*Mercutio POV*

Walking down the halls is a pretty uneventful affair. I stare straight ahead, avoid eye contact, and stay silent. Why, you might ask? Well, I can't get called out for anything if I don't do anything.

Not like anyone would take the time to call me out on anything anyways. I think bleakly. Sometimes even I wished I would shut up.

I reach the door to my English class and pull it open. It's the final semester of Senior year, and I'm thinking about pursuing a higher education. As an English major.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Mercutio, that's great! You're putting yourself out into a great field! You'll be so successful!

To those of you, I give my thanks.

And others of you probably were thinking something along the lines of:
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. Very gay! Flamboyant! Gay! Energy!!!

To which I respond with: No.
It may come as a surprise to you, but I'm not gay.

I'm pan.

Ha ha ha, you were fooled!

Yeah, what can I say. I've been in a few relationships, and all of my partners have been wonderful. All of them ended on good terms, surprisingly.

Why is this surprising? You may be asking yourself. Well, you may not know this, but lots of people hate me. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not trying to make them sound like the bad guys. I'm just saying that it surprises me that people would even want to date this mess, let alone actually do it.

Enough mental chit chat. A quick schlepp across the classroom later, and I'm slumping into my seat. I slip my bag over the back of the chair, and attempt to find a comfortable position on the hard plastic seat. After a pause, I decide to listen to some music. Grappling with the zippers, I slide my earbuds out of my backpack. My phone, still plugged in, comes with them.

I open Spotify, and tap on my most recent playlist. Clicking shuffle, I settle into my chair.

Ah, a moment of tranquility, at last. I bask in the even rhythm of the song, and close my eyes.

Open your eyes to the epidemic! It's America's biggest problem! Vaping! Stop the spread! I nearly jump out of my skin. The ad continues to blare through my earbuds. I shove my finger on the volume button, clicking it down several notches.

No, I don't have Premium. Who do you think I am, the queen? No! I live in America, I don't have money to waste on music subscriptions that remove ads! I'm going to have college debt in less than a year.

The first bell rings, warning is that we only have three minutes to get to class, and I roll my eyes.

My music starts once again, and I tap the beat onto the desk. My moment, however, gets interrupted when Romeo slides his ass onto my desk and beams at me.

"Mercutio, I think I'm in love!" He squeals, draping himself over my desk dramatically. I sigh, pausing the song, and look up at him quizzically.

"Look, dude. If it's that girl from Civics that you're all hung up on, you really need to move on. Like, immediately. It's getting creepy," I announce. Romeo sighs, his eyes sparkling with joy.

"I really think she likes me though! Just in the hallway, when I was talking to Paris, she walked past me and said hi!" He rushes, his smile stretching his face in a seemingly uncomfortable way.

"Are you sure Rosaline wasn't smiling at Paris? They are friends, you know," I tell him for the thousandth time. Each time that Rosaline comes within ten feet of Romeo, he gushes about it to me.

Ah, romance. If I'm being honest, I'm not sure how he keeps his grades up, since ninety five percent of his time is spent fantasizing about that poor girl.

"Buddy, look you need to move on, today. Here's what we're gonna do. There's a house party downtown tonight. Benvolio invited me, and I'm bringing you. We're getting your mind off this girl. Or, at the very least we're getting you drunk," I conclude.

Romeo whines.

"Mercutio, I don't wanna get my mind off of her. She's perfect. She's smart, witty, kind, beautiful, sweet, and everything I want," he gushes, looking up at me pitifully.

I sigh again. I'm done with his antics for right now. Sure, I love my friend, but he needs to chill. I stand, and grab Romeo's sleeve. His desk is across the room, so I pull him over to it, and push him into it.

"Okay, here's a compromise. You come to the party, and I'll ask Benvolio to get Rosaline there too, okay?" I lie. Romeo ponders this for a moment, and grins.

"You'd do that, for me?" He asks, eyes glimmering again. I nod once, and he sinks deeper into the chair.

"Thanks, you're a really good friend, you know that?" He says. I smile at him.

"Sure," I tell him. The bell rings, signaling the start of class, and I return to my desk.

*************************************
A/N: Whew, that was a lot! Sorry if you don't like it. Actually, no, I'm really not.

Love to all of the humans that decided to read this book.

I'm a huge Shakespeare nerd, what can I say.

Until next time!