****
Laurence listened while I outlined the plan, his frown deepening every moment. Romilly sat beside me on the sofa, clutching my hand and staring unseeingly at the pile of pizza boxes on the floor. When I’d finished, Laurence sat back and gazed at the ceiling for a few minutes.
“What exactly are you asking of me?” he said at last.
Romilly and I exchanged looks. “Advice, I guess,” I said. “How can we get out of Verona and to the west coast without getting stranded because my Ford Luna is an unreliable piece of crap? How do we travel without being traced?”
Laurence heaved an enormous sigh and fixed me with a stare. “You want my advice? Really?”
I nodded. Romilly clutched my hand harder.
“Well, Julian, my advice is this. Give up your elopement plans.”
“We’re not eloping!” Romilly exclaimed.
He gave her a cynical look. “You want to run off together, right? Same thing.” Laurence turned back to me. “Dude, there’s this little thing called the law, right? And taking a sixteen-year-old girl from the care of her parents without their consent is against it. It’s called abduction.”
I landed back on earth with a crash. What the hell had I been thinking? Romilly looked incensed with Laurence and I squeezed her hand. “God, he’s right. If you disappear, your parents will get the cops straight onto us and they’ll catch us before we even cross state lines. And knowing my luck, they’ll press charges no matter what you say to defend me. And I’d deserve it. I must have been insane to think we could do this.” Romilly’s mouth went tight and she pulled her hand from mine, gazing down at her fingers twisting together in her lap. “Romilly,” I attempted, “I’m not giving up on us. But running away together―it’s not going to work.”
“Seriously,” Laurence put in, “you two need your heads read. I tried to tell you to have a bit of patience. Let the dust settle after this Addison thing and the election. Keep things quiet―no meetings, just emails and phone calls, maybe. Is it really that hard? Time is the only thing that will get your parents off your backs.”
“We don’t have time,” I said. “Romilly’s parents want to send her to Mantua Ladies’ College for the start of the next school term.”
Laurence still looked frustrated but I saw some sympathy creep back in. He went back to staring at the ceiling and I turned my attention back to Romilly. She looked really distressed now. I could see her just barely holding it together, taking deep breaths.
“Hey, Girl Who,” I said gently, trying to distract her, “look. I’ve got your necklace. I pulled her happy-sad pendant out from under my shirt. I’d hung it on a piece of black cord. Romilly fixed her eyes on it, still taking breaths. I scrounged in my pocket. “And I got you something, too.” I pulled out her chain, on which I’d hung a silver pendant my radical artist aunt had sent me when I started high school. Mom always discouraged me from wearing it but I’d kept it anyway.
“What is it?” she gulped with an effort. “It looks like a bottle … of poison, or something?”
I laughed. “Not exactly. It’s supposed to be a paint pot. Artist’s paint. You know, because I’m into art.” I felt stupid suddenly but Romilly accepted it with a trembling smile and put it on, holding the pendant in her hand like it was something precious.
“Thanks, Guy Who.”
We didn’t kiss. That would have been weird with Laurence sitting right by us on the sofa. But she gave me her hand again.
“I’m having an idea,” Laurence said. “I’d appreciate some hush.”
“What sort of idea?” I asked.
“It’s pure evil genius,” he said, still staring at the ceiling. He pulled his head forward and fixed his gaze on us. “I don’t usually use my powers of political disruption for purposes such as this. But if it means I can save my friend from going down for kidnapping―and maybe also that you two will stop turning up here with your star-crossed lover problems―then I’m willing to bend my own rules.”
Romilly
I had no idea what Laurence was planning and he said it would probably have a better chance of succeeding if I didn’t know. Whatever he did, he did it fast. By the next morning my parents were muttering together and going quiet every time I walked into the room. They hadn’t punished me for my disappearing act of the day before―yet. And mid-morning Mom said I could go visit Merrick at his place with Benita.
“What did you beg, borrow or steal to get out of the house today, Romy?” Merrick asked me.
I shrugged, finding a perch at the end of the chaise longue on which Merrick was currently reclining. He flicked the blaring television to mute. “Not sure why they let me out.” I wasn’t ready to talk about Mantua Ladies’ College with my friends yet.
“Have they given you back your phone?” Benita wanted to know.
“No.” I rolled my eyes. “A week, they say. But at least I’m back online.”
Merrick shook his head in disbelief. “You’re amazing, Romilly. You have the patience of a saint. I would have been pitching a fit until my parents gave me back my phone in desperation for me to just stop whining.”
I grimaced. “Mine don’t work that way.”
“What’s that?” Benita asked, peering at the pendant on my necklace. “Is that new?”
I felt my cheeks heat up and tried to push it back under my shirt. Merrick cackled and then winced in pain. “Ow. My ribs. Romy, is that a present from Julian Capulet?”
“Shut up,” I mumbled.
“How can you―” Benita started and then cut herself short, looking down at the carpet.
My resentment flared. “Don’t judge him.”
“It’s kinda hard not to,” she responded in a quiet voice.
“He’s not like his brother. He refused to cover for Ty.”
“It’s just, he’s a Capulet,” Merrick said, his tone slightly apologetic. “And they all seem like … like warts on the big toe of humanity.”
“He’s not a wart. He cares about stuff. He knew nothing about the Addison Mining thing, either. He stands up for what he believes and what he believes is pretty similar to what I believe.” I sensed my friends exchanging significant looks while I kept my eyes on the silent television, jaw set.
“Okay,” Benita said at last, “I don’t know the guy but I’m sure you wouldn’t get involved with someone who would do the stuff Todd and Ty Capulet are going down for.” It was a peace offering. I gave her a weak smile.
Merrick hmphed. “Whatever he’s like, I hope he’s worth all the trouble, Romy.”