Crushing on a Capulet by Tony Abbott

will not forget a terrible hurt to her.”
    â€œI care for her, too,” said Romeo. “With all my heart.”
    The nurse breathed in deeply, then nodded. “Good. I will tell her that.”
    â€œAnd tell her this,” said Romeo. “To come this afternoon to Friar Laurence’s cell … to be married.”
    â€œMarried?” she gasped. “Oh, truly?”
    â€œTruly,” said Frankie with a grin. “He’s serious.”
    I nodded. “In fact, he even hired Friar Laurence to plan the wedding. It’ll be this afternoon.”
    Well, the nurse smiled so big that her grin just about met behind her ears. “Juliet shall be there!” she said.
    â€œAnd after dark tonight,” said Romeo, “I will arrange to visit her at her house. Her family will not see me.”
    â€œAnd Frankie and I will be lookouts,” I said. “Tybalt is, like, everywhere. Plus, if Mr. Capulet sees you, he won’t exactly throw a party for you, either.”
    â€œThrow a sword, maybe,” said Frankie.
    â€œAnd another thing,” I said. “Unless you plan to spend the rest of the day practicing the high jump, maybe you should think about bringing some kind of ladder to get over the wall and up the balcony.”
    â€œGood point,” said Frankie. “And if we keep following you around, I want an easier way up that wall.”
    Romeo’s eyes lit up. “Splendid idea, my friends. Find a rope ladder and set it up in Juliet’s garden for tonight.”
    â€œJust the thing!” said the nurse. “I shall tell Juliet what we have said here. But sir, you must know that the nobleman, Paris, has asked for Juliet’s hand in marriage. He will not like this. Neither will Juliet’s cousin Tybalt.”
    Romeo smiled, but his thoughts were somewhere else. “Thank you for the warning. Now, give my love to thy lady. We meet later.”
    â€œA thousand times, sir!” she said, and hustled back down the dusty road toward the city gates.
    As Romeo headed back into the Friar’s hut, Frankie turned to me. “Dev, it looks like the scene is ending. What do you want to do?”
    â€œHow about we go find a ladder?” I said. “I mean, it’s strange, but Romeo and Juliet seem to like us and trust us. We actually seem to have a real part in this play.”
    â€œJust like Mr. Wexler wanted,” said Frankie. “Let’s go find a ladder!”
    So, as best we could in our funny clothes, we raced each other back to the city.

Chapter 9
    It was amazingly easy to find a rope ladder.
    There was one just sitting in a pile of trash behind a row of shops. It was as if we were meant to find it.
    The ladder was not in great shape, but we figured it would hold our weight the next time we hauled ourselves over that garden wall.
    After that, Frankie and I got totally lost.
    The streets of Verona snaked around here and there and crisscrossed like a spiderweb. Trying to find our way back to the Capulet house, Frankie and I felt like mice in a maze.
    Luckily, we met our old friends Benvolio and Mercutio on the way.
    â€œHey, dudes!” I said. “Are we glad to see you!”
    â€œAh, Frankie and Devin,” said Mercutio. “Have you seen our elusive friend Romeo?”
    I glanced at Frankie. I wasn’t sure whether these guys were supposed to know about Romeo and Juliet yet.
    â€œUm … maybe,” I said.
    â€œHe left us high and dry last night,” said Benvolio. “And so he probably doesn’t know that Tybalt—”
    â€œTybalt,” Mercutio interrupted, “that angry prince of cats—”
    â€œWhat about Tybalt?” asked Frankie.
    â€œHe has sent a challenge to Montague,” said Benvolio. “He says he wants to duel Romeo.”
    I nearly fell over. “A duel? As in a fight?”
    â€œWith sharp and pointed blades,” said Mercutio. “Tybalt is angry with