𝑬𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝑴í𝒂 | ᴮᵒʸ ᴹᵉᵉᵗˢ ᵂᵒʳˡᵈ

29: Love Sick

"Love. Sex. Slander. Even though Much Ado About Nothing was written four hundred years ago, Shakespeare captured raw human emotion in a way that is still riveting today, still has us glued to our seats." Mr Turner said. We were all falling asleep due to boredom, and Shawn fell off his desk onto the floor.

His body hitting the ground with a thump jolted us awake. He tried to go back to sleep, but Cory kicked him. Shawn sat up and spoke.

"You know these chairs aren't really the best for sleeping." He said before getting up and sitting back in his seat.

"Aw, come on. You got this innocent young girl, and somebody says that she slept with this other guy, right. And her reputation is shot, and we think she's killed herself. Where will you find this kind of stuff?" Mr. Turner asked.

"Melrose Place?" Topanga answered.

"NYPD Blue?" Shawn said.

"Mi Vida Loca?" I said.

"Barney?" Cory said. We all looked at him. "My sister says he's gotten edgier." Topanga turned back to the front of the room. "Mr. Turner, we just can't relate to these characters at all." She said.

"Why not?" "Because nobody acts like this." Shawn said. "Just because some guy says something about some girl, the girl wants to kill herself over it? They say that stuff about Heather Locklear every week, and she doesn't want to kill herself. She's on the cover of TV Guide." Cory said.

"You're right, Matthews." Mr. Turner said. "I'm right?" "You're exactly right." "So am I done with my education? Can I go?" "In Shakespeare's day, the play's the thing. Now in our day I guess the thing is TV." Mr. Turner said.

"So maybe we should put ourselves on TV and ask ourselves what we think about love, sex, and slander." "You mean interview each other?" Cory asked.

"Kind of like a documentary?" Shawn said. "Exactly." "Hey, you know, my uncle Ralph was in a documentary. They put a big blue dot over his face and changed his voice." Mr. Turner went to say something but changed his mind.

"Alright, the school's got video equipment. Let's wear it out. We'll split into teams of two. I want a video report. Interview your friends, your families, and each other. Let's just see who's got the more mature attitudes— Shakespeare or us." "Us." Cory said.

"Really? Okay, my mature young friends, pick partners. Uh, boy-girl pairs." I looked over at Shawn, and he was already looking at me.

♥

"Why do you wanna stay home from school so badly?" Eddie asked, walking into my room and closing the door behind him. He rested his back against it. I let out a sigh and sat up.

"Matteo left a voicemail last night." "And?" "And he said that if I didn't return his calls... he was going to tell the whole school we slept together. I tried calling but he didn't answer." I said.

"Now I know how the girl from Much Ado About Nothing felt." I mumbled. "It'll be okay, Adriana-Camila. I'll convince dad to let you stay home, and I'll have a few words with Matteo." Eddie said, sitting next to me on my bed.

"Thanks, Eddie." "You're welcome. While I'm around, nothing bad'll happen to you." I smiled slightly as Eddie smiled back.

"Now, start coughing and throw some makeup on to make yourself look pale and sickly." "Got it." I climbed off my bed and went over to my dresser.

"Dad, I think Adriana-Camila is better off staying home today. She looks pale and is coughing like crazy." I heard Eddie say as he went down the hallway. I coughed loudly in the direction of my door.