Page 3 (1/2)

She stared at ht Wait here”

I turned and found Ro on the bench outside the principal’s office Staring at me

“What are you doing, Juliet?” he asked in a low voice when I approached

“Someone needs to tell the truth about what happened”

He stared at me as if no one had ever offered to stand up for hiet in trouble over me I’m not worth it”

My fingers nudged his chin, trying to angle his head back so I could see his eyes Ro”

Behind us, the door opened and the secretary spoke to Mr W

“Juliet, come on inside”

I felt the weight of Roman’s stare with every step I took toward the open door

Chapter Four

Roman

Juliet stunned me Not only was she beautiful on the outside, she was pure beauty on the inside

I glanced down at my bruised knuckles, already covered in a life’s worth of scars

No one had ever stood up for randmother when the state took me away from her, not my teachers who saw the bruises on ood” foster parents that I prayed would adopt me, not the social workers or the lawyers appointed to me by the system No one

Juliet barely knew me, yet she’d done more for me in one day than anyone else in my entire life

The door opened, and Juliet stepped out, a whole lot more confident than when she went inside

The principal spoke quietly to his secretary for a second then motioned me over

“Miss Hayworth explained that you were defending yourself and that the other student almost hurt her as well” His eyes scanned my face to see if I was surprised If Juliet lied

“Yes, sir”

“No more trouble from you, Roman It’s only your first day”

“I’ll do my best”

That didn’t seem to reassure him, but he dismissed me anyway

Juliet waited in the hallway for me Smiled when she saw me

“Why’d you do that?” I asked, falling into step beside her “Where’s your next class?”

“AP English”

I pulled out my schedule “That’s where I’m headed too”