Totally Starcross'd Page 2

  ****

  I got barely any sleep overnight and as a result woke after nine with a thumping headache. I ventured downstairs to ask if I could speak to Benita yet but Mom was nowhere to be found and Dad was in the study with the door shut. He was talking to someone―or maybe on the phone. I conducted a brief search and found my laptop up the top of the kitchen shelf, but not my phone. I didn’t dare pull it down and logon in case Dad caught me. I wasn’t sure how many punishments they could pile on top of one another if I kept doing things wrong, and I didn’t particularly want to find out.

  Finally Dad emerged from the study and saw his guest to the door. I nearly fell over in shock when I saw who it was: Laurence Fry. Dad didn’t see me but Laurence caught sight of me and gave me a brief nod. Dad closed the front door and returned to his study while I went straight out the back door and dashed across the garden in my pajamas and bare feet. Over the side fence I saw Laurence, still standing out the front of our house, looking undecided.

  “Laurence!” I called as softly as I could.

  He heard me and crossed quickly to where I had just my nose and eyes over the top of the wooden palings.

  “Hi,” he said. “Julian asked me to speak to you. Apparently you’re not responding to his messages.”

  I stared. “Is that why you’re here?”

  “Yes and no. I had to give your dad some information and when Julian found out where I was going he begged me to pass on a message.”

  “Yes?”

  “He said he’s sorry.”

  My heart seemed to hit the bottom of my stomach. “About what?”

  Laurence shrugged. “What Ty did, I guess. Jules is getting reamed by his parents for refusing to lie for the little bastard.”

  My heart got up and flew right back to where it should be. “Oh, thank god! I wasn’t sure what he would do.”

  Laurence frowned. “Jules would never let Ty get away with something like this just because his mom put the pressure on. He’s got some ethics, you know, despite his family.”

  I got flustered. “I didn’t mean it like that. I was just worried his parents would force the issue.”

  “They tried.” Laurence gave me a hard stare. “You look tired.”

  I dropped my gaze. “I didn’t get much sleep last night. Worried about Merrick … and Julian.”

  Laurence’s suspicion appeared to slide away slightly. “Look, Romilly, you seem like a cool chick but you really should watch yourself. Jules’ family is bad news. I’ve just given your dad some information that could take down the whole Capulet for Governor Campaign. If you’re seen to be hanging around with Julian, you could get tarred with the same brush. It’s gonna be ugly.”

  I frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I can’t say more than that.”

  “But that isn’t fair on Julian,” I said. “He’s a good person. He wouldn’t do anything bad and now he’s going to get labeled as one of them?”

  “I’ve asked your dad to be careful with the information―to try to protect the innocent. I don’t want Julian involved, either. But it probably won’t help much. When the media get hold of this, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the Capulets ... and hopefully the Addisons, too.”

  “Oh, no.” Tears sprang to my eyes and to hide them I looked down at my feet. When I dared look at Laurence again he was watching me with a mixture of sympathy and caution.

  “Look, I know you guys like each other. I’m just saying you should maybe hang back for a while. Let the fur fly and the dust settle before you try to hook up again.”

  I nodded unhappily. “Laurence, will you please tell Julian I’m not ignoring his messages? My parents confiscated my phone. They’re pissed at me because I lied about being with Merrick and Benita yesterday. When Merrick got bashed, they realized I couldn’t have been with them and now I’m in big trouble because I can’t tell them where I really was.”

  Laurence swore softly. “What a mess. Yeah, I’ll tell him. I’ve gotta go now. I don’t want anyone to see me here.”

  “Wait.” Impulsively I seized the catch of my necklace and whipped it off. “Can you give this to him?”

  Laurence didn’t roll his eyes or judge me. He just shoved my necklace into his pocket and took off. I went back inside. I knew I had to do whatever I could to protect Julian, even if it meant totally freaking my dad out. If I told him who I was with yesterday, and that Julian hadn’t lied to protect Ty, he would know there was a reason to be careful with whatever top secret information Laurence had given him. He might take pity on Julian if he knew there was even one good Capulet. It was time to take my own advice to Julian and stand up for what I believed. If he could do it―and if Benita could do it―so could I. I pushed open the study door and found Dad staring at some papers on his desk.

  “Dad?”

  “Hi, Romy.” He looked distracted. “I’m kind of busy.”

  “I know. I know what it’s about. I have to tell you something.”

  His eyebrows tugged together. “What do you mean, you know what it’s about?”

  “Laurence Fry and the Capulets.”

  Dad’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull. “How the hell would you know anything about that, Romilly?”

  “I know Laurence. He’s discovered something about the Addisons and Mr. Capulet, right? Something bad?” Dad just watched me. “Can you tell me what it is?”

  He glanced down at his papers again before shuffling them together and closing the folder. “I need to verify the information before I talk about it but it’s bad, yes.”

  “Will it hurt the whole family? The Capulets?”

  Dad’s forehead creased. “It could harm their reputation. Why, Romilly?”

  “Because … I just want you to know that they’re not all the same. One of the sons, he’s not like them. The older brother. His mom wanted him to lie to protect Ty―to say he was with him yesterday. But he wouldn’t lie. He told the truth about not being with Ty while he was beating up Merrick, even though he’s his brother. Julian stood up for what he believed. He’s not a bigot or corrupt.”

  Dad’s confusion evolved into suspicion. “And how do you know all this, Romilly Montague?”

  I took a breath and prepared to tell him the truth.

  Julian

  Despite the fact that the CCTV footage from outside The Globe clearly showed Ty beating the crap out of Merrick Utz, my mom couldn’t forgive me for failing to lie for him. It resulted in a major bust up, Dad attempting to adjudicate and calm us both down. She told me I was ungrateful, pathetic, selfish, ridiculous, and had no idea about how the real world worked. In return, I told her I couldn’t wait to get out of this house and would be applying to a college six hours’ drive from Verona. It wasn’t exactly part of my plan to tell them that way. I’d been intending to find some obscure course only run at a distant college and then pretend I had a burning passion to take that course. Now my reasons were laid bare before her: I wanted to go to college a long way away so I could avoid being a Capulet. Mom was stunned. She gaped at me.

  “Wait, what?” my dad said. “Why would you do that, Jules? Why so far away?”

  I glanced at him, regretting my words. Mom’s mouth tightened. “So he can get away from us, Todd, you idiot,” she snapped at him.

  I couldn’t look at Dad. Mom marched across the kitchen to collect her coat and handbag. She shot me a hard stare. “I’m going to collect Ty from the station,” she said. “Julian, you might want to consider how you’re going to attend college at that distance without the support of your parents’ money. And by the way, this Thursday, you’re escorting Paris Addison to the Fundraiser Ball.”

  It was a rough parting shot. She had to know I would rather poke my own eyes out than go to the Fundraiser Ball with Paris. Mom departed and Dad and I sagged into kitchen chairs at the same moment. He stared at me. “Really, Jules? You really want to get away from us?”

  I shrugged. “Mom makes it hard for me,” I said. “I’m a disappoin
tment to her. I can’t live up to what she wants from a son. And … sorry Dad … but I don’t share your politics.”

  He gave a weak smile. “Yes, I had already worked that out, Julian. And what’s all this about Paris Addison? Are you dating her?”

  “No! I can’t stand her. Mom’s been trying to set us up but she’s completely not my thing.”

  Dad frowned with the effort of understanding. “She seems like a nice, bubbly, pretty sort of girl. Why don’t you like her? She reminds me a little of your mother at that age.”

  I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from saying, ‘Yep, and that right there is precisely why I don’t like her.’ I tried to explain it in a way he might understand. “Dad, I like smart girls. Paris is not smart. Plus … sorry, I know they’re your friends, but I don’t like the Addisons. There’s something dodgy about them.”

  “Dodgy?”

  I was evasive. “Yeah. They’re only ever in anything for a buck.”

  Dad couldn’t argue with that. He changed tack. “It would break your mother’s heart if you moved a long way away from us, Jules.”

  “I seriously doubt that, Dad. She doesn’t understand me at all and all I seem to do is piss her off.”

  “Language, son.” He paused. “Your mother means well. She’s a driving force in my campaign.”

  “She wants to be a driving force in my life.”

  He sagged further. “I know, Jules. I know. I’ve tried to talk to her. She just wants everything to be …” Words failed him.

  “Perfect?”

  Dad nodded helplessly. “I think she’ll relax a bit after the election.”

  I didn’t share his confidence. My phone buzzed and I checked it hastily, hoping for a reply from Romilly. No such luck. It was Laurence.

  Jules, shit’s going down. Can you meet me at my place? Delete this message. Don’t be seen.

  What now? I didn’t think I could handle one of Laurence’s enviro-political crises in the midst of my own personal crisis. Nevertheless, it gave me an escape so I grabbed my stuff and made for the door.

  “Where are you going, Julian?” Dad called. “We need to sort this out.”

  I stopped. Romilly’s words came back to me again. Stand up for what you believe. “Dad, I have nothing to sort out. Mom needs to sort out what she wants from me. If she won’t let me access my college fund unless I go to her choice of college, so be it. I’ll move away and get a job. Either way, I can’t stay here while she’s trying to control what I say, do, believe―and even who I date, for chrissake.”

  I got out of there.