A Red and a Blue

Hate sprung from love is the bitterest of them all.

My first Gnomeo & Juliet fanfic! Originally, I was just going to write the movie from characters' POVs but I'm such a perfectionist with dialogue that I had to keep spending all my money to see the movie. Again.

So I fell back on this. This relationship just always bothered me so I wrote my own back-story for it. I'm just hoping I can make it all fit without going insane or broke.

Well, once the movie comes out, hopefully it'll get easier.

Chapter 1: First Encounter

There were three rules about the Wall in the garden of the blue gnomes:

One: Never go over, under or through the Wall

Two: The Wall must never come down

Three: Never speak to anyone or anything on the other side of the Wall

They only applied to this particular wall, not the fences. We were free to do anything we wanted to those. Just not the wall. Breaking those rules…. Well, no one ever broke those rules. That was the line no one, not even me, dared to cross. Me. The most notorious rule-breaker in the blue garden.

It's not my fault. When did I ever intend to break a rule? It's not my fault I have a short attention span and a habit for being in the wrong places at the wrong times. And is it such a bad thing that I like getting dirty? And I find climbing exciting? Mother always says to me: "Act like a Lady Katharine, please. You're going to get yourself smashed…" But I'm only five! And it's just so hard to be a lady. We don't get to do anything fun in our garden. Ladies don't dig for worms for the compost. Ladies don't oil the lawnmower. Ladies don't skip classes to climb the vines along the fence. And Ladies definitely do not throw mulch at their teacher's head when he calls them stubborn and chubby.

It wasn't even mulch really…. Not yet anyway. But it had the same effect. "MISS KATHARINE!" the voice of Mr. Friar followed me as I scampered out of the class, running in sheer terror. I was going to get it for this later…. Once mother finds out I'll be banned from the games…. And if Father finds out….. that thought sends a shiver all the way to my hat.

I could hear them running after me. I needed to hide! I tucked myself behind the huge flowering bush I had yet to learn the name of and pressed my back up against the wall. For once, I was actually glad it was there. The pounding footsteps of Mr. Friar and whoever else was looking for me, raced past my hideout. I leaned my head back against the wall, sighing in relief. But wait…. My head was going through it… quickly I yanked my head back and stared. Hidden behind the bush, out of sight of the entire garden was a hole. It was just big enough for me to peer through.

My heart began racing like it always did when I think about rules. No one broke the rules about the wall. But…. there was no rule against looking through the wall, was there? Maybe I shouldn't….. But what was the harm? I'd actually know what was on the other side…. That would give me an advantage in 'Guess what's beyond the wall'…

Softly, heart racing I scooted closer to the hole. I took a deep breath…. And looked.

I almost screamed in surprise. But thankfully, I bit it off just in time.

I was looking into a pair of beautiful brown eyes that stared back curiously into my own blue ones. After I few seconds of staring, I realized several things: one: they were the eyes of another gnome (there were gnomes on the other side of this wall….!), two: they were connected to a large, rounded nose and guarded by heavy brown eyebrows, three: the face was dirty and bore several small chips and scratches, probably the face of a boy.

"Who…. who are you?" I asked the eyes, forgetting my curiosity about what was behind them. They were such beautiful eyes…. Dancing with mischief and strength…

"Who are you?" Their voice snapped back, sounding kind of curious (and distinctly male).

"I'm Katharine …." I answered politely, trying to make myself look away from those intriguing eyes. "I live here…"

"You're a blue?" He asked sounding shocked. And somewhat disappointed even. His eyes broke contact with mine to stare above them. I followed his gaze. He was looking at my hat. My blue hat.

"Yes…" I said nervously. "I'm a…. blue."

"Then, where are your horns?" He asked, moving to peer at my face.

"What?"

"And why ain't your voice all gravely and harsh?" Was that supposed to be a compliment?

I thought he was joking and laughed. "What are you talking about? I don't have horns! None of us do!"

He laughed too eyes sparkling. "Really?" he sounded surprised. "Well that's odd… My da says all the blue gnomes are devils…"

Why would anyone say that? Sure, some of us have very pointy hats but no horns…. "Why?" I asked him.

"Dunno…" The eyes stared back into mine again, as if trying to read my thoughts. Now I noticed the brim of his hat resting just above his eyebrows. All the hats I'd ever seen were blue. But some of the older gnome kids often whispered that some gnomes outside the garden had different colored hats. His was a color I'd never seen before.

"Well, you know my name. So who are you?" I asked.

"My name's Cleon. I'm a red." He said proudly, eyes shining.

Before I could ask him why this mattered, there was a loud sound of an engine from out by the alley. Too loud to be a lawnmower.

"What's that?" It sounded kind of like one of those large trucks the people drove.

"The people across the alley are moving." He said excitedly.

"The people?" I had heard about the garden across the alley. I'd even gotten half a look at it last time I climbed the fence.

"Yeah. The Lawrences, I think." His eyes were shining again.

"Why are they moving?"

For one brief second, I saw his shoulders as he shrugged. They were the same color as his hat. Red… "Dunno." He said again. "But there are no gnomes in their garden. And it's beautiful! I'm gonna head over there and see if I can scavenge any seeds or plants for my garden." His eyes shone with the thrill of adventure.

So he had his own garden over there… I wanted to see it… but Cleon's beautiful eyes were blocking the hole. And I didn't want to stop seeing those…

Maybe if I helped him…. Maybe he'd let me see his garden. Maybe I'd get to see more of this new color….. red… and I'd get to spend more time with him…

"Can I come?" Raiding an abandoned garden sounded like fun…. Just the kind of thing boys got to do….

He seemed surprised. "You? A girl?"

"Why not?" I asked him angrily. I could climb, I was another set of hands and…... Eyes… and I was good at hiding from danger. Dangerous teachers anyway. Why did everyone think all girls were useless?

To my astonishment, he didn't laugh or ridicule me. "You're right." He said. "Why not?"

I tried not to smile too hard. "How do we get there?"

"Can you get out into the alley?"

I looked around. It was possible…. I'd gotten out before…. "Maybe, if I don't get caught…"

"Alright, meet me out in the alley in a few minutes." Cleon said excitedly. "There's a hole in the fence we can use to get into the Lawrence garden." The eyes glowed with mischief again. "But I'm not waiting for you if you're late."

"Careful I'm not the one waiting for you." I said playfully.

He laughed, sounding much older than he looked. "Okay, you're on! Race you there!"

The eyes disappeared. I forgot all about trying to see his garden as I ducked away from the hole. No boy was going to beat me in a race if I could help it!

I peered out from my hiding place. All seemed quiet. Maybe they had stopped looking for me. Or gone to find my parents. Luckily, the gate wasn't too far from my hiding spot and it was propped open. Finally, I was in the right place at the right time!

I raced towards the gate to meet the boy from behind the wall. The curious red boy who'd been so kind to me. Who had nothing against a girl he'd just met going on an adventure with him. It didn't occur to me that this might be dangerous. It didn't occur to me that this was just the beginning.

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