Prank Masters

10: A Talk

Romeo

I didn't know why she looked so much like my childhood friend. But one thing I'm certain was that their personalities were completely different. The Juliet I used to know was kind and gentle. She always had a smile on her, even if she fell down from a bike and for some reason, she would always have band-aids in her pockets.

But this Juliet is different; in fact, she's entirely the opposite. She has this attitude that just makes me lose my patience. The attitude that makes you want to argue back, just for the fun of it. And when it comes to an argument, you don't want to lose to her. Because if you did, she'll have this smile that says 'victory' for her and 'in your face' to me.

I shook my thoughts away and turned the lights on. Walking into my bedroom and throwing a pile of biology books onto my desk, I lifted my violin case from the chair and placed it on my bed. Unbuckling the belt, I opened the case and pulled out the violin and bow. I attached the shoulder rest onto the violin and started playing any melody that my arms wanted.

I didn't care what song I was playing. I just needed to play something just to get my head back to normal. At the moment, the only thing I could think of was Juliet—my childhood friend.

I really missed her. Now, realising a person who looked just like her—who also happened to live right next door to me—I really couldn't stop thinking about her. Could it be a coincidence? Or is it really her?

The barbeque dinner before also reminded me of something. When she accidentally splashed tomato sauce onto my cheek, we were literally having a staring contest. To be honest, I haven't had a staring contest for a long time because the only person I did it with was my childhood friend, Juliet.

I thought that she would go on with the staring contest and made our parents realised that we weren't getting along. But when I finally noticed that she didn't want to ruin the enjoyable conversation that our parents were having, she ended up saying sorry to me.

I continued playing the violin whilst remembering the way she looked away and passed me the napkin. From the interactions I'd encountered with her, I knew that she's not the kind of person who likes to admit that she's wrong, and she's probably the type of person who rarely says the word 'sorry' as well.

But in the end, she said 'sorry'. That really took me by surprise.

Her 'sorry' was in a soft voice, almost like a whisper. It was also kind of amusing seeing her react like that.

Then suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted when I heard her voice. I stopped playing the violin and held it down parallel to my body.

"Could you just keep your music to yourself?" I heard her calling across the window.

The white curtains in my room fluttered in and out as I turned over to her direction. My eyes widened as I saw her pose, standing there with a thick book in her hand. Guessing that the book was a math textbook, it really looked like she was going to throw it into my room.

But she didn't. She just stood there, suddenly paused, as though she just realised something. Within the next minute, she dropped the textbook and collapsed.

"Hey, Juliet! What's wrong with you?"

She didn't answer. I waited a little longer. But she still didn't respond. Something must've happened to her. This wasn't good—especially for a person as lively as her. She usually wouldn't stop until she wins an argument or in this case, wouldn't rest until she made me stop playing my violin.

I placed my violin and bow on my bed and quickly pulled a jacket with me. Running downstairs, my mum and dad stood up as they saw me racing down the stairs. "Where are you going at this time, Romeo?" Dad asked.