Waiting for World Literature to end was torture, especially when the period hadn't started but ten minutes ago. For some reason, the dreaded class dragged on forever, even though it was only forty five minutes long in reality; but when one is as bored as I was, forty five minutes can seem like an eternity.

World Literature just wasn't something I was interested in—I didn't see the point of learning about a bunch of dead people and the "wonderful pieces of work" they had created God-knows-how-long ago. The teachers always said that the material we learned in school were things we would use in our everyday lives—somehow I didn't think that this particular subject fit that description like math or science did.

As I pondered, I found that my eyelids were getting heavy—I was just that bored. Making an honest attempt to stay awake, I looked around the room, observing my classmates. Amu was writing something on a piece of paper, but there was no way she would be taking notes. After a second or two, I realized that she was playing hangman with Yaya, who suddenly looked like she was about to cry—I guessed that she had failed to figure out the word puzzle.

Letting my gaze wander, I noticed that Tadase had fallen asleep. I didn't blame him at all, but I preferred not to get in trouble for passing out during a lecture. I could probably get out of it if I wanted to, by using my fake tears—the same way Tadase used his puppy-dog face to manipulate people, specifically teachers, into doing what he wanted.

While the King slept, and the Ace and Joker continued their game, I noticed that the other Guardian, besides me, was spacing out while absentmindedly twirling a strand of his long violet hair around his fingers. This was something, if not the only thing, that the Jack and I had in common. Fujisaki Nagihiko didn't like World Literature either.

I looked back at the teacher for a brief moment—Nikaidou was blathering something about Shakespeare. We'd been reading and discussing "Romeo and Juliet" for the past few days—the play itself was interesting, but I didn't care much for the writer. He was too emo for my liking.

The bell suddenly rang, snapping me out of my reverie and scaring the crap out of Tadase, who must've jumped four feet. Everyone, including myself, grabbed their books and scrambled for the door, relieved that the boring class was finally over.

"Hold it!" Nikaidou's voice rang through the classroom, and everyone looked up. "You have homework." The three words were enough to make the twenty-or-so students in the room groan. The red-haired teacher waited for the complaints to die down before explaining the assignment. "You are all to find one quote in Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' that says something about who you are. You will be reading your quotes aloud to the class tomorrow."

That didn't really give me much time to look for something, because I was fairly certain that there was nothing in the play that I could relate to in the slightest. When people looked at Mashiro Rima, the first thing to come to mind was definitely not "star-crossed lover." Or at least, I hoped it wasn't.

Amu and Yaya would have a harder time with the assignment than I would. Amu was so mixed up that she didn't really know much about herself to begin with, and I didn't think that there were any hyperactive children in the play that were constantly screaming for candy.

As we shuffled out of the classroom and toward the school's exit, Amu looked at me and sighed. "I have no idea how I'm going to do this assignment…" I knew that.

"Don't worry, Amu-chan," I jumped at the unexpected voice, which had come from right behind me. Amu looked over her shoulder, while I just stood there, annoyed. Who should happen to show up but everyone's favorite cross-dressing idiot? Of course, I was the only one—aside from Tadase—that knew about his cross-dressing. Amu was still clueless, as usual. I wondered if Fujisaki was ever going to tell her that the previous Queen, Nadeshiko, didn't really exist—that it had been him to begin with.

"Thanks, Fujisaki-kun," Amu smiled halfheartedly. "I guess I'll figure something out…" She sounded like she'd totally given up hope—but I was confident that she'd get through it. She always did. Suddenly she smiled at both me and Nagihiko. "Hey, do you guys wanna go get some ice cream?"

I should've known that Amu would do this to me; she knew I didn't like Purple-head to begin with. I stood there silently while the cross-dresser thought for a second. He nodded, and I turned away. "I'll see you later, Amu."

Amu, clueless as ever, looked surprised. "Rima-chan? Where are you going? You're not coming with us?"

I shook my head, and I saw Nagihiko roll his eyes. "I don't have any money with me anyways," I said, and started to walk away.
"Rima-chan," I wanted to smack him every time he said my name, but somehow I resisted. "You really should come with us." What was he trying to pull?

I glared at him and sniffed in disdain. "No," I insisted. "I don't want to. And I already said I don't have any money with me; how am I supposed to buy ice cream with no money?"

Amu was about to say something, but she didn't get the chance before Fujisaki smiled—the smile was evil. "Don't worry, Rima-chan," he said, and I wanted so badly to slap the smile off of his face. "My treat." It seemed that the idiot was determined to drag me along, even if it earned him a bloody nose.

Now I had no excuse not to go, which irked me even more. I didn't want to be within twenty feet of him, and now I didn't have a choice. "Fine…" I muttered, defeated.

Amu looked as if she was waiting for me to lunge at him and beat him half to death—that wouldn't have been such a bad idea, but it would be useless. When you're the size of an average seven-year-old, you can't really beat someone up, no matter how badly you want to.

I felt a little bad for always catching her right in the middle of the fights between Nagihiko and I, but there wasn't really anything I could do about it. So we exited the school building and walked to the park, which wasn't far away, with Nagihiko on Amu's left, and me on her right. I was sure that she noticed the glares that he and I exchanged behind her back, but she tried to act like she didn't.

We finally found the ice cream cart that was usually in the park, and Amu asked for chocolate—for some reason, she'd developed a fondness for chocolate ice cream. Nagihiko looked down at me and smiled. "What would you like, Rima-chan?" he asked, and I thought for a second.

"Strawberry…?" I said, and it came out sounding like a question for reasons I was unsure of.

Nagihiko smiled at the lady running the cart and asked politely for a strawberry ice cream. A second later he said, "Uh… I'll have strawberry too."

The lady nodded and smiled at him, then looked at me. "Are you two dating?" she asked, and Nagihiko laughed.

"Nah, we're just friends," he said awkwardly, and the lady giggled—that got on my nerves.

"Not even!" I snarled, and Nagihiko sweatdropped.

"Actually," he said to the lady, "I'm pretty sure she just hates me…" I had no idea why there was an edge of sadness to his voice when he said this. But maybe I was just imagining it.

She smiled at him sympathetically and handed him the ice cream. "Keep trying," she encouraged him, and I rolled my eyes. The day that Nagihiko decided he liked me, or the other way around, would be the day hell froze over.

Nagihiko handed me my ice cream, and I muttered a "thank you" before going to sit with Amu on a park bench. Nagihiko sat down on her other side, and I tried to take my mind away from him by asking Amu about the assignment. "Have you thought of anything you can relate to in the play?"
She shook her head hopelessly, and I thought to myself that if I was going to get it done myself, I'd have to get home soon. I looked up at Nagihiko, who was eating his ice cream slowly while staring ahead, lost in thought.

Suddenly Amu's cell phone beeped. She took it from her pocket, then sighed at she read the text message she'd received. "I have to go. My mom needs me to watch Ami, and I need to get that stupid assignment done. See ya, guys!" She stood up and ran off, leaving Nagihiko and I together on the park bench. There was a good chance that this would end badly.

"Rima?" I looked up as he said my name, and I couldn't help but feel irritated that he'd used my name without an honorific. "Why do you hate me…?"

I flinched, which was not something I'd usually do. I didn't like being questioned, and the fact that my interrogator was Nagihiko made things ten times worse. He looked at me, waiting for an answer—I didn't like what I saw in his eyes. They were sad, and helpless; like he wanted so badly for me not to hate him. He didn't know why I did, and neither did I. I felt cornered, and I wanted to run. I was angry at him for making me feel this way—I didn't want to hate him, but I couldn't help it. It wasn't something I could control. Yet something told me that it wasn't hate to begin with. What that part of me couldn't figure out was what it was.

I couldn't stand the way his eyes were making me feel, and I lost it. I stood up from the bench, and there were tears in my eyes. "Just leave me alone!" I shouted, the rage bubbling over and spilling out too forcefully for me to stop it. "I can't stand you! I don't want to be anywhere near you! You disgust me!" No! This was wrong! I didn't want to say these things, but it was impossible to stop. "I don't want to be your friend! We're rivals—no, we're enemies! Just leave me alone!" I ran from the park. I didn't want to see his face—didn't want to see how much pain I'd caused him. I just didn't understand why, now, it hurt me too.

When I walked into the classroom the next afternoon, Nagihiko did not look at me. I hadn't expected him to; I didn't want him to. I'd gone home after the fight. I'd curled up on my bed and cried, trying to think through the tears. It was impossible to understand, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to know why I was feeling the way I was. I did my Romeo and Juliet assignment and went straight to bed, feeling just a bit better. I'd figured something out, and I had a plan.

When class started, Nikaidou began picking students at random to stand and read their quotes aloud. I didn't pay attention to any of them—not even Amu's. Yaya hadn't even done the assignment in the first place, and I really didn't care about Tadase's quote, which was no doubt a line of the prince's.

However, when Nagihiko stood to read his quote, I focused and listened to him. "For you and I are past our dancing days; how long is't now since yourself and I were in a mask?" Such a simple line, of little importance to the storyline, spoken by Capulet, that revealed so much about him. Of how he'd changed from the role he'd been forced to play in the script of his life. How much he still concealed behind the mask he wore, hiding from even his closest friends. Only I understood why he'd chosen this line, as none of the others knew.

After Nagihiko returned to his seat, several other students presented their choices to the class. Then it was my turn. My quote, unlike Nagihiko's, was well known and rather important to the play. But so similar to his in the sense that it expressed something that I wouldn't say out loud.

"My only love sprung from my only hate. Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me…" I paused for a moment before continuing, stating calmly what I had discovered the night before—the only resolve. "That I must love a loathed enemy…" I looked at Nagihiko as I said this, and his eyes were wide with shock. I was glad that he could take a hint, at least. I returned to my seat, and patiently awaited the end of class.

When the bell rang, I did not move from my seat. Nagihiko also remained at his desk, and it was not long until we were the only two in the room—even Nikaidou had abandoned the classroom.

When Nagihiko stood, I did as well. When he turned to look at me, his brown eyes displayed a startling mix of emotions. Bewilderment, shock, fear, confusion… I stared up at him calmly, unflinching. "So," I said quietly breaking the strange, uncomfortable silence. "Now you know."
He shook his head slowly. "I had no idea…"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Neither did I, until yesterday. But it's always been there. And now that it's out in the open, there's really nothing I can do." I turned to gather my books, but he caught my wrist.
"You did everything you needed to just by saying it," he said, and I was silent. "Rima, if I told you I loved you, what would you do?"

I didn't have an answer, and I told him so. Keeping a hold on my wrist, he touched my cheek with his other hand. "Would you like to find out?" I still did not answer, and he knelt down to my level and looked into my eyes. I couldn't think, and I closed my eyes, trying to clear my head. He took this as a signal of some sort, and pressed his lips lightly to mine one, twice, a third time before pulling back to look at me. "I love you."

Just three words that completed the less-gruesome version of Romeo and Juliet. My reply was simple, that I loved him as well. I refused, however, to see Nagihiko as a "Romeo." Romeo had been a lovesick fool, which the boy in front of me was not. I loved him more than I thought possible. Too much to insult him by comparing him to a star-struck fool. That's just how some things go—and I was perfectly content with the happy ending, and new beginning, of my story.