist. I was just feeling the moment, it all felt so perfect.

But of course it wasn't. Jessica came into my head which made me quickly pull away.

We can't do this – you – you have a girlfriend." I say as we turn away from each other as we let it sink in what had just happened.

I look back to see that he was already out the door.

Leaving me in my own thoughts and the void of his lips on mine.

Thanks guys for all the love you guys have given this book and there are only some chapters left but there may be a sequel due to the second season of 13rw.

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