Page 51 of Unwritten Rules

Larissa and Tina argue with one another, both fighting for first place, with Larissa coming out on top.

When I glance at Mila and Percy, my earlier suspicions are confirmed when Percy visibly steps away from the podium, gesturing that Mila should speak.

They interact for several moments, quietly so that their words don’t carry to my ears, before Mila steps forward.

“Okay, ladies. Go!”

Larissa, no shock there, jumps right in, waxing poetically about how the bonds of one’s family trump all else. How blood is thicker than water. How, had the star-crossed lovers just stayed away from one another, everything would have played out as it should have.

The usual sound affirmations make this side of the debate easier to win.

After all, had Romeo and Juliet not thrown caution to the wind and ignored all else but their hearts, they’d have lived. They’d have survived.

“And, in closing, I don’t see how you could ever be in favour of dying in the name of love. There are plenty more fish in the sea.”

Larissa bows dramatically as the classroom claps with enthusiasm.

She should have majored in Drama.

“Mila, you’re up. Go!”

She steps up to the podium, her eyes meeting, catching, and holding mine hostage in her golden stare, and I suddenly think this was not a good idea.

That look in her eye. The one when she’s setting a trap – or has already laid one, that I’ve stupidly waltzed right into.

I’d been so preoccupied with just getting through this last class that I’d not seen it coming, and now it’s too late.

She smirks triumphantly when she sees realisation play across my face before she speaks, breaking our eye contact to address her classmates.

“There’s no rhyme or reason to love. The heart wants what the heart wants. It’s as simple as that, folks. Yes, Romeo and Juliet were ill-fated from the beginning. They never should have entered the other’s world, but they did. They never should have forged such an unbreakable bond, but they did. They never should have followed their hearts, but they did. And I applaud them. I applaud their bravery for taking what they so clearly wanted.”

She swivels to the side, looking right at me. To anyone else, it would appear as though she is addressing the opposing team, but I know she’s doing it for my benefit and my benefit alone.

My palms begin to sweat, and the collar of my starched white shirt pinches my neck when my pulse rate tics up a notch.

Her eyes hold mine, initially without a glimmer of emotion, but with each word that tumbles from her bee-stung lips, they shine brighter and brighter, filling with a longing that reflects my own conflicting desires.

“What is life without love? A never-ending, revolving door of monotony. It’s most assuredly not a life worth living. So, although these star-crossed lovers’ lives ended in spectacularly dramatic fashion, I can guarantee that neither of them would have changed a damn thing, for they truly lived as they loved.”

She swallows roughly, eyes unfaltering, holding mine captive.

“Knowing a life-altering love for any period of time, no matter how short-lived, is worth living a thousand lifetimes without ever having experienced its beauty.”

She faces her classmates again, her fervency glowing in her golden-green eyes.

She’s a fucking goddess.

I’m screwed. This was a bad idea.

My heart rattles in its cage, desperate to open itself up to her. Recognising its soulmate within the woman before me.

“So, yes, familial love is important, but love – real, true love that you feel in your very bones, that you know is the forever kind of love – that love is everything.”

My heart almost beats out of my chest when she turns back to me, pinning me once more with her intense gaze as her voice drops to barely above a whisper, speaking her final words with such passion that it knocks the breath from my body.

“If I ever found that, you can bet your ass I’d set fire to the world if it meant I could have it. If I could taste that ecstasy. Even just for one day.”

Her final words dangle between us, the tension vibrating from both of our bodies, and the very air in the room feels electrified. It goes on for entirely too long with the whole room watching on silently, eyes glued to the spectacle we are making, and even though my brain is screaming to sever the connection, I’m wholly unable to.