Shakespeare's Dilemma - Lady Myastry (read any book .txt) 📗

I walk into the club meeting, feeling excited as ever. Today was the day we discussed Romeo & Juliet. A story that is so romantic that I had to hold my handkerchief at the ready while reading it. In case you haven’t read it, it’s a story that makes me cry when I think about it. It’s about true love and doing anything imaginable to sustain that love. I can’t even believe that any love would run that deep, but theirs did. I have to give William a big thumbs up for writing it. I walk up to the heavy oak door with the familiar piece of notebook paper with Shakespeare Club scrawled across it. I take a deep breath, straighten out my smile and push the door open.

Upon said entry 23 heads rise up at my arrival. “Hey Vee!”, a chorus of voices greet me. “Hello, everyone.”, I say, giving a small wave. Oscar taps his make-shift gavel at the front of the room. “Alright. Time to discuss Romeo and Juliet.” Everyone bounces around excitedly. “First speaker: Hector.” Hector stands, pushing up his glasses so that they frame his dull green eyes. He takes a deep breath and says, “I interpret Romeo and Juliet to be a love story that’s almost as silly as Twilight.” He sits down as if he’s expecting the firing squad that immediately bursts out of the mouths of half the group. It takes Oscar 5 taps of the gavel to calm everyone down.

“Next speaker: Olivia.” Olivia stands, shooting daggers out of her eyes at Hector. She composes herself and says, “Romeo and Juliet is a story of passion, desire, and true love. They were soul-mates, willing to die for each other. I believe that Hector’s earlier statement is false. I think that both the Twilight saga and Romeo and Juliet are stories that push you on an emotional roller coaster. Thank you.” she sits with enough grace to leave everyone speechless except for a small snort at the back of the room. I turn and see it was no other than Riley Jacobson. Bad-boy of the school, only in this club to make fun of the Shakespeare-loving nerds. He stands. “You’re not next on the list, Riley.” He glares at Oscar. “It’ll only take a second, Oscar.” Upon his demand he turns and faces all of us. “Romeo and Juliet is some stupid story that Shakespeare made up because he didn’t believe in love. He wanted to point out the stupidity of middle-schoolers/freshman dating, and declaring that they are ‘undeniably in love.’ I think that we should listen to Hector, because W.S. had a sense of humor and he wasn’t afraid to write with it.” I stare at him in shock for a minute, because that’s the most I’ve heard him talk since third grade.

In fact I hardly register the words, “Yeah right.” coming out of my mouth. I see all 24 faces turn to mine. 23 expressions are shock mixed with fear. The 24th? Well, that’s Riley’s. And Riley’s shows surprise mixed with a cruel happiness. I swallow my fear. He can’t kill me. Right? “I-I think that Romeo and Juliet have a love worth fighting for. True love doesn’t happen everyday, we have to seize it while it’s here. I think people have forgotten the phrase “Do anything for love.” And that’s not okay. Why can’t you see that?”, my voice growing stronger and each word more directed at Riley than the last. “I concede that the basis of Romeo and Juliet is not a ‘let’s make-fun of this’ type of play, but a deep, meaningful, we-have-a-connection type of play.”

My voice seems to ring loud and clear across the room. At the front of the room Oscar pounds his gavel once. “All in favor of Riley’s statement.” About half the room raises their hand. Another tap. “And Veronica’s?” The other half raises their hands. “Until this issue is solved we will read nothing else, nor meet more than once every two weeks, with the exception of the Annual Shakespeare Ball which is exactly a month from today’s current date, February 29th.” Three pounds of the gavel sound before all hell breaks loose.

“He can’t do that! Can he?!”, I explode, trying to vent. Scott looks at me sheepishly. “Actually he can. He’s the voted leader of the Shakespeare club which is ran like a monarchy, so his word is final.” I glare at him. “I don’t need your legal precedence, nor opinion. I need assurance.” Scott shrugs, indifferent to my icy stare. “Just telling it like it is Vee. Just tellin’ it like it is.”

Publication Date: 04-04-2014

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