Death Mark'd Love

Chapter One

It was 2am and I was having trouble sleeping. I'd slept maybe half an hour the whole weekend and I knew I was going to pay for it tomorrow morning. I hadn't wasted the past few days, per se, I just hadn't been working like I had told my parents. Still, what was the harm of a few white lies? If they knew what I'd really been up to; snorting crack off Elizabeth Dowsen's toilet, downing three bottles of red wine in half an hour, or secretly hooking up with Mark Dowsen, as in "engaged-to-his-high-school-sweetheart" Mark Dowsen, I would not only be grounded but probably also poisoned. Sounds dark but hey, dead Cymbaline can't ruin her family's reputation. So yeah, I was a mess. It's okay, I was fully aware. Ruining people's lives was kind of my thing. Not in an edgy way, like I'm some sort of psychopath who kills people's pets and ends up slashing her own wrists. It was more like, "Oh shit, your parents didn't know you were a drug dealer for London's elite?" or "I'm so sorry, I assumed your girlfriend knew you were cheating on her." It's harsh but if you knew Lady Montague's School for Girls you'd realise they all deserve it. But it was all innocent until the new girl came. 

Rosalind was like nothing I'd ever seen before. She floated through party with a twinkle in her eye and a smirk on her lips, as if she had secrets. She seemed like the kind of person who had secrets. And the kind of person I wanted to be friends with. I was surprised she had come, to be honest. We had only been back at school for one week, and the new kid didn't seem eager to talk to anyone. Yet here she was, dressed like an angel all in white, with a lace mask covering her eyes. It was like she was trying to hide herself and seek attention all at once, and I couldn't take my eyes off her. Leo's infamous back to school costume parties were all anyone really talked about in the weeks leading up to the start of the year. Something always seemed to happen at them, I guess the disguise of costume made people feel a little freer to push the boundaries of society and, sometimes, the law. Leo was a close friend of mine, but he was also considerably nicer than I was, so I often had to compete for his company and, honestly, I could never really be bothered. I, on the other hand, was called a "stone cold lesbian bitch" by many of my fellow students, and hey I wasn't complaining. Except for the fact that I was actually bi, not that anyone knew that. Not even "out and proud" Leo knew, even though he'd get it, but for the rest of my school, if you weren't interested in making out with the cool French exchange student in an eighth grade game of Spin the Bottle then you were marked as a big screaming homo for the rest of your academic career.

I was standing in the corner of the living room, holding a beer bottle and swaying slightly to the music when I had my first interaction with Rosalind. 

"What exactly are you supposed to be?" She asked. 

"Isn't it obvious?" I raised a brow. She shook her head. "Lydia from Beetlejuice."  

"Never heard of it. It's a bit witchy though, shouldn't you have saved it for halloween?" 

"God no, one rule of Montague Halloween is you have to show as much skin as possible. The school administration gave up punishing us years ago, it's just one of those invisible codes you can't unwrite." 

Rosalind furrowed a brow. 

"What about like double standards or whatever?"

"Boys do it too. One year Andrew Vernon came as a sexy nun and all the Sisters almost had a heart attack." 

"Well that sounds...delightful." 

I wasn't fazed by girls like Rosalind. They pretended to be soft and sweet, a renaissance painting of a person, but underneath their deep insecurities often came off as bitchiness. It could be confusing at times, but with a family like mine I knew how to deal with it. We stood in silence for a while, surveying the crowd, me chugging my beer hoping sooner or later the alcohol would make this party fun, and her sipping gracefully at whatever she had, probably something cutesy like pink gin.

"Why an angel?" I asked finally.

"I don't know, I guess they're pretty and delicate but also hold extreme power. Looks can be deceiving."

Ah, so a metaphor for her life, totally called it.

"Why are you here?" She turns to look at me and I fumble, confused by her question.

"You mean, at this party or, like, on earth?"

"In the corner. You seem well liked at school."

Well fucking liked ???? What other dimension did she live in. People paid me no mind, no one cared if I lived or died and it really took the pressure off.

"I prefer to watch, I guess."

"Fucking boring. You're going to watch your life go by? You're going to live as someone else's side character? That's not a life. Come on, let's dance."

I was blown away. It wasn't often that people surprised me, I usually thought I had everyone figured out. But there was something about Rosalind that kept me on my toes and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.

By the time I was out of my stupor Rosalind had grabbed my hand and pulled me deeper into the room where people were dancing. She danced so effortlessly, like her body had been desperate to move that way and finally she had let it. I was starting to realise that there was nothing Rosalind couldn't do. Me trying to dance, however, was like trying to get a cat to swim. I never knew what to do with my limbs, I felt like I was drowning, and I wanted to get out of the water. Rosalind grabbed my hand and laughed, swaying me alongside her. She spun me and dipped me and I was starting to understand the appeal of dancing.

"You're crazy, you know that?" I told her as she dipped me for a third time and people were beginning to stare. She shrugged.

"Beats boring." I was about to protest when;

"Fuck." Her playful smile disappeared and she let go of my hand.

"What's up?" I asked, trying not to show my disappointment at not being held anymore.

"I'll see you at school, maybe." Was all she said as she left the party with the same nonchalance as she'd entered. It was like I'd blinked and my Cinderella had vanished.