Juliette by Melissa Amondo (year 7 reading list TXT) 📖

chances. “Fine!” and I grabbed the ball from his hands. “Feisty!” He laughed. I stood close to the basketball hoop and took my first shot, it wasn’t even close. He laughed again. He looked a lot better when he laughed instead of looking so serious. I took my second shot. He shouted, “Missed!” I turned around and gave him a look of disgust. He laughed even harder. Now I was focused more than ever. I tuned out his laughing and shot the ball. It hit the rim, and fell out. I almost made it. “You lose!” He laughed. “Whatever” I said, accepting my defeat. Who was I kidding? Never played basketball a day in my life. Always avoided basketball during PE. I began walking to my seat in the doorway, when he said, “Hey, I didn’t catch your name?” I smirked and sarcastically replied, “I never threw it.” His jaw dropped and he put his hand on his chest signifying I broke his heart. I laughed and walked to my seat. I was still upset. To him I would be a mystery. I will be the equipment manager. I just wanted him to hurry up and finish so that I could lock up and go to the Jazz Moon to see Anastasia’s performance. What's Happening?

 Just like I thought, that jerk took his sweet time to leave the gym. I was going to be late for the performance. I was finally able to lock the gym up at 7:15pm. I still had to head back to my dorm and change into the awesome outfit Stacey picked for me and do something nice with my hair. I had to do all of that and try to make it there my 7:30pm. All of this for some show off. All this guy was doing was shooting the ball and doing all these fancy tricks with ball. I caught him a few times looking back at me to see if I was looking. I was not impressed. I wanted to drag him out the gym. He could tell that I was angry. I literally felt heat running through my body but then eventually cool down when he decided to wait for me to lock up the gym so that I wouldn’t be myself. He kept trying to start conversation with me, and offered to walk me to my dorm. I guess he started to realize that he was wrong for holding me hostage in the gym. I declined his request. I didn’t want him to see me running. I wanted to make it on time. Anastasia could potentially be the first friend I make; I didn’t want to mess that up. I eventually made it back to my dorm. It was almost 7:30 that last time I checked my phone. I jumped in the shower for about 30 seconds and hopped right out. I nearly slipped and cracked my head open at the rate I was going. Stacey gave me an outfit that she recently bought but didn’t really like anymore. It was a cute fall on the shoulder black top and with a pair of ripped gray skinny jeans. She also let me borrow some of her accessories. Silver hoop earrings, a black choker, and a pair of black sandal wedges. I cannot walk in heels but could walk in the wedges. When I put the entire outfit on, she told me to apply some eyeliner and some of her pink lip gloss and leave my hair down. I somewhat trusted her and did exactly as she said. I washed my hair in the shower, so I detangled in and added some moose so my natural curls would be free and not frizzy. It would eventually dry by the time I got to the Jazz Moon. When I checked the time on the phone, it was 8:07pm. Oh my God. I most likely missed everything, but I still had to go. I glanced at myself in the mirror quickly and couldn’t believe the person I saw. Who was that? She looked hot. She looked like she belonged. Despite the fact my hair was all wet; I loved the girl that I was looking at in the mirror. Stacey has talent. I wondered if fashion was her major. How did she know what was going to look good on me? After how she treated me, why was she even willing to help me like this? Maybe this was a way to make up for treating me unfairly. Whatever the reason was though, I am super happy and super late. Before I could go though, one last tip she told me was to lose the glasses. I took them off and put it on my night stand. Everything looked blurry. I have never gone anywhere without my glasses. I hope that I don’t regret this.

 

***

What was I thinking leaving my glasses behind? It was now 8:39pm. It took me almost 30 minutes to get to this place because I could barely see a thing and it was dark out. By the time I realized that I made a stupid decision, it was going to take more time to go back and get my glasses. I had to just deal with it. Boy that was rough.  The Jazz moon was full of people.  This was bad because I didn’t know anyone there except Ana, and I could barely see a thing. How was I going to find her?  I walked to the cashier and asked her where the bathroom was. She pointed to a sign that was fuzzy in my eyes. That was my escape until I could figure out a plan. As I walked to the bathroom, I heard someone say my name. “Juliette! Hey girl!”  I was so relieved that it was Ana! “I’m glad you came! You look great!” Ana said while approaching me and then giving me a hug. She made me feel a thousand times better, not only at the fact that I couldn’t see, but I was also super late, and she said I looked great. “Sorry I’m late. Did I miss your performance?” I asked.  “Yeah you did. But no worries girly, there will be lots more.” Ana replied. I still felt bad for missing her performance and wanted to tell her about my hostage situation.  “I would have been on time, but some jerk..” I started to say and then got caught off by a male voice. “Ana baby!” the male voice said, and he walked over and gave Ana a huge hug to the point her feet lifted off the floor. “Jason! I’m so happy you’re here!” Ana replied in his grasp.  To my surprise, it was the jerk! My stomach did back flips. He released Ana from his hug and turned and looked directly at me. “Excuse, my rude brother. This is...” Ana started to say before Jason cut her off. “We met.” He said. “Oh.” Ana said. “Well she was just about to tell me about some jerk.” Ana laughed.  My stomach was on the floor. “Oh...Sorry for interrupting your conversation. I would love to hear about this jerk.” Jason smirked. This was not happening right now. “Um...It’s nothing serious. Maybe some other time.” I quickly responded. He knew I was talking about him. What are the odds? “So you two are related?” I asked. Well duh, she did say brother. “No, he isn’t really my brother. But he is like the brother I never had and always looks out for me.” Ana said giving him a nudge on his arm. Oh. I looked at Jason and he still had that smirk on his face. He was making me feel real uncomfortable. I quickly looked back at Ana, I think she could feel the awkwardness. I was searching for something to say, and Ana beat me to it. “So, I’m going to go mingle with a few people.  Jason, why don’t you get her a drink? I’ll catch you guys later.” She said before walking away. I watched her walk away and disappear into the crowd. I didn’t want to look at Jason. I could feel him staring at me with that stupid smirk on his face. “So you think I am a jerk, huh?” Jason asked.  Yes you are, I thought to myself.  “I’m sorry you felt that way, I wasn’t trying to be sweetheart.” He continued. Only my dad and grandparents call me sweetheart. I was in shock and was speechless. I didn’t know what to say. “So what do you want to drink?” He asked. “Um, I’m okay right now. Thanks.” I finally replied. I looked at him. My eyes fell into his. He was staring at me, and now I couldn’t break my own stare. “You look nice.” He smiled. I glanced away from his gaze and smiled. “Thanks” I replied. “Can we start over?” He asked. I instantly thought déjà vu. First my psycho roommate, now him. I looked at him again. He was really handsome. He was wearing a v-neck t-shirt and jeans, with some very stylish and clean sneakers. He looked relaxed. He looked like a fun person to be around. I liked his smile. I liked his eyes. He was tall. “Ok.” I replied. He smiled again. I gushed. “So what is your name pretty girl?” he asked. I smiled. “Juliette and yours?” That was reflex. I already knew his name. I was just super nervous now. “I’m Romeo.” He laughed. We both then laughed together. “My name is Jason. Some of my friends call me Jay.” He answered after he stopped laughing.  “Oh ok. Some of my friends call me Jules.” I replied. “I like that. For now on, I’m calling you Jules.” He smiled. I smiled back. Once again, I didn’t know what to say. My mind was going 1000 miles a second. This was the same guy I wanted to drag out of the gym. Was he flirting with me now? Did he really think I was pretty? Is that why Ana left? Did she pick up on that? He wants to be my Romeo. He can be my Romeo. “Hey Julie!” I hear another male voice say. What was happening? I looked to see who it was, but my vision was blurry. As the male got closer, I realized who it was. “Hey Sebastian!” I think I sounded a bit too excited to see him.  “Hey Julie. Jason. ”Sebastian replied.  That was a friendly hello to me. Not so friendly to Jason. “Sebastian, Sebastian, Sebastian, what’s going on bro?” Jason said. This was weird. They know each other, but it did not seem like they were friends. “Not much.” Sebastian replied awkwardly. Jason now looked annoyed. “How do you know Jules?” Jason asked. “I know all the pretty girls.”Sebastian quickly responded back. Jason looked at him, shook his head, and gave a little laugh. “Oh really? That’s why you joined the cheerleading team?” Jason asked. I could see Sebastian face turn red. These guys are not friends. “How about you and my cousin mind your business, ok?” Sebastian snapped.  Jason threw his hands in the air and laughed. “I’ll catch you some other time Jules.” Jason then walked over