𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄. ( michael langdon )

romeo and juliet crock of shit.

chapter I.
"  romeo & juliet crock of shit  "

      I LONGED TO PERISH right then and there in my mother's presence. nothing about her meeting was inventive or fun like she had promised. i was robbed of my free time. stripped of my rendezvous with lovely mercutio. he had been the only good thing that came out of reading romeo and juliet. to me , he was complex. absolutely gorgeous. his idealistic tone matched his charming wit. romeo was bland. and juliet was quite whiny. mercutio , my love , was none of those things. my mother had gifted it to me. it was her non verbal way of telling me to mature and blossom. fortunately , neither of those things were on my bucket list. i was a bit reluctant at first to read it , but i did think the cover was pretty. it was gold , with a bit of wear that wasn't as noticeable up close. white silhouettes of young adolescents were stitched onto the front cover. it was easy for me to point out each character , especially mercutio. his stance was odd , a jester hat residing on the top of his head. i wanted to exist in his world. to save him before his demise by the hands of tybalt. for now , i would settle with my mother yelling at a fiddly ariel augustus.

     maybe it had been the exhaustion from sitting in the car for almost thirty hours. or the many emotions i felt from everyone around me. i no longer found interest in belittling ariel and his comrades , as his inner humility began rubbing off on me. honestly , i pitied him. in a male dominated society , he was being penetrated by my mother , who outranked him in every way possible. i couldn't blame her. she was warning of them of the harm they potentially brought to us all with their news. news that i didn't care much about , but feeling worry overtake my mother caused me to grow concerned. i had attempted to nudge zoe which earned me a quick scolding. her eyebrows were raised and her brown matte colored lips pouted at me.

     i sighed. "i promise it's important."

     she let out a small chuckle , small enough for my mother not to hear. a slight nod followed after , meaning my question had better been one with meaning. suddenly she leaned in closer to me.

    "why are we here?" i asked , trying to keep my voice below a whisper.

     zoe's eyes wandered as she searched for an answer to give me. i knew that she knew , sensing guilt from her. her eyes landed on me. "it's just important matters that cordelia is dealing with as always." she said.

    a scoff escaped from me. "you're a terrible liar." i spouted.

    zoe's eyebrows raised and her jaw collapsed. there were no voices. no arguing. not even a natural noise. i had made the mistake of not whispering , with my mother hearing my words loud and clear. i didn't have to feel her emotions to know she was angered. no. she was livid. i had no intention to make eye contact with her , but i was aware she was looking at me with annoyance. i proceeded to get up from my chair , preparing to take my walk of shame back outside to the car. but once i stood up , my mother's index finger pointed at me so delicate but threateningly , instructing me to sit back down. i obeyed her commands and plopped into the chair. clearing her throat , she continued on with her quarrel.

    by the time their heated discussion had ended , i was void of any energy. i was made aware of the reason we had been called to come to hawthorne: a boy. according to behold and baldwin , he was gifted. it compelled them to believe he could be the next supreme , or alpha. zoe found it humorous while myrtle thought it to be ludicrous. i didnt know how to take the news. in my mind , no one one was as powerful as my mother. and no one would ever be. ariel pleaded with my mother to let the boy perform the seven wonders , to prove himself. she instantly declined. for his safety , she didn't want to be held accountable if something were to go wrong. she couldn't bare to lose another of her kind. not after misty. or queenie. i had retained no other information. except for my mother's fueled words that were engrained in my head:

     "because im the fucking supreme."

it boomed so loudly , so elegant yet terrifying. she had signaled for us to leave , standing up from her seat and making her way towards the exist. she didn't bother to shake the men's hands nor give them any sort of goodbye. her word was final and there was nothing ariel could do about it. out of pity , i shook behold's hand , feeling his relief that this meeting was adjourned. the tips of his fingers were warm and welcoming and i wanted to hold onto his hand longer. there were no emotions from baldwin. it was as if he was completely empty. john henry was weirdly ecstatic but his hand was full of sweat and his grip on mine was lazy. ariel was last. i didn't need a simple handshake to know how he was feeling. it radiated off of him. the man was pissed. livid. i tried reaching out my hand , but he looked me up and down with dismay. he resented my grandmother , fiona. that resented then carried over to my mother. and with the way his eyes peered deathly at me , his resentment for goode women was growing stronger.

myrtle noticed this , coming to my aid and pulling me away from the grand chancellor before anything else ensued. "don't worry my dear. he's a bitter bastard with a terrible sense of style." she murmured.

i smirked at her commentary as we followed behind my mother and zoe , making our outside. there were no doubts in my head that my mother had made the right choice. there was nothing selfish about it. but it left me with a weird pit in my stomach. like something was wrong.

    my arm went up to shield my face , the sun blinding any sense of sight i had. there was an urge i felt. a sense to ask her exactly why she refused for the boy to take the test. she stood right in front of me , her hair bouncing effortlessly. her walk was a story of its own , sometimes stomping off a little to the right and sometimes to the left. i knew she was still mad at me for my stunt with zoe , but i felt a sense of worry from her as well. i didn't get it. we were finally going home. back to robichaux. back to normal. back to my lovely mercutio. i began to speed up my pace , attempting to reach my hand out on her shoulder. before my fingers could even touch her , she stopped walking. so did zoe and myrtle. my face scrunched in confusion , taking my other arm away from my forehead giving me a better idea of their sudden freeze.

     three figures stood a few feet away from us , dressed in all black. a stunning girl with blonde hair wore a floppy hat , the other with a huge but neatly tied bow in her hair. one of the girls gave us a quick wave with a smile. the other dawned a half grin. i had never seen them before but it was evident my mother knew who they were. the other figure stood in the middle of them. he had the bluest eyes , with soft strawberry blond hair. his resemblance was that of an angel. i found his eyes were on me , with a welcoming smile.

    and oh , what a beautiful smile it was.