That afternoon, Max picked me up from school. After about thirty minutes of refreshing silence, he asked, "So...how was school today?"

Turning to him, I shrugged. "It was okay."

He chuckled. "That bad, huh?"

"Of all the first days I've had, this was the worst!"

"Figures. When you refer to something as just 'okay', it never is."

I smiled. "Well the word itself sounds so...insulting!"

He chuckled again. "So, what made it so bad?"

"My crazy literature teacher is trying to force me to do some stupid re-enactment of Romeo and Juliet. Her name is Lois Lane or something like that."

"Oh? Lois Lane? Where was her Superman when this was going on?"

I rolled my eyes. "She's more likely to thirst after Shakespeare than any superhero."

"You sure do have a crazy mind, Angelo."

"It comes as an added bonus to my intelligence."

Smiling, Max shook his head. I looked out of the window, staring at the trees and grass that we passed.

After a few minutes of silence and driving, we reached the front gate of my house. The automatic gate opened and we drove past the grassy lawn and fountains, into the garage.

Before I got out, Max cleared his throat. "So...can you do the play? I mean, are you going to?"

I forced a grin onto my face and scoffed, "Are you serious? What do you think my answer is?"

"I guess that's a no?"

"Correct."

Without waiting to hear his response, I left the car and walked into the house.

. . .

Once I finished lunch (which Max made), I went to my room. I stripped down to my boxers once I got there, plopping onto my bed.

I let out a sigh, then flipped onto my back, staring at my star-patterned ceiling.

Star... Star... Starcrossed lovers... Romeo and Juliet...

I let out a groan, slamming my hand onto the mattress.

Stupid Miss Lane and her stupid play!

I rose my head up when I heard a knock on my door. "Yeah, who is it?"

Annie replied, "It's me. Mind if I come in?"

"Gimme a moment." Getting off my bed and throwing on a shirt, I headed to the door.

I closed the door behind me after she had walked in and sat on my bed.

Sitting down beside her, I asked, "So, what's wrong?"

"Why would you assume something is wrong?"

"Your softly spoken request for permission to enter and the lack of poundings on my door is a dead giveaway."

"Huh." Annie frowned. "You know, I don't know why I'm like that with you. This isn't the perfect boy-guardian relationship."

I gave her an incredulous look. "You don't say! You didn't remember that this morning when you threw a fork at my head, just because I didn't want to eat that... thing!"

"Never mind, I remember why now!"

"Whatever! So, you want to speak to me about something?"

"Oh, yeah... your principal called me today to discuss something."

My blood ran hot as I heard those words and my left fist, the one she couldn't see, clenched. "Oh? What about?"

Her brow furrowed, then her nose flared. "Oh you know, to tell me how amazing our date last night was and find out when I'm available again!"

"Well, good to know your stealing husbands-"

"Angelo, you can't go around smashing school property because you're angry!"

"First of all I didn't smash it, the glass fell by itself. Secondly, my parents donated that glass. So, if you look at it that way, it was pretty much my own glass that-"

"You know what, forget about that issue!" She shook her head, then fixed a glare on me. "And what's this about me hearing that you don't want to do a play?"

There it is.

I frowned. "Annie, it's Romeo and Juliet."

"I know!" She took a deep breath. "I know, Angelo, and I completely understand why you might not want to-"

"No, you don't. If you did, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

"We are having this conversation now because although I still think you should!"

I rose an eyebrow at her.

After realizing I had no intention of saying anything, she tried again. "Angelo, you can't keep carrying this problem for years. If you want to recover you need closure, you need to do-"

I let out a dry chuckle. "Need to do it? No, I don't. What I need is for you to stop disturbing me about this stupid thing, okay? You say you understand why I don't want to do it, but you don't. Nobody does!"

Annie was silent for a few seconds, so I used that opportunity to walk away from her.

As I sat down on the leather armchair across the room, she said, "Angelo, I at least have a general idea of it. For Pete's sake, I was there during all the visits to therapists-"

"But yet, you still don't get it. We're done talking about this, Annie."

Her eyes widened. "S-seriously? You're not even going to try?"

I sighed. "I said we're done, didn't I?"

"You're just going to... lose half your grade?"

"Literature grade. As long as I do well in other subjects, I'll be-"

"For god sake, just stop agonizing over your parents' death! It's been, what, almost six years now? Get over it already!"

The words that were about to come out of my mouth froze, along with the look in my eyes as I stared at her flushed face.

She met the look for a moment, then her eyes widened. "Oh my god! Angelo, I'm-"

"Leave."

"But-"

I barked a laugh. "What, do you want me to leave this room for you? Because I will. I'll go anywhere if it'll mean that I don't have to be around you right now!"

"Angelo, I didn't mean-"

"Just go. Please." At that moment, my voice quavered, letting out more vulnerability than I had done in years.

She gazed at me for a few more moments before getting up and walking towards the door.

Before leaving the room, she said, "I'm sorry for what I said. All I'm saying is... hiding away from your problem isn't the answer. What you need is... closure."

I didn't bother to reply because I didn't need to. Once she had said those words, she left.