He didn't realize it at the time but on the third day he made a huge mistake. It would change his life.

It was his third day after talking to Juliet for the first time. It was a muddy October day. It had just rained the night before so there were many pits of mud scattered around the soccer field.

Things didn't seem to add up. He got nervous and weird around her. Why?

"I need to find a way to talk to her without being nervous and weird! How do I do that?" Romeo asked his group of friends. Connor was avoiding them, still mad at Romeo.

"You like like her, don't you?" Ian smirked. Romeo blushed.

"No- no I don't!" Romeo felt his friends teasing looks on him.

"Romeo and book girl sitting in a tree!" Anthony joked.

"I don't like her! And she has a name! It's Juliet!" Romeo explained to them. He nearly smiled as he said her name.

"Fine, Romeo and Juliet sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes babies in the baby carriage!" Anthony teased. Romeo crossed his arm, his face a very bright red.

"You have a crush on her? She's so weird. She hangs out with the red haired girl." Jason looked at Romeo with a look of disbelief.

"I don't have a crush on her!" Romeo tried to convince his friends. They ignored him. "I don't!"

"Oh yeah? Prove it." Jason said.

"How?" Romeo questioned. Jason thought about it, glancing at the blond girl who was doing what she normally did at recess.

Jason smirked. "Steal her book."

"What? I can't do that!" Romeo objected.

"You can't because you have a crush on her."

"I don't!" Romeo tried to convince them.

"Then take her book and prove it." Ian told him.

"She'll hate me forever if I do that." Romeo whined.

"Why do you care? You don't like her remember?" Ian and Jason both snickered.

Romeo thought for a moment. It would get his friends to stop teasing him and he could always give it back to her when his friends weren't looking.

He decided to do it. He walked over to Juliet. Ivy noticed that he was again coming over to talk to her best friend and followed him over. Juliet looked up at the sight of him.

Something was different about Juliet today. She had bags under her eyes and wasn't giving off her regular cherry attitude. Romeo noticed that she had bruises up and down her arms and legs. Had she tripped down the stairs or something yesterday?

"Oh hi, Romeo." Juliet tried to sound like her usual happy self. Romeo barely noticed that she wasn't completely okay. He continued on with his plan anyway. He glanced at the book she was reading. Sure enough it still was her copy of Once upon a Marigold.

He grabbed it. She was confused. Why was he trying to steal her book? Juliet grabbed it too and the two played tug of war, accidentally tearing a couple pages.

"Let go!" Juliet began to lose her grip on it. Romeo tugged harder. Juliet's grip slipped. As Romeo was taking the book and as Juliet lost it it whacked her in the face. Her hands reached up to her face. Blood was pouring from her nose.

Ivy was not happy about this and stepped in. Romeo was running towards his friends, clutching the book in his right hand. Ivy tackled him, clearly angry. The book flew out of Romeo's hands at the impact. It landed in a big mud puddle. It had looked like Romeo had thrown it on purpose.

One of the teachers that were on recess duty came over to try and to sort the mess out. She sent the three of them to the office.

A little while later the three sat in front of the counselor of Locking Grove Elementary.

"Okay, what happened here?" Mr. Granger asked.

"He whacked me in the face with my book and then stole it." Juliet said. Tissues were stuffed up her nose so her voice sounded a bit funny.

"Romeo, why did you take her book?" Mr. Granger questioned the young boy.

"Because... Because I don't like her!" Romeo exclaimed. Juliet had a mixture of fury and sadness on her face. She chose fury.

"Well I don't like you either!" Juliet huffed.

"Good because I don't want you to like me. I dislike you!" Romeo replied back.

"Both of you stop!" Mr. Granger nearly shouted. "Ivy, why are you here?" He asked in an exhausted tone. It was clear that this wasn't Ivy's first trip to the counselor.

"I tackled boogerface over there after he took Julie's book." Ivy pointed to Romeo.

"Ivy, what have I told you about name calling." Mr. Granger gave her a disapproving look. Ivy crossed her arms and looked away.

"That it's not nice or something..."

"Correct, Ivy, we've had this discussion about physical contact before. Now apologize to Romeo."

Ivy hesitated. "I'm... Sorry." She refused to look at Romeo as she said that.

"Romeo, apologize to Juliet." Romeo turned away from Juliet as he said it.

"I'm sorry, Juliet." He sounded a lot more honest than Ivy was.

"I want Romeo to stay away from Ivy and Juliet. Okay?" Mr. Granger asked.

"Yeah okay..." The three mumbled.

"The two of you," He pointed at Ivy and Romeo. "Have lost your recess privileges for the rest of the week." They didn't argue. They knew it would be worse if they did.

"You are dismissed." Mr. Granger waved them off. Ivy and Romeo hopped off their seats. Juliet went to follow them when, "Except you Juliet. I need to talk to you about something." She hopped back on her stool.

Romeo was curious. Why did the counselor want to talk to Juliet alone? He decided to eavesdrop on the conversation from outside the room.

"Juliet, is everything alright at home?" Mr. Granger asked in a comforting tone. Romeo glance in the room through a crack in the door. Juliet rubbed her arm as Mr. Granger said that. She looked down at the floor.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Why wouldn't it be?" Juliet mumbled.

"Well I've noticed that you're covered in bruises. I've seen this happen to kids in the past. It usually means they're are in an abusive household. If that's the case then we have to do what's best for the child and remove them from their unhealthy environment."

Julie's eyes widened at this. "No! No, everything is fine. I merely fell down. That's all."

"Huh," Mr. Granger put his hand to his chin and relaxed back in his chair. "Your brother said something similar when I saw him earlier today. He had a black eye and said he tripped down the stairs."

"Mr. Granger, everything is fine at home. I've got the best parents in the world. My brother and I have just inherited our mom's clumsiness. Can I please go? I don't want to waste anymore of your time on nothing." Juliet slipped off the stool. Mr. Granger sighed and nodded.

Julie left the room. Romeo quickly dashed off to the side of the door. Julie opened it and dashed out of the room. She noticed Romeo.

"What do you want?" Julie glared at Romeo before walking away.

That was just the beginning of their rivalry. There would be many, many more arguments to come. Romeo hadn't realized how much impact that day would have.