Lady Montague

Kayleigh

         Kayleigh walked down the hall towards her LIT classroom, her backpack slung over one shoulder and her gaze on her black converse boots as they walked down the tiled hall. She turned at the fourth door, where Ms. Ellis's classroom door was open and discussions floated out. She turned to enter and collided with another student who happened to be walking out as she was going in. They both stumbled and the boy's papers flew out of his hands and floated to the ground. Kayleigh dropped to the ground and began helping her victim collect his papers. She silently cursed herself for not paying more attention.

"I am so sorry" she stuttered, looking up embarrassed to see a pair of smooth blue eyes, with flecks of green giving them the appearance of waves rolling throughout the ocean.

She brushed some of her colored hair out of her face and handed the boy back his papers, standing up. He gave her a small smile as he took the papers.

"Hey it's cool don't worry about it" he replied smoothly.

"I'm Kyle, by the way" he said hurriedly, extending a free hand.

"Oh," Kayleigh paused, a bit startles by the gesture, "Kayleigh" she replied shaking his offered hand. They stood in silence for a few moments until Kyle looked at his papers,

"Well, I have to go make some copies for Ms. Ellis" he said. Kayleigh nodded quickly,

"And I better go find a seat" she said, turning to the opened door. Kyle walked away but paused and looked back.

"By the way......cool hair" he headed in the direction of the office. Kayleigh smiled

"Thanks." she said quietly.

       Kayleigh walked into the classroom and looked around for an empty seat. She spotted her best friend Claire waving to get her attention. She was pointing to an empty seat next to her and, Heather Davis. Kayleigh didn't really want to sit next to Heather but she made her way over to the seat, preparing herself for the instant criticism  she knew was coming her way. She lowered herself into the plastic yellow chair, hanging her backpack on the back of the seat.

"What on Earth did you do to your hair weirdo?" Heather commented immediately, grabbing a tuft of Kayleigh's dyed hair.

"Uhh" Kayleigh stuttered, adjusting her beanie slightly.

"Oh Heather is just teasing, you look great!" Claire interrupted, leaning over to hug her best friend.
She leaned back to assess the summer changes Kayleigh had made. Aside from the colored hair, she was wearing an "ALL TIME LOW" with olive colored jeans and black converse boots. Kayleigh shifted in her seat as Heather coughed,

"emo..." she smiled sweetly, as if nothing had happened. Hearing the class door shut, Kayleigh glanced up to see the boy from the doorway, Kyle, handing Ms. Ellis the papers before retreating to his seat as the tardy bell rang. Ms. Ellis cleared her throat and the class fell silent.

"Welcome to 10th grade. Now I trust you all finished your summer reading?" Backpacks and binders rustled as the students pulled out their books. Kayleigh found her book and placed it on her desk. Ms. Ellis turned and wrote on the board, her marker squeaking.

"Romeo and Juliet," she began. Kayleigh traced the gold script on the tattered cover of her copy.

"William Shakespeare wrote many works but one of his most famous is," Ms Ellis tapped the words on the board, "Romeo and Juliet. I can not wait to read each of your essays describing in detail the key parts of the story, which I am SURE you all did." She looked pointedly around the room. "However, today I'd like to focus on the theme. Or rather, what you all have decided to interpret it as." She began to pace the room. Kayleigh listened intently, ignoring Heather's sighs and mumbled complaints about the lesson

"Would anyone like to share what they thought the central idea was? How about.....Miss. Jewell" Ms. Ellis turned to face Claire.

"Easy" Claire replied after a moment of thought, "It's about love and sacrifice and selflessness" she finished.

A boy shouted out, "No! That is not what it is!"

Ms. Ellis turned toward the objection, "Care to explain mister Fitzpatrick?"

The boy stood up, "Romeo and Juliet is about the disobedience of teens, foolishness, and selfishness." A murmur went around the class as the students thought the two sides through. Ms. Ellis nodded thoughtfully as whispered arguments about which view was right broke out all over the class.

"So," she said, "who believes that the story is about love and sacrifice?" hands went up around the class. Kayleigh scanned around the class as she slowly out up her hand. Mostly girls were raising their hands, including Claire and Heather. However, a few boys had agreed as well . Kayleigh spotted Kyle sheepishly raising his hand as he pushed his dark hair out of his eyes. He saw her looking and they made eye contact. Kayleigh looked away, silently chiding herself for staring. However, out of the corner of her eye she watched as a group of boys laughed and pulled at Kyle's arm until he withdrew it from the air, looking away.

Ms. Ellis counted the hands in the air, alright, now, who thinks Romeo and Juliet is about foolishness and disobedience?" She asked

Once again, hands were raised and counted. Kayleigh saw Kyle put his hand up with his friends, but he kept his gaze on his desk

"Now" Ms. Ellis had to talk louder due to the arguments breaking out once again, louder this time.

"You have divided yourselves up. Juliet's family, the Capulets, are to represent those of you who chose love and sacrifice as your theme. Romeo's family, the Montagues, are to represent those of you who chose foolishness and disobedience. I want both 'families ' to put on a play that reflects your theme. You will be given time to work on this in your drama class as well as in here. The show will count as a drama grade, but the scripts will count as a grade from me" the bell rang.

"Good luck" Ms. Ellis smiled. Kayleigh grabbed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder once again. This was going to be one heck of a year.