Shakespearean Tragedy | ✔️

T h r e e

S h a k e s p e a r e a n
T r a g e d y

BEFORE THIRD PERIOD began, I—along with six of my friends—made a bee line for the front entrance of our school. Parker, Mason, Jasmine, Nora, Mavis and Julie were their names.

It was a plan that had been in the works for awhile. Ditching third and fourth to get shawarma a few blocks down. But what I certainly didn't expect, nor did we plan, was for gossip to be the main topic throughout the walk. I distanced myself from the group, walking ahead of them while they talked about a certain group of people in particular.

"Liam is rude all the time, haven't you noticed? I mean, he's not the rudest in the group, but he certainly wasn't taught manners." Three others agreed, while I stayed quiet.

Jasmine, one of my friends asked me, "hey, Juniper, are you okay? You're really quiet."

Instead of saying nothing, I played it off and began walking with them and engaging in the conversation. Slowly and surely, the conversation had somehow gravitated to Dawson. We talked about how he is stupid, rude and inconsiderate. How he doesn't care about others, only himself and his money. I decided to pitch in, completely annoyed when a few of them said that he wasn't that bad after all. That he was the nicest in the group.

"Naw, he's rude. He's a dick. Don't even try telling me otherwise. You guys haven't seen him when he's actually himself. Behind all the barriers he's built to disguise who he really is, which is a selfish, egotistical, and immature boy. Not to mention that he still talks to Trisha."

Things went silent, some scoffed, some laughed and others kept quiet. I was ok with that because it means I won them over. But what I didn't expect was for Julie, a mutual friend shared between Dawson and I, to be face timing the boy himself.

"Hey, June. What's up?" He asked.

And in that moment, I couldn't breath.