"The people in the street cry Romeo, Some Juliet, and some Paris; and all run With open outcry toward our monument."

-Lady Capulet; Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

"...Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished; For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. Alright, that was it; take out a sheet of paper, now, it's time for reflections." The teacher smiles tightly at her class; it's the third time today she's done this exact lesson and every class is just as non-participant as the last.

When everyone seems to have their pages out, she begins: "Can anybody tell me what Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is about?"

A few hands go up, Mrs. Night nods to the smarter half of the Stoll brothers. Connor says, "It's about these two people from rebelling families who fall in love, and they get married, but another guy, Paris, wants to marry Juliet, so she pretends to kill herself but Romeo thinks she's really dead so he kills himself, and Juliet wakes up and then really kills herself and the parents find them, and… yeah."

Mrs. Night takes back her earlier statement. "That is a good summary, Mr. Stoll, but I was talking about the theme of this play. What message is this play portraying? Tell me, Miss Chase."

Annabeth Chase shifts in her seat as all eyes move to her. She says, "Well, this is supposedly the most tragic love story in history, but I think it's more about the ignorance of youth and shallow lust. I don't think it's a love story, just a group of petty characters taking things a tad too far."

Mrs. Night nods, the girl does have a point, not everyone is going to agree with Shakespeare's works.

Percy Jackson, a boy who caused too much of a disturbance, a boy who Mrs. Night moved to the back of the class, stands up and states, "I have a counter to Annabeth's argument, Mrs. Night."

The teacher nods. Secretly, it's exciting. Not one class today has participated this much in a discussion about a old play before.

Percy smirks. "Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story. You'd think otherwise, Miss Chase, because of their quick lusting after each other, but clearly, no amount of lust would take someone as far as marriage before it came clear of true intentions."

Mrs. Night raises an eyebrow but doesn't say anything. She didn't know such a troublemaker kid could actually be quiet intelligent.

"This play is about toxic family hatred counteracted by love, but only realised after the two have died."

As soon as the last word of Percy's argument leaves his mouth, Piper McLean, the girl who sits directly behind Annabeth, stands and states, "How would you know it's love, Jackson, if there's no proof. I side with Annabeth; Romeo lusts after Juliet, and Juliet plays along. They're only kids, after all."

Leo Valdez stands. "Yeah, kids who were in a pretty awful environment. Imagine growing up in one village where two of the most influential families are fighting like opposing countries. I don't blame Romeo and Juliet; something as traumatic as that can mature a person quite fast. I side with Percy, it's a love story."

Jason Grace stands. "Seeing people die has nothing to do with knowing you love someone. I'm with Annabeth."

Nico di Angelo, a kid who never talks and broods silently in the back, stands up. "I'm with Annabeth. I don't care how attractive someone is, I'm not in love with a guy who kills my cousin. It's lust."

Hazel Levesque stands, who just so happens to be Nico's cousin. "Romeo apologized for that, and Juliet loved him enough to still marry him after all that happened. I'm on Percy's side."

Connor Stoll stands and says, "I'm with Annabeth. Romeo apologized, sure Hazel. But he did it by banging Juliet. That's lust."

And then it's war. Everyone is standing, either with Percy or Annabeth. They take sides, the people going with Annabeth on the right, and Percy on the left. Mrs. Night really doesn't know what to do, so she goes back to her desk and pretends as if it's not happening; she has a lot of grading to do.

And then, fifteen minutes later, the bell rings. It's almost as if the argument never happened; the kids go to grab their bags and they leave.

When the door finally shuts and Mrs. Night is alone, she groans. When she said she wanted more participants, this is not what she meant.

At lunch, Percy walks up to Annabeth at her table. "Hey, Chase."

She looks up, as does the rest of her table. "What'd you want, lover boy?" Everyone laughs except Percy, who finds it mildly embarrassing.

"I need to talk to you," he says casually.

Annabeth looks back to her friends, and they speak telepathically before she stands and follows him out of the cafeteria.

"Lover boy?" he inquires as they walk through the empty courtyard.

She smiles. "You do seem to think that love is everywhere. Including toxic and possibly abusive places."

He rolls his eyes. "About that-"

"What?" she says, cutting him off. "You want to call of the argument? Afraid you're going to lose?"

He laughs. "No, Chase, I'm afraid we're going to win."

She raises an eyebrow.

"I mean, when we win, I don't want to rub our obvious victory in your sad, little face," he finishes with a smirk.

Annabeth stops walking and he turns to face her. "And when we win, because our argument is more intellect than imagination, I will rub our victory in your sad, little faces, and unlike you, lover boy, I won't feel any remorse."

"Go out with me," he responds casually.

She raises a challenging eyebrow. "As long as you don't pretend to be dead without telling me first."

He smirks lazily. "Deal."

"Hey, Annabeth!" They both turn and see Piper running out of the English hall with a stack of papers in hand. "I found a ton of stuff for tomorrow's debate!" She glares jokingly at Percy, who stares at her in amusement. "Why are you talking to a low-class Montague?"

Percy laughs.

Annabeth smiles. "I'll help you Piper."

As the two girls walk away, Percy smirks, perhaps the argument was meaningless anyway.

Then Annabeth turns around to wink at him.

Yeah, who cares if two dead, fictional people love or lust each other? He has better things to think about.

hey hello hows it going?

wow leigh, another one shot? yeah i'm bored and procrastinating. but... it's finally summer for me! school is out and i have all the time in the world (kinda) to write stories.

kinda ironic how the first story i write is about a school debate.

i found a prompt for this on pinterest and it looked so cute so i had to try.

lol i hope you all liked it. if not, tell me, if you loved it, tell me also. i love reviews.

anywho, have a good friday, don't get arrested i guess

-leigh