Romeo and Juliet of Sorts

We begin our journey in the middle of Nowhereville, population NO ONE.
         Our beginning starts at the end. Is it the end of the world or just the end of Michelle's world?  How do you start over with a new life, a new name, and a new home? Michelle had to figure this out the hard way, and no one could figure it out for her.

                             1

Michelle Montreos. That was her name. She was a star on her soccer team and a pretty nice person. Her parents were divorced but she lived with her dad. Everything was great, until she met Josh.
Josh Webster was a junior in the high school that she was a sophomore in. They were complete opposites and yet they connected. He was from a world that she could never be a part of, a world that contained deception and fighting. He was from a mob world while she was their greatest enemy's granddaughter. Her own father refused to join the mob world and became a college professor instead. He had been cut off from his father ever since, but he had never and would never like the Websters.
The only time she saw her grandfather was as a child when she was 8. He told her one thing to remember and never forget. "Hate the Websters but don't try to fight them," he said in his old crackly voice. Even at 59, he could scare a teenager out of any habit with a single look. Although by Michelle's 15th birthday he was bed ridden from too many fights as a mobster, he hadn't lost any of his fierceness, and because of this Michelle hadn't forgotten what he told her.
Michelle and Josh first met in the library during the first week of school. Neither of them knew what they were getting themselves into or they might have turned and walked the other way. They were both searching for books for their English Lit. papers. They had both managed to be interested in the same section of books and ended up running into each other, literally.
"Oh sorry," they each muttered as they carefully stepped around each other, deeply focused on getting the book they wanted. Slowly they reached for the same book and as they each grabbed the book their eyes met and they stared into each other's eyes for a moment before Michelle realized that she had soccer practice and that she needed to hurry.
"Sorry but I need this book for my English Lit. paper," she stammered as she tried to force her eyes away from his burning gaze.
He finally glanced down at the book they were cradling between them and replied in a soft silky voice, "Oh, well I guess I can find a different one for my paper."  He reluctantly let the book fall gently against Michelle's chest.
Michelle gazed up into his eyes for a few seconds before stumbling backwards remembering that she had to get to soccer on time.
"Thanks for letting me have the book," she mumbled as she backed around the corner.
"Wait!" Josh called after her only to be later reprimanded by the librarians. He quickly walked around the corner but she had already checked out her book and fled the library.
Running as fast as she could, Michelle fled to her "safe haven", the soccer field, and hastily explained why she was late. Slowly she slipped into her position as sweeper on the field thinking of the boy she almost fell in love with.


        2

         Josh looked around slowly in case he missed her before. He shrugged his shoulders and turned back toward the shelves. He still had to pick a book for his project and the library would close in 20 minutes.
         As he shoved his new book in his backpack, he thought about the girl from the library. He turned toward the door and decided to start heading home. As he shuffled out the door he remembered the construction on the street near his house.  He would have to take a detour around it. He altered his course and started the tedious walk home. As he was walking, he looked around. He hardly ever came this way; the only things this way were the sports fields.
      3 

         "Michelle! Get your head into it!" Coach Allens hollered from the sidelines.
         "Sorry Coach!" Michelle stammered in reply as she chased the ball that she had unconsciously let by.
         "Water Break," the coach yelled. She was finally fed up with Michelle, the star's, inattentiveness.
         "What's up with your game today, Shel?" Max, Michelle's best friend, questioned.
         "Can you keep a secret for me?" Michelle whispered in reply.
         "Of course! I love secrets!" Max excitedly whispered back.
         "Well, I met a guy," Michelle began hesitantly, "At the library. Today. While I was looking for a book for my English Lit. paper.  I accidentally ran into him as we were both reaching for the same book. I know it sounds totally weird but I think that we connected."
         "Oh my God!" Max squealed quietly. "Love at first sight. It is so romantic!"
         Michelle looked at her and started blushing. "I do not love him," she stated, more as a question to herself than for Max.
         "Ladies!" the coach barked. "Are we disrupting you?"
         "Sorry coach," both girls muttered.
         "No," she said decidedly. Turning to the rest of the team she announced, "Girls we will run four sets of 18-30s for Ms. Montreos' and Ms. Campbell's inability to pay attention."
         The team groaned and several dirty looks were thrown at Michelle and Max as they looked at the ground.
"Now that I have everyone's attention, we can get back to the drill. We have our big game against Oakhurst Prep this week. We need to stay focused. We are good enough to beat them and this year we will be ready. Okay hit the showers and go home.  No 18-30s today."
They all gathered in a big group, their sweat covered bodies only getting hotter by standing there. As the captain of the team, it was Michelle's job to count down.
"One, two, three!" she screamed.
"Tigers!" The whole team finished off.
As Michelle gathered up her book bag with Max, she glanced up. She saw someone walking in front of her and instantly, she wished that she hadn't looked up. Walking in front of her was the boy from the library.

                  4
   
He looked up to see who was staring at him and as he saw her, the girl he fell for. Many, like Max, would call it love at first sight, but he called it a starting point of a possible relationship.  He stopped walking then turned around to make sure she wasn't staring at her hunky boyfriend behind him. When he was sure, he casually, and nervously, approached the fence where she was packing up.
"Uh, hi," Josh stammered, trying to find his words. 
Max, taking the hint, said, "I'll catch you later, Shel."
Michelle, who had forgotten that Max was even there, was startled and shakily waved to Max.
"So, uh, you play soccer?" Josh hesitantly began.
"Um yeah. I'm the captain," Michelle responded not really willing to talk about herself.
"Really? That's cool," Josh replied. Then, a voice that came from him but was not his own, asked, "Can I maybe walk you home?"
Just as startled as he was by the question, she heard herself say yes before she had a chance to think about it.
"Cool," Josh said in a relieved voice as he waited for Michelle to gather her remaining things.
"I'm Josh by the way."
"Michelle."
And that is the way they knew each other for some time, otherwise they might have heeded the warnings of their ancient ancestors.

                 5

As they started walking, Josh, who had noticed Michelle struggling under the weight of her soccer bag, slowly lifted her bag off her shoulder and placed it on his own. When she realized what had happened, which took a few moments, she tried to protest but one look into Josh's eyes silenced her.
Together they walked in silence for what seemed like hours until at last Michelle took a sharp turn to the left. Josh, unsure of where they were going, followed in silence. Finally they came to a mansion standing in tall glory with beautiful Victorian features.
"This is your house?" Josh asked in disbelief
"Yeah," Michelle answered sheepishly.
"Well I had better go," Josh whispered still in shock and awe of the towering giant in front of him.
"Okay," Michelle answered quietly taking her soccer bag from Josh's shoulder as he stared at the beauty behind her.
"I'll see you at school?" Josh stated though it was more like a question. "Maybe I could see you outside of school sometime too?" He added hopefully.
"Maybe that would be nice," Michelle responded in an uncertain voice.
Josh's face seemed to brighten up with those five simple words spoken in the voice of someone he was beginning to like.

             6

Josh's whole walk home he relived the time he had spent with Michelle. There were some times that he wished he had done something differently and some times that he thought he had done right. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that when he arrived at his home he didn't notice the yelling. The first thing to knock him out of his thoughts was the sound of glass shattering.
Suddenly awake and aware of what was happening, Josh steered past his house, which he pretended was not his own, and kept walking. He walked on, his feet knowing right away where they were supposed to take him.
When he arrived at his destination, a nearby park that he spent many of his childhood times at, he sat in his favorite place just to think. At this time of day there was almost no one at the park so it was nice and quiet. He thought of his parents, Michelle, and school. He was a junior and was tired of school but didn't actually want to leave. He was tired of being at home where he was constantly judged and lectured on "One day when you become a part of the family business..."  He was just tired in general. He had never left his hometown but he needed to get as far away as possible. When he was younger he dreamed of trips to Japan, Africa, Europe and so many more places. By the time he got into high school he had abandoned all these dreams and started to live in the real world. He never liked to fight and much preferred to read or to write. This is why so many saw him unfit to take over the family business. His father was determined to "fix" him and make him the perfect mobster.
As he sat there at the top of the slide where he was tall enough to let his chin rest on the crossbar, he thought about his life. He had the sudden urge to leave. To get up and start running and never look back. His mother was probably the only thing keeping him at home. His father wasn't exactly encouraging. Actually he was the opposite. But this was his life and he was used to it.
He grabbed his bag and started for his house. This time he wouldn't walk away if there was fighting. He had to face it sooner or later.

                 7

Michelle escaped inside the gate of her house and watched Josh as he walked away from her house. Halfway down the street she watched as Josh stopped and turned his head to glance back at her house. He did nothing but turn and glance at the house but to Michelle it meant everything.
"What's up, honey?" Michelle's dad questioned over dinner, as he watched his daughter pick at her food with a far away look on her face.
Startled, Michelle dropped her fork and it clattered loudly to the floor. With a very sheepish smile, she slowly bent down and picked the fork up. "Nothing's up, daddy," she insisted for what seemed like the hundredth time that night.
"You seem so distracted tonight," her dad added.
"No, no I'm fine. I just had a long day," Michelle responded with a wave of her hand, as if all of his questions would disappear with that. She started to eat the food, which she had been pushing around her plate for five minutes, as if she hadn't eaten in a day.
With a bewildered and slightly amused expression he chuckled saying, "Now there's the daughter I know."
He stood up to take his dishes into the kitchen. He had had the day off of work as he did every Wednesday due to the lack of students interested in taking "Italian Genealogy: The Roots of Our Ancestors."