True Stories and Confessions from an Aro/Ace teen

Romeo and Juliet: age 14

𝕽𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖔 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕵𝖚𝖑𝖎𝖊𝖙: 𝖆𝖌𝖊 14

𝕲𝖗𝖆𝖉𝖊: 9𝖙𝖍

𝕹𝖔𝖙𝖊 𝕴 𝖆𝖑𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖞 𝖐𝖓𝖊𝖜 𝕴 𝖜𝖆𝖘 𝖆𝖗𝖔/𝖆𝖈𝖊 𝖆𝖙 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝖕𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖙, 𝖆𝖘 𝕴 𝖜𝖆𝖘 𝖆𝖑𝖒𝖔𝖘𝖙 15.

I picked up the book I had just been given by my teacher. A copy of Romeo and Juliet. We were going to be reading it in English class.

I knew very little about the book besides:

• It was written by William Shakespear

• It's old, and so's the English

• Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore Art Thou Romeo

• It's a romance

• Pretty much everyone dies. (Honestly, this was the only thing I was excited for)

Throughout the whole time reading the book, I refused to read aloud as Romeo or Juliet. Half their lines made me so uncomfortable. I read aloud as Mercutio, which was the only good part of the book because my teacher let me duel one of my classmates with a ruler in the middle of the classroom. (That and our Shakespearian Insult Battle where I got to name call the Dean of Discipline without any repercussions.)

I wanted to die when reading the book. And, it made me very uncomfortable. Especially since I was older than Juliet (who was 13). Like, my only comfort was the fact that this was written 500 years ago, and adulthood was younger. Though, that didn't do much.

𝕾𝖍𝖊 𝖜𝖆𝖘 13! 𝕬𝖓𝖉 𝖘𝖍𝖊 𝖜𝖆𝖘 𝖌𝖊𝖙𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖒𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖉.

(A fond memory was also when we were watching a play version, and Juliet stabbed herself, but the stab was so botched that it was funny, and my whole class broke down in laughter. And my teacher thought we were psycotic. We had her rewind it like three times, and everytime we laughed harder than the time before.)